Epidemics and pandemics

  • PandemicsPotential flu pandemic looms

    In the summer of 1968, a new strain of influenza appeared in Hong Kong. This strain, known as H3N2, spread around the globe and eventually killed an estimated one million people. A new study reveals that there are many strains of H3N2 circulating in birds and pigs that are genetically similar to the 1968 strain and have the potential to generate a pandemic if they leap to humans.

  • PandemicsNew bird flu strain adapting to mammals, humans

    Influenza virus depends on its ability to attach to and commandeer the living cells of its host to replicate and spread efficiently. Avian influenza rarely infects humans, but can sometimes adapt to people, posing a significant risk to human health. A genetic analysis of the avian flu virus responsible for at least nine human deaths in China portrays a virus evolving to adapt to human cells, raising concern about its potential to spark a new global flu pandemic.

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  • PandemicsNew, drug-resistant pandemic swine flu may go global

    Health experts in Australia have expressed concerned about the threat of a new type of drug-resistant pandemic flu which is circulating in the population at large. These experts say that the new strain of swine flu has learned how to dodge the antiviral Tamiflu. While it is still rare, it is now spreading outside of hospitals. U.K. health officials, who have already recorded eight cases of the new strain in the United Kingdom, agree with their Australian counterparts that the new virus has the potential to turn global.

  • FluCDC: Severe flu strain spreading across U.S.

    According to the Center for Disease Control(CDC), thirty states  are reporting high levels of flu-like illnesses. The flu  going around this year is called HN32, and this strain is likely to keep people ill for longer periods than other strains.

  • EpidemicsConquering cholera in Haiti without vaccinating most people

    The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has been skeptical about the effectiveness of vaccination against cholera in Haiti; it has instead emphasized cleaning up the water supply and improving sanitation as the best ways to check the spread of the disease; a new study suggests that vaccination would be effective, and that cholera could be contained in Haiti by vaccinating less than half the population

  • PandemicsPigs in southern China found to be infected with avian flu

    Researchers report for the first time the seroprevalence of three strains of avian influenza viruses in pigs in southern China, but not the H5N1 avian influenza virus; their research has implications for efforts to protect the public health from pandemics

  • EpidemicsBugs without borders: epidemics spread as bugs acquire resistance to antibiotic

    Researchers show that the global epidemic of Clostridium difficile 027/NAP1/BI in the early to mid-2000s was caused by the spread of two different but highly related strains of the bacterium rather than one as was previously thought; the spread and persistence of both epidemics were driven by the acquisition of resistance to a frontline antibiotic

  • PandemicsPredicting, preventing, and controlling pandemics

    About 60 percent of infectious diseases are caused by viruses, bacteria, and other pathogens that make the jump to humans from other species; this includes some of the most devastating disease outbreaks of the past thirty years, including HIV/AIDS, Ebola, and SARS; despite the huge and rising toll of such diseases, many gaps remain in our understanding of how these “zoonoses” evolve, develop, and spread — gaps that must be filled if we are to succeed in preventing or at least reducing the impact of a next pandemic

  • PandemicsMathematics offers new weapon in fight against pandemics

    Mathematicians have developed a powerful tool to quantify the spread and infectiousness of viruses like the pandemic H1N1 flu strain, a tool which can be used together with modern laboratory techniques to help the healthcare system plan its response to disease outbreaks

  • BioterrorismResearch on enhanced transmissibility in H5N1 influenza: the debate continues

    How can scientists safely conduct avian flu research if the results could potentially threaten, as well as save, millions of lives? Enhancing and analyzing the transmissibility of the H5N1 virus could, on the one hand, provide insights that could help prevent or treat a future outbreak of H5N1, or, on the other hand, it may provide a roadmap for a bad actor deliberately to bring about an influenza pandemic or lead to an inadvertent release of a virus with enhanced transmissibility

  • Public healthNon-lethal cures: new antibiotic cures disease by disarming pathogens, not killing them

    A new type of antibiotic can effectively treat an antibiotic-resistant infection by disarming instead of killing the bacteria that cause it; this is good news, since new drugs are badly needed for treating infections with the bacterium Acinetobacter baumannii, a pathogen that most often strikes hospital patients and immune- compromised individuals through open wounds, breathing tubes, or catheters

  • EpidemicsGenetic sleuthing uncovers deadly new virus in Africa

    An isolated outbreak of a deadly disease known as acute hemorrhagic fever, which killed two people and left one gravely ill in the Democratic Republic of Congo in the summer of 2009, was probably caused by a novel virus scientists have never seen before

  • EpidemicsConcerns about next month’s Hajj grow as Saudi Arabia identified as source of Sars-like outbreak

    The U.K. Health Protection Agency and World Health Organization are attempting to identify a new Sars-like virus which has infected two people so far, one who has died and another who is receiving intensive care; the source of the virus appears to be in Saudi Arabia, which raises concerned that the Hajj pilgrimage next month could provide the virus a chance to spread around the world; thousands of Muslims from all over the world attend the event every year

  • BiosecurityU.S. urgently needs better bioterrorism, disease tracking system

    Nearly eleven years have passed since the fall 2001 bioterrorism-related anthrax attacks that shook the United States, killing five people and injuring seventeen, a leading bioterrorism expert says the country has still not learned its lesson; he says that current data mining approaches are passive and do not provide immediate solutions to the emergencies at hand, proposing instead an electronic, clinician-based reporting system which would have the capacity to limit the impact of a bioterrorism attack

  • BiosecurityU.S. schools not ready for next pandemic

    Many U.S. schools are not prepared for bioterrorism attacks, outbreaks of emerging infectious diseases, or pandemics, despite the recent 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic which resulted in more than 18,000 deaths worldwide