Polio can be circulating through a community long before anyone is paralyzed. Monitoring sewage for the virus lets public health officials short-circuit this ‘silent transmission.’
In this April 14, 1947 file photo, a long line winds toward the entrance to Morrisania Hospital in the Bronx borough of New York, where doctors were vaccinating against smallpox. In an attempt to halt the spread of the disease, officials said city residents were being vaccinated at the rate of eight a minute.
(AP Photo/File)
Humans have shown that together we can overcome daunting problems, including deadly pathogens like smallpox. It is a lesson of international cooperation and respect that we should pay attention to.
Pregnant women often get medical information from social media and websites, many of which contain misleading and false information about vaccination. Could OB-GYNs help educate them better?
The diphtheria vaccine is safe and effective.
Palookpook/Shutterstock
International outbreaks of the almost-forgotten disease diphtheria and pockets of low immunisation coverage put Australians at risk of catching the disease.
SCI + POP is a new social media project that circulates images to communicate research findings and provides commentary on science and health policy.
There are many reasons why scientists collaborating with artists makes sense, now more than ever.
Vaccinations have saved countless lives and untold suffering, even though many adults still believe vaccines are bad for their children.
Africa Studios/Shutterstock.com
Vaccines have long been considered safe, but many people still believe they are not. A new study shows that people who think they know more than medical experts are more likely to believe that vaccine are not safe.
To reduce the incidence of hepatitis B in Canada and to reduce mother-to-child transmission, it is vital that we vaccinate all infants at birth.
(Shutterstock)
To meet World Health Organization targets and reduce the rates of chronic hepatitis B infection among children, Canada should implement routine vaccination of all infants at birth.
Everyone has to be vaccinated for immunisation programs to work.
from www.shutterstock.com
Stating a majority of people won’t benefit from a vaccine ignores the purpose of immunisation programs.
A vaccine (toxoid) against diphtheria first became available in Toronto in 1926. Thanks to the work of the Toronto Diphtheria Committee, the city was diphtheria-free by 1940.
(Shutterstock)
Australian parents who visit complementary health practitioners are less likely to vaccinate their kids. But could these practitioners be best placed to educate sceptical parents about vaccination?
What will it take to finish polio off in the last three countries where it persists?
AP Photo/B.K. Bangash
Pakistan had only eight new diagnoses of polio in 2017. The virus’ days look numbered – but health workers have their work cut out for them to eradicate the devastating disease once and for all.
Flu virus mutates so quickly that one year’s vaccine won’t work on the next year’s common strains. But rational design – a new way to create vaccines – might pave the way for more lasting solutions.
A veterinarian about to administer the Hendra virus vaccine.
Kathrin Schemann
Social media rumours are putting Nigeria’s vaccination campaigns at risk.
A baby cries during diphtheria immunisation at a clinic in Cibinong, Bogor, West Java, south of Jakarta, Indonesia, December 5, 2017.
Antara Foto/Yulius Satria Wijaya/via REUTERS
Kambang Sariadji, National Institute of Health Research and Development (NIHRD), Ministry of Health Indonesia
An outbreak of diphtheria in Indonesia is not caused by a singular factor. The country needs better vaccination coverage and distribution as well as better antibiotics.
Dean Faculty of Health Sciences and Professor of Vaccinology at University of the Witwatersrand; and Director of the SAMRC Vaccines and Infectious Diseases Analytics Research Unit, University of the Witwatersrand