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

Jul 5, 2019

Space Radiation Doesn't Seem to Be Causing Astronauts to Die from Cancer, Study Finds

Outer space is a notoriously harsh environment, exposing astronauts to high levels of radiation. And radiation exposure can increase cancer and heart disease rates in earthbound humans. But a new study has some good news: Space radiation doesn't seem to increase astronauts' risk of death from cancer or heart disease,...

Jul 11, 2019

A Common Cold Virus Wiped Away Bladder Cancer in One Patient

A simple cold virus could wipe out tumors in a form of bladder cancer, a small new study suggests. Though the idea of using viruses to fight cancer isn't new, this is the first time a cold virus effectively treated an early-stage form of bladder cancer. In one patient, it...

Aug 7, 2019

Cancer Patients Get Rare Blood Infection After Nurse Dilutes Opioids with Tap Water

Half a dozen cancer patients in New York developed a rare infection after they received injectable opioids that a nurse had diluted with tap water, according to a new report. It appears that the nurse tampered with the syringes to remove some of the narcotics for her own use, replacing...

Aug 23, 2019

Ruth Bader Ginsberg Just Completed Another Cancer Treatment, and She's Good to Go.

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg just completed three weeks of radiation therapy at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York after doctors found a cancerous tumor on her pancreas, the U.S. Supreme Court revealed in a statement released Friday (Aug. 23). Her treatment went well and doctors found...

Sep 17, 2019

'Cannibalistic' Cancer Cells Gobble Up Their Own Kind in Microscopic 'Horror Films'

Human breast cancer cells treated with a chemotherapy drug pull nearby tumor cells (red) into centers for digestion, called lysosomes (green). (Image credit: Tonnessen-Murray et al., 2019)Some cancer cells devour their own kind in an act of cannibalism, and now, scientists have captured the grisly act on camera. New videos...

Sep 20, 2019

Man's 'Bug Bite' Was Really a Sign of Leukemia

When a man in Ohio developed a swollen lump on his foot, he thought it was just a particularly painful and stubborn bug bite. So he was stunned to find out that it was actually a sign of leukemia, according to news reports. The man, 46-year-old Mike Balla, first noticed...

Nov 6, 2019

Doctors Are Trying to Use CRISPR to Fight Cancer. The 1st Trial Suggests It's Safe.

In the first clinical trial of its kind, researchers used the gene-editing tool CRISPR to fine-tune the DNA of people's immune cells, in hopes of fighting cancer. Now, preliminary data from the trial suggest that this technique is safe for use in cancer patients. This is proof that we can...

Nov 19, 2019

Bram Stoker's Vampire Victim Shows 'Textbook' Leukemia Symptoms

Victims of vampire attacks in 19th-century novels didn't just turn pale, swoon and waste away; they displayed a wide range of symptoms that hinted at deadly attacks by a fanged, bloodsucking predator. However, the descriptions of those symptoms were likely grounded in observations of real medical conditions. In fact, the...

Nov 20, 2019

'Doughnut-Shaped' DNA Makes Cancer More Aggressive

Cancer cells may owe some of their destructive nature to unique, doughnut-shaped DNA, according to a new study. The study, published today (Nov. 20) in the journal Nature, found that, in some cancer cells, DNA doesn't pack into thread-like structures like it does in healthy cells — rather, the genetic...

Nov 27, 2019

The Placenta 'Invades' the Uterus in the Same Way Cancer Invades the Body

Cancer and pregnancy may be more similar than you think, at the cellular level, anyway. Early in human pregnancy, cells from the placenta infiltrate a major artery in the uterus and overtake the cells there, according to the National Institutes of Health. This invasion widens the blood vessel and allows...

Dec 1, 2019

Why Do Some Forms of Leukemia Affect Mostly Children?

Certain forms of leukemia tend to strike early in life and affect far more children than adults. Leukemia, which disrupts normal cell growth in the blood and bone marrow, accounts for nearly one-third of all childhood cancer cases, according to the American Cancer Society (ACS). The disease manifests in various...

Jan 10, 2020

Future 'Flash' Radiation Therapy Could Treat Cancer in Milliseconds

Someday, specialized systems could barrage cancer patients with particles to deliver a full course of radiation therapy in mere microseconds, new research suggests. Using an emerging technique known as flash radiotherapy, doctors could eradicate tumors in a fraction of the time and at a fraction of the cost of traditional...

Jan 20, 2020

Could Scientists 'Hack' the Zika Virus to Kill Brain Cancer?

The mosquito-spread Zika virus known for its links to brain damage in babies born to infected mothers has the potential to target and destroy brain cancer, scientists have found. New research has revealed that the Zika virus breaks into brain cells by using a special molecular key, and scientists think...

Jan 24, 2020

Neuroblastoma: Causes, symptoms & treatment

Neuroblastoma is a rare type of cancerous tumor that's most commonly diagnosed in infants and children under age 5. It is extremely rare in people over age 10. Neuroblastoma is the most common type of solid cancerous tumor, other than brain tumors, found in children, said Dr. Alison Friedmann, a...

Feb 20, 2020

Prostate cancer: Causes, symptoms & treatment

Prostate cancer occurs when the cells in the prostate gland grow uncontrollably, which can spread or cause complications due to an abnormally enlarged prostate. This type of cancer is the second most common form of cancer in men globally, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). The prostate gland is...