epidemics
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Someone in Wyoming Caught the Plague From Their Cats
A Wyoming resident appears to have caught a case of the plague from their own cats, health officials reported this week. The person — health officials didn’t share any identifying information — contracted pneumonic plague, a rare form of the already very rare disease. Despite the low risk of plague in the U.S. and in…
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How To Model A Pandemic
Disease has afflicted humans ever since there have been humans. Malaria and tuberculosis are thought to have ravaged Ancient Egypt more than 5,000 years ago. From AD 541 to 542 the global pandemic known as “the Plague of Justinian” is estimated to have killed 15″25% of the world’s 200-million population. Following the Spanish conquest of…
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The World Is ‘Grossly’ Unprepared For The Next Major Pandemic, Watchdog Finds
A report compiled by an independent group of experts claims that governments and NGOs are woefully unprepared for the next big pandemic, while subsequently warning of a “very real threat” for a global-scale pandemic to kill 50 million to 80 million people.
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The US Just Lifted A Ban On Deadly Mutant Virus Research – Here’s Why
The US National Institutes of Health has lifted a ban on “gain-of-function” research on – the kind of research that requires genetically modifying viruses to make them more deadly or more contagious.