Portal:Viruses/Did you know

The following items are featured in the Did you know... section of the Viruses Portal. To suggest an article for inclusion, use the suggestions page

Portal:Viruses/Did you know/1

...that the stripes on tulips (examples pictured) that caused tulip mania were probably caused by a virus, but this was unknown to science at the time?
...that epidemiologist Li Lanjuan was the first to propose a lockdown of Wuhan during the 2019–20 coronavirus outbreak?
...that the human bocavirus is the fourth most commonly found virus in samples collected from the respiratory system?
...that research by Harold Ginsberg on adenoviruses led to the development of gene therapy, in which modified versions of viruses can be used to implant healthy versions of genes to treat disease?
...that the Tiverton fire of 1731 resulted in an increased incidence of smallpox?

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...that infectious disease specialist Daniel R. Lucey has hypothesised that the SARS-CoV-2 virus (pictured) responsible for the 2019–20 coronavirus outbreak may have been quietly circulating among humans since at least November 2019?
...that the Kunjin virus, which can be transmitted by mosquitoes and may cause encephalitis in humans, is named for an Indigenous Australian clan living near where the virus was first isolated?
...that the Vaccine Confidence Project was developed in response to a boycott of polio eradication efforts in Nigeria?
...that the Gaussian network model has a wide range of applications from enzymes composed of a single domain, to large macromolecular assemblies, such as ribosomes and viral capsids?
...that Trinidadian virologist Joseph Lennox Pawan was the first person to show that rabies could be spread by vampire bats to other animals and humans?

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Original illustration of Epauletted Fruit Bat in the 1860 monograph where it was described

...that Franquet's Epauletted Fruit Bat (pictured) is one of three fruit-eating bats found to be a reservoir for Ebola virus in the wild?
...that 95% of adults have been infected by human herpesvirus 7, a virus that can cause influenza-like illness and seizures but normally causes no symptoms?
...that James Jurin used statistical studies to show the probability of death from smallpox vaccine was significantly less than from smallpox?
...that the log-Cauchy distribution has been proposed as a model for the progression of HIV in individuals?
...that Corona, named after Corona, is fighting corona?

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The second RNA recognition motif (RRM) domain of the protein ASF/SF2

...that the protein ASF/SF2 (molecular image pictured) is involved in the development of the human heart and the replication of HIV-1?
...that in February 2020, Neil Ferguson and his team believed that significantly more people in China had been infected with the 2019 novel coronavirus than had been reported?
...that the outbreak of Ebola in Bundibugyo District in Uganda in 2007 was caused by a novel strain of the Ebola virus?
...that virologist John R. Paul blamed better hygiene for polio's spread in the 20th century, saying early exposure to poliovirus would have given immunity?
...that a novel human polyomavirus is associated with Merkel cell carcinoma, a rare and highly aggressive form of skin cancer?

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...that elephant endotheliotropic herpesvirus, found mostly among young captive Asian elephants (pictured), can have a fatality rate of up to 90%?
...that epidemiologist Joseph L. Melnick found that polio chiefly spread through fecal contamination, usually by soiled hands, and that the poliovirus could survive for extended periods in sewage?
...that a global advisory committee has been monitoring rapidly developing COVID-19 vaccines against a background of growing misinformation and vaccine hesitancy?
...that sexual-health doctor Mags Portman and activist Greg Owen worked together to provide accessible HIV medication, preventing thousands of new HIV diagnoses in the United Kingdom?
...that before the Hershey–Chase experiment confirmed the role of DNA, scientists believed that genes were carried by proteins?

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...that coccolithovirus (pictured, arrow), a giant double-stranded DNA virus, has 472 protein-coding genes, and was the largest known marine virus by genome until the 2013 discovery of Pandoravirus salinus?
...that Tony Minson developed a new way of disabling viruses for vaccines?
...that the Oscar Award-nominated film The Final Inch, a documentary about efforts to eradicate the poliovirus, is the first film project from Google's philanthropic division Google.org?
...that a June 5, 1981, report by Joel Weisman in MMWR about five gay men with an unusual illness is recognized as the start of the AIDS pandemic and "the first report on AIDS in the medical literature"?
...that elastomeric respirators are used not only to protect against COVID-19 and tear gas, but also as fashion items?

