Word: viruses
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...they also carried something new. First there was one fever, then six, then nine campers fell ill in a single day. By the end of the first full week, dozens of kids were sleeping on state-issued cots in a specially quarantined cabin, waiting out a pandemic flu virus that is barnstorming its way across the globe. Camp Modin was not alone; so far this summer, at least 80 camps in 40 American states, including a full quarter of Maine's residential summer camps, have reportedly been hit by the bug known worldwide as H1N1. Across the Atlantic, Britain...
...hovering in the background of the current pandemic is the possibility that H1N1's virulence might suddenly change. Flu's hardiness as a recurring human scourge is the result of its unstable genetic structure. One flu virus can easily swap genetic information with another, or mutate as it reproduces in the human respiratory tract. The World Health Organization tracks flu viruses for changes in their genetic makeup that would make them more deadly. But even exhaustive 21st century virology can only help health officials react to what's already happened. The best laboratory in which to study the flu virus...
Even without any significant mutations, H1N1 has so far behaved in confounding ways. The virus spread widely in Britain during the summer, but not in other European countries. No one knows why. Mexico reported a sharp increase in cases in late July after health officials there suspected that the virus had begun petering out with the onset of the hot summer months. And then there is emerging evidence that some patients present without fever, making diagnosing H1N1 harder...
...Mobilization If H1N1 is too widespread to contain, we're less sure how it will move through the coming northern winter. In the southern hemisphere, where it is winter now, the virus has been spreading fast, but with a low mortality rate. On Aug. 5, Argentina reported that deaths from H1N1 had more than doubled to 337 from 165 two weeks earlier, with around 700,000 suspected cases of the disease so far. The impact has been widespread. Attendance has dropped at Patagonian ski resorts, and flu fears have crippled the Buenos Aires theater business. Across the region, countries...
...Daniels have spent the bulk of their working lives searching for a virus that could cause a pandemic. Now they are watching a pandemic unfold in front of their eyes. When he talks about influenza, Daniels tends to use his hand as a visual aid, cupping his palm to mimic the virus's spherical structure and pretending his curled fingers are the sphere's protein spikes. As he looks down at his hand, his face breaks into a wry smile. "Forget the pandemic strain for a second and consider seasonal flu," he says. "How this virus can continue to evolve...