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For such tiny insects, mosquitoes pack a large punch. Responsible for over 800,000 deaths per year worldwide, they are the hitmen of some of the deadliest diseases, including Zika virus, Yellow fever, Dengue fever, and Malaria. The females use the protein in human blood to produce eggs, and although biting causes little direct harm, the […]
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Picture credit: athree23 The first Mad Cow disease case, since 2015 has been identified and confirmed by the Scottish government on Thursday, 25th October, in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It is generally agreed that Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) as Mad Cow Disease is officially known, is caused by prions. These are modified versions of naturally occurring proteins whose […]
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Picture credit: C. S. Goldsmith and A. Balish, CDC- Description: Influenza Virus If you don’t know what flu feels like then you are one lucky son of a gun. You might say: “Oh but I have had the flu and it wasn’t so bad!” If by that statement, you mean you have had the sniffles and […]
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Image Credit: bhossfeld (CC0) Ebola is a highly virulent viral disease that spreads to humans from infected animals. Predominantly spreading throughout Africa, it was relatively obscure until 2013. Starting in 2013, a large scale outbreak shocked the world with the possibility that it could spread trans-nationally. Although it does seem that the defences against Ebola […]
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Image Credit: CDC Global We all know that coughs and sneezes spread diseases. The problem is that these days, things are getting a bit more complicated than that. As our lives become more interconnected, and global travel shrinks the world village yet further, it is only inevitable that our diseases will be coming with us […]
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A ground-breaking study, led by Oxford Professor Gil McVean, has collated human genome sequences from 1,092 individuals around the world. The successful ‘1000 Genomes Project’ will allow scientists to identify genetic variations that occur in particular countries and geographic regions. This study will enable the international team to identify diseases that are caused by rare […]
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