It’s long been understood that our immune systems get worse as we age.
But, recently scientists conducted a study for a virus that causes a different effect. In the study, the virus can trigger an older persons immune system to fight other pathogens.
The new study was conducted on the virus called Cytomegalovirus, or CMV. Not only does the virus prove helpful, but also very common in humans. According to the CDC, the virus infects one-third of children before they turn five.
Yellow fever and malaria are both mosquito-borne diseases, but what makes them different? In this post we’re going to compare the two illnesses to help you understand each one inside and out.
How and Where do Malaria and Yellow Fever Spread?
The CDC shares that malaria spreads through Anopheles mosquitoes while yellow fever transmission occurs with Aedes or Haemagogus species.
Two years after the height of the Zika outbreak, we’re still learning more dangers of the virus.
New research published in Nature reports that Zika infection greatly increases risk of miscarriages and stillbirths. It’s not the possibility of these effects that surprises scientists. They knew of some risk, but the research shows that chances could triple what recent calculations estimated.
When the Zika outbreak began, it was largely feared for the birth defects it could cause. Because of the 2018 study, we now know infection can also lead to placenta damage, which in turn may result in a loss of pregnancy.
For the last five decades, cholera has been a consistent health risk in various parts of the world. Recent outbreaks in Haiti and Yemen have proven difficult to stop, but cholera risks started long before.
It hasn’t always been that way.
Research published in the National Academy of Sciences reveals the source of that ongoing cholera problem. An evolved bacterial signaling network has been the source of global cholera deaths for over 50 years.
In the past, animals have been carriers of various new flu strains.
Birds and pigs both developed the virus in the past, eventually passing them on to humans. Once we were infected, the terms bird flu and swine flu filled news coverage. Around the world, people worried about the deadly risks brought on by these outbreaks.
A new study concluded that dogs may be the source of the next flu epidemic. Conducted by the Global Health and Emerging Pathogens Institute at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, the study showed that canine have the potential to host a new, dangerous strain.
