The 2018-2019 flu season was less deadly than the last. But the pattern of infection was unusual, thanks to the various strains circulating and the way flu shots work over time.
Viruses attack and infect a bacterium.
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Cholera kills fast, and outbreaks are common in war-torn regions and after natural disasters where clean water is scarce. A new strategy to prevent cholera infections is a ‘cocktail’ of live virus.
In most cases, scientists are still unsure of what causes Alzheimer’s disease.
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After the failure of multiple drug trials the outlook for an Alzheimer’s drug is bleak. This shouldn’t be a surprise. We don’t know the cause or even how to diagnose the disease.
The flu comes on rapidly and symptoms get worse over the first few days.
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Sheena G. Sullivan, WHO Collaborating Centre for Reference and Research on Influenza and Rob Moss, The University of Melbourne
The 2018 flu season was mild, while 2017 was a particularly bad year. It’s impossible to predict what the 2019 flu season has in store, but we’ve seen more cases so far this year than usual.
Bacteria are becoming resistant to even the most powerful antibiotics. These expensive, hard-to-treat infections are prompting physicians to reassess using viruses to destroy bacteria.
Ant infected and killed by entomopathogenic fungus.
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When you think of viruses, you might think of the horrible illnesses they cause, like flu or Ebola. But now researchers are learning how to use the unique traits of viruses to treat disease.
People may unknowingly bring measles back from other countries, including Europe.
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We’ve had the measles vaccine in Australia since 1968, but a two-dose program was only introduced in 1992. And if you haven’t had the second dose, you’re at risk of contracting measles.
Scientists still rely on a set of 19th century postulates to identify disease-causing organisms but more than 100 years of research shows why we need to move on.
pH. John Walter, 2017. Photograph by Jonathan Bassett.
Polio can be circulating through a community long before anyone is paralyzed. Monitoring sewage for the virus lets public health officials short-circuit this ‘silent transmission.’
Pygmies in the Dzanga-Sangha Forest Reserve, Central African Republic.
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Somewhere along our evolutionary path, we lost the ability to defend against hepatitis C. But not all humans lost this ability.
Every surface of our body – inside and out – is covered in microorganisms: bacteria, viruses, fungi and many other microscopic life forms.
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Just because you don’t have the flu doesn’t mean that your aren’t teeming with viruses inside and out. But what are all these viruses doing, if they aren’t making you sick?
Cane toads are on the march, but new genetic research could slow them down.
Michael Linnenbach
New genetic knowledge about cane toads could give us the knowledge we need to throw some more roadblocks in front of this persistent invader as it marches across Australia.
Electron microscopy image of 1918 influenza virus particles near a cell.
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Frédéric Keck, Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS)
A scientific question fascinates experts : under which conditions can bird flu virus be transmitted to humans by aerial particles, and what will be the consequences for those who aren’t immune?
Director, The Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, The University of Melbourne and Royal Melbourne Hospital and Consultant Physician, Department of Infectious Diseases, Alfred Hospital and Monash University, The Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity