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October 22, 2012 Researchers in South Africa tracked how the evolution of the virus in two infected woman shaped the antibodies they produced to fight it. Several months after infection, the researchers saw that the patients had developed more "broadly neutralizing antibodies," which target different versions of the virus.

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October 19, 2012 Thanks to vigorous efforts to eradicate the poliovirus through vaccination, there are only three countries on the face of the earth where polio is still endemic. NPR reporters and editors hosted a chat on Twitter: #chasingpolio.

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October 18, 2012 Despite poverty and poor sanitation, the world's second-most populous country is eradicating polio, which has afflicted India for millennia. Health officials hope India's successful war plan against polio will serve as inspiration for its archrival, Pakistan, in its own fight against the disease.

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October 18, 2012 Adding a 12-year-old antibiotic to the regimen of patients with highly drug-resistant tuberculosis cured nearly 90 percent of patients in a study involving about 40 people in South Korea. The study, though small, suggests that the battle against the ancient scourge is far from lost.

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October 17, 2012 Polio is deadly, but so is what's required to stamp it out once and for all in Pakistan: facing down Islamist extremists. The virus thrives in Pakistan's lawless — and largely inaccessible — tribal regions. To stop polio's spread, health workers must be courageous, clever and relentless.

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October 17, 2012 Northern Nigeria is the only region in the world where the number of polio cases is on the rise. International groups have poured money and volunteers into the area to combat the disease. But vaccinators face daunting challenges — from security threats like terrorist bombings to a lack of basic resources like electricity.

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October 16, 2012 During the early 20th century, polio killed thousands of American children each summer and paralyzed many more. Now, as the world fights to eradicate the virus globally, we look back at the development of the polio vaccine and its successful deployment around the world.

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October 11, 2012 By tracking nearly 15 million cellphones in Kenya, scientists mapped out how malaria spreads through the Texas-sized country. The findings pinpoint areas where efforts to control malaria would be the most effective. One day, the data may help guide alert systems for phones that remind travelers to use bed nets.

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October 9, 2012 Because of fears that lab-altered bird flu viruses could cause a deadly pandemic if they ever escaped the lab, scientists agreed to a moratorium on mutant H5N1 flu research eight months ago. Now top scientists in the field continue the debate about the work, publishing six commentaries for and against the end of the moratorium.

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October 5, 2012 At first it seemed likely that the two known cases of illness from the new cousin-of-SARS virus may have been exposed in or near the Saudi Arabian city of Jeddah. But now it's pretty certain that a 49-year-old Qatari man who had traveled to Jeddah last month didn't pick up the virus there after all.

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October 5, 2012 To curb a recent Ebola outbreak in Uganda, health workers quarantined over 40 people suspected of infection with the virus. Their belongings were burned and buried in case they were harboring the virus.

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October 4, 2012 NPR's global health correspondent Jason Beaubien just returned from a remote region of northern Nigeria, where he was reporting on the tragic lead poisoning of thousands of children. Beaubien chatted yesterday on Twitter about this crisis and his reporting from this rural corner of Nigeria.

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October 4, 2012 For over a decade, peanut butter paste supplements like Plumpy'Nut have saved children around the world from malnutrition. Now health officials want to use the packets not just to save starving kids, but to keep them healthy in the first place. But will it work?

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October 3, 2012 In northern Nigeria, some miners use crude methods to extract raw gold ore — a practice fueled by rising gold prices. But the gold here is embedded in lead, and the dust kicked up by this dirty and illegal mining has killed hundreds of children and sickened thousands more. Experts say this may be the worst case of lead poisoning in recent history.

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October 3, 2012 Public health experts have gotten better at detecting new diseases and figuring out their cause since the SARS outbreak nearly 10 years ago. Advances in communications and genetics mean information about new microbes is more accessible.

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