Medical specialties

Raw or undercooked meat is a common source of harmful E. coli bacteria. though no cause has been identified for the current outbreak yet. Photo: Justin Sullivan (Getty Images)The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is raising alarm over what itdescribes as a “fast-moving” outbreak of Escherichia coli bacteria. At least 29 people in Michigan and Ohio have been sickened by the same strain, while nine have been hospitalized, but more cases may emerge. A clear cause for the foodborne outbreak has not been…

The common house mosquito (Culex pipiens) is a well-known carrier of West Nile and other diseases. Image: Shutterstock (Shutterstock)The West Nile virus is having a great summer in New York City. Health officials this week reported that at least two people have recently contracted the viral illness, while a record number of mosquitoes are estimated to be carrying it currently. Officials are warning people to use repellant and wear protective clothing during peak mosquito activity, and they’re actively spraying high-risk…

The implant developed by scientists from Linköping University.Photo: Thor Balkhed/Linköping UniversityA team of scientists say they’ve found a new way to help people with damaged corneas: bioengineered implants created from pig skin. In findings from a small clinical trial published this month, the implants were shown to restore people’s eyesight for up to two years, including in those who were legally blind. Should it continue to show promise, the technology may one day provide a mass-produced alternative to donated…

Poliovirus, which can cause permanent paralysis and sometimes even death, has been detected in New York City sewage, according to both the state and city health departments—who made the announcement in a joint press release on Friday.The presence of the virus in waste water likely indicates that polio is circulating locally, among the general public, wrote officials. “For every one case of paralytic polio identified, hundreds more may be undetected,” said New York’s heath commissioner, Mary Bassett. And, although…

Image: Shutterstock (Shutterstock)A large-scale trial for a crucially needed vaccine has just gotten underway. Over the weekend, the first volunteers enrolled in the trial testing out a Lyme disease vaccine candidate developed by Pfizer and Valneva. Researchers hope that the multi-dose shot will protect kids and adults against six strains of the bacteria that cause Lyme in both the U.S. and Europe.The candidate is code-named VLA15. Typically, vaccines train the immune system to recognize a germ,or some important part of…

Illustration: Kateryna Kon (Shutterstock)With California’s ongoing water crisis impacting every part of daily life, health officials in the state’s wine country are scrambling to contain an outbreak of a waterborne bacteria that can potentially cause fatal lung infections.One person died while another 11 got sick with Legionnaires’ disease in the city of Napa, California, due to the presence of the bacteria in a hotel’s cooling tower, city health officials said Wednesday in a release.The outbreak occurred at the Embassy…

A vial of the JYNNEOS monkeypox vaccine.Photo: Mario Tama (Getty Images)The United States government has just declared a public health emergency over the growing monkeypox outbreak. The alert follows a similar declaration by the World Health Organization made last month, as well as ones made by individual states. There have been over 25,000 cases of the viral illness reported worldwide this year—an unprecedented spread for the usually rare illness—including more than 6,000 confirmedin the U.S.The last national public…

Image: Shutterstock (Shutterstock)Newly released data is the latest to show that Lyme disease cases in the U.S. are on the rise. The research found that private insurance claims related to the tickborne disease have substantially climbed since 2007, including more recently in the last five years. This relative increase was especially dramatic in rural areas.The research comes from FAIR Health, an independent nonprofit organization that formed in 2009 as part of a settlement between New York State and local health insurers…

Behold: what the youth are using to get high nowadays.Image: Shutterstock (Shutterstock)Teens and young people do stupid things—you’ve done them, I’ve done them—but a new report from India is pushing the limits of our credulity. Allegedly, Indian youth are boiling flavored condoms and drinking the water to get high. If that sounds to you like a 2022 version of Tide Pods or “pharm parties,” you’re not alone.According to the CNN-News 18, an English-language outlet in India co-owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, the sale of…

Colonies of Burkholderia pseudomallei in an agar plate.Image: Shutterstock (Shutterstock)A bacteria endemic to tropical areas that causes a life-threatening infection has just been detected within the soil and waters of the continental U.S. for the first time. On Wednesday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that they recently isolated Burkholderia pseudomallei bacteria in southern Mississippi. At least two local cases of the serious infection it causes, known as melioidosis, have been traced back to…