Flu season has started early this year – a new variant might be to blame

Every winter, respiratory viruses, especially influenza, SARS-CoV-2 and RSV, put huge pressure on healthcare systems throughout Europe. In a typical season, flu causes up to 50 million symptomatic cases, and anywhere from 15,000 to 70,000 deaths per year on the continent. All age groups are affected, although children have the highest infection rates and are […]

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H5N1 bird flu cases spike in Europe. How worried should we be?

On November 13, Spain’s Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food imposed the confinement of all free-range poultry farms to curb the spread of avian influenza – more commonly known as “bird flu” – caused by the H5N1 virus. This drastic, though not unprecedented, measure was justified by climbing numbers of outbreaks in Europe, as well […]

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Why the appendix is much more important than we once thought

You may have heard that astronauts have their appendix removed before leaving Earth. After all, people say you can live without this organ because it serves no purpose, but how much truth is there in this belief? Let’s start by locating it. The appendix is a small, finger-shaped pouch located where the small intestine joins […]

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We’re no better prepared for a pandemic today than we were in 2020

On March 11 2020, the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic. According to official data there have been more than 770 million cases of COVID, which have caused over 7 million deaths in 231 countries – almost 2.2 million of them in Europe. Other reports estimate that the number of deaths globally was much […]

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