There was no smallpox virus in frozen vials recently discovered at a vaccine research facility in Pennsylvania, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday. Instead of the variola virus that causes smallpox, lab tests showed that the vials contained vaccinia, the virus used in smallpox vaccine, according to the agency. On Nov.…  read on >  read on >

Vaccinated health care workers with breakthrough COVID-19 infections shed less virus than those who are unvaccinated and infected, according to University of California, Los Angeles researchers. “SARS-CoV-2 viral loads are known to be a critical driver of transmission,” wrote authors led by Dr. Paul Adamson, an assistant professor of medicine in the division of infectious…  read on >  read on >

A case of monkeypox in a traveler who returned to the United States from Nigeria is being investigated by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and the Maryland Department of Health. The infected person is currently in isolation in Maryland. Monkeypox is a rare but potentially serious viral illness that typically begins with flu-like symptoms…  read on >  read on >

Grandmothers can have a strong bond with the little children in their families — and the connection even shows up on brain scans, researchers say. The investigators embarked on a unique study, looking at the brains of older women — not for signs of dysfunction, as with dementia, but to study their connections with their…  read on >  read on >