Viruses, Infections & Disease, features and articles | Educational Science

Aug 27, 2018

Scientists Discover a Sixth Species of Ebola Virus — in Bats

Scientists have discovered a previously unknown species of Ebola virus, called Bombali virus, that's carried by at least two species of bats in Sierra Leone. This is the first Ebola virus species detected in a healthy animal before having been detected in sick animals or humans. Although researchers believe the...

Jan 17, 2019

Anti-Vaccine Movement Joins Ebola, Drug Resistance on List of Top Global Threats

A new list of top global health threats from the World Health Organization (WHO) reads like a who's who of public health hazards: Pandemic flu. Ebola. Drug resistance. But tucked in this list of much-talked-about threats is one perhaps-surprising inclusion: the anti-vaccine movement. The list, released this week, highlighted 10...

Oct 17, 2019

Japan Just Imported Ebola to Prep for Possible Olympic Outbreak

Next summer, tens of thousands of sports fans will enter Japan to attend the Olympic games — but along with paraphernalia from their home countries, the tourists may be carrying lethal pathogens onto Japanese soil. To mitigate the risk of potential outbreaks, Japan imported the Ebola virus and four other...

Mar 16, 2021

Ebola may have lingered in a survivor for 5 years before sparking new outbreak

A person who survived the major Ebola outbreak in West Africa between 2014 and 2016 may have harbored the virus for five years before it hopped to another person and triggered the current outbreak in Guinea, according to a new analysis. Scientists previously knew that the Ebola virus could hide...

Feb 10, 2022

Ebola can linger in brain fluid and trigger deadly relapse, monkey study suggests

Ebola can lurk in fluid-filled cavities in the brain and kill monkeys, even after the animals have been treated for the disease and seem to have recovered, a new study shows. The study, conducted in rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta), hints at why some human Ebola survivors relapse and die months...

Jul 28, 2022

Ebola: Causes, symptoms, treatments & vaccines

Ebola virus disease (EVD), formerly known as Ebola haemorrhagic fever, is a severe and often fatal infection caused by viruses in the genus Ebolavirus. The largest Ebola outbreak to date took place between 2014 and 2016 and primarily affected countries in West Africa, including Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, according...

Oct 26, 2021

FDA panel recommends Pfizer vaccine for children ages 5 to 11

A Food and Drug Administration (FDA) panel of experts voted to recommend authorizing the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for children ages 5 to 11. In a live broadcast session, the Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee met on Tuesday (Oct. 26) to discuss safety and efficacy of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19...

Nov 5, 2021

Antiviral pill cuts COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths by 89%, Pfizer says

A new COVID-19 pill cuts the risk of hospitalization or death by 89% when taken within three days of symptom onset, Pfizer recently announced. The antiviral pill, PAXLOVID, was given in a placebo-controlled clinical trial to people with COVID-19 who were at high risk of developing severe disease. The pill...

Nov 12, 2021

California and Colorado start COVID-19 booster shots for all adults

Adults in California and Colorado can receive a COVID-19 booster shot if it has been at least six months since their second dose of the Moderna or Pfizer vaccines, according to the states' public health departments. This guidance expands the recommendation from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)...

Nov 14, 2021

A version of this gene doubles the risk of dying from COVID-19

Researchers have identified a version of a gene that doubles a person's risk of severe COVID-19 and doubles the risk of death from the disease for people under 60. The gene, LZTFL1, is involved in the regulation of lung cells in response to infection. When the risky version of the...

Nov 19, 2021

FDA authorizes Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 booster shots for all adults

On Friday (Nov. 19), the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorized COVID-19 booster doses for all adults 18 years of age or older, who previously received two doses of Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccines. If a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) advisory committee that meets today then recommends...

Nov 29, 2021

The Omicron variant: What we know so far

On Nov. 26, the World Health Organization (WHO) named a new coronavirus variant Omicron and designated it as a variant of concern. But what makes this SARS-CoV-2 variant different and why are scientists worried about it? Because the variant has only been recently identified, there's a lot we don't know...

Dec 1, 2021

1st case of omicron variant in US confirmed in California

Officials have confirmed the first known omicron variant (B.1.1.529) case in the United States. The case was an individual who had returned to California from South Africa on Nov. 22 and tested positive for COVID-19 on Nov. 29, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and...

Dec 2, 2021

Omicron variant may have evolved in rats, one theory says

The newly identified omicron coronavirus variant may have evolved in a nonhuman animal species, potentially a rodent, some scientists suggest. According to this theory, an animal may have picked up SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, around mid-2020, STAT reported. After accumulating many mutations in the animal, the altered coronavirus...

Dec 8, 2021

Newfound flavor of omicron variant may be harder to track

Scientists have identified an additional version of the omicron coronavirus variant, one that carries many of the same mutations as the original but lacks one key genetic quirk, The Guardian reported. That quirk makes it easy for standard PCR tests to distinguish new cases of omicron from delta or other...