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NEWS ABOUT: virus

Scientists Find First Human Infected With Gorilla HIV

Disease continues to evolve

(Newser) - A woman from Cameroon living in Paris is the first human discovered to be infected with a form of HIV found in gorillas, HealthDay reports. The finding is yet another indication that the disease continues to mutate and to be transmitted by primates. The woman, 62, has not developed symptoms... More »

WHO Gives Up on Counting Swine Flu Cases

(Newser) - The World Health Organization today instructed member nations to stop counting cases of the rapidly spreading swine flu pandemic and focus instead on the most serious, Reuters reports. “Trying to register and report every single case is a huge waste of resources,” a spokesman said. Authorities should continue... More »

Passenger Dies on Luxury Flu-Liner

(Newser) - A 74-year-old passenger has died after some 150 people fell ill with suspected norovirus on the luxury cruise liner Marco Polo, reports the BBC. The ship was touring the UK and Ireland with some 1100 passengers and staff when the illness broke out. The liner is currently being held at... More »

What if Swine Flu Meets Bird Flu?

A hybrid could stymie vaccines, increase disease's killing power

(Newser) - Among the scarier prospects for the future of swine flu, which has reached pandemic status but killed relatively few people, is that it mixes with bird flu to form a lethal hybrid. Jokes about flying pigs aside, a mix of the easily spreadable H1N1 and the especially virulent bird flu... More »

Safer Stem Cells Bring Real-Life Treatments Closer

New possibility of regrown tissue without risk of rejection

(Newser) - In a development that brings practical applications of manufactured stem cells closer than ever, scientists have created stem-like cells using human skin cells, Reuters reports. "After a few more flight tests—in order to assure everything is working properly—it should be ready for commercial use," a researcher... More »

Experts: Don't Blame Pigs for Swine Flu

H1N1 virus likely arose among jet-setting humans

(Newser) - The humble porker shouldn't be the one taking the blame for the H1N1 virus, scientists tell the Los Angeles Times. Pigs provided some of the raw material for the virus, experts say, but so did birds and humans. The most likely incubators and spreaders of the virus, according to scientists,... More »

Flu-Phobic Consider Intentional Infection

(Newser) - With panic over the H1N1 flu virus on the wane, some Americans are pondering allowing themselves to become infected in hopes of building immunity against potentially more virulent strains, the New York Times reports. Doctors are split on the idea. "I think it's totally nuts," says a flu... More »

Seasonal Flu Strain May Have Mutated

Canadian researchers say H3N2 virus mutated from vaccine strain

(Newser) - A mutated version of the seasonal strain of flu targeted by this season's vaccine has surfaced in a traveler entering Canada from Mexico, Reuters reports. The development complicates the tracking of the virus in Mexico, which has suffered the majority of infections and deaths. The variant was previously found in... More »

Mexico Protests 'Unjustified' Response as Flu Stabilizes

Health minister targets countries for restricting travel to country

(Newser) - Mexico is striking back at countries it says are overreacting to swine flu fears, BBC reports. The country’s foreign minister singled out China, Peru, Argentina, Cuba, and Ecuador for halting flights to Mexico, saying, “We’re surprised by the adoption of unjustified measures.” The news comes as... More »

Rumors as Virulent as Swine Flu Itself

Theories implicate everyone from Smithfield Foods to al-Qaeda as responsible

(Newser) - Rumors about the origins of the swine flu outbreak are spreading faster than the virus itself, with theories ranging from a group of slaughtered pigs in China to an al-Qaeda conspiracy, Reuters reports. China’s government was actually prompted into making a formal statement by international media reports suggesting that... More »

Mexico's First Flu Death Exposes Containment Trouble

Response quick, but follow-up efforts weak

(Newser) - After a 39-year-old woman became Mexico’s first person to die of swine flu, authorities quickly responded—but efforts were mixed, the AP finds. Medical teams interviewed 472 people who possibly had contact with the woman, a tax collector whose family runs a convenience store; they temporarily closed the ICU... More »

Avoid Planes, Trains, Closed Spaces: Biden

It's too late to close Mexico border, he says

(Newser) - Joe Biden is advising his family to avoid confined places where swine flu could spread easily, including airplanes, subways, classrooms, and malls, the VP told the Today Show today. A single sneeze "goes all the way through the aircraft," he noted. Biden also said it's too late to... More »

Twitter Amplifies Swine Flu Fear

(Newser) - Twitter and other social networks are creating a swine-flu panic out of a molehill with their instantaneous updates, Robert X. Cringely writes for InfoWorld. The quick flow of less-than-dependable information means “people with head colds decide they're really dying from a porcine-borne bug and flood emergency rooms.” And... More »

Swine Flu Confirmed in UK

Pair brings disease home from a trip to Mexico

(Newser) - Two British citizens have contracted swine flu, the virus that has killed at least 149 people in Mexico and sickened 20 in the US, the Guardian reports. The pair returned from a trip to Mexico last week and fell ill, the Scottish health minister said today. Seven others who had... More »

USDA Says Pork Is Safe to Eat

(AP) - Fear of swine flu is a good reason to wash your hands, but not to take pork off the menu. Federal health officials say the virus that has triggered fears of a flu pandemic is not transmitted by food, and that all food-borne germs are killed when pork is cooked... More »

Swine Flu Hits Hardest Among Young Adults

Excessive immune reaction may be at fault in Mexican deaths

(Newser) - The swine flu sweeping through Mexico is wreaking havoc among young adults in particular, reports the Washington Post, with the entire death toll as of yesterday comprised of those between 25 and 50. Some believe the trouble for young adults is an overpowering immune reaction that ravages throat and lung... More »

Perry Asks Feds for Swine Flu Meds

Seems like only yesterday he was talkin' 'bout a secession

(Newser) - Turning sharply from tea party-inspired talk of secession, Texas Gov. Rick Perry is responding to three known cases of swine flu in his state by asking the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to hand over 37,430 precautionary doses of antiviral meds, the San Marcos Daily Record reports.... More »

8 NYC Students Have Swine Flu, CDC Says

Bloomberg confirms suspicions, awaits tests on more students

(AP) - The CDC has confirmed that eight New York City schoolchildren were infected with swine flu, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said today, stressing that the cases were mild and many are recovering. The city is awaiting the tests of additional samples to see if more students are infected. Some students at St.... More »

Swine Flu Spreads as Far as New Zealand

10 students infected with mild strain after returning from Mexico

(AP) - Ten students from New Zealand who just returned from Mexico have tested positive for influenza, and the country's health minister said the cases are "likely" to be swine flu. The students were quarantined after returning to New Zealand yesterday, and one student had to be hospitalized. The minister added... More »

Swine Flu Cases Rise to 11 in US; 8 Probable in NYC

'We don’t think we can contain the spread of this virus:' CDC official

(Newser) - Swine flu pandemic fears grew today as three new cases surfaced in Kansas and California, bringing the US total to 11. Meanwhile, doctors diagnosed eight "probable" cases among New York City schoolchildren, MSNBC reports. The US victims appear to be recovering, in contrast to Mexico, where 81 people have... More »

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