In the summer of 430 B.C.E., a ship from Egypt arrived in
Piraeus with an uninvited guest onboard: the "plague." The symptoms
of this yet-to-be-identified disease—hypotheses range from typhoid
fever to viral hemorrhagic fever—are described by the...
Influenza viruses are unusual because we can become infected by
a similar virus almost every year during our lifetime and
occasionally there are worldwide pandemics that can cause many
fatalities. Why does our usually excellent immune system fail
us...
Type A influenza viruses are the only influenza viruses known to
have caused human pandemics. The steady advance of one such virus,
influenza A(H5N1),
commonly known as avian flu, has brought with it fears of a new
pandemic. To date, no confirmed...
