alt.hn

3/20/2026 at 11:31:19 PM

You're likely infected with a brain-eating virus you've never heard of

 https://arstechnica.com/health/2026/03/youre-likely-already-infected-with-a-brain-eating-virus-youve-never-heard-of/

by jnord

3/21/2026 at 2:38:02 AM

I've personally stopped visiting Ars because of these type of articles. This one isn't too bad but a few days I went there for tech news, and was presented with a "woman sneezes out maggots" or something like that, with photos. And decided I'm done. If I wanted medical shock articles, I'd go looking for them. Which will be never, and I don't appreciate having them interwoven with tech news on a tech blog.

by esperent

3/21/2026 at 2:04:29 PM

I feel the same but I’m lacking alternatives, where do you get your tech news outside of hn now?

by clait

3/21/2026 at 4:52:10 AM

Once the comment section went to hell, ars basically dropped off my list.

I am hoping that HN won't devolve into upvote/downvote wars, but there is a risk.

by musicale

3/21/2026 at 1:59:12 AM

To myself it might have been a necessary but bold step the last few decades to try to devise a form of vaccination against it, for the just in case one's unlucky enough to need to be on immunosuppressants or any other condition that might overwhelm one's immune system.

My mother may have developed this condition, in the last few weeks before passing, after being treated for a few months for blood cancer, she had habitually not drunk enough fluid so to ensure less trips where anyone would need to help her get up and go to the toilet. (Chronic dehydration can also cause lesions in the brain.) In the last month unfortunately most of doctors and nurses caring for her did not want to acknowledge or perhaps even aware she was severely dehydrated due to a normal blood pressure (before they were even aware of lesions) - oh I think a slight frame with a small amount of fat, losing 3 to 6 or more cups more than any liquid consumed on a daily basis over three weeks or more - common sense should have pointed out some of her observed conditions were due to something other than PML (lesions confirmed [but not the cause] two and half weeks before her passing) or medications.

by anenefan

3/21/2026 at 1:31:38 AM

We know of 200-300 viruses that infect humans. According to the global virome project there may be tens of thousands of undiscovered ones that can infect humans. There’s so much we don’t know.

by dyauspitr