infectious disease

Even though we’ve learned a lot about this relative of smallpox, some mysteries remain due to a lack of political will.

Akiko Iwasaki, an immunologist who became a lifeline for the worried and the curious during the pandemic, thinks that nasal spray vaccines could be the next needed breakthrough in our fight against the coronavirus.

While it’s understandable to focus on the diseases affecting humans, it’s important to study how our illnesses may affect animals.

Studies that map the adaptive value of viral mutations hint at how the COVID-19 pandemic might progress next.

The detailed understanding of brains and multicellular bodies reached new heights this year, while the genomes of the COVID-19 virus and various organisms yielded more surprises.

No matter how much we’d like to eradicate SARS-CoV-2, it may be better to settle for other forms of control.

Other diseases with long-term symptoms can help us understand how COVID can affect us long after the virus itself is gone.

Genomic surveillance of the SARS-CoV-2 virus can help control the current pandemic and prevent future ones. But the process is marred by insufficient data and geographic inequities.

Most modeling efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic have sought to address urgent practical concerns. But some groups aim to bolster the theoretical underpinnings of that work instead.