Superbugs are the dastardly villains of the medical world: they’re hard to catch and kill, and they wreak havoc on the helpless.
Infectious Disease
Gardasil Protects Boys and Men From HPV Too
A new trial finds that the Gardasil vaccine protects men against human papillomavirus (HPV) as effectively as it does women. The question is: is widespread vaccination necessary?
Why You Shouldn’t Snuggle with Your Pooch in Bed
It isn’t just dog trainers and the occasional finicky spouse who want you to keep your pets off the bed. A new report in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases found that of the 250 known zoonotic diseases, which are …
Scatological Success: Fecal Transplants to Treat Bacterial Infections?
Here’s a real head-scratcher: would you eat someone else’s feces to treat your own diarrhea?
Global Microbe Detectives Are Getting Better at Tracking Disease Outbreaks
I was lucky — or unlucky — enough to have a front-row seat for one of the most surprising and frightening infectious disease outbreaks in recent history.
Study: City Life Spreads Disease, But If It Doesn’t Kill You…
Following the news that the rise of cities contributed to the spread of HIV is a more heartening take on urbanity: a history of city living may have helped some populations develop resistance to tuberculosis (TB).
Why You Need to Worry About NDM-1: Not a ‘Superbug,’ But Still a Threat
Antibiotic-resistant bugs have been around almost as long as antibiotics, and health officials have long warned about the looming danger of superstrains — bacteria that are impervious to all of our available antibiotic medications.