There are still a lot of hospitals that use throwaway thermometer caps. The use of these use-once caps for thermometers should be reduced or eliminated in hospitals and healthcare facilities for several reasons. Here are five reasons why you should switch from throw-away caps to cleaning thermometers between patients:     Environmental impact: Disposable items […]

A UNIGE team has discovered how the influenza A virus hijacks the mechanism for importing iron into cells to invade its host. Influenza epidemics, caused by influenza A or B viruses, result in acute respiratory infection. They kill half a million people worldwide every year. These viruses can also wreak havoc on animals, as in […]

Fever is a concern for many people who suffer from seasonal or permanent allergies. Often, they use their thermometer to check their body temperature as soon as they feel congested and ill. Allergies do not cause raised body temperatures or fevers, so people with allergies need not worry too much. A term like ‘hay fever […]

Is multiple sclerosis caused by Epstein-Barr virus? Researchers aren’t sure, but new research suggests there may be a connection. A fever is one of the symptoms of Epstein-Barr infection, especially when it occurs later in life. As an autoimmune disease, MS results from the body’s immune system attacking healthy cells by mistake. According to some […]

We started this series with a question: What if the next pandemic happens tomorrow. For this newsletter — the final installment in this series — we are exploring the idea of whether it’s possible for Covid to be the last pandemic. It has been a pleasure exploring and debating pandemic preparedness with you over the […]

In June last year, health experts in Britain had reportedly warned the UK government to be prepared for ‘Disease X’ amid reports of cases of poliovirus being detected in sewage samples in London, monkeypox, Lassa fever and bird flu in the recent years. Days after the World Health Organisation (WHO) announced that Covid-19 was no […]

When looking at the percentage of those infected who develop post-viral illness, as well as the severity of symptoms, post-viral illness from COVID generally isn’t more of a problem than that from flu—in the Omicron era, at least. That’s according to new findings presented this week at the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious […]

For the first couple of years of the pandemic, other respiratory viruses seemed to be on hiatus. (Rhinoviruses, which cause the common cold, were an exception.) Social distancing measures, sharp declines in international travel, and potentially some interplay between SARS-2 and the other viruses are thought to explain their absence. There was no flu season […]

There is a flu wave affecting many countries. This causes many people to suffer from muscle pain, colds, and hots. Besides coughing a lot, they also have a snotty nose. Fever is one of the hallmarks of the flu. It is defined as a body temperature of 38 degrees or higher. Intense fever dreams can […]