Jonathan Lambert
👤 SpeakerAppearances Over Time
Podcast Appearances
One is that the high temperature is itself the point and helps cook off the virus by messing with its ability to hijack our cells.
The other is that high temperatures somehow help our immune system work better.
New research in the journal Science suggests that it's the heat that counts, at least in mice.
Lab mice just so happen to not get feverish when infected with the flu.
So to study this question, researchers infected mice and turned up the heat.
Mice housed at room temperature got sick after infection.
But those housed in conditions simulating a fever fared much better, suggesting that the heat helped them fight the flu.
Antibiotic resistance happens when bacteria evolve to work around existing drugs, and it's on the rise worldwide.
Major knowledge gaps about what antibiotics can and can't do could be contributing to that rise, according to a study published recently in Clinical Microbiology and Infection.
Researchers analyzed over 200 studies from dozens of countries that asked people about antibiotics.
Globally, roughly three-quarters of people knew that the drugs are effective against bacterial infections, but less than half knew that antibiotics don't work against viral colds or flu.
Understanding was much lower in some countries, including Myanmar and Bangladesh.
Those knowledge gaps could mean more people take antibiotics when they aren't warranted, which can stoke the spread of resistance.
The Global Fund is a major player in global health.
It provides roughly three-quarters of all international financing for TB and more than half for malaria.
It was hoping to raise $18 billion for its three-year budget, but on Friday, it announced it only raised a bit more than $11 billion.
Part of the shortfall reflects a drop from the U.S., its biggest funder.
Their new pledge is $4.6 billion, down from $6 billion in 2022.