Plague News and Research

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After wiping out $6.7 billion in medical debt, this nonprofit is just getting started

Soon after giving birth to a daughter two months premature, Terri Logan received a bill from the hospital. She recoiled from the string of numbers separated by commas.

16 Aug 2022

Pathogens in ancient DNA could explain how two civilizations collapsed

The current study has strongly indicated the presence of Y. pestis and S. enterica on the island of Crete that contributed to societal changes during 2,000 BCE.

9 Aug 2022

Yersinia pestis strains demonstrate susceptibility to 12 antimicrobial agents

Announcing a new article publication for Zoonoses journal. Streptomycin is the preferred choice for therapy of plague in China and other countries.

29 Jul 2022

Even well-intended laws can’t protect us from inaccurate provider directories

If you have medical insurance, chances are you've been utterly exasperated at some point while trying to find an available doctor or mental health practitioner in your health plan's network.

26 Jul 2022

Boost now or wait? Many wonder how best to ride out covid’s next wave

Gwyneth Paige didn't want to get vaccinated against covid-19 at first. With her health issues — hypertension, fibromyalgia, asthma — she wanted to see how other people fared after the shots. Then her mother got colon cancer.

18 Jul 2022

Proteins' wobbles, shakes and quivers play a key role in their ability to function

Johns Hopkins Medicine scientists report they have probed the atomic structure of proteins to add to evidence that the wobbles, shakes and quivers of proteins play a critical role in their ability to function.

15 Jul 2022

Researchers discover new family of sensing genes in enteric bacteria using AI

Using artificial intelligence, UT Southwestern researchers have discovered a new family of sensing genes in enteric bacteria that are linked by structure and probably function, but not genetic sequence.

30 Jun 2022

Ancient DNA unravels the mystery of the Black Death

In a recent study published in the Nature journal, researchers illustrated that the Black Death pandemic caused by Yersinia pestis originated in central Eurasia during the 14th century.

17 Jun 2022

California wants to slash insulin prices by becoming a drugmaker. Can it succeed?

California is diving into the prescription drug business, attempting to achieve what no other state has done: produce its own brand of generic insulin and sell it at below-market prices to people with diabetes like Sabrina Caudillo.

7 Jun 2022

Researchers use bacteriophages to treat antibiotic-resistant mycobacterial lung infection

For the first time, researchers have successfully used bacteriophages – viruses that kill bacteria – to treat an antibiotic-resistant mycobacterial lung infection, clearing the way for a young National Jewish Health patient with cystic fibrosis to receive a life-saving lung transplant.

13 May 2022

Persistent problem: High C-section rates plague the South

All along, Julia Maeda knew she wanted to have her baby naturally. For her, that meant in a hospital, vaginally, without an epidural for pain relief.

14 Apr 2022

People with COVID-19 can shed viral RNA in their feces months after initial infection

The extended presence of viral RNA in feces, but not respiratory samples, along with the association of fecal viral RNA shedding with GI symptoms suggest that SARS-CoV-2 infects the GI tract, and that this infection can be prolonged in a subset of individuals with COVID-19.

13 Apr 2022

Study finds higher risk of all-cause mortality among pediatric cancer patients in LMICs during the pandemic

During the first nine months of the COVID-19 pandemic, pediatric cancer patients from lower- and middle-income countries faced a higher risk of all-cause mortality than those in high-income countries, according to data presented at the AACR Annual Meeting 2022, held April 8-13.

11 Apr 2022

Never-ending costs: When resolved medical bills keep popping up

Every now and then, Suzanne Rybak and her husband, Jim, receive pieces of mail addressed to their deceased son, Jameson. Typically, it's junk mail that requires little thought, Suzanne said.

7 Apr 2022

Study says duplilumab reduces mortality from COVID-19

A recent report posted to the medRxiv* preprint server assessed the efficacy of dupilumab in blocking the IL-13 signaling pathway and its efficacy in reducing the COVID-19 associated mortality.

5 Apr 2022

Black patients with cancer experience worse outcomes after COVID-19 diagnosis

Black patients with cancer experienced significantly worse outcomes after COVID-19 diagnosis than non-Hispanic white cancer patients in a study published March 28 in JAMA Network Open.

28 Mar 2022

Neanderthal gene makes people susceptible to COVID-19, but protects against HIV

A study recently published in the top-tier journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS) shows how a specific gene flow from Neandertals can act as a double-edged sword by increasing the risk for the development of severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), and at the same time decreasing the risk for the infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).

23 Feb 2022