The Measles Mystery

In the 1960s, children throughout the America began receiving a vaccination for measles. And the vaccine, by and large, made the disease history. But that's not all that happened. As NPR reported, after widespread use of the vaccine began, "childhood deaths from all infectious diseases plummeted. Even deaths from diseases like pneumonia and diarrhea were cut by half." Somehow, the measles vaccine was keeping other diseases at bay, too.

And until recently, no one knew why.

More from Now I Know.

These are The Most Sexually Diseased Cities in the USA

Despite our puritan heritage, Americans really love to have sex. It turns out, a lot of us like to have sex without protection, too. Using publicly available data sources, we’ve mapped sexually transmitted diseases across most maj2or cities in the USA. The military helped cities rank strongly in the top 10, with Norfolk Naval Base, Ft. Hood, and Ft. Bragg all pushing their cities to the top.


This map about STD statistics was created and produced by RentApplication.com. "You may share and embed this map with proper attribution."

Ebola: Information & Resources

Ebola is all over the news right now. And with so much conflicting information and varying reports out there, it’s hard to know where to go to get the facts. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has a lot of resources available so you can be properly informed, and keep yourself and your family safe.

• Like CDC on Facebook, or follow them on Twitter, where they post about Ebola regularly and update about current cases.
• CDC also has a full page devoted to Ebola information on their website. It features the latest outbreak news-- and includes resources for people living or traveling abroad, healthcare workers, and airline personnel.

• These resources are also available in Spanish.

Swine Flu

Swine Flu information from the US Centers for Disease Control and the NY State Dept of Health

The Web 2.0 Guide to Swine Flu from Salon
Should You Fear Swine Flu? from About.com."No, but a healthy respect is called for."
The last great swine flu epidemic "This virus will kill 1 million Americans," declared the U.S. in 1976. The panic then has a lot to teach us today.

Website lets public track illness

New Yorkers can now find out the hospital admission rates for preventable illnesses by ZIP Code through a new Web site initiated by the state Department of Health.

Global Health Facts

This interesting site provides data on a variety of diseases such as HIV/AIDS, TB, malaria and more. One can access data by topic and by country. Maps are included that provide population statistics indicating who is afflicted with various diseases. The demographic information touches on median age, population density, contraceptive prevalence rate, maternal mortality ratio and life expectancy by gender. The interface can be a little clunky, but the data are quite good.

1918 Flu Pandemic

Researchers Explain Why 1918 Pandemic Flu Spread Quickly, killing at least 50 million people. "The work could help scientists detect and contain a future bird flu outbreak among humans."