Antigenic drift is the accidental alteration of genes encoding antigens. It typically occurs in viruses and enables the pathogen to evade the immune system, triggering an infection once more. Antigens ...

Widespread vaccination efforts against the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) have successfully prevented innumerable severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infections, ...

Influenza viruses evade infection-fighting antibodies by constantly changing the shape of their major surface protein. This shape-shifting, called antigenic drift, is why influenza vaccines—which are ...

In 2009, the world saw the first influenza pandemic in more than forty years in the form of the H1N1 strain. Although response to this variant was fast and a vaccine quickly developed, the fight ...

Researchers have shed new light on how viral evolution, population immunity, and the co-circulation of other flu viruses shape seasonal flu epidemics. The research, published today as a Reviewed ...

Genetic analysis of the COVID-19 virus shows that it is very similar to a coronavirus in bats but the receptor binding looks like the receptor for SARS. This could happen naturally with slow changes ...

Expert David Hui says extended flu season compounded by cold snap, adding city should study if it could become perennial, as ...

The Omicron variant is spreading across the globe, but so far the strain appears to be less deadly than its predecessors. That’s good news, but here’s a risk that policy makers in every country should ...

Flu season has officially begun, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and this year the infamous strain known as H1N1 is dominant. That’s the same strain that killed at least ...

Influenza viruses evade infection-fighting antibodies by constantly changing the shape of their major surface protein. Now, researchers have proposed a new explanation for the evolutionary forces that ...

High-affinity mutant strains develop in those with more virus exposure but can revert to low-affinity form in others, according to study in Science. NIAID researchers have found a new explanation for ...