It’s been a while since I did spooky microbiology stories back in 2021. Then, I nerded out about zombie worms that melt away bones and use microbes to help them gain nutrients, vampire bacteria that feast upon other bacteria, and zombie fungi that take over the minds of ants. But this time, I’m bringing you…
Pharmacies and doctors start booking flu vaccine appointments in late August, long before the number of flu cases are on the rise. The CDC recommends getting vaccinated in September or October. But most years, flu cases don’t peak for a couple months. So why September or October?
Vaccines in the past typically work by using a weakened virus or a purified viral protein from the virus to stimulate our immune response. But, the COVID-19 mRNA vaccines we’ve been hearing about work a bit differently. Instead of containing viral protein, the vaccines contain mRNA, which instructs your cells to make the viral protein…
Updated May 22, 2021. We have all heard the horrifying tales of incurable bacterial infections due to antibiotic resistance. But why don’t we see pathogens becoming resistant to vaccines? Intuitively, it seems that vaccines, like antibiotics, put selective pressure on pathogens. The selective force should drive the evolution of vaccine resistance, right? David Kennedy and…