The patient in Louisiana who was hospitalized with severe bird flu illness was found to have a mutated version of the virus, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced last ...

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 ...

The avian flu virus isolated from a hospitalized teenager in Vancouver has mutations in key areas that could help the virus spread more easily in humans, scientists say. There is no indication that ...

Researchers have devised a new tool for discerning between naturally occurring viral outbreaks and those resulting from lab ...

A genetic analysis sheds light on when the outbreak began, how the virus spread and where it may be going. By Apoorva Mandavilli and Emily Anthes The bird flu virus sweeping across dairy farms in ...

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 findings may increase scrutiny about the usefulness of the treatment, molnupiravir, which was one of the first Covid drugs available to doctors worldwide during the pandemic. Molnupiravir works by ...

A 13-year-old girl in British Columbia who was hospitalized with bird flu for several weeks late last year harbored a mutated version of the virus, according to a report published this week in the New ...

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 fate of a Canadian teenager who was infected with H5N1 bird flu in early November, and subsequently admitted to an intensive care unit, has finally been revealed: She has fully recovered. But ...

A rare genetic mutation appears to make people basically invulnerable to viruses – and it could potentially be harnessed as a therapy. Researchers have now shown this surprising viral protection can ...

This month’s story comes from the Bloom lab using their signature deep mutational scanning technique to identify mutations in the surface protein of Lassa virus -called glycoprotein- that escape ...