Word: viruses
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...virus become resistant to Tamiflu...
...last flu season, when the CDC reported that 11% of flu cases were resistant to Tamiflu. According to Dr. Joseph Bresee, chief of the epidemiology and prevention branch of the CDC's influenza division, experts believe the resistant strain is the result of a spontaneous mutation in the influenza virus genome and not the result of overuse of antimicrobial agents like Tamiflu to treat the infection. That's based on the fact that during the last flu season, the resistant strain was widespread in countries with low Tamiflu use like Norway but less common in places like Japan where reliance...
Herpes, improbably, is killing elephants too - at least the Asian species. Wild African elephants are often infected with a form of herpes virus that causes them little illness or discomfort, but when the two species were brought together in zoos, the virus jumped to the Asians and mutated into a lethal form. "Zoos have accidentally created this," says Mason. "It's killing Asian elephant adults, and it's a leading cause of the species' infant mortality." (See pictures of Asian elephants...
Condom use waned in the 1960s after the introduction of the birth control pill and remained stagnant until the arrival of the HIV virus in the 1980s, at which time sales exploded, jumping 33% in the U.S. in 1987. Today some 6 billion condoms are sold worldwide each year, though sales have plateaued in the past decade - policy experts blame "prevention fatigue," while condom makers (the ones targeting men, anyway) have responded by becoming increasingly creative, or perhaps ridiculous. What began as a simple choice between lubricated, ribbed or custom-fit now includes flavored, novelty (Star Wars prophylactic, anyone...
...right to pass the blame. Pathogens like the influenza virus pass like a holiday fruitcake from person to person, but you probably don't think much past the one who gave it directly to you. An infectious-disease expert, on the other hand, would not be satisfied to stop there. What about the person who passed the virus on to your colleague, the one before him and others earlier still? Contagious diseases operate like a giant infectious network, spreading like the latest YouTube clip among friends of friends online. We're social animals; we share. (See the Year in Health...