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Smallpox was eradicated relatively quickly, but other diseases have proved harder to eliminate. The reasons are a mix of biology and psychology.
Taste and smell receptors in unexpected organs monitor the state of the body’s natural microbial health and raise an alarm over invading parasites.
Immunologists confirm an old hunch: T-cells identify what belongs in the body by timing how long they can bind to it.
Just as antibiotics have bred resistance in bacteria, vaccines can potentially lose their effectiveness over diseases they controlled. Researchers are working to head off the evolution of new threats.
Simple math shows how widespread vaccination can disrupt the exponential spread of disease and prevent epidemics.
If you didn’t get a flu shot, you are endangering more than just your own health. Calculations of herd immunity against common diseases don’t make exceptions.
Scientists have developed new ways to forecast who will bounce back from disease by studying not just the way the immune system fights infections, but how the body repairs itself.
Circulating RNAs carry messages for plants and invertebrates. Do they do the same for us?