Archive: Wed Dec 2014

Health equity is based on the idea that all lives, anywhere in the world, have equal value.  Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) are a group of 18 infectious diseases – caused by parasites, viruses, or bacteria – that disproportionately affect the poor…

Chikungunya virus is a serious global threat for both the sheer number of individuals it infects, as well as the intensity and duration of the suffering it causes in each patient. The small virus is transmitted to humans by the simple bite of a mosquito,…

Many diseases have affected the outcomes of battles or the political leanings of a country, but few have had consequences on society that continue to be felt in the present age. The plague is one such disease and its most famous pandemic – the Black…

The spread of Ebola virus is unsettling to many living in the United States, yet to date the U.S. FDA and the EMA (the FDA’s European counterpart) have not approved any medicines or vaccines that could treat a potential global outbreak. In October, both…

Ebola hysteria dominated popular news in 2014.  However, since the outbreak began to draw attention in March earlier this year, only two people have been infected in the United States.  Did this really warrant non-stop media coverage? Much of this…

Diseases transmitted by arthropods (e.g. mosquitoes and ticks) are very common in areas with warmer climates such as Central and South America, Africa and Asia. These diseases, which include malaria, dengue fever, and Chikungunya, are classified as…

How are other living organisms threatening to human beings? We could be mauled by bears, poisoned by mushrooms, or stung by wasps. However, what if that organism was small—microscopically small? These tiny organisms can sometimes make us sick with…

On a November day in 1721, a small bomb was hurled through the window of a local Boston Reverend named Cotton Mather. Attached to the explosive, which fortunately did not detonate, was the message: “Cotton Mather, you dog, dam you! I’ll inoculate…

What do you think is the deadliest animal in the world? Sharks? Nope. Snakes? Nope. Humans? Getting closer, but no. Mosquitoes? Ding, Ding, Ding! We have a winner. If you give them credit for malaria and the other diseases that they carry, mosquitoes are…

A major threat to public health all over the world today is the rise of harmful “superbug” bacteria that are very difficult to kill with antibiotics. One of the most well-known superbugs is methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), an…