Smoking cigarettes is the number one risk factor for lung cancer, with tobacco products causing up to 90 percent of lung cancer deaths in the United States. Without a doubt, the safest way to protect yourself against lung cancer is to avoid smoking cigarettes, and yet, at the same time, it’s also true that not […]
As well as discussing the potential of COVID-19 to find itself down an evolutionary dead-end, Kinane explained the role of an individual’s genetic profile in their reaction to the virus. Professor Kinane said: “Any microbial and viral infection will affect people differently and this is due to the massive genetic variation amongst humans that through […]
Earlier this year the Government introduced its ‘Living with Covid’ strategy which has now removed practically all of its protections against Covid in England. Restrictions such as mandatory self-isolation periods and face coverings for indoor spaces are no more, with further cost-cutting measures expected to follow. The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) would lose some […]
Mistakes happen. Especially when it comes to the replication of vast sequences of DNA inside our cells. It’s a good thing too. If not for the errors in our genes we refer to as mutations, natural selection would be a no-go, and life would be dead in the water. As crucial as mutations are […]
Known as BA.4 and BA.5, the two sub-lineages of Omicron were first detected in South Africa. Since then, experts have warned that the mutations have quickly “dominated” cases in the country. It has also been detected in Denmark and the UK – with the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) dubbing them “variants under concern” in a […]
A new Omicron subvariant of the virus that causes COVID-19, BA.2, is quickly becoming the predominant source of infections amid rising cases around the world. Immunologists Prakash Nagarkatti and Mitzi Nagarkatti of the University of South Carolina explain what makes it different from previous variants, whether there will be another surge in the US and […]
SARS-CoV-2 is not picky about its host. Since the virus first started spreading among humans, it has jumped from our species to pets, livestock, and even wild animals. Cats appear to be particularly susceptible to contracting COVID, although they often don’t show symptoms, and it’s unlikely that they can pass the virus back to us. Even […]
The timeline of the COVID-19 pandemic has been marked by a series of catastrophic waves: surging crests of infection spreading around the world, often spearheaded by newly evolved variants of the pathogen, such as Delta and Omicron. This is simply how viral evolution can play out, of course. But SARS-CoV-2 is an unusually successful […]
A research team looking into the sewage found that mutations of the mystery lineage appear to be similar to Omicron. But the mutations of the viral fragments that they found in the wastewater have never been seen before in human patients. This could reportedly signal a previously undetected variant that could break out like Omicron […]
Experts are keeping a wary eye on yet another COVID variant that was detected in France in November, this one with 46 mutations. Read more here New York Daily News
