US dodged a bird flu pandemic in 1957 thanks to eggs and luck. Can we ...

CNN 09 Feb 2025
Each year, the virus mutates slightly in a process called antigenic drift ... Every now and then, the virus changes dramatically in a process called antigenic shift ... Hilleman knew that it was just a matter of time before the influenza virus shifted and caused a pandemic similar to the one in 1918 ... By May, Hilleman and his colleagues knew that Americans lacked immunity against this new version of the virus....

Can you get the flu twice in a season?

The Hill 09 Feb 2025
Flu is an illness caused by influenza viruses that often arrives suddenly with symptoms of fever, cough, headaches, sore throat and more ... There are four types of flu (A, B, C and D), but the annual "flu season," typically starting in October and lasting as long as March or April, is caused by the viruses behind Flu A and Flu B ... Within each of the main flu types, there are multiple strains, and the viruses continue to mutate....

Polio cases recorded in 21 regions of Pakistan

Khaama Press 09 Feb 2025
The discovery has raised serious concerns about the ongoing spread of the virus ... Efforts to eradicate the virus are ongoing. Last week, environmental samples from 26 other areas also tested positive for WPV1, further highlighting the persistent presence of the virus in the country ... The virus continues to infect children, making the fight against ......

Vaccines are safe. Don't let fear and misinformation mislead you. | Opinion

The Oklahoman 09 Feb 2025
Vaccines don’t wrap you in a plastic bubble so no virus can enter your body. They prepare your body’s defenses to immediately attack the virus and minimize the damage if you’re exposed ... If the virus is still circulating, and you breathe it in, you may test positive ... When about 90% of people get vaccinated against a virus, it leads to “herd immunity.” The virus runs out of hosts and no longer spreads through communities....

Woman with HIV inspires Ascot author

BBC News 09 Feb 2025
A woman with HIV, who inspired the plot of a romance novel, says "stigma is rife" about the virus. Freya, whose name has been changed to protect her, found out she had HIV in 2006 and said at first it felt like a "death sentence" ... Remembering when she was tested for the virus, she said ... She explains ... Freya says the stigma around the virus, which stands for Human Immunodeficiency Virus, is still "rife" ... ....

Avian flu suspected in up to 15 bird deaths at New York City zoos

Fox31 Denver 09 Feb 2025
The Wildlife Conservation Society said three ducks at the Queens Zoo died after contracting the virus, and lab tests are pending on three ducks and nine wild birds that died at the Bronx Zoo after possible exposure....

Ebola vaccine trial in Uganda is an achievement in the fight against the disease – UN

Famagusta Gazette 09 Feb 2025
In a statement posted on its website late Monday, the WHO said the trial, which began with contacts of the index Ebola case in the country, aims to assess the clinical efficacy of a candidate vaccine against the Sudan strain of the Ebola virus....

Bird flu hits NYC zoos: 3 Queens Zoo birds dead from virus, 12 at Bronx ...

New York Post 09 Feb 2025
Bird flu has hit the zoo ... Three ducks at the Queens Zoo died after contracting the virus, according to the Wildlife Conservation Society, which operates both zoos. 6 ... J.C ... Three ducks at the Queens Zoo died after contracting the virus ... 6 ... Kathy Hochul Friday requires the markets to sell or dispose of all inventory, clean and disinfect and remain closed for a period of five days afterward to combat the “highly pathogenic” virus....

Flu season in the US is the most intense it's been in at least 15 years

NBC Bay Area 09 Feb 2025
The U.S. winter virus season is in full force, and by one measure is the most intense in 15 years. One indicator of flu activity is the percentage of doctor’s office visits driven by flu-like symptoms ... U.S ... It’s cold and flu season again, which means you could be left wondering which virus is causing your symptoms ... To avoid seasonal viruses, doctors say you should avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth because germs can spread that way....

5 years post-pandemic, can we learn from our mistakes for the next one? | Editorial

Akron Beacon Journal 09 Feb 2025
Evolving information from the medical community combined with a politicization of the virus caused confidence in scientific and medical experts to plummet, especially along party lines ... formed an initiative to enable faster approval and production of a COVID vaccine in April of 2020, four months after the virus had arrived in the states....

Brisbane man returning false positive HIV tests after taking part in an aborted Covid-19 vaccine ...

The Daily Mail 09 Feb 2025
'I was told it should go away after a few months. It's been years ... Read More ... The trials success in 2023 laid the groundwork for future clamp vaccines which could be used to fight other life-threatening respiratory viruses ... This success has paved the way for future clamp vaccines, which could potentially be used to combat other serious respiratory viruses, such as respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and human metapneumovirus (hMPV) ... ....

Bird flu variant found in Nevada cows shows signs of adaptation to mammals

Yahoo Daily News 09 Feb 2025
The newer variant of avian influenza that recently infected dairy ......

Bird Flu Suspected in Deaths of Ducks and Wild Birds at N.Y.C. Zoos

New York Times 09 Feb 2025
Three ducks died of the disease at the Queens Zoo, while three more ducks and nine wild birds that died at the Bronx Zoo were being tested for the virus, according to the parks’ operator ... ....

A virus is a small infectious agent that can replicate only inside the living cells of an organism. Viruses can infect all types of organism, from animals and plants to bacteria and archaea.

Since Dmitri Ivanovsky's 1892 article describing a non-bacterial pathogen infecting tobacco plants, and the discovery of the tobacco mosaic virus by Martinus Beijerinck in 1898, about 5,000 viruses have been described in detail, although there are millions of different types. Viruses are found in almost every ecosystem on Earth and are the most abundant type of biological entity. The study of viruses is known as virology, a sub-speciality of microbiology.

Virus particles (known as virions) consist of two or three parts: the genetic material made from either DNA or RNA, long molecules that carry genetic information; a protein coat that protects these genes; and in some cases an envelope of lipids that surrounds the protein coat when they are outside a cell. The shapes of viruses range from simple helical and icosahedral forms to more complex structures. The average virus is about one one-hundredth the size of the average bacterium. Most viruses are too small to be seen directly with an optical microscope.




This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virus

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