Virus

Andes virus is serious, and authorities are right to respond cautiously. But experts, including those from the World Health Organization, note it doesn’t have the characteristics needed to become “the next COVID”.

In January 2023, an infant monkey made a bad choice at snack time. In a rare discovery, researchers found that by eating a rodent known as a fire-footed rope squirrel, the primate unwittingly spread monkeypox to nearly a third of its troop.

For two decades giant viruses have unsettled one of biology’s most fundamental boundaries forcing scientists to rethink how cellular complexity emerged. A newly discovered giant virus sharpens that debate, offering clues about how a key feature of most complex life may have evolved.

Americans are being urged to be extra vigilant, as a new influenza A variant is spreading more rapidly and evading our abilities to fight it off. With more than 110,000 hospitalizations so far, scientists expect this wave to worsen as the season peaks.

Scientists have developed a new rapid test for hepatitis C. It is easy to use, highly sensitive, and made for point-of-care places like clinics and community centers. The speed allows clinicians to diagnose and start treatment in the same visit.

In a breakthrough study, scientists built a new kind of "super microscope" letting them zoom in on living human cells with incredible detail. This offers a new real time insight into how the flu virus tries to slip inside cells.

UC Berkeley’s reusable bacteriophages offer an ecologically friendly method for mining some of the most valuable materials on the planet, including those in a vast range of consumer electronics, green technology, vehicles, weapons, and more.

Avian influenza viruses have a gene that makes them incredibly resistant to heat, rendering our body's natural defense system – fever – powerless in fighting infection. In fact, higher temperatures actually help those bird-derived bugs replicate.

Scientists have found the clearest evidence yet that Epstein-Barr virus – which nearly all of us carry for life – is directly responsible for hijacking our immune system's cells to cause lupus, a chronic disease that affects up to a million Americans.

A humble kitchen spice could pack a powerful antiviral punch. Researchers have found that compounds in cardamom seeds can trigger the body’s virus-detecting systems, potentially paving the way for natural cold and flu treatments.

Even in death, cells leave a trace. Scientists have discovered a microscopic “Footprint of Death” that not only helps the immune system clean up but can also give viruses a new way to spread infection.

A groundbreaking discovery reveals how HIV integrates its genetic material into human DNA, exposing a key viral vulnerability that could lead to new therapies and bring the world closer to a functional HIV cure.