Tag: disease

Good news for fighting viral pandemics:

A 60-second test for virus infections. Best bit: “You could actually apply it to a person walking off a plane and know if they’re infected.”

A new way to kill disease-causing bacteria

Clay: not just for pottery any more.

The common cold

It’s January: if you don’t have a cold yourself, you know someone who does. The common cold is caused by a virus infection in the nose, although colds can also involve the sinuses, ears and bronchial tubes. Symptoms include sneezing, a runny and/or stuffed-up nose, a sore or scratchy throat, cough, hoarseness, and sometimes headaches, …

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Ebola

Ebola hemorrhagic fever is in the news again, due to an outbreak in Gabon. Ebola is always news because, unlike most rare tropical diseases, it’s part of pop culture, thanks to Richard Preston’s 1994 best-seller The Hot Zone and Dustin Hoffman’s 1995 movie Outbreak. As a result, many people follow news of Ebola outbreaks with bated breath, wondering …

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Alzheimer’s Disease

There are few diseases as frightening as Alzheimer’s. Most diseases, even if they ravage your body, leave your mind intact. Alzheimer’s leaves the body intact but robs victims of their memories and personality. No wonder it is sometimes called “dying by inches.” There is neither a cure nor an effective treatment –but there is hope. …

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Level Four labs

The images are familiar from TV and movies: scientists in plastic space suits in a high-tech laboratory, desperately trying to identify some mysterious germ threatening to wipe out humanity. Usually, such scenes are set at the Centers for Disease Control laboratories in Atlanta, Georgia, but in the future, they could be set in Winnipeg, where …

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Immunization

As the latest crop of First Graders trundle off to school, I can’t help thinking back to my first year of school in Texas, and the badge of maturity I proudly wore on my left arm: the round scar produced by smallpox vaccination. It proved I was practically grown-up. Today, kids no longer receive smallpox …

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Arthritis

I’ve probably thought more about arthritis over the years than most guys my age, because my Mom has had rheumatoid arthritis since before I was born. This week I’ve been thinking about it more than usual, though, for two reasons: one, I’m writing a book on the subject and two, a new arthritis drug has …

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Digging for the Spanish Flu

  In late 1917 or 1918, a new strain of influenza appeared in what is now Ft. Riley, Kansas. There’s nothing unusual about that: new strains of influenza appear all the time. At first, this one seemed no worse than any other. But something changed. As this flu spread to the east, it became seven …

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Asthma

Most of us breathe without even thinking about it. In and out, in and out, the air moves easily and effortlessly. But there are millions of people for whom breathing can never be taken for granted, and their numbers are increasing: asthmatics. Asthma is a narrowing of airways in the lungs that causes coughing, wheezing …

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Kitchen germs

In my small, elderly house, the bathroom opens onto the kitchen, which has always worried me: I keep picturing armies of bacteria marching out of the bathroom to contaminate my food. It turns out my concern is misguided: a recent study indicates it’s more likely bacteria from the kitchen will contaminate my bathroom.. Scientists from …

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Influenza

The single phrase that’s probably heard more this time of the year than any other, aside from “Cold enough for ya?”, is “the flu.” “Jimmy’s come down with the flu.” “I won’t be in today, I’ve got a touch of the flu.” “Hey, have you caught the flu that’s going around?” Although we tend to …

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