Flu articles
-
Despite its 'nothingburger' reputation, COVID-19 remains deadlier than the flu
Since the earliest days of the pandemic, health officials have gauged the threat of COVID-19 by comparing it to the flu. At first, it wasn't even close. People hospitalized in 2020 with the then-novel respiratory disease were five times more likely to die of their illness than were patients who had been hospitalized with influenza during the preceding flu seasons. Immunity from vaccines and past coronavirus infections has helped tame COVID-19 to the point that when researchers compared the...
-
What you need to know about the bird flu outbreak, concerns about raw milk, and more
There is a bird flu outbreak going on. Here is what you need to know about it: Bird flu is what's known as a highly pathogenic avian influenza virus. The "highly pathogenic" part refers to birds, which the virus is pretty adept at killing. In virology speak, the virus is of the Influenza A type, and is called H5N1. The "H" stands for the protein Hemagglutinin (HA), of which there are 16 subtypes (H1-H16). The "N" is short for Neuraminidase (NA), of which there are 9 subtypes (N1-N9). There are...
-
China lifts risk alert warning on bird flu in Serbia
Inspection for Serbian poultry to be done separately.