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Multiple sclerosis is a confusing disease. Widely regarded as an autoimmune problem, it affects millions of sufferers, and we still don't have a complete grasp of what causes it. Part of this problem is due to the fact that every time we find something that seems to be a factor in how it works, that factor doesn't seem universal. More »
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Even though malaria deaths are down a very encouraging 25%, it remains one of the most devastating diseases in the world. Now we might have an unexpected new tool to fight against the spread of malaria: our natural smelliness. More »
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In their World Malaria Report 2011, the World Health Organization reports that the number of malaria victims in 2010 numbered just over 650,000 — that's down from around a million at the turn of the Millennium. More »
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Many of you probably read last week about a supervirus, engineered by dutch virologist Ron Fouchier, that has the potential to wipe out half of humanity. More »
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Shigella is an incredibly nasty bacteria related to E coli and Salmonella, and it's only found in apes — including us humans. When we get infected, it can cause lethal dysentery, so we've evolved a cunning way of fighting off the bug, a technique which has only just been observed. The human cells attack the invading Shigella using septin — a protein that's part of the cell's skeleton. The septin envelopes the bacteria; prevents it from spreading by limiting its access to actin, which it requires to move around; and marks it for destruction by autophagy, the cell's garbage disposal system. More »
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The battle over the future of chimpanzees in research has reached a critical point. Chimps are humans' closest extant relatives — and as such, they are arguably one of the best animal models available for biomedical investigations that have the potential to save countless human lives. More »
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Public health initiatives have been a major benefit of living in the 20th and 21st centuries. They've spared many of us from terrible communicable diseases, ensured we live past childhood, and helped cause human life expectancy to increase by 18 years worldwide in the past 50 years alone. More »
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If you're worried about catching a super-virus, you can always be extra careful about washing your hands. But sometimes that's not enough. Sometimes you just need to get all those sick people away from you. This idea has fueled many successful — and unsuccessful — quarantines over the years. Here are the strangest, sickest, and silliest things that have been done in the name of quaratines. More »
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you can make it through these 13 clips from Steven Soderbergh's Contagion without wondering what you've touched lately... then congratulations, you're disgusting. Watch the many plot threads with Soderbergh's ensemble cast start to gel together in these new clips. More »
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For years, scientists have recognized that many of the world's most dangerous diseases have an underlying genetic component. Even your susceptibility to conditions like heart disease and lung cancer, diseases closely tied to lifestyle factors like smoking and lack of exercise, are believed to be heavily influenced by your genetic makeup. More »
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The spread of the Black Death — a devastating pandemic that ravaged European populations between 1348 and 1350 — has long been attributed to the black rat and the fleas it carried from port to port, while hitching a ride on merchant ships. More »
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When naming serious diseases, or medical conditions, people try to give them a sense of gravitas. Even neutral names acquire a serious ring to them. But every now and again, otherwise sober medical professionals get cute. Here are a list of serious medical conditions that have freakishly silly names. More »
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About 200 million people today have schistosomiasis, a serious chronic illness caused by a parasitic infection. A big part of why the disease runs rampant today is how our ancestors practiced irrigation...and it's a mistake 1500 years in the making. More »
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Doctors may be able to kill off persistent staph infections using a cheap and easy method. A little boost of sugar can help kill the type of bacteria that regular antibiotics miss. More »
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Malaria is still one of the world's deadliest diseases, and the effort to stop it involves everything from lasers to nanotech. New discoveries reveal that the trick to stopping malaria may involve spreading a disease that already lives within mosquitoes. More »
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For over a decade, people suffering from Morgellons disease have been told that they're experiencing delusions. Even when they show doctors evidence that strange, multicolored fibers are growing out of itchy patches on their skin. More »
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There are several kinds of fungus that infect the brains of insects like ants and crickets. Each fungus controls the mind of its host, eventually killing it and sprouting from the bug's brain. Probably the creepiest killer of all is a fungus called Ophiocordyceps. More »
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Chances of a massive outbreak of Ebola that would either devastate the world or precipitate another Dustin Hoffman action movie just declined slightly. Researchers have found a way to block one of Ebola's entryways into the body. More »
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Ah, the zombie plague! A Mad Scientist couldn't ask for a better means for world domination. More »
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Researchers have proven through genetic testing that a certain strain of leprosy can be transmitted between humans and armadillos. These armadillos are thought to be the source of many of the cases of leprosy in the United States. More »
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Between January and March of this year, more cases of measles in France have been reported than were reported in that country in all of 2010. Scientists say dipping immunization rates may be the cause. More »
