How Many Microbes Does It Take to Make You Sick?
The original version of this story appeared in Quanta Magazine. For a pathogen to make us sick, it must overcome a lot. First it has to enter the body, bypassing …
epidemiology
A Surge in Babies Born With Syphilis Is a Warning Sign
Those trends have combined to affect “women from vulnerable communities … usually women who are Black or brown, with lower financial means, lack of access to transportation, [and] inability to …
Bird Flu Reaches the Antarctic for the First Time
This story originally appeared in The Guardian and is part of the Climate Desk collaboration. Avian flu has reached the Antarctic, raising concerns for isolated populations of penguins and seals …
History Says the 1918 Flu Killed the Young and Healthy. These Bones Say Otherwise
In the last hard days of World War I, just two weeks before world powers agreed to an armistice, a doctor wrote a letter to a friend. The doctor was …
In Defense of the Rat
Suddenly, Franks realized she had another meeting to get to, and here she was in a room full of free-ranging rats. She couldn’t just open the door and leave—rats would …
Why It’s Too Soon to Call It Covid Season
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But the degree to which people accept the new shots might control whether and when a winter surge arrives. “We know from this virus, year over year, people’s immune response …
Inside the Race to Stop a Deadly Viral Outbreak in India
On the morning of September 11, critical care specialist Anoop Kumar was presented with an unusual situation. Four members of the same family had been admitted to his hospital—Aster MIMS …
The Massive Campaign to Air-Drop Tiny Rabies Vaccines to Raccoons
The National Rabies Management Program was established in 1997 to prevent the further spread of wildlife rabies. In 2007, canine rabies was eliminated in the US thanks to mandatory vaccination …
The Battle Against the Fungal Apocalypse Is Just Beginning
In February, a dermatologist in New York City contacted the state’s health department about two female patients, ages 28 and 47, who were not related but suffered from the same …
A Crucial Early Warning System for Disease Outbreaks Is in Jeopardy
Internal dissent within the mostly volunteer disease-news network known as ProMED—which alerted the world to the earliest cases of Covid, Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), and SARS—has broken out into …