May 16, 2012

Research and Policy

May 15, 2012

East African Bill Rejects HIV Criminalization Clause

By Katharina Schwan

On April 23, the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) passed the HIV and AIDS Prevention and Management Bill, which outlines progressive strategies to better manage the HIV/AIDS epidemic in...

HIV, AIDS, legislation, East Africa Region, criminalization

May 2, 2012

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Vermont Talks Vaccines

By Jason Hayes

In Vermont, the current debate over whether to get rid of “philosophical exemptions” to childhood vaccines mirrors rising skepticism about vaccine-use across the country. The philosophical...

vaccines, Vermont, state police power, immunity

Apr 27, 2012

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Inadequate FDA Antibiotic Policy Spurs Criticism

By Katharina Schwan

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) recent recommendations on antimicrobials in animal food production gave rise to a myriad of opinions, ranging from biased opposition to candid...

FDA, antibiotic resistance, cattle

Apr 24, 2012

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Fungi Present Increasing Threat to Plant and Animal Life

By Anna Tomasulo

Members of the scientific community suggest that the threat posed by certain fungi has been underestimated. Existing and emerging infectious diseases caused by fungi threaten plant and animal...

fungus, emerging infectious disease, white-nose sydrome

Apr 23, 2012

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Protect Your World: Get Vaccinated!

By Jane Huston

The World Health Organization celebrates World Immunization Week from April 21 to April 28. This year, the week coincides with exciting developments in the world of vaccination. Haiti and Ghana are...

Apr 18, 2012

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The Bird Flu that Man Built: Controversial H5N1 Research to be Published in Part

By Jason Hayes

One of the many articles about Dr. Ron Fouchier’s mutated strain of H5N1 is titled “The Deadliest Virus” and printed with a menacing illustration of a gaunt bio-safety mask opening to release...

H5N1, Ron Fouchier, avian influenza, research

Apr 13, 2012

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Possible New Virus Discovered In Kawasaki Research

By Katharina Schwan

“Kawasaki? I thought that was a motorcycle.” This was my mother’s response when I told her my topic for this week’s article. She is not alone in her unfamiliarity with a term that is more commonly...

Kawasaki Disease, virus, Rowley

Apr 12, 2012

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Is Drug-Resistant Malaria Spreading?

By Anna Tomasulo

Early this month, two studies were published in Science and The Lancet, each with evidence of artemisinin-resistance along the Thailand-Myanmar border. If this strain of drug resistant malaria...

artemisinin, malaria, Cambodia, Thailand, Myanmar, antibiotic resistance

Apr 11, 2012

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Haiti: Waiting to Vaccinate

By Jane Huston

Time is ticking as aid organizations wait to launch a vaccination campaign against cholera in Haiti. The heavy seasonal rains have already begun to fall, and threaten to bring flooding,...

cholera, Haiti, Partners in Health, vaccine preventable

Apr 6, 2012

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Research Shows Dengue Makes Mosquitoes Hungrier, Better Feeders

By Robyn Correll

Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health announced that dengue virus infection in mosquitoes could make them hungrier and better at feeding. A study published in the...

Dengue, Johns Hopkins

Apr 5, 2012

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On Antimalarials and Afghanistan Shootings

By Anna Tomasulo

On March 11, American Staff Sgt. Robert Bales allegedly killed 17 Afghan civilians. Amidst the media buzz, reporters, psychiatrists, and even Bales’s lawyer, wonder if certain drugs were linked...

mefloquine, lariam, malaria, Afghanistan, Military, Robert Bales

Apr 4, 2012

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National Public Health Week Recognizes Communicable Disease Prevention

By Jane Huston

This week, the American Public Health Association (APHA) observes National Public Health Week (NPHW). Since 1995, communities around the country have celebrated NPHW each April to draw attention to...

APHA, NPHW, Communicable diseases

Mar 29, 2012

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Digital Disease Detection: Public Health by the “Web Kids”

By Anna Tomasulo

In his essay, “We, the Web Kids,” Polish poet and pundit Piotr Czerski writes: “We don’t use the Internet…we live on the Internet and along it…communicating with one another in a way that comes...

Digital Disease Detection, Surveillance, monitoring, social media

Mar 23, 2012

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Stop TB in My Lifetime

By Katharina Schwan

Every year on March 24, the Stop TB Partnership encourages us to observe World TB Day, a day designed to raise awareness and knowledge of the disease responsible for the deaths of several...

