Gain-of-function experiments in the lab can help researchers get ahead of viruses naturally gaining the ability to infect people in the wild.
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Andrew Bubak, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus
People with an active case of shingles have up to an 80% higher risk of stroke than those without. The increased risk is highest for patients under 40.
Red mitochondria in airway cells become coated with green SARS-COV-2 proteins after viral infection: Researchers discovered that the virus that causes COVID-19 damages lungs by attacking mitochondria.
(Stephen Archer)
COVID-19 causes lung injury and lowers oxygen levels in patients because the SARS-CoV-2 virus attacks cells’ mitochondria. This attack is a throwback to a primitive war between viruses and bacteria.
Financial support for science and research in Nigeria remains pathetic. This has led to the deterioration in the quantity and quality of trained virologists at universities.
Phages can sense bacterial DNA damage, which triggers them to replicate and jump ship.
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Animal reservoirs and people who experience chronic COVID infections could potentially see the emergence of new variants. But these variants aren’t necessarily cause for concern.
Masks definitely catch some of the virus laden aerosols and droplets - and that will reduce transmission between people and the number of cases of COVID-19.
Epidemiologists in protective suits collecting a dead bird from the sea beach in the course of the spreading of the bird flu, Germany.
blickwinkel / Alamy Stock Photo
Each year in spring and summer, waterbirds mingle on their breeding grounds in Siberia and mix their flu viruses, creating new variants they then bring to Europe, Asia and Africa.
Bacteriophages are viruses that infect bacteria and play a potential role in the evolution of life.
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Ivan Erill, University of Maryland, Baltimore County
Viruses have gotten a bad rap for the many illnesses and pandemics they’ve caused. But viruses are also genetic innovators – and possibly the pioneers of using DNA as the genetic blueprint of life.
Delta is more contagious and appears to be more deadly. And it’s more likely to land those infected in hospital and intensive care. Here’s what the latest evidence says about the dominant variant.
It’s unclear whether the patients were already predisposed to these diseases, or the infection unmasked a process that had already begun. Or perhaps the infection triggered a completely new illness.
New DNA evidence shows humans may have been battling coronaviruses for longer than recorded history.
In February 2021, a World Health Organization team investigating the origins of COVID-19 visited the Wuhan Institute of Virology in Wuhan, China.
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The research community is taking a closer look at the lab-leak hypothesis for the origin of COVID-19, prompting discussion about the risks and benefits of engineering viruses.
We recently heard reports of a new and dangerous ‘hybrid’ variant circulating in Vietnam. There is such as a thing as a hybrid viral variant — but this doesn’t appear to be it.
The prevention of future pandemics requires examining viral family trees.
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Professor of Bioethics & Medicine, Sydney Health Ethics, Haematologist/BMT Physician, Royal North Shore Hospital and Director, Praxis Australia, University of Sydney