Infecting hundreds of millions across the globe, HPV is the world’s most common sexually transmitted disease. In the United States alone, human papillomavirus infects 14 million new people every year.

While the numbers are alarming, HPV is usually symptomless. It’s the long-term effects of this disease that can create life-threatening issues.

Years of untreated HPV can change the cells in a woman’s cervix, leading to cervical cancer. While cervical cancer is still a rare development from HPV, 70 percent of the cancer cases can be traced to the disease.

[Read more…]

The bubonic plague, also known as the “Black Death,” is one of the most dangerous diseases known to man.

It struck Europe in the mid-fourteenth century and overran the continent for over 300 years. Many of the European nations heard that Asia and the far East had substantial outbreaks of “Black Death.” Europe had established amicable trade relations with many of these Asian nations.

Historians believe that the plague was brought to Messina, Italy via trade ships.

[Read more…]

Autumn has been a difficult season for San Diego, thanks to a large hepatitis A outbreak.

The outbreak was officially declared a local public health emergency by the San Diego Public Health Officer on September 1, 2017. The outbreak progressed and spread to nearby areas like Los Angeles and Santa Cruz. This prompted California Governor Jerry Brown to officially declare a state of emergency on October 13.

Hepatitis A is a virus spread through contaminated food and water. This usually occurs when the food or water is polluted with the fecal matter of someone who’s infected.

[Read more…]

From the first cholera vaccine created in 1885 to the one approved by the FDA in 2016, the world has a much better understanding of the disease and its epidemics. That’s why knowing how vaccination prevention works is such an important tool.

Cholera is a bacterial disease the can be transmitted in water or food contaminated with Vibrio cholerae bacteria.

Symptoms from the disease can range from mild to fatal. Cholera typically causes symptoms like diarrhea and vomiting. Both of which can lead to death due to dehydration if left untreated.

Origins of the disease trace back to approximately 500 B.C. Since then, there have been two “first” genuine discoveries of cholera’s bacteria, once in the 1850s and once in the 1880s.

[Read more…]

You’ve heard of chickenpox and smallpox, but what about monkeypox?

Monkeypox is a rare viral disease, similar to smallpox but considerably milder.

Surprisingly, it’s not a new discovery as you may have suspected.

[Read more…]