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Gonorrhea is the second-most commonly reported sexually transmitted disease in the United States. But no biggie, right? It's not like it's HIV or herpes — you know, one of those STDs that sticks with you for life. Just pop some antibiotics and you're good to go, right? More »
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Here are some snapshots from a dark chapter in American history. Throughout the 19th century, San Francisco's growing Chinese immigrant population had to contend with codified prejudice from legislation like the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act, segregated communities, and the sentiment that Chinese-Americans were the source of leprous, smallpox, and malarial "vapors." More »
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It's been just five years since the deadly fungus was first identified in a small population of New York bats. In that time, "white nose syndrome" has spread to 16 states and four Canadian provinces. Once infected, afflicted bats have been known to behave erratically, flying far from their nests, never to be seen again, making it difficult to identify the true impact of the disease. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5876979&view=rss&microfeed=true "Nodding syndrome" is a poorly-understood disease that causes children and teens to nod violently, as if having a seizure, when in the presence of food or when they get cold. Likened to epilepsy because of its effects, the disease is thought to be related to parasitic worms that also cause river blindness. First discovered in the Sudan in the 1980s, a new outbreak of nodding syndrome is sweeping across Uganda, and could spread elsewhere too. More »
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Today I received the worst news a stay-at-home writer can get. There is a threat of Escherichia coli in our unbaked cookie dough. An investigation into a 2009 outbreak of E. coli turned up ready-to-bake cookie dough, eaten raw, as the culprit. And the CDC believes steps need to be taken to keep it from happening again. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5866180&view=rss&microfeed=true For people who've had to foreclose on their mortgages over the past few years, the consequences can be more than financial. A group of epidemiologists have discovered that people over the age of 50 who've suffered through mortgage defaults are also facing deteriorating health as a result. More »
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HIV testing is now something you can do in the privacy of your own home. New research has tracked a trial program of self-administered HIV tests in Malawi, and shown that these tests could make a major difference in helping people find out their HIV status — and stop spreading the disease. More »
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Two of the biggest problems facing women in parts of Africa are complications from unwanted pregnancies, and HIV. So if a new study is correct, and a commonly used contraceptive hormone injection doubles your risk of spreading HIV, then it's going to be a public health nightmare. More »
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A document has just gone on display at Mount Vernon, Virginia - the museum in the former home of George Washington, first US President. It is an order dated 1777 and signed by Washington himself to send troops that had not been vaccinated for smallpox - or survived it - to Philadelphia to be vaccinated. These troops were then to join up with the main army, where the disease was raging. More »
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UCSF researchers have confirmed that one of their own has been stricken with an adenovirus that has jumped from a population of New World Titi monkeys. What's more, scientists believe that the virus came from a third species before moving to the Titis. More »
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Being in prison could save your life - depending on your racial background. A group of epidemiologists studying patterns of death among prisoners have discovered that black men in prison die at much lower rates than black men outside. More »
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A new interactive map of U.S. cases shows that HIV is probably more prevalent in your neighborhood than you think. More »
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Though it's often said that serial killers and diseases strike at random, a new study shows that they both kill victims in a predictable pattern. That's why the tools criminologists use to track serial killers can also pinpoint the location where an epidemic started. 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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A mutant fungus could prevent the spread of malaria, according to researchers at London's Westminster University. Angray Kang and other researchers have been working for years to tweak a fungus' genes to kill the malaria parasite in mosquitoes. More »
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Genetic modifications have created chickens that don't transmit flu to other chickens. Scientists hope that this will lead to healthier poultry and keep avian flu viruses from spreading to the human population. Will we soon be bowing to chicken overlords? More »
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A combined smallpox and anthrax vaccine has been developed which is faster and more efficient than either individual version, and could prove to be invaluable during a bioterrorism attack. The researchers took the protective part of an anthrax vaccine, and inserted it into an existing smallpox vaccine along with an immune chemical called interleukin-15. The new vaccine was faster and more effective than current anthrax vaccine Biothrax in protecting mice and rabbits; safer in immune-deficient mice; more effective than the licensed smallpox vaccine in mice and monkeys; and can be freeze-dried and stockpiled for use in an emergency. More »
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Peru's health ministry has dispatched emergency medical teams to the Amazon rainforest to stanch an outbreak of rabid vampire bats. So far 500+ people have been attacked by the bats, and four have been killed. More »
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You've probably heard that using a cell phone will give you brain cancer. Is it true? Scientists just completed a massive, international study of the connection between brain cancer and mobile phone use. More »
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When a pandemic breaks out, disease circles the globe, often leaping from species to species. Now scientists think they can forecast where deadly viruses will strike next, using a new tool that predicts genetic mutation. More »
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We may think we know how best to eradicate the zombie threat, but movies and books give us, at best, an anecdotal account of how to deal with the undead. A new paper, however, offers mathematical models for human survival. More »
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Malaria kills over a million people a year, mostly in Sub-Saharan Africa where the infected mosquito population is out of control. Now, epidemiologists are developing a radical new mechanism for vaccinating at-risk populations: through mosquito bites. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5326981&view=rss&microfeed=true A new study released today should quell bird flu panic, or at least calm it down a bit. Turns out that avian flu viruses have a really tough time staying alive in human noses, where they'd need to hunker down and breed if they were going to spread through our species in a pandemic. According to the study, released by scientists at Imperial College London: More »
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Today epidemiologists have released four maps showing the way a flu pandemic will spread, depending on how nations respond with anti-viral drugs. Two scenarios demonstrate how to stop the spread of swine flu, fast. More »
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Doctors say Americans are experiencing an "obesity epidemic" because so many more people are overweight today than they were even 20 years ago. Now research shows the epidemic may be caused by a (curable) virus. 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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This map shows the places in the world where the next deadly virus will probably begin its fatal sweep across the globe. Red areas are plague "hot spots," and green areas are regions where epidemics are least likely to break out. An international team of scientists came up with the map after years of exhaustive research into virus patterns. Researchers discovered that disease disasters have quadrupled over the past 50 years, and they have evidence showing which groups are most likely to spread a virulent disease. More »
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At one point during I Am Legend, hitting theaters this Friday, Robert Neville (Will Smith) recounts how many people were decimated by the evil virus. Based on the numbers he gave, we've made you a helpful pie chart to sort it all out. Click to enlarge. More »
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Using the deadly SARS flu outbreak as a template, researchers have created a model that can predict the spread emerging global epidemics. A team of researchers in the US and Europe incorporated travel and census data from 3100 urban areas and 220 countries to figure out where a virus would travel and how fast. More »
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