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Disease and Illnesses

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The Next Pandemic

The Next Pandemic

With Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the National Museum of Natural History, we look at the past, present and future of the flu

Flu pandemics begin when novel animal viruses start spreading between people.

The Next Pandemic

How to Stop a Lethal Virus

With tens of millions of lives at stake, medical researchers are racing to create a revolutionary flu vaccine before the next devastating epidemic

An emergency hospital at Camp Funston, Kansas, 1918. “Of the 12 men who slept in my squad room, 7 were ill at one time,” a soldier recalled.

The Next Pandemic

How the Horrific 1918 Flu Spread Across America

The toll of history’s worst epidemic surpasses all the military deaths in World War I and World War II combined. And it may have begun in the United States

BBC's "Downton Abbey" is one of the rare aspects of popular culture to show the grim costs of the 1918 flu pandemic.

The Next Pandemic

Why Did So Few Novels Tackle the 1918 Pandemic?

Surprisingly few U.S. writers touched by the 1918 pandemic wrote about it. But flu lit appears more popular today than ever

A woman sells live poultry at the market in Gaosheng Township, where Long purchased chickens and later died from bird flu.

The Next Pandemic

Is China Ground Zero for a Future Pandemic?

Hundreds there have already died of a new bird flu, putting world health authorities on high alert

Mad cow disease, like other prion diseases, is still not fully understood.

More Than 30 Years Since Their Discovery, Prions Still Fascinate, Terrify and Mystify Us

Figuring out what they were was just the beginning of a field of research into prions and prion diseases that’s still growing

Rock Hudson in 1954.

The Hollywood Star Who Confronted the AIDS ‘Silent Epidemic’

Rock Hudson died of AIDS-related complications in 1985

American Expeditionary Force victims of the flu pandemic at U.S. Army Camp Hospital no. 45 in Aix-les-Bains, France, in 1918.

The Next Pandemic

How the 1918 Flu Pandemic Revolutionized Public Health

Mass death changed how we think about illness, and government’s role in treating it

Since the Hepatitis A outbreak was identified in March, over 19,000 people have been immunized against the disease.

San Diego Is Dousing Its Streets With Bleach to Contain Hepatitis A Outbreak

The outbreak is primarily affecting the city’s homeless population

An extensive longitudinal study looks at the connection between childhood environment and diseases in adulthood.

Your Childhood Experiences Can Permanently Change Your DNA

An investigation into more than 500 children shows that upbringing can have dramatic effects on human health

You won't be hearing these disease names from your doctor

This Algorithm Generates Crazy and Terrifying Disease Names

A new neural network makes lists of diseases we thankfully don’t have

Researchers have devised a new way to monitor sleep stages without sensors attached to the body.

The Innovative Spirit fy17

This Device Uses Radio Waves To Track How You’re Sleeping

Scientists think it could help them better understand progression of chronic diseases like Parkinson’s

Yes, oysters can get herpes.

Oysters Can Get Herpes, And It’s Killing Them

A deadly virus threatens to decimate oyster populations around the world

Tapeworms, like this one imaged using a scanning electron micrograph, weaken their victims but don't typically kill them.

New Research

The World’s Parasites Are Going Extinct. Here’s Why That’s a Bad Thing

Up to one-third of parasite species could vanish over the next few decades, disrupting ecosystems and even human health

Pharmacists once used chocolate syrup to mask the bitter flavor of their remedies—and make a little money on the side.

The Unlikely Medical History of Chocolate Syrup

How the sundae staple went from treatment to just treat

Scientists can study stress in these petite primates with simply a few strands of their hair.

New Research

Stress Is Killing These Teeny Lemurs, and The Story Is In Their Hair

Sampling the fur of Madagascar’s gray mouse lemurs reveal a bevy of environmental pressures

Paul Ehrlich was the first to take a chemical approach to immunity.

The First Syphilis Cure Was the First ‘Magic Bullet’

The term ‘magic bullet’ once just meant a targeted drug

People were just starting to gain an obsession with apocalypse fiction when Mary Shelley wrote "The Last Man."

The Author of ‘Frankenstein’ Also Wrote a Post-Apocalyptic Plague Novel

‘The Last Man’ was derided in its time for being too grim, but today it would fit in with a growing genre of dystopian fiction

Anandibai Joshee (left), Kei Okami and Tabat M. Islambooly, students from the Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania.

Women Who Shaped History

This 19th Century “Lady Doctor” Helped Usher Indian Women Into Medicine

Ananabai Joshee dedicated her career to treating women and helped blaze a path for international doctors training in the U.S.

A painting of Franklin’s return to Philadelphia from Europe in 1785 shows him flanked by his son-in-law (in red), his daughter and Benjamin Bache (in blue), the grandson he’d taken to France as a sort of surrogate son.

Secrets of American History

What Led Benjamin Franklin to Live Estranged From His Wife for Nearly Two Decades?

A stunning new theory suggests that a debate over the failed treatment of their son’s smallpox was the culprit

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