COVID-19 vaccination produces a more consistent immune response than a past infection. With the delta variant, the difference in protection may be even greater.
Vaccines have successfully curtailed viral diseases for decades. But as COVID-19 vaccination hesitancy shows, mistrust and misinformation continue to put lives at risk.
Microbes are everywhere – and they aren’t all friendly.
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Scientists get up close and personal with deadly pathogens to give doctors the tools they need to treat people sickened by germs. The key is keeping the researchers – and everyone around them – safe.
The prevention of future pandemics requires examining viral family trees.
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Bat hosts, lab leaks – tracing SARS-CoV-2 to its origins involves more than just tracking down patient zero.
A security guard leads reporters away from the Wuhan Institute of Virology after a WHO team arrived for a field visit in Wuhan, Hubei province of China, Feb. 3, 2021. The team came to no conclusions about the origins of the pandemic.
(AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
Gain-of-function studies make a natural virus more dangerous or transmissible to humans. Could the Wuhan Institute of Virology be the source of SARS-CoV-2?
Chinese virologist Shi Zhengli inside the P4 laboratory in Wuhan.
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The lab accident theory of the origins of Covid-19 has gained traction in recent months. We need a proper investigation to find out what really happened.
Sustained surveillance for disease outbreaks at global hot spots may be the key to preventing the next pandemic.
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A more coordinated effort by scientists, stakeholders and community members will be required to stop the next deadly virus that’s already circulating in our midst.
Scientists have been trying to pinpoint the exact causes of the declines in some wild Pacific salmon populations for decades.
(Amy Romer)
Pandemic viruses arise from raising, harvesting and eating animals. Policy strategy for averting the next pandemic should include supporting those already seeking to make plant-based dietary changes.
Fungal viruses have been important in reducing the impact of fungal diseases on chestnuts in Europe.
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Van Leeuwenhoek, who discovered bacteria, is one of the most important figures in the history of medicine, laying the groundwork for today’s understanding of infectious disease.
A doctor shows an empty vial of the experimental Soberana 02 vaccine for COVID-19 being developed at the Molecular Immunity Center during a media tour of the facility’s vaccine production in Havana on Feb. 25, 2021.
(AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
Cuba’s access to internationally produced vaccines was nearly impossible due to the U.S. blockade. Its decision to make its own vaccines stands to pay off handsomely.
Pollen can suppress how the body’s immune system responds to viruses.
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As the world has focused on the COVID-19 pandemic, other microbial foes are waging war on humans. Antibiotic-resistant bacteria pose a growing threat. But viruses may defeat them.
For many, distinguishing between fact and fiction is difficult.
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‘Long COVID’ – in which people have symptoms lasting more than a few weeks – is turning out to be very common. People hospitalized for COVID-19 are at highest risk, but they aren’t alone.
Occasionally, a mutation will give the virus a better chance of surviving and reproducing itself, and will result in a new population (known as a new lineage)
One of Tanzania’s approaches to managing the spread of the new coronavirus is through prayer.
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The pandemic will not end for anyone, anywhere until it is controlled in every country. Tanzania’s approach will make it that much harder for normality to return.
Study shows that the Novavax vaccine is effective against the dominant variant of COVID-19 in South Africa.
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The results indicate that the vaccine efficacy in the UK was 89% for individuals who received at least two doses of vaccine. In South Africa, the vaccine efficacy was 60% in people without HIV.
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