Viruses

MANILA, Philippines -- Appearing nervous behind a pair of dark glasses, a young computer student told reporters yesterday that "it is possible" that he released a destructive virus that has crippled computer programs around the world. Onel de Guzman, 23, did not quite admit that he created the "ILOVEYOU" virus that recently spread rapidly through e-mail systems in at least 20 countries. But when he was asked whether he might have accidentally released the virus, he replied, "It is possible."

Alongside the basic New Year's resolutions such as losing weight and getting your finances in order, vow to keep your personal computer fast and clean this year. That includes keeping your personal information from spreading to others from your computer. If you got a new computer over the holidays, the last thing you want is for viruses to attack it. Brian Grayek, vice president of threat content at software company CA (formerly known as Computer Associates), offers these tips on keeping your computer (and yourself)

WINTER'S HERE, and you feel lousy: You're coughing and sneezing; your muscles ache; your nose is an active mucus volcano. These symptoms - so familiar at this time of year - can mean only one thing: tiny fanged snails are eating your brain. No, seriously, brain snails are involved only about 35 percent of the time. More likely what you have is a cold or flu. (The word "flu" is short for "the flu.") Colds and flus have plagued humanity for millions of years, but in primitive times, nobody knew what caused them, because everybody was stupid.

Since the April outbreak of Ebola virus infection in Africa, I have been asked by a concerned public to allay concerns about the risk of Ebola for Americans. I also have been asked why this and other terrifying viruses seem to emerge from places like Africa on a regular basis to threaten us with illness and destruction. I hope to answer these questions in this article.For those of you who have not followed the African outbreak of Ebola virus in the news media, I can tell you that the illness caused by Ebola virus is riveting.

HONG KONG - Amid signs that the world's first SARS outbreak might have run its course, a leading World Health Organization official warned yesterday that detecting any recurrence of the pneumonia-like disease next winter will pose an entirely new set of medical challenges. Those stricken with severe acute respiratory syndrome initially carry an extremely low level of the virus, making an immediate diagnosis all but impossible, said WHO's senior communicable diseases specialist, David Heymann.

A new study has found more evidence that people may catch the flu through airborne particles and not just direct or indirect contact with a person who has the virus. The study from the University of Maryland School of Public Health also found that when flu patients wear a surgical mask, spread of the virus in even the smallest airborne droplets is significantly reduced. The study was published Thursday ini the journal PLOS Pathogens. Our study provides new evidence that there is nearly nine times more influenza virus present in the smallest airborne droplets in the breath exhaled from those infected with flu than in the larger droplets that would be expected to carry more virus,” said Dr. Donald Milton, lead author of the study who also directs the Maryland Institute for Applied Environmental Health.

The Ebola virus, named for a river by which the first identification of it was made, is bad enough. Based on (admittedly slight) experience, 90 percent of people who get it die a horrible death from uncontrollable bleeding. It is not (based on that same experience) easy to catch. Contact with blood or bodily fluids is needed. That includes shared needles. It makes underfunded Third World hospitals reusing hypodermic needles dangerous.The first identified outbreak of Ebola virus hemorrhagic fever occurred in Zaire in 1976, and the next two in Zaire and southern Sudan three years later.

Here are summaries of recent Computing product reviews. Each product is rated on a scale of one to four. One computer indicates poor; four indicate excellent:VideoSpigot, for Mac LC, IIsi or II with NuBus (includes IIfx and IIci). $499 for IIsi or LC, $599 for NuBus Macs. From SuperMac Technology, 485 Potrero Ave., Sunnyvale, Calif. 94086. (408) 245-2202.Premiere, for Mac II or later (at least a 68020 processor), 32-bit color, QuickDraw and at least 4 megabytes random-access memory. $495.

Barbara Gaskins says she took her 15-year-old son to his bus stop every morning at 7:30, well in time for his 9 a.m. homeroom bell at Patterson High School. She obtained as many medical excuses as the doctor would allow when her son suffered from a series of stomach viruses. And she has taught her children that they have to "get an education to get somewhere in life. " But Gaskins was recently jailed for 10 days — one of the dozen parents of Baltimore City students to receive a sentence this year — after failing to send her child to school 103 of 130 days.

Anew study reconfirms that millions of young American women ages 14 to 24 are infected with the virus that can cause cervical cancer. More young women should be protected against the virus, but there's no need to mandate a promising vaccine at this time. Human papillomavirus, or HPV, is the most common sexually transmitted disease in the country, infecting more than 33 percent of women by age 24 and about 25 percent of women under 60. The new study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 7.5 million teenage girls and young women carry the virus.