AUGUST 21ST, 2023POSTED BY JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY Margaret LaRaviere gets an influenza vaccine during an event hosted by the Chicago Department of Public Health at the Southwest Senior Center on September 09, 2022 in Chicago, Illinois. Epidemiologist David Dowdy says vaccines and a preventive drug for RSV offer hope for a healthier fall and winter...
Tag: <span>virus</span>
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Vaccine-derived polio is undermining the fight to eradicate the virus
Wild polio has almost been eradicated, but vaccine-derived strains retain the potential to paralyse. Better vaccines have arrived — but they are only part of the answer. The nOPV2 polio vaccine has been administered to more than 650 million children across 30 countries.Credit: Issouf Sanogo/AFP/Getty When smallpox was declared eradicated in 1980, there were hopes...
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How a virus causes chromosomal breakage, leading to cancer
by University of California – San Diego An artistic rendering depicts the Epstein-Barr virus, which has infected more than 90% of the world’s population. Credit: Mobitec The Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is easily spread through bodily fluids, primarily saliva, such as kissing, shared drinks or using the same eating utensils. Not surprisingly then, EBV is also among...
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Common viruses may be triggering the onset of Alzheimer’s disease
by Tufts University Varicella zoster virus (VZV), which commonly causes chickenpox and shingles, activates herpes simplex virus (HSV) from dormancy in neural tissue grown in vitro, which then leads to an increase in plaque deposits and decrease in neural signaling – hallmarks of Alzheimer’s disease. Credit: Tufts University Alzheimer’s disease can begin almost imperceptibly, often masquerading...
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COVID-19 fattens up our body’s cells to fuel its viral takeover
by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory Illustration of a SARS-CoV-2 viral particle entering a cell. The particle pierces through a cell’s membrane, made of two layers of lipids. A PNNL-OHSU team has shown how lipids are key to the ability of the virus to replicate. Credit: Michael Perkins, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory The virus that causes COVID-19...
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Viruses that were on hiatus during Covid are back — and behaving in unexpected ways
By Helen Branswell May 25, 2022 Reprints ALEX HOGAN/STAT For nearly two years, as the Covid pandemic disrupted life around the globe, other infectious diseases were in retreat. Now, as the world rapidly dismantles the measures put in place to slow spread of Covid, the viral and bacterial nuisances that were on hiatus are returning —...
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Virus found in pig heart used in human transplant
by Lauran Neergaard In this photo provided by the University of Maryland School of Medicine, David Bennett Jr., right, stands next to his father’s hospital bed in Baltimore, Md., on Jan. 12, 2022, five days after doctors transplanted a pig heart into Bennett Sr., in a last-ditch effort to save his life. Researchers trying to...
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Virus might be behind mystery child hepatitis cases: US agency
CDC recommends children stay up to date on their vaccinations and that parents and caregivers practice preventive actions such as hand hygiene, avoiding people who are sick, covering coughs and sneezes, and avoiding touch the eyes, nose or mouth. Nine young children from Alabama affected by a mysterious hepatitis (inflammation of the liver) all tested...
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Copper vs. COVID-19: How copper kills viruses?
COVID-19 pandemic taught us to pay more attention to disinfection. For that we use various solutions, such as alcohol. But what if some surfaces disinfected themselves? Copper can do that and, according to a new study from the University of Waterloo a very thin copper-containing coating can do the trick. Back in antiquity people knew that...
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Flu Virus-Inspired Nanoparticles for mRNA Delivery
CONN HASTINGS Researchers at the University of California San Diego developed a new delivery technique for mRNA. The method involves flu virus-inspired nanoparticles that can escape endosomes, the acidic vesicles that engulf and destroy materials that attempt to enter cells. The nanoparticles contain a protein receptor that allows them to unlock the endosomes and release...