In The News

10 Genes, Furiously Evolving

Carl Zimmer May 11, 2009
Viruses, numbering in the hundreds of millions and likely extant for centuries, are unique because of a process by which they cause host cells to produce more viruses. But it is reassortment – a phenomenon in which two viruses infecting the same cell combine to form a new virus – that likely leads to the evolution and proliferation of viruses. As one doctor noted, “Reassortment may be the major...

Reminder From a Five-Year-Old

Anshel Pfeffer May 11, 2009
While Mexico’s swine flu patient zero has recovered fully and is back engaged in what holds many five year olds’ attention – watching television – the process of the flu itself can provide a lesson in globalization. According to the author, international air travel was as much a cause, as a potential cure by transporting doctors and medicine, for the disease. Moreover, the media attention that...

Swine Flu Provides a Test of Employers’ Crisis Plans

Joe Sharkey May 6, 2009
The corporate response to the swine flu has been well orchestrated and cautious for the most part. This is due mainly to instituting response and risk management plans in the aftermath of the September 11 terrorist attacks in the US and the 2003 SARS outbreak in Asia. As a result, companies now have tracking and data systems that can pinpoint the locations of their traveling employees and thus...

Swine Flu: 5 Things You Need to Know About the Outbreak

Bryan Walsh April 27, 2009
The World Health Organization recently called the outbreak of swine flu a health emergency of “international concern.” Government responses have been varied with the US noting that none of the cases domestically have been fatal; Europe and Hong Kong urging its citizens to avoid travel to the US and Mexico; and some countries banning pork imports, even though the flu is not communicable through...

Indonesia Relents Over Bird-Flu Sample Release

February 28, 2008
The high cost of health care has developing nations thinking ahead and balking at participating in global studies. After refusing to share H5N1 avian-flu samples with the World Health Organization, Indonesia has since relented and sent the samples on to researchers in the US. Indonesia “wants a material transfer agreement to protect its rights over the samples,” as well as access to any...

Bird Flu Remains Dangerous as It Continues to Mutate

Robert S. Boyd February 22, 2008
The virus that causes avian influenza continues to mutate, with seven slightly different types now identified by researchers. So far human transmission is rare. The virus has killed more than 200 people in 14 countries, and millions more birds. “The fear is that the virus will change into a form that makes human-to-human transmission quick and easy,” writes Robert S. Boyd for McClatchy...

Vietnam Plays Wary Host to APEC

Thomas Abraham November 16, 2006
Vietnam’s surging economy and increasing attractiveness as a place to do business have raised its profile in Southeast Asia. Its turn at hosting the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation leadership summit now offers the country the opportunity to further burnish its image. But that opening has also come with risk. Having a relapse of the avian flu outbreak that hammered the country in 2003 would not...