The raw seafood used in foods such as sushi and sashimi may contain parasitic worms that can cause relatively mild to severe infections in humans. Anisakis simplex is the most likely offender when it comes...

The Philippines is an archipelago consisting of 7100-plus islands located in the western Pacific Ocean. The country brings in foreign travelers for a diverse number of reasons ranging from the cool climate...

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...

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...