zoonoses
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Monkeypox Is Now Mpox, WHO Says
The World Health Organisation is officially renaming the emerging viral disease known as monkeypox. On Monday, WHO announced that it will now use the term “mpox” instead, which is likely to be adopted widely by doctors, public health agencies, and others. The change was prompted by criticism from scientists that the old name was inaccurate…
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Melting Glaciers Could Unleash Long-Frozen Viruses Onto New Hosts
In the Canadian High Arctic, climate change is bringing together viruses and potential hosts in new combinations, according to recently published research. Every novel interaction increases the risk of “viral spillover,” i.e., pathogens jumping to different hosts. And every instance of spillover is an opportunity for a virus to become more dangerous.
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Here Are Some Other Emerging Diseases to Keep You Up at Night
The last few years has made it abundantly clear that infectious diseases are not some abstract public health threat — they’re an ever-present and often unpredictable danger. We’re now in year three of the covid-19 pandemic, caused by the then-novel SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus. In May 2022, outbreaks of monkeypox began circulating across multiple countries, raising the…
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We’ll Likely Deal With More Pandemics as Earth Heats Up
As climate change permanently alters our environment, the world is increasingly opening up to new viruses — with potentially deadly consequences for us humans. A study published Thursday in Nature finds that as climate change is forcing animals to move habitats, they will increasingly come into contact with humans, and with each other, creating more…