COVID-19 is the latest epidemic to show biomedical breakthroughs aren’t enough to eliminate a disease

Scientific discoveries are necessary to eliminate epidemic diseases. But addressing socioeconomic factors is just as essential in the fight against diseases such as syphilis, AIDS and TB.

Powel H. Kazanjian, Professor of Infectious Diseases and of History, University of Michigan • conversation
March 5, 2025 • ~9 min

Guinea worm: A nasty parasite is nearly eradicated, but the push for zero cases will require patience

After nearly 40 years of effort, Guinea worm disease is on the cusp of being the second human disease – after smallpox – to be eradicated on Earth.

Kimberly Paul, Associate Professor of Biochemistry, Clemson University • conversation
Feb. 2, 2023 • ~7 min

Polio in New York – an infectious disease doctor explains this exceedingly rare occurrence

The oral polio vaccine – which is no longer given in the US – relies on a live but weakened virus that can actually be passed from person to person.

William Petri, Professor of Medicine, University of Virginia • conversation
July 22, 2022 • ~6 min

Is the omicron variant Mother Nature’s way of vaccinating the masses and curbing the pandemic?

Some of the omicron variant’s unique properties – such as its ability to spread rapidly while causing milder COVID-19 infections – could usher in a new phase of the pandemic.

Mitzi Nagarkatti, Professor of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology, University of South Carolina • conversation
Jan. 27, 2022 • ~9 min

How do pandemics end? History suggests diseases fade but are almost never truly gone

As ready as you are to be done with COVID-19, it's not going anywhere soon. A historian of disease describes how once a pathogen emerges, it's usually here to stay.

Nükhet Varlik, Associate Professor of History, University of South Carolina • conversation
Oct. 14, 2020 • ~9 min

The US isn't in a second wave of coronavirus – the first wave never ended

The recent spike in new coronavirus cases in the US is not due to a second wave, but simply the virus moving into new populations or surging in places that opened up too soon.

Melissa Hawkins, Professor of Public Health, Director of Public Health Scholars Program, American University • conversation
June 30, 2020 • ~8 min

A massive public health effort eradicated smallpox but scientists are still studying the deadly virus

The smallpox virus appears to have been with humanity for millennia before a global vaccination drive wiped it out. Current genome research suggests how smallpox spread and where it came from.

Patricia L. Foster, Professor Emerita of Biology, Indiana University • conversation
June 24, 2020 • ~12 min

The deadly polio epidemic and why it matters for coronavirus

Polio was nearly eradicated with the Salk vaccine in 1955. At the time, little was known about this mysterious disease that paralyzed and sometimes killed young children.

Carl Kurlander, Senior Lecturer, University of Pittsburgh • conversation
March 25, 2020 • ~10 min

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