flu

Scientists prepare for the future by filling in the research gaps between zoonotic viral reservoirs, emerging viruses, and human immune defenses.

The “tripledemic” shines a spotlight on viral interference, in which one infection can block another.

It’s not clear why grain-fed mice are better able to recover after infection, but a study’s findings suggest food type may skew the results of animal studies.

In people with the genetic condition, inflammation can cause a mild infection to snowball out of control, a study finds.

Nearly 50 million birds have been culled amid efforts to mitigate the spread of the virus, which continues to ravage the Northern Hemisphere.

Immune cells deliver packages of telomeres to T cells, helping them retain their virus-fighting function over time, research suggests.

The work reveals that the pandemic flu was likely the direct predecessor of the seasonal H1N1 flu that circulated for decades.

The Scientist spoke with the UK’s chief veterinary officer, Christine Middlemiss, about this winter’s high bird flu prevalence, the effects of the disease, and efforts to combat it.

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.

The pathogen known as swine flu evolved in pigs in Mexico following imports of the livestock from the US and Europe.

Seven years of surveillance and research revealed the complex history of the H1N1 virus that leapt from pigs to humans and sparked the global swine flu outbreak.

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.

Richard Webby and Edward Hutchinson discuss influenza viruses—the development of new strains, how they mediate virulence, and their threat to human society.

Cases of influenza and other respiratory viruses sank dramatically during the pandemic, with potential implications for both people and pathogens.  

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

We asked experts for measures people can take that may help boost defenses against COVID-19 and other respiratory diseases.

Although scientists debate the ethics of deliberately infecting volunteers with SARS-CoV-2, plenty of consenting participants have been exposed to all sorts of pathogens in prior trials.

Face coverings prevent wearers from spreading pathogens, and might also limit the number of viral particles that enter the body, staving off severe infection, including COVID-19, research indicates.

Injecting the seasonal flu vaccine directly into clumps of malignant cells recruits immune cells to confront the cancer.