It’s a simple fact of life that mosquitoes bite humans, though the reasoning behind this isn’t always clear. We’ve always considered egg production to be the key factor in the past, but studies show there’s more to mosquito bites than people think.

What Makes Mosquitoes Bite People?

As many people may know, it is only female mosquitoes who bite. This is typically to get protein needed for the formation of their eggs. Because these mosquitoes can often lay over 100 eggs at a time, they understandably need a lot of protein.

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Many different terms are used to describe how diseases affect public health. Words like “pandemic”, “endemic” or “epidemic” may be thrown about for the current status of an illness.

But, one you may not hear very much is “global health emergency.” The World Health Organization recently used this rare term to describe the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

This announcement had many people asking: what is a global health emergency and what makes such an event different from others?

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From the fall months through the spring, every sneeze or feeling of nausea creates fear of the flu. The virus is at its most dangerous and contagious during these months, also known as flu season. That’s because the respiratory illness can cause a range of severity, from mild to life-threatening.

One sneeze or cough from a seemingly infected person can spread the virus during these months. It may only take being in the same vicinity of the virus to contract the flu.

And after the infection starts, so do the symptoms.

A cough, sore throat, body aches and fever can all come from the flu. While most people recover in less than two weeks, it can be severe and lead to hospitalizations and death.

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Illnesses like E. coli and salmonella aren’t new to the United States. While outbreaks of these diseases aren’t common, some tainted food that’s sold across the country can lead to a spike in cases.

Like the salmonella outbreak in 2018, it appears we have a similar problem this year.

Over the last couple of months, salmonella has been reported throughout the entire continental United States. All 48 of those states have combined for almost 770 cases of the disease, according to the CDC. Of those infected, nearly 125 people were hospitalized, causing two salmonella-deaths in Ohio and Texas. The two states that had reported the most cases were Tennessee and Ohio.

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Consumer interaction with vaccines typically starts and ends with the shot at the doctor’s office. Many patients do not know the work that is required not only to manufacture a vaccine, but to create the vaccine base itself. Years of both research and development go into every immunization.

So what goes into a vaccine before you get it? And how is its development continued throughout the vaccine’s lifespan?

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