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...that in 1974, Rudolf Jaenisch and Beatrice Mintz created the first transgenic mouse (example pictured) by injecting DNA from simian virus 40?
...that double-stranded RNA viruses cause everything from gastroenteritis in young children to bluetongue disease in livestock?
...that Inventing the AIDS Virus, written by molecular biologist Peter Duesberg, argues that AIDS is not infectious and that HIV is an unrelated passenger virus?
...that proteins from pokeweed have shown antiviral properties?
...that Gabriel Scally of the Independent SAGE committee has described the British government's response to the COVID-19 pandemic as "too little, too late, too flawed"?

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...that the genetically modified plum C5 is the only Prunus species resistant to the devastating plant disease plum pox?
...that research by Dorothy M. Horstmann and Robert W. McCollum at Yale University showed that the poliovirus reaches the brain by way of the blood, leading to the development of the polio vaccine in the early 1950s?
...that sea sponge aquaculture has the potential to generate novel anti-inflammatory and antiviral drugs?
...that in response to the Hong Kong government refusing to close its border with mainland China to contain COVID-19, Winnie Yu organized a labour strike among hospital workers in February 2020?
...that CCR5 receptor antagonists are drugs that inhibit the entry of HIV into cells of the immune system?

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...that composer Mozart (pictured) learned card tricks and fencing while recovering from smallpox?
...that the anabolic steroid oxandrolone was granted orphan drug status in treatment of alcoholic hepatitis, Turner syndrome and HIV wasting syndrome?
...that Agile Mangabeys are known to contract the T-cell leukemia virus, similar to the leukemia virus that infects humans?
...that in a 1997 Alaskan expedition, pathologist Johan Hultin retrieved samples of the 1918 influenza virus from the lungs of flu victims preserved by permafrost?
...that LdMNPV's EGT gene is responsible for the infected larvae's 'zombie-like' behavior?

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Atlantic salmon

...that infectious salmon anaemia is a viral disease of Atlantic Salmon (pictured) which affects fish farms in Canada, Norway, and Scotland?
...that William Close, the physician father of actress Glenn Close, played a pivotal role in stemming the outbreak of the Ebola virus in Zaire in 1976?
...that the bird flu pre-pandemic vaccine Pandemrix is the first to be approved by the EU for the inoculation of populations in the early stages of a bird flu pandemic?
...that in 2001, HIV/AIDS campaigner Minoo Mohraz defied a media ban by using the word "condom" on Iranian national television?
...that the history of Swansea includes an epidemic of yellow fever in 1865, the only outbreak of that disease on the British mainland?

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...that the hairpin ribozyme (pictured) is an RNA that can encode genetic information and catalyse biological reactions?
...that in the 1980s British physician John R. Seale advocated the theory that HIV might have been created in a germ warfare laboratory?
...that the Visna virus, a retrovirus that causes encephalitis and chronic pneumonitis in sheep, is used as a model system for HIV infection?
...that Thomas C. Peebles, who went on to isolate the measles virus strain used in the measles vaccine, was initially rejected by Harvard Medical School because he had gotten a D in college biology?
...that studies in phage ecology indicate that viruses may be the most abundant organisms on Earth?

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...that virologist Harald zur Hausen received both the Gairdner Foundation International Award and the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2008?
...that in 2007, the first Australian outbreak of equine influenza caused a nationwide ban on horse racing?
...that Michael S. Gottlieb was instrumental in identifying AIDS in 1981 and thereafter treated actor Rock Hudson for the disease?
...that the tick Ornithodoros erraticus spreads the African swine fever virus in the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal)?
...that the CEO of CEPI, a key organisation in the race to develop a vaccine for COVID-19, has called the disease "the most frightening" that he has ever encountered in his career?

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...that derivatives of diamond-like compound adamantane (model pictured) are used as drugs against flu and Parkinson's disease?
...that for 36 years, only two polyomaviruses were known to infect humans?
...that Ali Maow Maalin was the last person in the world to be infected with naturally occurring smallpox?
...that in his 2005 book Race Against Time, the UN Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa Stephen Lewis claimed the spread of AIDS across Africa is partly due to a succession of disastrous economic policies promoted by international financial institutions?
...that his son's infection with polio in 1930 led electrical engineer Reinhold Rudenberg to develop an electron microscope as a tool to study the poliovirus?

