Deadly outbreaks have plagued societies for centuries. But they can lead to medical breakthroughs—if we learn the right lessons from them.
Let's focus on immunity first, which is the ability of the immune system to fight against pathogens. If immunity is like an army, while the virus is the enemy force. When the enemy (germ) wants to invade us, the ...
And that’s why there’s always been a need to ventilate spaces, which is covered in both the building regulations and workplace regulations. What is a safe level of ventilation? We don’t know what a safe level of ventilation is for pathogens, although we do know that poorly ventilated ...
On first blush, ‘Ebola’ might not appear in any way remarkable, since names of pathogens often modify in their extension as usage develops to reflect new discoveries over the years. In his seminal work on vagueness, Williamson has pointed out that the referents of most terms normally do va...
PCR for bacterial identification and AMR profiling is constrained by the need for primers specific to known pathogens and resistance genes, which inherently limits detection to these predefined targets. Additionally, PCR assays may face inhibition challenges in complex clinical samples such as ...
Pruning is also part of proper cleanup. It's not only to keep a small and tidy tree; it also ensures plenty of airflow and makes it harder for pathogens to grow and spread. If you live in the Pacific Northwest or in areas where your winters are more on the damp side, you may want...
the decision isn’t so easy. Perhaps the thorniest recent example is gain-of-function research. This is where organisms, often pathogens, are modified to enhance their abilities, with both risks and rewards. Altering a flu virus, say, so that it can more easily infect humans, is cl...
Removing harmful pathogens from questionable water sources is a challenge for any outdoor enthusiast. The most common methods areboiling,filtering,chemically treating, andexposing to UV light. When most of us think of UV light, we think of an expensive battery powered device, such as aSteripen...
Carefully cleaning exercise equipment was the norm when the Covid-19 pandemic was raging. But today you might be less attentive to pathogens, even in crowded spaces such as fitness centers. That neglectcould be a problem, experts say, because gyms are rife with potentially harmful germs. ...
The FDA, which is responsible for regulatingalmost 80%of the food supply, gained the power to order a company to do a recall with the Food Safety Modernization Act, Schaffner said. “But the agency seldom does so because the overwhelming majority of companies will do a voluntary recall when ...