Disease and Illnesses

Chincoteague ponies take a moment to graze after swimming across the Assateague Channel in 2015.

New Vaccine Offers Hope in Chincoteague Ponies' Battle Against Swamp Cancer

Over the past three years, the disease has claimed the lives of seven of the famously resilient ponies

An engraving by Levasseur after Jules-Elie Delaunay depicts the angel of death at the door during the 165 A.D. plague in Rome.

What Rome Learned From the Deadly Antonine Plague of 165 A.D.

The outbreak was far deadlier than COVID-19, but the empire survived

The first physician to definitively distinguish typhus and typhoid was American doctor William Wood Gerhard.

What an 1836 Typhus Outbreak Taught the Medical World About Epidemics

An American doctor operating out of Philadelphia made clinical observations that where patients lived, not how they lived, was at the root of the problem

Research suggests humans can occasionally pass the new coronavirus to cats. But felines are very unlikely to be a source of transmission back to humans.

Why the New Coronavirus Affects Some Animals, but Not Others

While the virus seems capable of infecting some pets and wild animals, these cases probably aren’t occurring often

Health care workers at Stanford and the University of Massachusetts who have placed smiling portraits of themselves on the outside of their protective gear

Portrait Project Reveals the Faces Behind Health Care Workers' Protective Gear

Doctors and nurses are attaching smiling photos of themselves to the outside of their protective gear to maintain connections with patients

Though much has changed since 1918, the sentiments shared in writings from this earlier pandemic are likely to resonate with modern readers.

What We Can Learn From 1918 Influenza Diaries

These letters and journals offer insights on how to record one's thoughts amid a pandemic

Times Square stands largely empty on March 22.

As COVID-19 Reshapes the World, Cultural Institutions Collect Oral Histories

Universities, libraries and museums are among the organizations seeking personal stories about the pandemic's effects on daily life

A nurse conducts a swab test for SARS-CoV-2 in Chessington, England.

Breaking Down the Two Tests That Could Help Contain the COVID-19 Pandemic

One detects an active infection; another signals that the virus has already left the body. Both are critical for tracking the spread of disease

A lithograph by Alice Dick Dumas depicts children going to a clinic for a health check to prevent the advance of disease.

How Epidemics of the Past Changed the Way Americans Lived

Past public health crises inspired innovations in infrastructure, education, fundraising and civic debate

Can you become immune to SARS-CoV-2?

What Scientists Know About Immunity to the Novel Coronavirus

Though COVID-19 likely makes recovered patients immune, experts aren't sure how long protection lasts

People cross Park Avenue after it was announced that some streets will be closed off as lockdown continues in response to the coronavirus outbreak on March 27, 2020 in New York City.

How—and When—Will the COVID-19 Pandemic End?

Americans have some time before social distancing measures can let up—and every day counts

According to traditional Japanese folklore, Amabie predicts good harvests and protect against disease.

Amid Pandemic, Artists Invoke Japanese Spirit Said to Protect Against Disease

Illustrators are sharing artwork of Amabie, a spirit first popularized during the Edo period, on social media

With pyramids closed to visitors, workers are deep cleaning the structures.

Amid COVID-19 Closures, Egypt Sanitizes the Giza Pyramids

The country has shut down its museums and archaeological sites in an effort to slow the spread of coronavirus

Parks reopened in Wuhan on Thursday, March 26.

China Plans to Lift Lockdown on Wuhan, Where COVID-19 Was First Detected

With no new infections reported in Hubei province in recent days, restrictions are easing up—but experts worry about possible 'second wave' of cases

A mountain gorilla in Uganda

COVID-19 Could Threaten Great Ape Populations, Researchers Warn

No SARS-CoV-2 infections have yet been detected in our closest living relatives. But there is precedent for viruses jumping from people to other great apes

The Baldwins' home was reconstructed in 1966 and is now a museum showcasing the missionary's life in the mid-1800s.

Archaeologists Unearth Remnants of Kitchen Behind Oldest House Still Standing in Maui

The missionary who lived in the house during the mid-1800s delivered vaccinations to locals during a smallpox epidemic

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Covid-19

Providing historical context and scientific evidence as the pandemic unfolds

A protestor on Maui

Shutting Down Hawai‘i: A Historical Perspective on Epidemics in the Islands

A museum director looks to the past to explain why 'Aloha' is as necessary as ever

Pohl emphasized that killing rats was a civic duty, telling the Oregonian that “everyone in the city, rich and poor, should consider it his duty to exterminate rats.”

The Pioneering Health Officer Who Saved Portland From the Plague

Tasked with curbing a 1907 outbreak, Esther Pohl emphasized the importance of clean, vermin-free environments

The tobacco mosaic virus seen under 160,000× magnification

How a Few Sick Tobacco Plants Led Scientists to Unravel the Truth About Viruses

With the COVID-19 coronavirus causing a global pandemic, a look back at the scientists who figured out viruses and their relationship to disease

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