virus

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US Gets First Case of Deadly MERS Virus

Traveler from Saudi Arabia is infected in Indiana hospital

(Newser) - The CDC today is reporting an unwanted milestone—the first known case of a deadly virus known as MERS has shown up in the US, reports NBC News . The patient is an unidentified health care worker who traveled to the US from Saudi Arabia and is now being treated at...

STD Makes Crickets Mate Like Crazy

Highly contagious iridovirus also causes infertility, death

(Newser) - A newly discovered virus boosts the libido, encouraging those infected—that would be crickets, not humans—to have sex more often and with more partners. The highly contagious iridovirus transmits itself via close contact while mating, but not via insemination; it apparently passes from one's antennae to another's...

New Smallpox-Like Virus Discovered

Two herdsmen in country of Georgia infected, says CDC

(Newser) - The virus is so newly discovered that it hasn't yet been named, and what's known about it is scant. But the CDC today revealed that the virus, which has saddled two herdsmen in the country of Georgia with blisters on their arms and hands, is what NPR calls...

Middle East Sees Spike in Cases of Lethal Virus

92 have died since 2012

(Newser) - A respiratory virus identified in 2012 has since claimed 92 lives—and recent days have seen cases soar. Last week, Saudi Arabia reported 15 new cases of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome within four days; this weekend, the United Arab Emirates announced that paramedics were the victims in six additional cases....

Scientists: Just 5 Mutations and Bird Flu Goes Airborne

But it's not known if those mutations could happen outside a lab

(Newser) - H5N1 has killed 60% of the 650 humans it's known to have infected in nearly two decades, making it an incredibly deadly but difficult to transmit virus. A new study tries to answer the question of how little it would take to make bird flu easily spreadable. The conclusion:...

Ebola Outbreak Spreads in West Africa

Doctors Without Borders scrambles to help victims in Guinea

(Newser) - An outbreak of Ebola has killed more than 50 people in the West African country of Guinea, NPR reports. Guinea's first-ever outbreak of the disease among humans has officially killed 59, and another 21 are suffering from symptoms such as fever, vomiting, and diarrhea. "But you have to...

Diarrhea Virus Now Killing Pigs in 27 States

Virginia could be next

(Newser) - The porcine epidemic diarrhea virus is becoming more of a, well, epidemic. Arizona has now become the 27th state to reveal that the disease has hits its hog farms (up from 22 states last month), and Virginia could soon be No. 28. That state has already seen positive samples of...

Giant Virus Wakes After 30K Years in Siberia

It's still infectious after millennia in permafrost

(Newser) - The biggest virus ever discovered is awake—and infectious—after a 30,000-year nap buried deep in Siberian permafrost. Pithovirus sibericum, a member of a recently discovered class of giant viruses, was found 100 feet deep in the frozen ground. It only infects amoebas, but the researchers who uncovered it...

'Piglet Smoothie' Keeps Hogs Virus-Free

Humane Society exposes icky practice at Kentucky farm

(Newser) - This is about as unappetizing a meal as you could get. The Humane Society has exposed a method of dealing with the fast-spreading porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) that's killed more than 2 million piglets since April: Grind up the intestines of piglets that succumbed to it, and feed...

Report Shows Just How Innovative Target Hack Was

Virus is impervious to antivirus software, uses method 'new to eCrime'

(Newser) - It looks like the hackers that hit Target had lots of other, well, targets. The Department of Homeland Security recently sent retailers and financial service companies a secret memo warning that the Target hit appeared to be part of a larger international campaign, the Wall Street Journal reports, an insight...

SARS-Like Virus Traced to—Camels?

Study finds virus antibodies in some camels from Oman, Canary Islands

(Newser) - Researchers have overcome a major hump in tracing the deadly MERS virus : Camels may be the source of infection. A study published in the Lancet reports that antibodies to the virus were found in blood samples taken from dromedary camels in Oman and the Canary Islands—"compelling evidence that...

Scientists: Time to Make Our Own Bird Flu

Call to study a strain perhaps more dangerous to humans

(Newser) - Concerns about the H7N9 bird flu virus are heating up, with a report this week detailing an apparent transmission of the disease between two people. Typically, humans are only infected by poultry, USA Today notes, but a study suggests a 60-year-old man who died after getting the disease gave it...

Now Yellowstone Knows How Cruise Ships Feel

It's dealing with a norovirus outbreak

(Newser) - A highly contagious virus famed for striking cruise ships is now attacking those on some pretty prominent dry land: Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks. Some 200 have been hit by the norovirus there so far, though tourists have gotten the longer end of the stick, with 150 employees and...

Deadly SARS-Like Virus Spreads to Another Country

As WHO warns virus is 'threat to the entire world'

(Newser) - MERS-CoV, the potentially deadly virus that spread from the Middle East to France last month , is now creeping further, with three cases reported in Italy this weekend. The patients, a 42-year-old woman, 45-year-old man, and 2-year-old girl, are said to be in stable condition. The man recently traveled to Jordan,...

US Snaps Up Huge Stockpile of Smallpox Drug

Experts question need for $463M anti-bioterror buy

(Newser) - More than 30 years after the World Health Organization declared smallpox eradicated, the federal government has spent $463 million on enough medicine to treat two million cases. The only stocks of the smallpox virus known to still exist are in heavily guarded labs in Atlanta and Moscow, but experts won'...

Of Dozen People With New SARS-Like Virus, 6 Dead

But threat remains low even after death of UK patient

(Newser) - A UK patient has died after being infected with a SARS-like virus, meaning 50% of the known victims of the disease have now died. But the BBC reports that even with the staggering mortality rate, the novel coronavirus isn't considered a major threat because it doesn't easily move...

Doctors: West Nile Virus May Have Dangerously Mutated

But CDC says it hasn't seen evidence of that

(Newser) - The West Nile virus appears to be ramping up attacks on the brain, say two doctors who have been treating sufferers of the virus for years, prompting fears the virus has mutated into a more threatening form. Mississippi doctor Art Leis tells the Washington Post that for the first time,...

New SARS-like Virus Does Not Spread Easily: WHO

One person has been killed so far, another critically ill

(Newser) - Good news from the World Health Organization, which is still investigating a new SARS-like virus : It's not easily transmitted from one person to another. Scientists think the virus, which has killed one person and left another critically ill, developed from animals. No new cases have been reported since a...

WHO Finds New Virus Similar to SARS

But don't freak out yet, expert says

(Newser) - Time to panic? The World Health Organization says it has identified a new SARS-like virus, but an expert says there's no reason yet to worry. The new coronavirus—a family of viruses that includes both SARS and the common cold—was identified in a 49-year-old Qatari man who had...

CDC Finds New 'Heartland' Virus in Missouri

Tick-borne bug is new to science

(Newser) - Two unlucky farmers in Missouri helped scientists discover a brand-new virus with an all-American name. The two are the only known victims of the Heartland tick-borne virus, detected through genetic analysis by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, reports NPR . Both men recovered, but they were sick for weeks...

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