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The researchers said that this could be because cooler temperatures increase the constrictions of blood vessels, which can cut off blood flow and oxygen to parts of the brain. Extreme heat can also cause vulnerable people to suffer strokes. In one study, scientists suggested that in the African ‘meningitis belt’, fine particles blown by the Harmattan winds intensifies meningitis transmission. In the Czech Republic, flooding was associated with more cases of tick-borne encephalitis. A limitation of the review was that all the studies took place in well-off countries, meaning the findings are not applicable to poorer regions, where climate changes...

US researchers have developed a new lethal Covid strain in a laboratory – echoing the type of experiments many fear started the pandemic. The mutant variant — which is a hybrid of Omicron and the original Wuhan virus — killed 80 percent of mice infected with it at Boston University. When a similar group of rodents were exposed to the standard Omicron strain, however, they all survived and only experienced 'mild' symptoms.

Boston University scientists were today condemned for 'playing with fire' after it emerged they had created a lethal new Covid strain in a laboratory. DailyMail.com revealed the team had made a hybrid virus — combining Omicron and the original Wuhan strain — that killed 80 per cent of mice in a study. The revelation exposes how dangerous virus manipulation research continues to go on even in the US, despite fears similar practices may have started the pandemic. Professor Shmuel Shapira, a leading scientist in the Israeli Government, said: 'This should be totally forbidden, it's playing with fire.' Gain of function...