After a widespread vaccination campaign, the United States declared measles eradicated in 2000.

Eradicating the disease capped off a decades-long mission.

Starting the program in 1963, the U.S. would have 3 to 4 million residents diagnosed with measles every year. After 37 years, the U.S. met the CDC’s standards for eradication: no transmission of measles for one year.

But, the fight against measles doesn’t end when the CDC declares elimination.

A country needs to maintain the fight against this disease and continue widespread vaccinations. For various reasons, this proved problematic across the country.

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Many parts of the world don’t need to worry about access to vaccines and medical care. Locals can head down to a nearby doctor’s office, clinic or pharmacy and get all the vaccinations they need.

That’s unfortunately not the case in may smaller or less-developed countries around the world.

Take Ghana for example.

The small African country is located in the northwestern shores of a vast continent. While Ghana is a middle-income African nation, locals still have trouble accessing many health needs.

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Mosquitoes may carry some of the most dangerous diseases, but they largely stay in the same regions.

Those subtropical climates create a perfect home for the insects. Visitors to Africa, the Caribbean, Central and South America or Southeast Asia knows the prep needed to avoid these diseases. The only worry for locals in other areas was if a travelers brought the disease home. If they were bit and brought chikungunya or dengue fever to a new area, local infections could begin.

Unfortunately, those many deadly diseases may not stay in the same regions for long.

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Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh have developed a new immunotherapy method to expose and eliminate HIV hiding out in patients’ immune cells.

HIV currently affects over 35 million people around the world. In 2017 alone, it caused almost a million AIDS-related deaths, meaning the therapy technique could change countless lives globally.

The key to the HIV-fighting technique is, surprisingly, another virus altogether: cytomegalovirus or “CMV.”

CMV is a very common virus that can cause relatively minor issues such as fever, sore throat, swollen glands and fatigue.

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Researchers speculate that approximately 330,000 individuals are diagnosed with Lyme disease every year.

Although, that already high number cannot be confirmed and they have reason to believe it is much higher. As a matter of fact, many estimate Lyme disease is 10 times more common than initially thought.

Scientists only see that number going up in the next couple of years, possibly made worse by a new species of tick that made its way to the United States last year. Some calculate that as many as 2 million people will have contracted an untreatable parasitic illness by 2020.

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