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...that during the Boonah crisis in October 1918, 31 people died of the Spanish flu aboard the Australian troopship the HMAT Boonah (pictured)?
...that Deng Hongkui and Chen Hu were the first to use CRISPR gene editing on an HIV patient?
...that adenovirus serotype 14 is an emerging virus, related to the common cold, that has recently caused 10 deaths in the United States, including at least one healthy young adult?
...that the phage group was an informal network of biologists centered around Max Delbrück that contributed heavily to the origins of molecular biology?
...that polio eradication efforts in Pakistan were hampered by a vaccination campaign conducted by the CIA as cover in the search for Osama bin Laden?

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...that George Hirst was the first person to discover a viral enzyme (pictured)?
...that fish diseases and parasites can result in mass fish die offs?
...that adjuvants are sometimes used to modify the effects that a vaccine has on disease resistance by stimulating the immune system to respond to the vaccine with much more vitality?
...that Australian ophthalmologist Sir Norman McAlister Gregg discovered the link between rubella and congenital disorders in newborn infants after overhearing several of his patients discussing their illness during pregnancy?
...that the very first news article on what became known as AIDS appeared in the New York Native, a now defunct gay newspaper in New York City?

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...that in the name of science, American nurse Clara Maass (pictured) volunteered to be bitten by yellow fever-carrying mosquitoes seven times, caught the disease twice, and ultimately died from it?
...that obesity, Alzheimer's disease and cancer have been associated with infectious pathogens?
...that the village of Cellardyke in Fife, Scotland, is the site of the first confirmed case of H5N1 avian flu in the United Kingdom?
...that Australian Edward Both invented the Both respirator, an iron lung made from plywood, to fight a polio epidemic in 1937?
...that the award-winning film Frank's Cock is split into quadrants to symbolise the "fragmentation of the body" experienced by those with AIDS?

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...that Australian pilot and nurse Robin Miller (monument pictured) borrowed money to buy a Cessna 182 and flew to remote outback areas in Western Australia to vaccinate Indigenous Australian children against polio, becoming known as the "Sugarbird Lady"?
...that the Mokola virus is a relative of the rabies virus and was first isolated in tree shrews?
...that in 1995–97, a Centers for Disease Control program identified over a hundred patients likely suffering from life-threatening infections new in the history of emerging infectious diseases?
...that Batheay District in Kampong Cham Province, Cambodia, was the site of an outbreak of the deadly H5N1 virus in 2006?
...that Fig Trees, an operatic documentary about AIDS activism, is narrated by a singing albino squirrel?

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...that sarcoids (pictured) are non-fatal tumours but are a common reason for euthanasia in horses?
...that the arrest of Brownie Mary led to one of the first clinical trials studying the effects of cannabinoids in HIV-infected adults?
...that eradication of infectious diseases can come about through vaccination, quarantine, and even just human behavioural changes, depending on the disease?
...that Albert Sabin, developer of the oral polio vaccine, called Robert M. Chanock his "star scientific son"?
...that Millennium's second season finale "The Time Is Now" was inspired in part by a cattle disease in the United Kingdom?

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...that Burchard Kranich allegedly cured Queen Elizabeth I (pictured) of smallpox?
...that the rabbit flea is a vector for the virus that causes myxomatosis?
...that when NBC pulled "Steve Burdick", an AIDS-themed episode of the medical drama Lifestories, gay and AIDS activists accused the network of fearing advertiser backlash?
...that in addition to infecting squashes, the squash mosaic virus also infects melons?
...that former GlaxoSmithKline executive Moncef Slaoui is chief adviser to Operation Warp Speed, which aims to deliver 300 million doses of a vaccine for COVID-19 by January 2021?

