A retrospective study of 17 COVID-19 survivors with lingering symptoms reveals that 10 (59%) had nerve damage, which the researchers said could have been triggered by potentially treatable infection-related immune dysfunction.
In an ongoing surge of MERS-CoV activity, Saudi Arabia's health ministry today announced nine new cases, including seven that are possibly linked to a hospital outbreak in Wadi ad-Dawasir, according to an update to its epidemiological week 7 report.
Re-creating known pathogenic viruses and making existing bacteria more dangerous are among the top threats.
Researchers are relieved to resume experiments, but some public health questions remain.
In a sample from a patient who died, researchers saw signs that the H7N9 virus had started to mutate to a form resistant to Tamiflu.
In the latest gain-of-function (GOF) study, South Korean researchers have substituted genes from H5N1 avian influenza onto an H5N8 avian flu virus and found that it caused greater pathogenicity and up to a 1,000-fold greater virulence in mice.
Though the technology isn't likely within reach of do-it-yourselfers, it could already be in use by rogue governments, experts say.
In a gain-of-function (GOF) experiment, Belgian researchers showed that serial passaging of H9N2 avian flu viruses in pigs enhanced the virus's replication and transmissibility, the scientists reported yesterday in PLoS One.
President-elect Donald Trump has named Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., an outspoken critic of vaccines, chair of a panel on vaccine safety and scientific integrity, according to the Washington Post today. Trump met with Kennedy at Trump Towers in New York today.
The group voted unanimously on policy regarding avian flu and other viruses.
