Infectious Disease

There’s not a doubt in my mind that the biggest infectious-disease threat facing humankind in the not-so-distant future will be microbes that are resistant to all antibiotics. This fearful development will return us, essentially, to the pre-antibiotic era, when death from bacterial infection was commonplace. Antibiotics have proven their worth­­––saving millions from potentially deadly streptococcal Read more

Editors’ Note: The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that as of February 11, 2015, more than 10,000 people have died from Ebola, nearly all of them in the West African countries of Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, and a small number in Nigeria.  In December, the WHO dispatched a response team to the Kono District, a Read more

There’s been a lot written about the measles outbreak and antivaccine parents. Fact is, the current situation is a direct and predictable result of many social/political trends that have emerged in America over the last generation. Having recently learned that a good way to get “clicks” on the Internet is to create lists, I am Read more

Editors’ Note: The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that more than 7,500 people have died from Ebola, nearly all of them in the West African countries of Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, and a small number in Nigeria. The situation is so dire that Sierra Leone has banned public celebrations of Christmas and the new Read more

Editors’ Note: Malaria causes over 200 million new infections annually. Each year, more than 600,000 people die from the disease. The WHO estimates that an African child dies every minute from malaria. There has been progress, however. In April, the U.N. reported that malaria rates for children in Africa are down by half. Still, there is much to be Read more