virology

Enterovirus D68 usually causes cold-like illness but can severely worsen asthma and, rarely, is linked to polio-like paralysis (AFM). Evidence explained.

Rhinovirus causes most common colds. How it enters nasal cells, why there are over 100 types, why no vaccine exists, and what the evidence says about remedies.

Marburg virus explained: bat reservoir, symptoms, outbreak history from 1967 to 2025, why fatality ranges from 24% to 88%, and the status of vaccines.

How poliovirus infects the gut, destroys spinal motor neurons, and why wild type 1 and vaccine-derived strains persist, with 2026 case data from GPEI.

Adenovirus causes colds, pink eye and stomach bugs, survives on surfaces, and powers COVID and Ebola vaccines. How this hardy DNA virus works and why it matters.

SARS-CoV-1 and MERS-CoV came from animals, spread in hospitals, and differ sharply in lethality. How each emerged, why SARS ended, and why MERS persists.

Lassa fever virus explained: how rodents spread it, why most cases are mild, what causes deafness, and why ribavirin's benefit is still unproven.

Smallpox and the variola virus explained: how it spread, why it killed up to 30% of cases, how eradication worked by 1980, and where the stocks remain.

Hantavirus explained: how rodent-borne viruses cause lung and kidney failure, what the 1993 Four Corners outbreak revealed, and how to cut your risk.

West Nile virus: mosquito transmission, bird reservoirs, neuroinvasive disease, the 1999 NYC outbreak, and why no human vaccine exists yet.

Rotavirus explained: how a wheel-shaped virus causes severe infant diarrhea, how its NSP4 toxin works, and how oral vaccines changed the toll.

How yellow fever virus moves from monkeys to cities, why it attacks the liver, and how the 17D vaccine, a single dose, gives lifelong protection.