A Florida teenager is the first person with a confirmed infection by the mosquito-borne virus.

The results suggest the virus could severely alter brain development in infants infected after birth, but blocking a signaling protein early on might ease certain symptoms.

Fruit bats are a reservoir for the disease, which can cause brain damage.

The drugs’ disruption of the microbiome makes a subsequent flavivirus infection more severe.

The Tupanvirus is named for the South American Guarani God of Thunder.

Plants are locked in an ancient arms race with hostile viruses, but genome editing is giving crops the upper hand.

Viruses are incapable of reproducing without the help of a host, whose cells copy their genetic material and fabricate the building blocks of new virus particles.

Studies in mice suggest that other flaviviruses, such as West Nile virus and Powassan virus, may cause birth defects, too. 

Only a few labs will earn funding for such “gain-of-function” research on SARS, MERS, and other deadly diseases.