Infectious Diseases Blog

Xinhua news reports that the Chinese government plans to relocate 77,000 people from the Tibetan region of Aba by 2013 in order to avoid Kaschin-Beck disease. The cause of ... Read More

UK newspapers tend to report infectious disease news trends faster than US papers. The Times Online reports a "playground superbug" which turns out to be a strain of MRSA ... Read More

AP news reports that Indonesia is wrapping up a bird flu epidemic drill. Indonesia is the most likely site of a human-to-human bird flu epidemic, so quashing an epidemic ... Read More

The Tanzanian Embassy in the United States has posted that a yellow fever vaccination is now required to enter Tanzania. Yellow fever epidemics occur in many African countries, so ... Read More

The CDC is recommending that people traveling to Israel for Passover get all childhood immunizations updated. Currently there is a measles outbreak in Israel, so please consult with your ... Read More

Yellow fever has been reported in Paraguay and Brazil in the past months so it's no wonder that a human case has been reported in Argentina. The CDC recommends ... Read More

The CDC has issued a malaria warning for Great Exuma in the Bahamas. Malaria prophylaxis with chloroquine is advised when visiting Great Exuma, but there are no malaria warnings ... Read More

Unsweetened puffed rice and puffed wheat made by the Malt-O-Meal company may be contaminated with salmonella, reports AP News. 21 people in 13 states are reported to have been ... Read More

China has gotten lots of flack in the past few years for refusing to share bird flu virus information readily. The Times Online reports that perhaps the most positive ... Read More

The CDC recently sent out a recommendation to travelers to get the MMR shot. Outbreaks in Switzerland and Israel have resulted in measles outbreaks in the US. If ... Read More

Not yet, but maybe one day your doctor will prescribe a little alligator blood instead of a more traditional antibiotic, reports BBC news. Alligators rarely get infections, and a ... Read More

Clay, like French clay, and clay found in Nevada and Oregon has been found to kill bacteria like E.coli and MRSA, plus psuedomonas aeruginosa reports Bloomberg News. The findings ... Read More

At least 65 conferencees came down with norovirus during a medical conference in Maryland, reports AP news. Norovirus, sometimes called the stomach flu, is usually spread when an ill ... Read More

The WHO has confirmed that 4 bird flu cases reported in Pakistan in December 2007 were likely a family cluster. That means that the bird flu virus was spread ... Read More

In a survey in Britain of surgical patients, they were asked to rank questions according to how difficult they were to ask to a doctor. Questions regarding safety, like ... Read More

UC Davis researchers have found that in mice the bacteria that causes Lyme disease can still be present even after a course of antibiotics reports Science Daily News. People ... Read More

AP news reports that the World Health Organization aims to eliminate elephantiasis by 2015. The disease is called lymphatic filariasis after the thread-like worm that is spread to people ... Read More

We soon may be able to halt the spread of Ebola outbreaks through vaccination. A general overview on where we are with Ebola vaccines will be given at the ... Read More

Lindsey Grayson, Australian Researcher at Melbourne's Austin Hospital conducted a study that has led her to believe a surgical mask is as good as an expensive so-called N95 mask in ... Read More

AFP news reports that scientists from Purdue University in Indiana have discovered how viruses like dengue fever and yellow fever become infectious. Further research could lead to a cure ... Read More

The Telegraph from London reports that breast milk contains sugars that may combat salmonella and other bad bacteria in the gut. The sugars, called prebiotics, are said to possibility ... Read More

Rio de Janeiro has had to open military field hospitals to cope with the influx of patients streaming into the public health care system with dengue fever. Meanwhile, troops ... Read More

Bird flu has been confirmed as the cause of death in two more children in Indonesia and another young adult has tested positive for the disease, reports Reuters. Indonesia ... Read More

There's an odd coincidence of an infectious disease and radical Islamic leaders in Nigeria. In 2003 and 2004, radical Islamic leaders alleged that childhood vaccinations were a western plot ... Read More