Background Articles

St. Jude Children's Research Hospital scientists discovered how the current epizootic H5N1 avian influenza virus (bird flu) gained new genes and greater virulence as it spread west. Researchers showed that the avian virus could severely infect the brains of mammalian research models, a notable departure from previous related strains of the virus.

Late last year, four people in the Sea to Sky corridor developed encephalitis after being infected with California Serogroup viruses (Snowshoe Hare and Jamestown Canyon viruses). Vancouver Coastal Health is launching a mosquito surveillance pilot in the Sea to Sky corridor after four locally acquired encephalitis cases linked to California Serogroup viruses.

CWD was first recorded in Saskatchewan in 1996 on a game farm, but has since moved into the wild deer, elk and moose populations, with wildfire-like infection rates in some areas. Up to 70 per cent of male deer are infected with the fatal disease, says a wildlife health specialist.

This strain does not seem to pose a serious risk to people but there's concern for backyard flocks and the wild birds that are a food source for many Alaskans.

Q fever is a febrile illness caused by infection with the bacterium Coxiella burnetii. It is most often transmitted by inhalation of the bacteria after it is shed by infected livestock. The antibody prevalence in NFS samples from 2009 and 2011 (69%) was significantly higher than in 1994 (49%). The antibody prevalence of SSL samples from 2007 to 2011 was 59%. All NFS vaginal swabs were negative for C. burnetii, despite an 80% antibody prevalence in the matched sera. The significant increase in antibody prevalence in NFS from 1994 to 2011 suggests that the pathogen may be increasingly common or that there is marked temporal variation within the vulnerable NFS population.

Dengue is erupting in South America — and has even found its way to the US.

The disease and virus likely exist well beyond the state’s borders, making the new name more scientifically accurate, officials say.

Ancient pathogens that have been preserved in northern Russia’s permafrost for millennia could reawaken as global temperatures rise, scientists warn, potentially putting humanity at risk of never-before-seen diseases.

The small Swedish town of Fagersta, Västmanland County, has been at the epicentre of the recent outbreak of African swine fever.All activities in an area of forest around 1000 square kilometers in the counties of Västmanland and Dalarna have been off limits since Friday following the discovery of dead wild boar.