#virus-discovery

#virus-discovery

A new study published today in Science reveals a close correlation between species in the wildlife trade and animals that are known to have passed pathogens on to humans. There's a strong link, says Jerome Gippet, an ecologist at the University of Fribourg in Switzerland.

mRNA vaccines have demonstrated their ability to prevent approximately eight million COVID infections within the first six months of their rollout, showcasing their effectiveness in combating the pandemic.

GOARN, which includes more than 310 national public health agencies, United Nations agencies, academic institutions, and nongovernmental groups, helps identify and manage infectious disease outbreaks worldwide. Since it was established in 2000, GOARN says it has helped manage more than 175 global health emergencies across 114 countries.

Bacterial meningitis has become rare in the UK, but small clusters occasionally occur. The outbreak has affected 29 people, killing two, and is labeled 'unprecedented'.

The U.S. is no longer part of the World Health Organization. After the Trump administration declared its intention to pull the country out of the global public health agency one year ago, on Thursday it formally followed through, ending its commitment to the organization after 78 years. Withdrawing the U.S. from the WHO was one of Trump's day one priorities. Now, after the required one year notice period, the deed is done.

At the end of January, Washington, DC, saw an extremely unusual event. The MAHA Institute, which was set up to advocate for some of the most profoundly unscientific ideas of our time, hosted leaders of the best-funded scientific organization on the planet, the National Institutes of Health. Instead of a hostile reception, however, Jay Bhattacharya, the head of the NIH, was greeted as a hero by the audience, receiving a partial standing ovation when he rose to speak.

Risks of outbreaks with pandemic potential rise with increasing land-use change, biodiversity loss and climate change. The Pandemic Agreement adopted by the World Health Assembly in 2025 marks a historic shift that establishes the One Health approach as a legally binding obligation for pandemic prevention.

Laboratories turned to a smart workaround when COVID‑19 testing kits became scarce in 2020. They mixed samples from several patients and ran a single test. If the test came back negative, everyone in it was cleared at once. If it was positive, follow-up tests would zero in on who was infected. That strategy, known as group testing, saved valuable time, money, and resources.

I am open-minded; I believe in integrative practices, and I agree that the medical establishment can be arrogant and unduly influenced by the pharmaceutical industry, which now funds so much of medical research. But I fully understand Scherer's frustration with his interminable discussions with Kennedy about scientific articles.

For more than a decade, doctors and researchers have announced that a handful of people around the world have been cured of HIV. Each of these patients has experienced long-term viral control - in some cases for over a decade - without antiretroviral therapy (ART), as AIDSMap notes, though some doctors describe them as being in "remission." While the patients have shown no signs of HIV since stopping ART, at least some uncertainty remains as to whether the virus could eventually rebound in them.

Bats carry a lot of very deadly pathogens like Ebola virus, Nipah, Hendra, coronavirus, and also rabies virus. People are finding more and more bat-borne viruses. When such viruses are transmitted to humans, the results are often fatal so there's a lot of interest in trying to prevent spillover in the first place.

Each day, they pore over reams of data about how the virus is evolving worldwide, how well last year's shot performed, and which strains might be easiest to mass produce for a vaccine. The meeting, convened by the World Health Organization twice a year, is a critical moment for the WHO's Global Influenza Surveillance and Response System.

Flu season is showing no signs of slowing down in California, with every region experiencing either high or very high levels of flu. In the Bay Area, the number of people testing positive for the virus has hit a new seasonal high, with 18.99% of flu tests coming back positive through Jan. 31, according to the latest numbers from the California Department of Public Health.

The World Health Organization announced in late January that six European countries: the United Kingdom, Spain, Austria, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan had all officially lost their measles elimination status, which means the virus has been circulating continuously in those countries for more than 12 months.