The patient in Louisiana who was hospitalized with severe bird flu illness was found to have a mutated version of the virus, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced last ...

Researchers at UC San Diego have found that several of the most dangerous zoonotic viruses, including SARS-CoV-2, Ebola, and ...

Colorized scanning electron micrograph of an apoptotic cell (pink) heavily infected with SARS-CoV-2 virus particles (green), ...

Five years removed from the onset of Covid-19's global sweep, research into another subset of the coronavirus has scientists worried about another possible pandemic. This virus originated in bats, as ...

Helen Branswell covers issues broadly related to infectious diseases, including outbreaks, preparedness, research, and vaccine development. Follow her on Mastodon and Bluesky. You can reach Helen on ...

A genetic analysis sheds light on when the outbreak began, how the virus spread and where it may be going. By Apoorva Mandavilli and Emily Anthes The bird flu virus sweeping across dairy farms in ...

Any time a person catches H5N1, or bird flu, their infection is a chance for the virus to mutate in the wrong direction. When someone dies from the bird flu—as an elderly Louisiana man did on Jan. 6, ...

A single modification in the protein found on the surface of the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1 influenza virus currently circulating in U.S. dairy cows could allow for easier ...

Scientists have discovered that a rapidly-mutating, species-jumping virus is contributing to mass honeybee deaths that are threatening the U.S.'s multi-billion-dollar agricultural industry, honey ...

The monkeypox virus is evolving 6-12 times faster than would be expected, according to a new study. The virus is thought to have a single origin, the genetic data suggests, and is a likely descendant ...

The virus that causes COVID-19 is accumulating genetic mutations, one of which may have made it more contagious. The number of virus strains present in each zip code in Houston during the second wave ...