Sustainability is an important aspect to think about when traveling. After all, the earth is in a climate crisis right now. While we already tend to do things like shut our lights off, not waste water, or litter; as travelers, we can help to lower our carbon footprint by doing a few other simple things while you are traveling to be more sustainable.
Airplanes can be crowded as it is. The prospect of getting up and using the bathroom is pretty drab. Honestly, no one really wants to squish inside of a bathroom that is the size of a small coat closet, but we have to do what we have to do. When traveling on an airplane, many people wonder about where the waste on an airplane goes after you flush the toilet. Here’s how it all goes down.
Yellow fever is a disease that has a storied past, one that’s intertwined with the mosquito. The Aedes aegypti mosquito is usually associated with the spread of yellow fever, but the Haemagogus mosquito can also be a vector of the disease. Yellow fever transmission is higher in tropical and subtropical areas, such as Africa and South America. Symptoms for humans can include fever, chills, headaches, backache, weakness, nausea, and vomiting. Some people could develop more severe symptoms. However, many people infected with yellow fever will experience no symptoms at all.
While both chickenpox and shingles come from the same varicella zoster virus, they are two very different illnesses. One tends to affect children more, while shingles affects older adults.
When most people hear that a disease is eradicated or eliminated, they often think these two terms mean the same thing. While both terms do have a similar meaning, those who work in public health know that there is a difference in meaning.
So, what is the difference between eradication and elimination? And when is a disease considered one of the two terms?
The Civil War lasted from 1861-1865, and while artillery and combat, hunger and more certainly held a firm grasp on mortality within the war, there was one army, dubbed “The Third Army” by historian Jeffrey S. Sartin. It was the army of infectious diseases that by far killed the most soldiers, families, emancipated slaves, children, and more – over a million people were stuck in the middle of these disease hot-spots during the war.
It was announced earlier this year that the FDA authorized the emergency use of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for children ages 5-11. While many parents are ushering their children to their local pediatricians, pharmacies and clinics to receive the vaccine, other parents still remain on the fence about giving the vaccine to their children. This could be due to a number of reasons, medical issues, beliefs, and more.
Pneumonia is an illness where either one or both of the tissue of the lungs swell, and the air sacs within the lungs begin to fill with mucus. It is most commonly caused by bacteria and viruses. In other cases, it can be caused by fungi or even an inhaled particle of food, in some rare cases. That doesn’t make them all contagious, though. Here is a breakdown of what pneumonia is, and whether or not it is contagious.
Shingles, which is caused by the varicella zoster virus, is an illness that one in three people will deal with in their lifetime. This is because the chickenpox virus is still in their body, and has reactivated to form what is now at this age, shingles. Various factors like age, medical status, and other diseases that could’ve possibly caused it to reactivate. Is shingles contagious? Can you catch shingles by hugging someone with shingles? While chickenpox is also caused by the same virus, does that mean that shingles is, too?
The black plague is not a disease you hear about very frequently unless you’re reading a book or watching a movie about the Middle Ages. Also known as the bubonic plague and the “Black Death,” although the plague is not commonly seen in most parts of the world, there are some undeveloped areas where there are still outbreaks. Because of this, researchers are currently working on a vaccine for the plague, with one currently in clinical trials.
