Contagious Disease

Despite projections of 1 to 1.5 million tests to be performed this week from Vice President Mike Pence and Stephen Hahn, commissioner of the FDA, the number of actual tests performed in the U.S. is much lower. The Atlantic was only able to verify that less than 1,900 people have received…

On Tuesday, March 2nd, the last patient to be diagnosed with Ebola was discharged from a treatment center in Beni, North-Kivu in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. This may be the last case of Ebola and may mark the end of the outbreak, but the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends waiting…

Want to know what places you should avoid during the novel coronavirus outbreak? The CDC has recommended to avoid all travel to mainland China and South Korea. Travel alerts have also been issued for older adults and people with chronic medical conditions to postpone travel to Italy, Iran, and…

US Surgeon General Jerome Adams wants people to stop buying face masks to prevent the coronavirus, and admits that masks can actually increase the risk of infection if they are not worn properly. People who don't know how to wear them properly are always touching their faces and can increase the…

Even though the number of known cases of the coronavirus are few in the United States, public health officials are worried about the risks and challenges of an outbreak that could occur in homeless populations. Lack of ability to have proper hygiene, living in close proximity, and risk factors from…

Satellite images from NASA show a dramatic decrease in pollution over China since the coronavirus outbreak. Before the outbreak, there were high levels of nitrogen dioxide seen over China. Nitrogen dioxide is a gas emitted by power plants, vehicles, and industrial sites. Between February 10th and…

The novel coronavirus, COVID-19, is very similar to other coronaviruses that caused epidemics like SARS and MERS. COVID-19 actually shares about 79% similarity with SARS and 50% similarity with MERS so information about those two viruses could help us learn more about COVID-19. Many respiratory…

COVID-19 is more contagious but less deadly than SARS. The mortality rate of COVID-19 is between 1-2% versus 9.6% for SARS. Meanwhile, COVID-19 has spread much faster and infected over 75,000 people in 2 months compared to SARS, which took 8 months to affect over 8,000. Nonetheless, the two…

The coronavirus not only affects health and safety but also businesses, specifically Silicon Valley tech companies. The stocks of these tech companies like Apple and Facebook are falling because of their connections and suppliers in China. Furthermore, conferences that bring together major…

There are rising concerns as to how long the novel coronavirus can survive on a surface – so much so that China’s central bank is thoroughly disinfecting their cash, and even destroying it, to minimize the contamination. It is unknown how long the novel coronavirus can linger on a surface, but…

Recently, the New York Post released information that may suggest that the coronavirus came from one of China's labs instead of the claimed seafood market. The post claims that the virus may have originated from National Biosafety Laboratory--China's only Level 4 microbiology lab that is equipped…

Five years ago, Austin, Indiana experienced the worst drug-fueled HIV outbreak ever to hit rural America. Today, about 75% of patients that were a part of this outbreak are undetectable for HIV. Despite the strides taken to reduce HIV incidence in Austin, the CDC has determined 220 U.S. counties…

Recently, a second wave of flu is appearing in the United States, and the number of child deaths and hospitalization rates are one the highest ever recorded since 2009-2010. According to health officials, this wave is expected to continue for the next few weeks. Due to the unfortunate appearance of…

The coronavirus has recently caused the death of a Chinese tourist in France, the first known fatality in Europe by the virus. The tourist was reported to be 80 years old from the Chinese province of Hubei, where the outbreak originated. His daughter is expected to have survived from the virus and…