Tuberculosis

Mar 1, 2012

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SARS Rumor Lands Man in Chinese Labor Camp

By Katharina Schwan

Police sentenced the man responsible for spreading the rumor of a new SARS outbreak in northern China during the previous week to two years of “re-education through labor”. The offender,...

Feb 10, 2012

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How Many Died from Malaria in 2010?

By Jane Huston

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimated global malaria deaths in 2010 to be around 655,000 but recent research suggests it may be nearly twice that number. Researchers at the Institute for...

malaria, mortality

Feb 3, 2012

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Scientists Find Possible Key for Plasmodium Falciparum Control

By Robyn Correll

Scientists at Washington University in St. Louis have uncovered a protein that they believe might be the key to controlling the deadly malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum. The discovery could...

malaria, protein, plasmodium falciparum, control

Jan 31, 2012

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No Infectious Agent Found in "Morgellons" Research

By Katharina Schwan

The debate surrounding an inexplicable skin disease, coined “Morgellons” in 2002, may finally provide patients and practitioners with some answers. The CDC’s anticipated study was published on...

morgellons, itching, rash, neurotic excoriation, CDC

Jan 30, 2012

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Change in Leadership as Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria Celebrates 10 Years

By Jane Huston

This week, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria announced the departure of its Executive Director, appointed a new General Manager, celebrated 10 years of operations and received...

Global Fund, Gates Foundation, Michel Kazatchkine, AIDS, TB, malaria

Jan 26, 2012

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Meningitis Vaccine Development

By Gilan Megeed

Following the scare in Kuwait of a possible Meningitis-Neisseria outbreak, news came out of a potential breakthrough in the development of an effective preventative vaccine against Meningitis...

meningitis, vaccine

Jan 18, 2012

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New Yaws Treatment Has WHO Discussing Future Eradication Efforts

By Jane Huston

Recent findings around the treatment of yaws have the World Health Organization (WHO) discussing future eradication efforts. Researchers from Papua New Guinea and Spain have found a single dose...

yaws, penicillin, azithromycin

Jan 12, 2012

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Zoonotic Viruses and Illegal Wildlife Trade

By Jane Huston

The United States is one of the world’s largest consumers of imported wildlife and wildlife products. There are an estimated 120 million live wild animals legally imported every year, plus many...

zoonotic diseases, wildlife trade

Nov 10, 2011

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World Pneumonia Day

By Jane Huston

The third annual World Pneumonia Day will be observed on Saturday, Nov. 12, 2011. World Pneumonia Day aims to raise awareness around the leading killer of children in the world. Over 120...

Oct 10, 2011

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Terrorism and Food Safety

By Anna Tomasulo

Early this morning, MSNBC released a report on the post 9/11 influx of foreign insects into the United States and the impact of this flood on the US food supply. According to Associated Press...

Oct 4, 2011

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GAVI to Donate Rotavirus and Pneumococcal Vaccines

By Jane Huston

On 27 Sept, the GAVI Alliance announced approval for 37 more countries to receive vaccines against childhood diarrhea and pneumonia. The vaccination campaigns are slated to start by the end of...

Oct 3, 2011

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Foul Water Fiery Serpent: Guinea Worm Disease

By Anna Tomasulo

As the lights dimmed, the sound of African drums filled the room. The audience was faced with the image of people fetching what appeared to be dirty, muddied water from shallow ponds. This...

guinea worm disease, dracunculiasis, eradication, Foul Water Fiery Serpent, The Carter Center, BUSPH

Sep 29, 2011

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U.S. Prepares for Flu Season

By Jane Huston

In the average year, anywhere from five- to twenty-percent of the U.S. population will get the flu. The most effective way to decrease that percentage is vaccination. As we enter the flu season,...

Sep 14, 2011

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Babesiosis in the U.S. Blood Supply

By Jane Huston

On 5 Sept. the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) revealed recently completed research indicating the parasitic infection babesiosis as a growing threat to the blood supply in the United States...

babesiosis, tick, blood, anemia

Aug 25, 2011

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Controlling the Spread of Dengue Fever?

By Anna Tomasulo

Yesterday Nature magazine published an article covering two Australian studies that showed the ability of Wolbachia pipientis bacteria to stop reproduction of dengue virus in mosquitoes, which...