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We already have many of the medicines we need to kill pandemic diseases. But to stop a pandemic itself, we need math. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5794482&view=rss&microfeed=true The Johns Hopkins Hospital recently changed a number of their old-fashioned, manually-controlled faucets for fancy new motion-sensitive ones that you didn't have to touch at all. They immediately saw a spike in Legionella - a potentially deadly kind of bacteria that can cause pneumonia. The hospital took samples of the water from 20 of the new taps and 20 of the old ones, and found that 50% of the touchless type had Legionella, where only 15% of the manual ones did. More »
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At the edge of the world it lay undisturbed for thousands of years. They should never have awakened it. They did. Coming this summer: Virophage! More »
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There's fewer than 800 Mountain Gorillas left in the entire world, and their survival depends in part on people willing to pay money to go see them. But all this human interaction is bringing gorillas into contact with dangerous diseases. More »
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Sure, spider venom can kill humans. But, if you know what you're doing, it can offer revolutionary cures and treatments for some of humanity's worst ailments. It's already curing impotence...and now help with heart failure, high blood pressure, and epilepsy. More »
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The time is coming when all that we hate will be all that can save us. No, not mutants. Foodie trendsters. By always seeking out novelty, they may pursue the only real model for long term food sustainability. More »
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Animals seem to use migration to escape the spread of deadly pathogens...so it's bad news that many animals have stopped migrating. More »
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The Return of Count Spirochete was a 1970s educational film that warned kids about the dangers of doing it. This surreal cartoon depicted syphilis as a vampire and gonorrhea as an evil pitchfork-wielding demon who climbs in your urethra. More »
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Do your feet feel like this? If you're a fan of sugary drinks, there's a significant chance you've got gout — and it's not just soda that's to blame. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5686496&view=rss&microfeed=true As part of a series of articles on chronic disease, The Lancet has published a piece showing that by 2030, 7 out of 10 deaths internationally will be from chronic non-communicable diseases, and that low- and middle-income countries don't have the infrastructure in place to deal with this future. More »
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A new polio vaccine may mean the disease will be eliminated in as little as three years. More »
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While trying to determine the cause of Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamun's death, one researcher found that not all of the boy king's parts were present and accounted for. More »
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The "killer app" of current nanotechnology is the carbon nanotube, which could revolutionize circuit boards and other technologies. But these nanoscopic tubes also cause a new kind of industrial disease that could scar your lungs and give you cancer. More »
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It's been some time since we've heard from the mutant children of Plague Town. Thankfully a graphic, disturbing new clip lets us check in on the homicidal little town. More »
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A new case of CJD, or mad cow disease, has prompted scientists in the UK to warn that a new wave of the deadly condition is coming. And many more people could be infected. More »
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A global rise in tobacco use in the next two decades will help heart disease remain one of humanity's leading killers, while HIV/AIDS deaths will peak in 2012 before making a steady decline. This is according to an update of the World Health Organization's "Burdens of Disease" report, which measures the current sources of human mortality and looks at how health and safety trends are changing worldwide. The result is that the WHO can tell us not only what is killing us now but also what will – and won't – be killing us in 2030. More »
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Google doesn't just help you find the nearest pizza place anymore - now it helps doctors find where flu epidemics are going to strike next. Working with a group of epidemiologists, the tech megacorp has revealed a new system for tracking disease outbreaks by checking what people are searching for. By tracking the rise in searches on phrases like "cold/flu remedy," Google said yesterday in a Nature article that it can predict with almost total accuracy where flu outbreaks are occurring, far more quickly than the American Centers for Disease Control can. More »
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Ebola is the poster virus for outbreak scares because it spreads extremely fast and kills 90 percent of its victims by causing them to bleed uncontrollably. Featured in science-scare book The Hot Zone and countless cheesy movies, Ebola is considered ripe for development into a bio-weapon. But now it seems that a group of U.S. researchers may be on the fast track to a cure. In an article published online today in PLoS Pathogens, they explain that they've discovered how Ebola viruses trick their way into cells, and have a drug that can stop this process in its tracks. More »
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We can't officially call the program Google Disease(tm). But that's essentially what HealthMap is. Developed by doctors at Harvard Medical School, it's a mashup of a world map, news and information feeds on diseases all around the world, and $450,000 of Google.org funding. Some slick software piles updates on emerging diseases into region-by-region alerts to help public health researchers find and snuff an outbreak before it turns into the 1918 influenza. The service is also free, so anyone who wants to know whether the big bad Bird Flu is knocking on their door can go and have a gander too. More »
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