Holding a newborn and especially a premature baby against skin on the chest of a caregiver, usually a parent, immediately after birth increases the probability that the baby will grow healthier in a comprehensive way. This is what a recent study confirms and what many in the medical world had already suspected from previous examination. […]
Everyone is talking about the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and the virus itself, now called severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The new virus even includes “severe” in its name. But is it severe? A review of the latest scholarly reports reveals some pretty reassuring facts: SARS-CoV-2 spreads rapidly from person to person, so it […]
One of the most devastating diseases known to man is smallpox. More people died from this contagious and sometimes fatal infectious disease than from any other disease in history. But in 1796, Edward Jenner, a country doctor in rural England, developed the smallpox vaccine. Jenner’s vaccine not only makes him the first person to successfully develop […]
Advances to eradicate polio, the viral disease that can affect a person’s nerves, leading to partial or complete paralysis, constitute good news. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), over the past 30 years, 20 million volunteers have vaccinated more than 2.5 billion children globally against the disease, saving 16 million people from paralysis. In April […]
“11 August 2015 marks 1 year since the last wild polio case was detected on the entire African continent. A polio-free Africa would leave only 2 countries where polio transmission has never been interrupted: Pakistan and Afghanistan.” That’s the great news from the World Health Organization in its update: Africa advances toward a polio-free continent. On […]
Recently we received good news from the World Health Organization: on March 27th the world region that counts one-fourth of the population, South-East Asia, was certified as free of polio. This progress now means that 80% of people now live in certified polio-free regions. Polio (or poliomyelitis) is a viral disease that can affect a person’s nerves, leading […]
July 12, 2011 is an incredible date in the fight against polio. July 12 marks the first time ever that 6 months have gone by without one single case of polio being reported in India. With 172 million children under the age of 5 in India, this means as close to 100% of children as possible were […]
