Hemant Khanna, University of Massachusetts Medical School
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.
Matej Kastelic/Shutterstock
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.
Sergey Uryadnikov/Shutterstock.com
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.
vrx/Shutterstock.com
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.
NIAID
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?
Many people think green snot means you are really sick, or that you need antibiotics. Not true. Green snot is actually a sign that our immune system is working and that we are getting better.
Tagged European rabbit kitten infected with myxoma virus, but that died from rabbit haemorrhagic virus disease (RHDV).
Photo by David Peacock, Biosecurity South Australia
Feral rabbits previously exposed to myxoma virus are more likely to be killed by rabbit haemorrhagic diease, meaning that these two biocontrol agents can become even more powerful when used in tandem.
Health workers get ready to spray insecticide in advance of the 2016 Summer Olympics, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to combat the mosquitoes that transmit the Zika virus in this Jan. 26, 2016 photo.
(AP Photo/Leo Correa, File)
Benjamin Cowie, The Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity and Nicole Romero, The Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity
Hepatitis A is a virus that infects the liver. Symptoms usually take 15-50 days to develop after initial infection and typically last for several weeks or sometimes longer.
Young children catch and spread the flu more than any other age group.
Africa Studio/Shutterstock
The flu vaccine isn't perfect but it's the best way to protect against these potentially harmful viruses. Most children aged six months to five years are eligible for a free vaccine in 2018.
Watching bacteria and viruses duke it out, evolving to outwit each other.
UC San Diego
A core idea in molecular biology is that one gene codes for one protein. Now biologists have found an example of a gene that yields two forms of a protein – enabling it to evolve new functionality.
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