Category Archives: Viruses

A Marvellous Month of Infectious Science

Cold weather helps to spread flu across the country A very cool new study from McMaster University researchers shows how weather patterns impact the spread of influenza A virus across Canada. Using outbreak data gathered over more than 13 years, … Continue reading

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Posted in Bacteria, Disease, Immunology, Microorganisms, Science, Vaccines, Viruses | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Clouds of decoy viruses help cure genetic disease

The presence of foreign objects, like viruses, in our bloodstream is usually a bad thing. Evolution has created some extremely efficient immune cells that patrol the blood, seeking out material that should not be there, and shutting it down. Sometimes, … Continue reading

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Turning insect viruses into cancer therapies

Gene therapy is a pretty promising approach for lots of different diseases, and has already overcome a huge hurdle with the approval of the very first gene therapy product, Glybera, by the European Commission in 2012. At its core, gene … Continue reading

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24 hours in the life of HIV

Human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV, only emerged in humans relatively recently, yet already represents a big public health threat. When HIV enters the human body, often through sexual contact or the sharing of needles between drug users, it shows a … Continue reading

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