Helen Branswell covers issues broadly related to infectious diseases, including outbreaks, preparedness, research, and vaccine development. Follow her on Mastodon and Bluesky. You can reach Helen on ...

Scientists have discovered that a rapidly-mutating, species-jumping virus is contributing to mass honeybee deaths that are threatening the U.S.'s multi-billion-dollar agricultural industry, honey ...

Five years removed from the onset of Covid-19's global sweep, research into another subset of the coronavirus has scientists worried about another possible pandemic. This virus originated in bats, as ...

Helen Branswell covers issues broadly related to infectious diseases, including outbreaks, preparedness, research, and vaccine development. Follow her on Mastodon and Bluesky. You can reach Helen on ...

Bird Flu News: After battling the deadly pandemic-causing COVID-19 virus for over 5 years, the United States is now grappling with the highly transmissible H5N1 virus or bird flu virus. In a recent ...

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - Just how deadly is the bird flu? The virus, which is currently sweeping through U.S. dairy herds, rarely jumps to human beings. But when it does, the consequences can be lethal. A ...

Any time a person catches H5N1, or bird flu, their infection is a chance for the virus to mutate in the wrong direction. When someone dies from the bird flu—as an elderly Louisiana man did on Jan. 6, ...

A single modification in the protein found on the surface of the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1 influenza virus currently circulating in U.S. dairy cows could allow for easier ...

The virus that causes COVID-19 is accumulating genetic mutations, one of which may have made it more contagious. The number of virus strains present in each zip code in Houston during the second wave ...

The monkeypox virus is evolving 6-12 times faster than would be expected, according to a new study. The virus is thought to have a single origin, the genetic data suggests, and is a likely descendant ...