epidemiology

Laboratory experiments find that Toxoplasma, Cryptosporidium, and Giardia can congregate on microplastic beads and fibers, suggesting they might make their way into and around the world’s oceans by hitching rides on tiny bits of trash.

Observational evidence for the connection is solidifying, and some clues are emerging about the mechanisms that may explain it.

A preprint reports that the new SARS-CoV-2 variant multiplies faster in human bronchial tissue but slower in lung tissue than the Delta variant, potentially explaining how it’s spreading from person to person so quickly.

Preliminary data suggest that the newly dubbed Omicron variant may be more infectious than previous versions of the virus, but it will take time to obtain the reliable data needed to answer pressing questions about its biology.

Epidemiological research suggests that a flu diagnosis might be one factor in the eventual onset of the neurodegenerative disease, but experts say it doesn’t prove a causal relationship.

Pharoah’s work ended endemic cretinism in a remote region of Papua New Guinea and contributed to the understanding of myriad other perinatal health conditions.

Dozens of researchers, including myself, worked for years to uncover that swine flu had leapt to humans from a pig in Mexico in 2009. We learned a lot about influenza evolution, pig farming, and outbreak risk along the way.

Officials say it’s not yet clear whether this case is linked to an outbreak in Guinea earlier this summer.

The makers of the CRISPR-based testing platform, called miSHERLOCK, say it could enable people at home or physicians in resource-limited environments to detect SARS-CoV-2—and eventually, other pathogens.

The finding of the Ebola-like disease, which killed a man in Guinea, has prompted public health measures.

An ability to build up higher concentrations of viral particles in people’s airways and mutations that might boost its ability to infect human cells could be what gives the Delta variant its evolutionary edge.

Surveillance networks set up to detect outbreaks among pets could one day have public health uses too.  

By measuring various pollutants in the immediate vicinity of pregnant women and tracking brain development of their children, researchers in Barcelona aim to untangle any influence the former has on the latter.

Some of the blood specimens collected in the United States for the NIH’s All of Us research program starting on January 2, 2020, have antibodies against SARS-CoV-2.

Influenza RNA sequences from three sets of lungs preserved in formalin since 1918 provide new insights into the deadly pandemic.

A modeling study of boarding behavior finds filling the plane from back to front extends the close contact time between passengers and therefore increases the risks posed by air travel.

Scientists at the US CDC report no red flags in a preliminary analysis of the safety of Pfizer/BioNTech’s and Moderna’s mRNA-based immunizations among expectant mothers.