Word: viruses
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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Like a patient suffering from a particularly tenacious case of, well, the flu, the H1N1 virus seemed to gain ground and then lose it over the weekend, leaving health officials cautious but hopeful that the disease might be on the wane. The number of confirmed infections continues to rise, with the World Health Organization (WHO) reporting 898 infections in 18 countries as of May 3, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) tallying 226 confirmed cases in 30 U.S. states. The continuing spread led Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano to predict on Sunday that the WHO might soon...
...global network of flu experts began to take a good look at the genetic structure of the H1N1 virus, there were indications that the bug might turn out to be little more dangerous than an average flu. Though scientists can't say exactly what genes make a particular strain of flu unusually deadly, all of the viruses that triggered pandemics over the past century - the catastrophic 1918 flu, but also the 1957 and 1968 pandemics - had a particular mutation in the gene that makes a protein called PB1-F2. The H1N1 virus also seems to lack mutations that make...
...Another concern about panic is declining sales in industries associated with the outbreak. For instance, U.S. hog markets have been hurt recently as consumers scared about the flu are avoiding pig products. This behavior is irrational: Unlike mad cow disease, which involves prions that can stick around after death, viruses need their host to be alive and cannot survive cooking, so there’s no danger in eating cooked meat of a pig that was sick before it died. The Feds have tried to explain this to Americans and have even started calling the virus “H1N1?...
...Read "Why Border Controls Can't Keep Out the Flu Virus...
...first concern for Fort Worth's parents is the health of their children. Four hundred miles from the Mexican border, the threat of swine flu - now known as H1N1 virus - has been serious enough to cause citywide school and daycare shutdowns...