In many of the world’s developing countries, we still can’t get a hold of cholera.

An ongoing outbreak in Yemen has already shattered records with no signs of stopping. Haiti’s decade-long outbreak cost over a million lives after one devastating earthquake.

If a country’s water supply becomes tainted, chances of a cholera outbreak skyrocket. Not only will the drinking water pose a risk for the Vibrio cholerae bacterium, but food will too. Any food or water that comes in contact with the contaminated water could be the cause of cholera’s symptoms that could prove deadly.

On March 11th Cyclone Idai made landfall along Africa’s southeast shoreline. The disaster struck the nation of Mozambique, as well as parts of Zimbabwe and Malawi. The port city of Beira, with over half a million people, was among the region that endured the most of the cyclone’s devastation left in its wake.

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Years ago we learned that women can still contract HPV without sexual intercourse. The good news is that the HPV vaccine has caused a significant drop in cervical cancer cases for women.

But, this discovery showed a further danger for a sexually transmitted infection that can even increase heart problems for women.

If women can get the virus without sexual intercourse, what about men?

While a man with HPV cannot get cervical cancer, the virus still poses a great risk for men. While rare, the virus can still cause some dangerous symptoms. Worse, they can spread the disease to another person without even knowing of their own infection.
Studies in recent years show men who abstain from sexual activity can still be infected with the HPV.

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Recommended for most travelers, the typhoid vaccination has helped save countless lives and provided protection against a troubling illness. We recently learned the vaccine may even protect against many diseases besides typhoid.

But, who originally created the typhoid vaccine?

Credit for the vaccination is granted to not one man, but two: Sir Almroth Wright and Richard Pfeiffer.

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The spread of measles around the world has been relentless over the past year. Over half the states in the U.S. reported increased measles cases in 2018. Airplane passengers also seem to be an unaware source of many new measles cases.

The most recent measles emergency comes from a California hospital that recently had to tell 200 patients they were exposed to the disease due to one infected child.

Earlier this month Sacramento, California hospital UC Davis Health announced that they sent several hundred letters notifying of possible measles exposure to patients who went to the emergency department on March 17th.

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The chikungunya virus can be traced back to an outbreak in Africa, more specifically a border area. The Makonde Plateau between Mozambique and Tanzania appears to be the source of this mosquito-borne disease.

Likely originating in the Eastern and Central areas of Africa, the virus was first discovered in 1952. The word “Chikungunya” is said to have come from the Makonde language where it means “that which bends up.”

That may seem like an odd way to describe a virus, but the name comes from a symptom. When infected with chikungunya, the illness can cause severe joint pain. That pain can cause a more stooped posture from the arthritic symptoms of the disease.

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