What Lies Beneath the Ice? Maybe the Flu

Agency orders worldwide vaccines

(NEWSER) - Concerns continue to mount about swine flu in the wake of the World Health Organization's declaration that the illness is "unstoppable" and the deaths in Britain of two apparently strong individuals, a 6-year-old girl and a doctor. WHO officials are calling for worldwide vaccines to protect populations before they contract the disease. The CDC estimates at least 1 million people are currently infected in the US alone. More»

(NEWSER) - The US could experience an extended or even year-round flu season thanks to H1N1, the Centers for Disease Control said yesterday. Researchers theorize that a combination of unprepared immune systems and the unusually cool spring could be contributing to the steady stream of flu infections. “The fact that we are seeing ongoing transmission now indicates that we are seeing something different,” said one CDC doctor. More»

H1N1 has spread to 74 countries, but may be milder than first thought

(NEWSER) - The World Health Organization has declared the first influenza pandemic since 1968, Reuters reports. Although the current outbreak has caused mostly mild cases of the illness, today's official declaration that the outbreak has hit phase 6, the highest level, means heightened prevention measures in 193 countries. The designation refers to the geographical spread of the disease, not the severity. More»

(NEWSER) - Schools and museums are closed, sold-out soccer games are being played in empty stadiums, and health workers are ordering sickly passengers off subways and buses. At nightclubs, teenagers are dancing with surgical masks on. Mexico City is grappling with what authorities fear is ground zero for a global epidemic of a new kind of flu—a strange mix of human, pig, and bird viruses that appears to have killed 68 people and has sickened more than 1,000. More»

Canadians find chunk of permafrost that survived steamier climates

(NEWSER) - Canadian scientists have found the oldest chunk of ice in North America, the Globe and Mail reports, a discovery that suggests the earth’s carbon-laden permafrost may be more resistant to global warming than once thought. The 700,000-year-old chunk of Yukon ice has stayed frozen through two ancient, hotter times, which might mean a slower melt than feared for the permafrost that covers a quarter of the Northern Hemisphere’s land mass. More»