Dengue, fever, bacteria, Nature, transmission, vaccines, Sanofi Aventis, infectious disease

Aug 15, 2011

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Welcome to The Disease Daily!

By Sumiko Mekaru

HealthMap strives to provide you with the infectious disease outbreak news you need to know along with the geographic and timeline context for you to understand it. In January 2009, we started a...

Aug 5, 2011

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New England Journal of Medicine Reports on New Tick-borne Bacteria

By Sumiko Mekaru

Ticks are known for carrying Lyme disease, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, Babesia, among other diseases. Now, there’s a new bacteria on the list. Researchers at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota and from...

NEJM, tick, tickborne, vectorborne, ehrlichia

Jul 28, 2011

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World Hepatitis Day

By Jane Huston

Today is World Hepatitis Day. Since 2008, World Hepatitis Day has worked to increase public and media interest through thousands of events worldwide. Hepatitis is the inflammation of the liver,...

hepatitis C, hepatitis

Jun 10, 2011

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Meningitis Vaccine Project (MVP) Reduces Cases

By healthmap

World Health Organization (WHO) data on the MenAfriVac vaccine distributed in Meningitis Belt countries show a massive decrease in cases in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger. The Serum Institute, based...

meningitis, Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger

Jun 6, 2011

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AIDS: Thirty Years Later

By Amy Hansen

On June 5, 1981 the first cases of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) were documented in a United States medical bulletin. 2011 marks the 30th anniversary of these 1st diagnosed cases of a virus...

AIDS, HIV

Apr 25, 2011

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25 April 2011: World Malaria Day

By healthmap

Today is the fourth annual World Malaria Day. On this date in 2000, leaders from 44 malaria-affected African countries signed the Abuja Declaration pledging to cut their malaria deaths in half by...

malaria, world malaria day, roll back malaria

Dec 26, 2010

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New Collaboration Announcement

By Amy Hansen

HealthMap is now collaborating with the PathoSystems Resource Integration Center (PATRIC). The goal of PATRIC is to develop bioinformatics resources for the research and countermeasures-development...

Dec 8, 2010

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HealthMap at the 9th Annual ISDS Conference

By Amy Hansen

Several HealthMap team members gave oral presentations at the International Society for Disease Surveillance’s 9th annual conference in Park City, Utah last week. In addition, HealthMap had a table...

ISDS

Dec 1, 2010

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HealthMap at the National Design Triennial: Why Design Now? At the Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum through January 2011

By healthmap

“Inaugurated in 2000, the Triennial program seeks out and presents the most innovative designs at the center of contemporary culture. In this fourth exhibition in the series, the National Design...

Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Triennial

Oct 26, 2010

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HealthMap Provides Critical Reporting and Response Information for Haiti Cholera Outbreak

By healthmap

HealthMap is working with CrisisMappers and HumanityRoad to provide up-to-date, reliable reporting of suspected cases and clean water resources provided by groups like Water Missions International...

cholera, Haiti

Aug 9, 2010

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DengueMap: New HealthMap collaboration with CDC

By Amy Hansen

More than one-third of the world’s population lives in areas at risk for transmission of dengue infection, and as many as 100 million people are infected each year. Dengue is caused by any one of...

Jun 11, 2010

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HealthMap FIFA World Cup Surveillance

By healthmap

Visit our special surveillance page for the World Cup! As soccer/football fans turn their attention to South Africa, HealthMap is watching for signs of outbreaks besides World Cup Fever. Teams...

Jun 8, 2010

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HealthMap New England Journal of Medicine Publication

By Amy Hansen

The HealthMap team recently published Information Technology and Global Surveillance of Cases of 2009 H1N1 Influenza in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM). The online paper includes three...

May 18, 2010

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HealthMap 3.0 – Site Redesign

By Amy Hansen

The HealthMap Website has been redesigned, and is now live at http://healthmap.org. The new site features many improvements focusing on removing clutter and allowing for greater customizations to...

Sep 3, 2009

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HealthMap Has a New iPhone App! - "Outbreaks Near Me"

By healthmap

HealthMap has developed an iPhone application, which can be obtained free of charge from the iTunes store! The app is named “Outbreaks Near Me,” as it uses GPS technology to show health alerts and...

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Research and Policy