Goats and Soda

The female Anopheles mosquito is a spreader of malaria. Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images hide caption

Suspicious travel companions: Bacteria can survive for days on surfaces inside a plane. But that doesn't mean you have to take these critters home with you. Benjamin Arthur for NPR hide caption

This banner is displayed at the Institute of Lassa Fever Research and Control in Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital in Irrua, Edo State, midwest Nigeria. Pius Utomi Ekpei/AFP/Getty Images hide caption

Blue methylene dye is used in labs to stain cells and sold in pet stores to treat tropical fish for fungal infections. It has anti-malarial properties as well. Jay Reed/NPR hide caption

Researchers are working on a new way to deliver anti-HIV drugs. A six-pointed device (artist's rendering, above) folds up to fit inside a capsule. One swallowed, the capsule dissolves and the device opens up and slowly dispenses the medication. Partners Healthcare / Screenshot by NPR hide caption

Children get their diphtheria inoculation in 1944. Kurt Hutton/Getty Images hide caption

A girl is vaccinated against dengue as part of a public immunization program for children in the Philippines. The program was suspended after the company raised safety concerns about the vaccination. Dondi Tawatao/Getty Images hide caption

Twesigye Jackson Kaguri, in the blue T-shirt on the roof, helps build a home for a grandmother supported by his HIV/AIDS nonprofit in rural Uganda. Matt Stauble hide caption

A municipal worker sprays disinfectant during the clean-up of a market in Madagascar's Anosibe district — a measure to fight the outbreak of bubonic plague, which can be spread by a flea bite. RIJASOLO/AFP/Getty Images hide caption

Rat traps are a weapon behind used to fight the plague in Madagascar, since the rodents carry the disease. But getting rid of all the rats would be difficult — and without rats, plague-infected fleas could then turn to humans for a blood meal. RIJASOLO/AFP/Getty Images hide caption

Workers spray to kill fleas in a public school in Antananarivo, Madagascar's capital. A bite from an infected flea can spread the plague, which has stricken 157 people in the island nation since August. Anadolu Agency/Getty Images hide caption

This computer-generated image shows the structure of the hepatitis B virus. Science Picture Co/Science Picture Co hide caption

A newly detected type of Klebsiella pneumoniae bacteria (in red) has acquired genes that make it more deadly. Science Source hide caption