Skeptics Stack Exchange
Skeptics Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [virus]

A virus is a small infectious agent that can replicate only inside the living cells of organisms.

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Do cloth facemasks help prevent the spread of COVID-19 to healthy members of the public?

One of the most politicised scientific issues of 2020 was the question about whether face-masks stop the spread of COVID-19. I trust we can agree that this is notable without requiring specific examples. In particular: When worn by members of the…
Oddthinking
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Does dry air promote the spreading of respiratory viruses better than wet air, ceteris paribus?

A DW article states that Air humidity also influences the transmissibility of respiratory viruses. Once the pathogens have been expelled from the respiratory tract with a strong sneeze, they literally hang in the air. "On cold and usually dry…
Fizz
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Does raising your body's temperature help cure flu?

I was discussing with a team mate on how to cure the (common) flu virus. We had a disagreement about the body temperature effect. Con: Some argued that it's better to lower temperature, as it is a practice by nurses. Pro: others argued it's better…
Édouard Lopez
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Were summer colds up in 2021?

The article Why Everyone Has the Worst Summer Cold Ever by the New York Times suggests that there is some expectation of a bad cold season. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that cases of common respiratory viruses, including…
Zackkenyon
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Did Fauci outsource gain-of-function research to China during a US moratorium?

A Times of Israel blog writes: Back in October 2014, the US government had placed a federal moratorium on gain-of-function (GOF) research—altering natural pathogens to make them more deadly and infectious–as a result of rising fears about a…
Fizz
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Does female genital mutilation reduce the risk of a woman's partner getting HPV?

If you love your husband Get yourself circumcised Because the germs under your prepuce Can reach his mouth when he pleasures your clitoris And cause him oral cancer ... The culprit is Human Papilloma Virus Found in the prepuces of the…
Andrew Grimm
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Is oxymetazoline an efficient runny nose treatment?

A proverb says: "The treated cold lasts seven days and the untreated cold lasts a week". A pharmaceutical company however claims in a PR article that its product containing Oxymetazoline will reduce average duration of a runny nose to four days, and…
Suma
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Do young people with no previous pathologies, end up admitted with bilateral pneumonia and serious breathing difficulties due Covid-19?

In this link https://actualidad.rt.com/actualidad/347806-fuese-segunda-guerra-mundial-doctora (Spanish) which also contains the YouTube video (where she says basically all of the text mentioned in the link), posted today, hours ago, an emergency…
I likeThatMeow
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Does rabies in humans cause aggression?

It is true for animals for some reason , however I do not know about humans and if so, how is it possible for a patient to cause violence due to it. If this is true , please shed some light on this phenomenon in humans. Here's a video of violent…
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Do L-lysine supplements help cold sore outbreaks?

Some people claim that dietary supplements of L-lysine (a type of lysine) help treat (but not cure) cold sores (Herpes labialis). The idea that lysine might work against herpes has some plausibility. In order to replicate, the herpes virus…
Sardathrion - against SE abuse
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Was the yellow fever virus a past standardized biological weapon in the US Army?

Dany Shoham writes in a 2012 paper [full text, paywalled]: The yellow fever virus – a past standardized BW in the US Army, then carried by infected Aedes mosquitoes as vectors – was thus genetically engineered in conjunction with IAV, resulting in…
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Is there real scientific consensus linking bats to COVID-19?

I see a lot of articles in the media mentioning new bat species and adding references in the articles or the titles linking bats to coronavirus [The links in ref1 at the bottom are just some samples]. Although not all of them mention explicitly the…
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Were millions of people infected by SARS?

There's an article circulating on Czech social media that makes the following interesting claim, among others (translation mine): Data that we currently have available say that in areas where SARS or MERS was active, there are now tens of percent…
Petr Hudeček
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Did the Stuxnet virus attack the International Space Station?

Over at Extreme Tech Last year, news broke that a virus sabotaged the Iranian uranium enrichment program. It seemed all too convenient at the time — and as it turned out, the virus, Stuxnet, was actually engineered by the United States and Israel.…
ike
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Is the increase in microcephaly in brazil caused by the zika virus?

I heard a pod cast saying that the increase in microcephaly in brazil may not be caused by this zika virus and possibly other causes. How good is the connection between microcephaly and zika and could other factors be at play for the…
user1605665
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