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...that flow cytometry bioinformaticians use methods from computational statistics and machine learning to analyse single cell data gathered by flow cytometry for cancer and HIV/AIDS research (output pictured)?
...that Sierra Leonean physician Aniru Conteh saved thousands of lives from Lassa fever before dying from the disease himself?
...that early in the history of veterinary medicine in the Philippines, a cattle plague killed 600,000 animals from 1901 to 1902 alone?
...that the isolation of antibodies and flu viruses from birds on Tryon Island, a coral cay off the coast of Queensland, Australia, led to the development of antiviral drugs, such as oseltamivir?
...that the Plague of Athens devastated ancient Athens in 430 BC, perhaps leading ultimately to the city's defeat in the Peloponnesian War?

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...that a novel virus may be implicated in its parasitic wasp host turning the spotted lady beetle into a "zombie bodyguard" (pictured)?
...that the human immunodeficiency virus reappeared in the Mississippi baby after she was thought to be cured?
...that as of April 2014, the rose rosette virus had killed at least two-thirds of the roses in the Tulsa Rose Garden?
...that Virology is the first English-language journal to focus on viruses?
...that, after "Stop...pooping!" was uttered by Rob Lowe in the Parks and Recreation episode "Flu Season", the line was deemed the "single greatest self-effacingly comic moment of his long, handsome career"?

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...that the groundnut rosette virus, which causes serious damage to peanut crops in Africa (plant pictured), is spread by the groundnut aphid?
...that Oguntola Sapara infiltrated and exposed a secret society in Nigeria that was deliberately spreading smallpox?
...that with the 2008 bird flu outbreak in West Bengal, 16,000 birds were destroyed in Itahar, but health workers retreated from villages that refused to kill their birds?
...that Preparing for Emergencies was a British Home Office programme to increase public safety after several major disasters, including the Madrid bombings, SARS outbreak and UK foot and mouth crisis?
...that Sounds of HIV sets the genome of the HIV/AIDS virus to music?

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...that murine polyomavirus (pictured) is an oncovirus that causes tumours in newborn mice?
...that Pat Nuttall showed that systemic infection of the host is not required for pathogens such as tick-borne encephalitis virus to be transmitted between vectors?
...that the first person to die in Australia from the 2009 flu was a Pintupi man whose people gave up hunting to settle the remote community of Kiwirrkura at the time of his birth?
...that the 2011 film Asmaa is the first feature-length Egyptian drama film to present AIDS patients sympathetically?
...that the anti-vaccine book Melanie's Marvelous Measles has received over 1,000 one-star reviews on Amazon.com?

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...that Bourbon virus (pictured), discovered in 2014 from a man who died after tick bites, is the first thogotovirus to be associated with human disease in the Western hemisphere?
...that the viral Early 35 kDa protein may be useful in gene therapy as a universal inhibitor of programmed cell death?
...that the American Society for Virology, the first independent scientific society specifically for virologists, was founded as recently as 1981?
...that Czech scientist Antonín Holý cooperated on the development of important antiretroviral drugs used in the treatment of HIV and hepatitis B?
...that the long-haired grass mouse is an important reservoir species for the Andes virus?

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...that the recently discovered Zamilon virophage (pictured) casts doubt on the concept of virophages?
...that as many as 3.3 million newborns die each year, of which 23.4% succumb to neonatal infection?
...that Robert Shope, described as a "walking encyclopaedia" of arboviruses, discovered more novel viruses than anyone previously?
...that the common banded mosquito is a vector for Murray Valley encephalitis virus, Ross River virus, and Japanese encephalitis, as well as dog heartworm and the roundworm Wuchereria bancrofti?
...that Zeblon Gwala, the inventor of the purported HIV/AIDS treatment ubhejane, has said he got the idea for its ingredients in a dream?

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NMR structure of part of the agnoprotein

...that agnoprotein (pictured) is found in two polyomaviruses that can cause human disease, JC virus and BK virus?
...that the immunology professor Mary Collins studies ways to use genetically engineered HIV as a vaccine?
...that the Alternanthera mosaic virus, a type of Potexvirus, has been misdiagnosed as the closely related Papaya mosaic virus?
...that though once thought to be sterile, the uterine microbiome contains at least 14 commensal microorganisms in healthy women?
...that a form of encephalitis that killed three people is believed to have been caused by a virus carried by their pet variegated squirrels?

