Accessibility links
Infectious Disease : Shots - Health News Infectious Disease
Stories About

Infectious Disease

One Scientist's Race To Help Microbes Help You

Biologist Rob Knight, co-founder of the American Gut Project, recently moved the project to the University of California, San Diego's School of Medicine. Casey A. Cass/University of Colorado hide caption

toggle caption
Casey A. Cass/University of Colorado

Shots - Health News

One Scientist's Race To Help Microbes Help You

Moving the American Gut Project to a biotech hub like San Diego may speed the jump from basic research to real treatments. At least that's microbe tracker Rob Knight's plan.

This Year's Flu Vaccine Is Pretty Wimpy, But Can Still Help

Bruno Mbango Enyaka gets his flu shot at a community health center in Portland, Maine, on Jan. 7. Gabe Souza/Press Herald via Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption
Gabe Souza/Press Herald via Getty Images

Shots - Health News

This Year's Flu Vaccine Is Pretty Wimpy, But Can Still Help

The vaccine is only about 23 percent effective against the dominant flu strain, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That's because the strain mutated slightly.

This Year's Flu Vaccine Is Pretty Wimpy, But Can Still Help

Listen · 3:13
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/377433071/377527085" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
The Doctor Who Championed Hand-Washing And Briefly Saved Lives

Ignaz Semmelweis washing his hands in chlorinated lime water before operating. Bettmann/Corbis hide caption

toggle caption
Bettmann/Corbis

Shots - Health News

The Doctor Who Championed Hand-Washing And Briefly Saved Lives

One of the most important medical advances may also be the simplest: hand-washing. It's the best defense against spreading disease. And its power was discovered long before anyone knew about germs.

The Doctor Who Championed Hand-Washing And Briefly Saved Lives

Listen · 7:17
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/375663920/376660081" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
Scientists Hit Antibiotic Pay Dirt Growing Finicky Bacteria In Lab

You don't want to run into methicillin-resistantStaphylococcus aureus (MRSA) bacteria. A potential new antibiotic could help fight this bug. CDC hide caption

toggle caption
CDC

Shots - Health News

Scientists Hit Antibiotic Pay Dirt Growing Finicky Bacteria In Lab

A natural compound kills germs that have become resistant to antibiotics, researchers say. If it works in humans, it could help combat diseases like tuberculosis.

Scientists Hit Antibiotic Pay Dirt Growing Finicky Bacteria In Lab

Listen · 3:36
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/375616162/375672087" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
Painful Virus Sweeps Central America, Gains A Toehold In U.S.

A woman protects her child's face in Managua, Nicaragua, as health workers fumigate for mosquitoes that carry chikungunya. The virus started spreading through Nicaragua and Mexico in the fall. Esteban Felix/AP hide caption

toggle caption
Esteban Felix/AP

Goats and Soda

Painful Virus Sweeps Central America, Gains A Toehold In U.S.

While some Americans worried that Ebola would spread around the U.S., a new mosquito-borne virus flew right in. It sickened more than 2,000 Americans and nearly a million people across the Caribbean.

Painful Virus Sweeps Central America, Gains A Toehold In U.S.

Listen · 3:22
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/374198141/374417526" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
Ebola Aid Workers Still Avoiding New York And New Jersey

Last fall's state-ordered quarantine of nurse Kaci Hickox (shown here with her boyfriend, Theodore Michael Wilbur, in late October) started at the airport in Newark, N.J., then followed her home to Fort Kent, Maine. Hickox treated Ebola patients in Africa but never had the illness. Spencer Platt/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption
Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Shots - Health News

Ebola Aid Workers Still Avoiding New York And New Jersey

It's been months since a nurse who treated Ebola patients in Africa was quarantined by New Jersey's governor upon arrival at Newark airport. But a legacy of confusion about state travel rules remains.

Ebola Aid Workers Still Avoiding New York And New Jersey

Listen · 5:08
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/374194902/374332517" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
Costly Hepatitis C Drugs Threaten To Bust Prison Budgets

The hepatitis C medication Sovaldi, from Gilead Sciences, costs $1,000 per pill. It's just one of the new medications introduced in the past year that can cure the disease within weeks or months. Courtesy of Gilead Sciences via AP hide caption

toggle caption
Courtesy of Gilead Sciences via AP

Shots - Health News

Costly Hepatitis C Drugs Threaten To Bust Prison Budgets

The Public's Radio

Inmates in the U.S. have a high rate of infection with chronic hepatitis C — up to 35 percent or more by some estimates. New drugs introduced this year can cure the disease quickly, but at a cost.

Costly Hepatitis C Drugs Threaten To Bust Prison Budgets

Listen · 5:06
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/372721256/372837243" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript