The common cold is probably the most universal illness. It is a viral infection of the upper respiratory tract, which includes the nose and throat area.
The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) impairs the immune system by infecting certain immune cells.
There are seven known coronaviruses that affect humans, and they can cause respiratory diseases as ordinary as a cold to life-threatening ones, like severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and SARS-CoV-2.
There are all sorts of ways to get an infectious disease—from people and animals, to eating contaminated foods, to environmental exposure.
Marijuana (cannabis) can cause paranoia and memory loss. Also called cannabis, it can be addictive and can disrupt a user’s life and relationships.
Vaccines aren’t just for kids. Thousands of adults go to the hospital each year for a serious (sometimes even deadly) disease they might have avoided if they had received the vaccination to prevent it.
One day you might wake up with a painful blistering rash on one side of your body that looks like chicken pox. The odds are high that you have shingles, a skin condition caused by the herpes zoster virus.
Helpful for treating essential tremor, Parkinson’s disease, deep brain stimulation may soon be used for other conditions like Alzheimer's disease and obesity.
A common virus that often spreads during the wintertime, the flu can become a serious condition, especially for the elderly.
Most microbes in and around our bodies are harmless, but some evolve to become deadly threats to individual and public health.