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Two greenbugs (Schizaphis graminum)

...that the greenbug (pictured) is the vector of several plant viruses?
...that during the West African Ebola virus epidemic as many as 15 different vaccines were in development?
...that in 1978, populations of the gulf sea star in the Gulf of California were devastated by starfish wasting disease and had not fully recovered twenty years later?
...that virologist Stephen Straus, first head of the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, said he did not use alternative medicine?
...that Looking for Madonna, meant to raise awareness of HIV/AIDS in Papua, used shots of a green bra to symbolise sex?

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...that the p19 protein (dimer pictured) evolved in an arms race between plants and viruses?
...that HPgV-2 is the second human Pegivirus ever discovered?
...that humans and horses are dead-end hosts for the West Nile virus?
...that David A. Cooper diagnosed the first case of HIV in Australia?
...that there is indirect, but unconfirmed, evidence of certain diseases being spread by toilet plume?

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...that the elegant rice rat (pictured; top) sometimes carries a hantavirus that can cause a fatal disease in humans?
...that a quaranjavirus that can infect humans was discovered in 1953, but it took 60 years to classify it?
...that in 1918, infected crew members aboard HMS Mantua inadvertently spread the Spanish flu to Africa?
...that in the mid-1980s, some HIV patients pinned their hopes for survival on an experimental drug called HPA-23?
...that Li Zaiping and his research group were the first to sequence a viral genome in China?

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...that despite being unaffected by rabies or pseudorabies, the sea urchin Tripneustes depressus (pictured) contains antivirals to these diseases?
...that although Indian cassava mosaic virus does indeed infect cassava crops in India, the actual origin of the virus is unknown?
...that Egyptian-American physician Adel Mahmoud oversaw the development of the Gardasil HPV vaccine?
...that of the initial cluster of people confirmed to have been infected by a novel coronavirus in China, two-thirds had been directly exposed to the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan?
...that Shahid Jameel and his group were the first to identify subtype C strain as the most common HIV-1 infection among Indians?

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...that the largest in-flight transmission of SARS virus (coronavirus pictured) took place on an Air China flight in March 2003?
...that computational biologist Bette Korber describes her development of a mosaic antigen vaccine against HIV as creating "little Frankenstein proteins"?
...that although measles was declared eradicated from the United States in 2000, more than 500 people there had been diagnosed with the disease in January–May 2019?
...that Barrie Marmion spearheaded the development of the first vaccine against Q fever?
...that Michael Osterholm and Mark Olshaker's book Deadliest Enemy provides a nine-point plan to defeat "killer germs"?

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...that China is the only country in the world to have a licensed vaccine for hepatitis E (virus pictured)?
...that the African hut tampan can transmit relapsing fever in humans and African swine fever in pigs?
...that Chinese virologist George F. Gao led a test laboratory in Sierra Leone during the peak of the 2014 Ebola outbreak?
...that after a 2002 study inaccurately claimed a measles and autism link due to improper qPCR data, scientists developed the MIQE guidelines to show the minimum level of reported data required for qPCR?
...that Linda Laubenstein was one of the first physicians in the United States to recognize the AIDS epidemic in the early 1980s?

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Chicken eyes, showing the appearance in Marek's disease (right) compared with a normal eye (left)

...that Hungarian veterinarian József Marek, the first to identify Marek's disease (symptom pictured; right), also developed a remedy for liver fluke in cattle and a nasogastric tube for treating horse colic?
...that because photomicrographs of Longan witches broom-associated virus were not published, the virus was not initially accepted as the cause of the eponymous disease?
...that Shetlander Johnnie Notions, a physician with no formal medical background, developed a smallpox inoculation that successfully immunised thousands of people before Jenner's vaccine was available?
...that the Kivu Ebola epidemic was declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern on 17 July 2019?
...that Larry Kramer frequently invoked the AIDS–Holocaust metaphor and compared Reagan Administration officials to Nazi war criminals?

