• "Flesh-eating" bacteria scares shouldn't keep you off Texas beaches

    Every summer as millions flock to Gulf Coast beaches, another seasonal cycle begins: news stories of what we should fear. Most recently in Texas, there have been a number of stories about so-called flesh-eating bacteria infecting beachgoers, Vibrio vulnificus.. Sensationalized news about health threats like V. vulnificus undermine rational thought and distort perspective, but there is plenty of good information out there to make your own decision about risk. I hope to see you on the beach.

  • Integrating military, civilian trauma care systems could prevent up to 20% of U.S. trauma deaths

    The leading cause of death for Americans under the age of 46 is trauma — a disabling or life-threatening physical injury that results from an event such as a motor vehicle crash, gun violence, or fall. In 2013, trauma cost approximately $670 billion in medical care expenses and lost productivity. Of the 147,790 U.S. trauma deaths in 2014, as many as 20 percent — or about 30,000 — may have been preventable after injury with optimal trauma care. Mass casualty incidents and increasing foreign and domestic threats to homeland security lend urgency to the translation of wartime lessons to civilian trauma systems, says a new report.

  • Crop breeding is not keeping pace with climate change

    Crop yields will fall within the next decade due to climate change unless immediate action is taken to speed up the introduction of new and improved varieties, experts have warned. The researchers focused on maize in Africa but the underlying processes affect crops across the tropics.

  • Zika threatens world's blood supply: Experts

    Blood safety researchers say it is highly likely that the mosquito-borne Zika virus can be transmitted through blood transfusions and are calling for an evidence-based approach to protecting the blood supply from the threat of Zika virus.

  • Predicting contagiousness to help limit the spread of disease

    Imagine the workplace during flu season. Some people get sick and display clear symptoms — a warning sign to coworkers to avoid contact and for that individual to stay home. Others are infected, but never or only belatedly exhibit the tell-tale signs of sickness, meaning they can infect coworkers without knowing it. If healthcare professionals had the ability to test in advance whether a person is likely to spread a disease following infection, they could recommend specific measures to treat the person or limit exposure and perhaps keep an outbreak from growing into an epidemic or pandemic. DARPA’s new Prometheus program is setting out to develop that predictive capability.

  • Testing NYC subway biodefenses

    Researchers took to the New York City subway system 9-13 May to study how a surrogate for a biological agent, such as anthrax, might disperse throughout the nation’s largest rapid transit system as a result of a terrorist attack or an accidental release. The study is part of a five-year DHS project called Underground Transport Restoration (UTR) and was conducted in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act.

  • Electronic anti-theft systems pose a threat to cardiac device patients

    Researchers say that electronic anti-theft systems still post a threat to cardiac device patients. Experts say that even though reported events are rare, prolonged exposure to electronic anti-theft systems, also called electronic article surveillance (EAS) systems, can cause pacing therapy to drop beats or in the worst case leave pacemaker dependent patients with no heartbeat, and cause ICDs to deliver inappropriate shocks.

  • Bill proposes sea mammal protection zone around Plum Island

    Three Long Island lawmakers on 1 June introduced a bill which would create a marine mammal and sea turtle protection zone around Plum Island and two other environmentally sensitive eastern Islands. The bill is expected to get a full vote in the legislature next week.

  • Floridians uncomfortable with use of genetically modified mosquitoes to limit spread of disease

    A small survey of residents of a Florida Keys neighborhood where officials hope to release genetically modified mosquitos to potentially reduce the threat of mosquito-borne illnesses such as Zika finds a lack of support for the control method.

  • New proposal seeks to focus on the fix for lead poisoning

    The crisis of lead-contaminated drinking water in Flint, Michigan, continues to make headlines — but it is just the most prominent example of an “ongoing and needless tragedy of childhood lead poisoning,” says a leading expert on childhood lead poisoning prevention. The “debacle” in Flint should spur urgently needed but long-delayed action to address the continuing crisis of lead poisoning in the United States and around the world.

  • Zika virus expert: Tourists should “think twice” about going to Disney World

    A leading public health expert has warned tourists to “think twice” about visiting parts of the United States, including Walt Disney World in Florida, because of the future threat of the Zika virus in the country. Pregnant women and couples looking to conceive should be particularly wary of going on holiday to southern states such as Florida, Texas, and Louisiana, he said.

  • Predicting the spread of the Zika virus

    Countries that are well connected to Brazil have been at particularly high risk of importation of the Zika virus, according to researchers. However, subtropical and tropical countries with a history of dengue and other mosquito-borne diseases have the greatest risk of the virus spreading once it arrives in the country.

  • Pennsylvania superbug infection could mean "the end of the road" for antibiotics: Researchers

    Researchers have, for the first time, found a person in the United States carrying a bacteria resistant to antibiotics of last resort. Top U.S. public health officials say this is alarming, and could mean “the end of the road” for antibiotics. Researchers say that the discovery “heralds the emergence of a truly pan-drug resistant bacteria.”

  • New paper filter removes viruses from water

    More than 748 million people around the world lack access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation. Water-borne infections are among the global causes for mortality, especially in children under age of five, and viruses are among the most notorious water-borne infectious microorganisms. They can be both extremely resistant to disinfection and difficult to remove by filtration due to their small size. Scientists have developed a simple paper sheet which can improve the quality of life for millions of people by removing resistant viruses from water.

  • Rapid detection of E. coli in water

    Tragedies like the E. coli outbreak in Ontario’s Walkerton in May 2000 could be averted today with a new invention by researchers at York University that can detect the deadly contaminant in drinking water early. Anew technology has cut down the time taken to detect E. coli from a few days to just a couple of hours.