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WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The stale odor that announces a smoker’s entry into a room may be more than merely unpleasant. A new study by scientists at Yale University has found that compounds from tobacco smoke can infiltrate well-ventilated rooms by hitching a ride on peoples’ clothes, skin, and hair and then evaporating slowly over time in a process called “off-gassing.” By placing a high-tech air sampling device in the exhaust duct of a […]
ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast (AFP) — Ivory Coast officials on Tuesday burnt three tonnes of scales of the pangolin, the most trafficked mammal on Earth. The scales were seized in raids in 2017 and 2018, following which some 20 people were arrested. Beijing announced a total ban on the sale and consumption of the pangolin after the novel coronavirus outbreak. The scaly mammal — listed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (ICUN) as threatened […]
HONG KONG, China (AFP) — All pets of people in Hong Kong infected with the coronavirus will be quarantined, with one dog already in isolation, the city’s authorities said Friday. The move is the first reported case anywhere in the world of a government quarantining pets over the outbreak and was prompted by a positive test in the pet of an infected patient. The canine has been placed in quarantine for 14 days as […]
PARIS, France (AFP) — When does an epidemic become a pandemic? As the novel coronavirus continues its spread across the globe, what does the designation mean to world healthcare systems as they try to rein in the deadly disease? The World Health Organization has yet to declare the current outbreak, which originated in central China last month, a pandemic. It has indicated however that we should prepare ourselves for one. The WHO defines a pandemic […]
BEIJING, China (AFP) — Most people infected by the new coronavirus in China have mild symptoms, with older patients and those with underlying conditions most at risk from the disease, according to a study by Chinese researchers. The disease has now killed nearly 1,900 people and infected more than 72,000 in China since it first emerged in the central city of Wuhan late last year. A paper published in the Chinese Journal of Epidemiology […]
LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — A team of British scientists believe they have become the first to start animal testing of a vaccine for the new coronavirus that has killed more than 900 people. Researchers at Imperial College London said their ultimate goal was to have an effective and safe way of halting the SARS-like strain’s spread by the end of the year. “At the moment we have just put the vaccine that we’ve generated […]
by Catherine Lai Agence France Presse SINGAPORE (AFP) — Scientists from the United States to Australia are using new technology in an ambitious, multi-million-dollar drive to develop a vaccine in record time to tackle China’s coronavirus outbreak. The new virus has spread rapidly since emerging late last year in China, killing more than 800 people in the mainland and infecting over 37,000. Cases have been reported in two dozen other countries. Coming up with […]
by Paul RICARD and Brigitte CASTELNAU Agence France Presse Chinese researchers investigating the animal origin of the deadly coronavirus outbreak in China said Friday the endangered pangolin may be the “missing link” between bats and humans, but other scientists said the search may not be over. An earlier study — since discredited — pointed to snakes, and there remain numerous candidate species in the Wuhan wildlife market thought to be ground zero of the […]
By Sara HUSSEIN Agence France-Presse Tokyo, Japan (AFP) — A massive, decade-long study sequencing the genomes of dozens of cancers has revealed the secrets of how tumors form and may pave the way for better and more targeted treatment. The Pan-Cancer Project brought together over 1,300 researchers globally to tackle the mammoth task of sequencing the genomes of 38 types of cancer in nearly 2,800 patients. Their work produced a host of new discoveries — from […]
BANGKOK, Thailand (AFP) — As doctors scramble to contain the fast-spreading coronavirus, a potent brew of anti-retroviral and flu drugs has emerged as a possible defence against the mysterious sickness that has killed hundreds. But the science is inconclusive on whether they are actually effective and experts say successful treatment could take years. Here is what we know — and don’t know — about the drugs deployed against the SARS-like virus. – Why anti-retrovirals? […]
by Jing Xuan TENG BEIJING, China (AFP) — A claim by Chinese scientists that a liquid made with honeysuckle and flowering plants could help fight the deadly coronavirus has sparked frenzied buying of the traditional medicine, but doubts quickly emerged. As the death toll from the SARS-like pathogen sweeping the country continues to rise, shoppers have swamped pharmacies in search of “Shuanghuanglian”. The rush came after influential state media outlet Xinhua reported Friday that the […]
MANILA, Philippines (AFP) — The Philippines has reported the first death outside China in the virus epidemic that has killed more than 300 people and spread to 24 nations. The 44-year-old Chinese man who died in the Philippines was from Wuhan, the city that has been ground-zero for the epidemic. Here is what we know — and don’t know — about him: Where he visited The man and a 38-year-old Chinese woman also from Wuhan, […]
