More and more people have subscribed to David Stractan’s theory known as the hygiene hypothesis, and now a small but growing number of people suffering from certain illnesses have taken hold of helminthic...

Walking pneumonia is a very common type of respiratory illness, with an estimated 2 million cases annually in the United States, caused by Mycoplasma pneumoniae. The mycoplasmas are the smallest known...

The controversial animal disease research laboratory, Plum Island Animal Disease Center, located on the relatively remote island off the tip of Long Island will be moving to the heartland of America, Manhattan,...

Many in the Lyme disease community and so-called “conspiracy theorists” have been making this claim for a long time. While no surprise, the Department of Homeland Security has unequivocally denied...

The Gram stain: even many lay people have heard of this basic but incredibly important test that serves an integral role in the microbiology laboratory. Here I would like to give a brief overview over...

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Little did small town Texas police officer, Truman Bradshaw think that 24 years after getting bit by a drunken man he would be dying of cirrhosis and Stage 4 liver cancer and seeking a liver transplant. But...

Last week, a media report said that the government of Kenya has issued warnings about a possible outbreak of aflatoxin in contaminated maize. Aflatoxin is a potent toxin and a very serious health issue...

Though this horribly disabling disease is virtually unknown to many Americans, trachoma is responsible for an estimated 7-8 million cases of permanent blindness particularly in the Middle East and Africa. The...

Since the research published last week about this lethal strain of fungus in PLoS Pathogens last week, there has been a plethora of media attention concerning the yeast, Cryptococcus gattii. Here I’d...

A Subway sandwich restaurant in Lombard, Illinois that was temporarily closed by health officials a few weeks ago has been the source of a Shigella outbreak which has afflicted at least 116 people. Of...