During the summer, you probably only use bug spray when away from the city. Maybe it’s during a hike in the country or a day by the lake, but mosquitoes don’t bite in the city, right?
Not only do the insects bite in urban areas, but they’re also carrying diseases.
A recent study has shown that Japanese encephalitis, usually thought to be a rural problem, can spread quickly in cities as well.
Mycoplasma genitalium (Mgen or MG) is a relatively new sexually transmitted disease but it’s already a bigger problem than you might think. The disease could already be present in one in every 100 adults and it may very well become a superbug due to its antimicrobial resistance.
Even if you haven’t heard of it, the STI is surprisingly common. Mgen infects roughly one to two percent of people in the United States and in Australia, as well as one percent of people in the United Kingdom.
As Lifehacker AU notes, countless people know of gonorrhea and not Mgen, yet Mgen infects more than twice as many people as gonorrhea.
Measles has long been considered one of the worst childhood illnesses around the world. The disease even has a symptom that’s easily recognized in the form of a red itchy rash.
To this day, measles is extremely contagious, spreading from person-to-person like wildfire. The highly-contagious nature has even helped the measles outbreaks that have increased in recent years.
But, with so much recent news about measles, what is the disease’s history? And specifically, where did the measles vaccine come from?
MERS made headlines recently as health officials in England reported the first diagnosis of the illness in the country in five years.
While Public Health England says that the risk of infection for the general public is quite low, a search is on for passengers who sat near the MERS patient on a flight to Britain from the Middle East.
This news has many questioning what the illness is and how it’s spread.
A West Nile virus outbreak in Europe continues to take lives, bringing the current death toll to over 50 people. A report published Wednesday in Deutsche Welle details the increasing dangers in countries like Serbia and Greece.
The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control shares that the West Nile fever situation has caused at least 410 human cases and 54 deaths in various locations in and around Europe.
Serbia has been hit the hardest by the virus. Officials tallied 21 deaths and 213 confirmed infections so far, most of which have been in the capital city of Belgrade.
