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

Jan 11, 2019

Here's How Many People Have Caught the Flu So Far This Season (Hint: It's a Lot)

We're in the midst of flu season, and millions of people have caught the virus already. Influenza has sickened an estimated 6 million to 7 million Americans since October, according to new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Although health officials closely track the flu every...

Jan 30, 2019

The Flu Is Tied to an Increased Risk of Stroke and Ruptured Arteries

Two new studies have found a link between the flu and an increased risk of two serious conditions: stroke and rupture of the neck arteries. The studies both used a database of patient records in New York state to examine whether having flu-like symptoms — such as fever, cough, body...

Mar 14, 2019

We’re Due For a Flu Pandemic. How Will It Start?

A flu pandemic could strike without warning in the coming years, global health experts warn. The World Health Organization addressed the possibility of a flu pandemic — a flu that emerges and spreads around the world — in a statement released on Monday (March 11). But in this ever-connected world,...

Apr 1, 2019

After a Bout of Flu, Mice Grow Taste Bud Cells in Their Lungs

A bout of influenza may have a long-lasting side effect: The growth of bizarrely out-of-place taste bud cells in the lungs. New research conducted in mice finds that the growth of these taste bud cells may be linked to long-term problems with lung function after the flu, though additional research...

Sep 28, 2019

Why the Flu Shot Can't Give You the Flu

Flu vaccination prevents millions of flu-related illnesses and deaths annually, but vaccination rates are low for many reasons. During the 2018-2019 flu season, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that about 45% of U.S. adults received the flu vaccine. While this is an increase of 8% from 2017-2018,...

Dec 9, 2019

Flu Season Is Off to an Early (and Weird) Start

Flu season is here, and it's off to a strange start. The first unusual thing about this year's flu season is how early it arrived. There are now 12 U.S. states reporting high levels of flu activity (mostly in the South) and 15 states reporting moderate activity, according to data...

Dec 16, 2019

Can You Catch a Cold and the Flu at the Same Time?

Catching a cold when you already have the flu sounds like a nightmare scenario. But fortunately, this doesn't happen very often, a new study finds. Indeed, the researchers found that having the flu actually reduces a person's chances of developing an infection with a common cold virus. What we found...

Jan 7, 2020

Child Flu Deaths Hit Record High for This Time of Year

This year's flu season is shaping up to be a severe one, particularly for children. So far this season, 27 U.S. children have died from the flu, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). That's the highest number of pediatric flu deaths reported at this point in...

Jan 13, 2020

Your Blood Type Might Influence Your Risk of Getting the Stomach Flu

In the last few months, schools all over the country have closed because of outbreaks of norovirus. Also known as stomach flu, norovirus infections cause watery diarrhea, low-grade fever and, most alarming of all, projectile vomiting, which is an extremely effective way of spreading the virus. Norovirus is very infectious...

Feb 14, 2020

Flu season is getting weirder

Coronavirus may be in the headlines, but it's still flu season, and a weird one at that — officials are seeing a new spike in flu activity as a second strain of flu hits on the heels of the first. The 2019-2020 flu season already had an unusual start —...

Feb 20, 2020

Despite a 'double-barreled' flu season, the vaccine is mostly doing its job

Despite a weird flu season, this year's flu shot is working relatively well to prevent influenza, particularly among children, according to a new report. In the new report, researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimated the flu shot's effectiveness in more than 4,000 U.S. children and...

Mar 9, 2020

Scientists may be 'on the cusp' of a universal flu vaccine

We may be one step closer to a universal flu vaccine, according to a new study. In the study, published Monday (March 9) in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine, researchers found that a single dose of the vaccine, called Flu-v, elicited greater immune responses than placebo in a small...

Jul 1, 2020

New flu virus with 'pandemic potential' found in pigs. Here's what that means.

In the midst of COVID-19, the last thing we need is another pandemic. But scientists in China are now warning that they have identified a new flu virus in pigs that could possibly cause a future flu pandemic. The virus, called G4 EA H1N1, is a genetic mix of the...

Dec 7, 2020

How a flu virus shut down the US economy in 1872 — by infecting horses

In 1872 the U.S. economy was growing as the young nation industrialized and expanded westward. Then in the autumn, a sudden shock paralyzed social and economic life. It was an energy crisis of sorts, but not a shortage of fossil fuels. Rather, the cause was a virus that spread among...

Feb 10, 2021

Next flu season could be extra weird, and potentially very bad

Social distancing has nearly extinguished the spread of influenza and other respiratory viruses. But that means future outbreaks could be severe — and may come at weird or unexpected times, experts are warning. In the short-term, fewer cases of flu mean fewer flu deaths and hospitalizations, taking some burden off...