Bird flu, pig flu, now bat flu?
ATLANTA (AP) — For the first time, scientists have found evidence of flu in bats, reporting a never-before-seen virus whose risk to humans is unclear.
The surprising discovery of genetic fragments of a flu virus is the first well-documented report of it in the winged mammals. So far, scientists haven’t been able to grow it, and it’s not clear if — or how well — it spreads.
About five years ago, Russian virologists claimed finding flu in bats, but they never offered evidence. Scientists suspect that some bats caught flu centuries ago and that the virus mutated within the bat population into this new variety. Scientists haven’t even been able to grow the new virus in chicken eggs or in human cell culture, as they do with more conventional flu strains. But it still could pose a threat to humans.
For example, if it mingled with more common forms of influenza, it could swap genes and mutate into something more dangerous. The research was posted online Monday in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The CDC has an international outpost in Guatemala, and that’s where researchers collected more than 300 bats in 2009 and 2010. The research was mainly focused on rabies, but the scientists also checked specimens for other germs and stumbled upon the new virus.
More get dental treatment at ER
CHICAGO (AP) — More Americans are turning to the emergency room for routine dental problems — a choice that often costs 10 times more than preventive care and offers far fewer treatment options than a dentist’s office, according to an analysis of government data and dental research.
Most of those emergency visits involve trouble such as toothaches that could have been avoided with regular checkups but went untreated, in many cases because of a shortage of dentists, particularly those willing to treat Medicaid patients, the analysis said.
The number of ER visits nationwide for dental problems increased 16 percent from 2006 to 2009, and the report released today by the Pew Center on the States suggests the trend is continuing. In Florida, for example, there were more than 115,000 ER dental visits in 2010, resulting in more than $88 million in charges.
Scientists see red over Mars cuts
WASHINGTON (AP) — NASA said Monday it’s not giving up on Mars, but it’ll have to get there later and at a lower price.
Earlier this month, the president’s budget canceled joint U.S.-European robotic missions to Mars in 2016 and 2018. Now top science officials say they are scrambling to come up with a plan by the end of the summer for a cut-rate journey to the red planet in 2018.
NASA sciences chief John Grunsfeld said he thinks there’s a better than even chance that NASA will not miss the 2018 opportunity. That’s when Mars passes closest to Earth, something that only happens once every 15 years. It offers a chance at fuel cost-savings and the ability to send up more equipment.
Agency officials who met with upset scientists on Monday seemed intent on salvaging a program that took some of the deepest science spending hits in the president’s budget.
Safety device cited in elevator death
NEW YORK (AP) — An important elevator safety mechanism was turned off when a woman was crushed to death trying to take the lift to her office, city investigators found in a report released Monday.
A mechanic overrode the mechanism, a safety circuit that normally prevents elevators from moving with their doors open, to enable work on the Manhattan elevator about a half-hour before an elevator did just that and killed Suzanne Hart on Dec. 14, the city Department of Investigation and Department of Buildings found.
The mechanic insisted he’d put the safety system back online by the time Hart tried to step into the car.