Unfortunately, some media outlets and government officials in the United States are promoting false notions about measles. They suggest that people hold “measles parties” so that children are more likely to be exposed and get infected. These foolhardy and wrong-headed ideas lay children open to a deadly virus. Then there is Robert F....
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An outbreak of H7N9 avian (bird) flu was reported March 17 in Mississippi, USA. This variety of bird influenza has not been seen in the US since 2017. [1] According to the World Health Organization (WHO), humans who have gotten this virus in the past have become severely ill. Since 2013, 1568 people have been infected in China, with 616 of them dying of...
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The Advent of Public Health During the first half of the 1800s, something extraordinary happened. Carried along trade routes and with the movement of troops, the world truly unified, but not in a good way. Bacteria, viruses, and parasites traveled easily and frequently, bringing successive epidemics of plague, yellow fever, and cholera across...
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Image by rawpixel.com It’s hard to see people in lab coats and say, “there goes a superhero.” But that is what I call the people who created the first vaccines for some extremely scary diseases. They took a perilous journey into unknown territory. In early days, before there was a clear understanding of germs and how they...
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