influenza
-
Textbook-Rewriting Discovery Could Help Predict The Next Influenza Pandemic
Every year we go through the same motions: Scientists figure out what the most common flu strains will be, and prepare a vaccine that will best protect against it. Those who get vaccinated avoid the new strains, those who don’t might get sick. But every so often, a new kind of flu pops up that…
-
190,000 Ducks Slaughtered Thanks To Bird Flu
On Saturday, the Netherlands annihilated 190,000 ducks in response to an avian flu outbreak, an epidemic that’s broken out throughout much of Northern Europe. Since mid-November, the particularly pathogenic H5N8 strain of the virus has found its way to Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Germany, and now the Netherlands as well.
-
The Dangers (And Benefits) Of Designing Mutant Super Viruses
Take an already deadly flu virus like H1N1 — killer of an estimated 284,000 people — and imagine how to make it worse. How about a virus impossible for your immune system to detect? This is not just a thought experiment — a controversial Wisconsin lab known for concocting dangerous mutant viruses has actually created…
-
Why Even Almighty Google Couldn’t Keep Track Of The Flu
The flu hit especially hard this year in the northern hemisphere, but Google’s Flu Trends map might not be a good indicator of just how bad it was. As Nature points out, a comparison between Google Flu Trends (which bases its map off flu-related searches) and traditional surveillance data showed that our beloved search engine…