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...that extracts of pringamoza (pictured) have shown antiviral activity against herpes simplex?
...that structural biologist Erica Ollmann Saphire travelled to Africa to observe rodents in the field in order to study how viruses like Ebola are spread?
...that workplace hazard controls for COVID-19 include measures for psychosocial hazards such as stress and anxiety, for which social distancing may prevent typical coping mechanisms?
...that in 2011, Stephen J. Challacombe and colleagues laid out research challenges of global health inequalities and oral health, relating to TB, STDs, HIV, and Noma?
...that the 1957–1958 influenza pandemic killed at least one million people worldwide?

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...that besides feeding on soybeans and transmitting viruses to them, a soybean aphid (pictured) can also injure the plant by interfering with its photosynthetic pathways?
...that transmission of COVID-19 is known to occur through respiratory droplets, contaminated surfaces, kissing, and aerosol-generating medical procedures?
...that medical researcher Shuping Wang may have saved tens of thousands of lives by defying authorities and exposing an HIV/AIDS scandal in China?
...that the Global Certification Commission has certified the eradication of wild poliovirus in five of the six WHO regions, with the exception of the Eastern Mediterranean Region?
...that in 1953, American scientist Winston Price isolated the first rhinovirus, the most prevalent cause of the common cold?

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...that the rice rat Oryzomys couesi (pictured; top) is infected by two different hantaviruses?
...that Chinese doctor Kang Laiyi spent more than 30 years researching the epidemiology of HIV?
...that in the 2014 edition of Indonesia's Jakarta Marathon, a limited number of African athletes were invited because of the 2014 Ebola outbreak in Africa?
...that the veterinarian Janina Oyrzanowska-Poplewska, whose work led to the creation of the first Polish canine distemper vaccine, has been honoured as a Righteous Among the Nations?
...that experts on the World Health Organization's emergency committee believe that COVID-19 could be the first Disease X?

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...that Erica Schwartz (pictured) provided health protection guidance for the US military's response to Hurricane Katrina, the 2010 Haiti earthquake, and the West Africa Ebola outbreak?
...that more than 3 million people have downloaded the COVID Symptom Study app in the UK and the US?
...that the wild mushroom Lactifluus piperatus, which oozes peppery milk when cut, has been used in the treatment of viral warts?
...that during the 1967 outbreak of foot and mouth disease in the United Kingdom, around 430,000 animals were slaughtered?
...that Souleymane Mboup and his team discovered HIV-2 in Senegal in 1985?

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...that a COVID-19 outbreak at the White House (event pictured) infected at least 35 people, including the President, First Lady, three senators, and a governor?
...that Alasdair Geddes worked on the WHO's smallpox-eradication programme in Bangladesh five years before diagnosing the world's last fatal case of smallpox in Birmingham, England?
...that an HPV prevention group focuses on preventing cervical cancer by promoting the sharing of information on cervical screening and HPV vaccination?
...that in a 1902 U.S. Supreme Court case, a ship owner alleged that the real purpose of Louisiana's quarantine laws was to keep Italian immigrants out of New Orleans?
...that Melahat Okuyan, a Turkish female microbiologist and AIDS activist, once proposed the establishment of male brothels for homosexuals and cross-dressers in order to improve public health?

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...that in 2008, chronic bee paralysis virus was discovered in the carpenter ant Camponotus vagus (pictured)?
...that during the 2008–09 flu season in the United States, only 14.1% of influenza tests were positive for influenza?
...that the World Health Organization's Weekly Epidemiological Record reports on neglected tropical diseases?
...that residents of Rankin Inlet, Nunavut, Canada, blocked access to a local goldmine over fears of COVID-19, even though Nunavut then had no confirmed cases?
...that HIV researcher Diane Havlir was the U.S. national short-track champion in 1974?

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...that modified mRNA (mRNA translation depicted) is a key technology in the Moderna and BioNTech/Pfizer vaccines against COVID-19?
...that Derrick Tovey recognised early cases of smallpox during an outbreak in Bradford in 1962?
...that Nkosi's Haven is a South African care centre created to address HIV-related discrimination, including the separation of infected mothers from their children?
...that American physician Max C. Starkloff used social distancing to fight the 1918 flu pandemic in St. Louis?
...that following his research for Epidemiology in Country Practice, William Pickles observed that "studies in epidemiology sometimes reveal romances"?

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