During the early 1980s, the word tampon became briefly synonymous with terror. Doctors began to document cases of a then little-known condition linked to the feminine care product, called toxic shock syndrome. Thousands of such cases and around a hundred deaths were reported before the crisis was ultimately contained.…
A teen girl’s kitten turned out to cause much more trouble than usual. In a new case report this month, doctors in Portugal describe how the cat likely transmitted an usually mild germ that caused the girl to develop a serious and rare bone infection. Thankfully, once the infection was identified and treated, the girl…
Earlier this month, South Carolina resident Brent Norman had an especially unlucky time at the beach.
Medieval residents of Winchester, England, probably got their leprosy from red squirrels in the area, according to a team of archaeologists and geneticists that studied remains from two archaeological sites in the city.
Eat your heart out, A24: Some real-life bacterial germs are literally hungry for our blood, new research suggests. Scientists have found evidence that certain disease-causing bacteria, including strains of Escherichia coli, are chemically attracted to the serum in our blood as a source of food. The horrifying findings…
The record-breaking summer in the Northern Hemisphere this year might somehow be even more miserable than expected.
An outbreak of meningococcal disease in Virginia has sickened dozens of people and killed at least five, local health officials reported this week. Though severe cases are typically rare, the state has seen a noticeable increase over the past year. The bacterial infection is vaccine-preventable, and most cases during…
Doctors in Florida are sounding caution about one of the world’s oldest known ailments, leprosy. In a recent report, they detail a local case of the bacterial disease with no recent travel history or other clear risk factors. The case and others suggest that leprosy is spreading routinely in Central Florida and has…