Usually when a leader handles a crisis poorly, it’s politically costly. But President Trump’s mishandling of the coronavirus crisis is not likely to hurt him, says an expert on health crises.
Shutdown in St Peter’s Square, Rome,
Angelo Caraconi/EPA
Jimmy Whitworth, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
From China and South Korea to Italy and the US, different countries are taking very different approaches to COVID-19 – with varying degrees of success.
There is no evidence that the coronavirus has evolved into a deadlier strain. It is almost certainly less lethal than initially reported, but that might mean there are more cases than we realised.
Passengers waiting at the ferry terminal in Dartmouth, N.S. on March 16, 2020. The number of passengers has been limited as part of the effort to control the spread of COVID-19 in Nova Scotia.
(Andrew Vaughan/THE CANADIAN PRESS)
Best-case estimates suggest 40 million American adults may come down with COVID-19. But an epidemiologist explains why now is not the time to just give up.
Epidemiologists want to quickly identify any emerging disease’s potential to spread far and wide. Dependent on a number of factors, this R0 number helps them figure that out and plan accordingly.
Whether by biology or behavior, some people in the crowd will transmit coronavirus to more than the average number of others.
AP Photo/Kin Cheung
Gina Solomon, University of California, San Francisco
Starting Feb. 6, 2020, California farmers will be barred from using chlorpyrifos on their crops. The Trump administration says more study is needed, but other states are also moving ahead.
Vehicles are a major source of particulate air pollution.
Deliris/Shutterstock
Scientists who were appointed to advise the EPA on air pollution kept meeting independently after the agency dissolved their panel. They say current regulations aren’t strict enough.
Caesarean delivery alone does not contribute to the odds of a child developing autism or ADHD.
Aditya Romansa
A new study has found a link between being born by caesarean section and having a greater chance of being diagnosed with autism or ADHD. But there’s no evidence caesarean sections cause them.
Dr Joseph Sempa of SACEMA presenting at the 2019 Clinic on Meaningful Modelling of Epidemiological Data.
AIMS-South Africa
Scientists identified the general pattern of measles infections as a country moves toward eliminating the disease. This roadmap can help public health workers most efficiently fight and end measles.
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.
Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, responsible for transmitting Zika.
AP Photo/Felipe Dana
In January, measles returned to the Pacific Northwest, while Ebola resurged in the Congo. It would take a lot more research for scientists to be able to stop threats like these in their tracks.
A study showed it’s social circumstance, and not biology, that explains most of the differences in the occurrence of diabetes among racial and ethnic groups.
Omar Lopez/Unsplash
What contributes most to being at high risk of diabetes – diet, genes or something else? Big research questions need robust research approaches, so let’s break it down.
Professor of Epidemiology, Population Interventions Unit, Centre for Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, The University of Melbourne