H5N1

H5N1 Virus Under the Microscope

In December 2011 a news story broke regarding a new strain of H5N1 avian influenza, which is more commonly known as bird flu. This strain of the flu is more deadly than previous strains and spreads more easily amongst mammals. Another unique trait of this strain of the virus is that it was intentionally created in medical labs at the Erasmus University Medical Center in the Netherlands and at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. This form of the virus is considered to be so dangerous that government officials requested that details regarding how it is made be withheld from publication for fear that it could be used as a biological weapon. Following public outcry over fear that the virus could accidentally escape from research labs, scientists have agreed to suspend all research on their strain of H5N1 for sixty days.

Swine Flu Under The Microscope

A new strain of swine flu has also surfaced in recent days. The virus, which is formally known as H3N2v, has infected at least twelve people in the states of Indiana, Iowa, Maine, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia here in the United States. Worry has been expressed that this strain of the virus can be transmitted more easily from human-to-human than previous strains.



Cholera Under The Microscope

In Haiti a virulent strain of cholera has now infected 500,000 people and killed 7,000 since October 2010. Evidence recently surfaced indicating that this brutal strain of cholera was brought to Haiti by UN peacekeeping troops out of Nepal. John Mekalanos, chairman of the Department of Microbiology and Immunobiology at Harvard Medical School, expressed deep concern over the virus. "What scares me is that the strain from South Asia has been recognized as more virulent, more capable of causing severe disease, and more transmissible. These strains are nasty. So far there has been no secondary outbreak. But Haiti now represents a foothold for a particularly dangerous variety of this deadly disease." Before this outbreak occurred, there had never been a case of cholera in Haiti or even in the entire Western Hemisphere.