With predictions that drug-resistant ‘superbugs’ could cause up to 10 million deaths a year by 2050, a new CSIRO survey has revealed a low level of community knowledge about antibiotics. The rise of superbugs, which claimed the lives of an estimated 700,000 people globally in the past year, has been attributed to the overuse of […]
In March, as stay-at-home orders were issued by states around the country, workers at the National Sexual Assault Hotline came to a sobering realization: for the first time ever, half of hotline calls were made by children under the age of 18. In addition to reporting sexual abuse, these callers discussed concerns about their safety […]
Scientists at the Department of Infection and Immunity of the Luxembourg Institute of Health (LIH) revealed a novel mechanism through which the immune system can control autoimmunity and cancer. In the special focus of the researchers were regulatory T cells—a specific type of white blood cells that in general act as a brake on the […]
Ghana on Monday ended a three-week lockdown on two key regions as the west African nation’s leader said testing had improved and the measures were having a “severe” impact on the poor. President Nana Akufo-Addo announced the lifting of restrictions on movement around the capital Accra and second region Kumasi in a televised address. He […]
In March, someone in Seattle became the first person in the United States to take an experimental dose of a potential vaccine for the novel coronavirus, COVID-19. Doctors injected 45 healthy people as part of a clinical trial they hope will protect people from a virus that has killed tens of thousands and upended normalcy […]
The likelihood of getting visceral leishmaniasis may be affected by living conditions in Nepal. Credit: Bernard Gagnon, CC BY-SA 3.0 A new study conducted in Nepal highlights household hygiene as key to eliminating visceral leishmaniasis, a disfiguring and often fatal disease caused by the Leishmania donovani parasite that is transmitted by the bite of the […]
Infectious disease outbreaks have killed more people than hurricanes, wildfires or earthquakes. The 1918 influenza pandemic was the most severe pandemic in recent history, with death estimates ranging as high as 50 million worldwide. Almost 700,000 deaths occurred in the U.S.; in some cases, entire families died. Because these events are so outside our understanding […]
