After studying over 300 samples of ancient humans from across Europe and Asia, international scientists have discovered the hepatitis B virus in 12 people. The oldest of the samples comes from the 4,500-year-old remains of a man from Osterhofen, Germany.

Eske Willerslev, evolutionary genticist at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark, led the team who found the virus. Hepatitis B was present in people from approximately 3500 to 500 B.C.

But, this wasn’t the only team to find ancient proof of hepatitis B. Led by geneticist Johannes Krause, another group found the virus in the teeth of three skeletons in Jena, Germany from about 5000 to 3200 B.C. Krause comes from the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.

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After a possible 34 cases and 18 deaths in the past five weeks, the Democratic Republic of Congo has officially declared an outbreak of the Ebola virus.

Two people have been confirmed to have Ebola, specifically the Zaire strain, while others showed signs of the illness.

The news was released by the World Health Organization on Tuesday, May 8. The WHO is working with officials in Congo to handle the outbreak and respond as early and effectively as possible. No deaths have been noted since May 3 as of May 11.

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Mononucleosis is known for many things, including the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), which can cause it. But, after a Cincinnati Children’s article on their new research, transmission of EBV may mean a lot more than just mono.

Published in April 2018, the article shows that getting mono can increase risk for developing seven other serious diseases.

A link has been previously found between EBV and lupus, as well as several particular lymphatic system cancers. New genomic methods are the reason we can now prove this significant connection. The science wasn’t available a decade ago, allowing us to show the link between mono and these diseases:

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As we learn more about how illnesses spread, we consider new methods of transmission that hadn’t been previously investigated. One major idea that 2018 has presented is: can a virus spread via the rain?

As shown in new findings, they can and they do.

There’s nothing radical about viruses existing in water. Many common illnesses, like cholera and typhoid, can spread via the liquid. But, exploring the thought of rain carrying disease is relatively novel. Scientists had not been able to quantify what was “hiding out” in the atmosphere before.

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Spring rains have brought disastrous flooding to the countries of Kenya and Somalia.

Rivers have overflowed their banks, and many small towns and villages have been wiped out. The flooding has also destroyed farmer’s crops, leaving the farmers and their families with nothing to come back to.

Even before the severe floods, local farmers dealt with difficult living conditions. Now, in the face of a natural disaster, the farmers cannot afford to simply “rebuild” those crops. Unfortunately, over 475,000 people are in makeshift shelters in refugee camps, and more than 100 have died as a result.

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Buruli ulcers have been reported across the globe in over 30 countries.

What do these dozens of countries have in common? They’re all home to tropical, subtropical, and temperate climates. Of those many countries, most of the reported cases occur in sub-Saharan Africa. But, it’s not Africa that has a long history with Buruli ulcers. From scientists to the local government, Australia has been dealing with this disease for years.

According to the WHO, the disease belongs to the same family of bacteria that causes tuberculosis and leprosy. The bacteria typically affects a person’s legs or arms. Caused by Mycobacterium ulcerans, cases of Buruli ulcers are reaching an epidemic level in Australia right now.

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The recent E. coli outbreak, which recently spread across the United States, has brought up a lot of questions, both about this specific incident and others like it.

How many people are affected?

As of May 2, 2018, over 100 people are reported sick with the current total standing at 121. There has been one death and 52 hospitalizations so far.

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It’s pretty likely that you know a person with a peanut allergy.

About .5 to 1 percent of people are allergic to the food, making it one of the most common food allergies. To make things worse, those numbers appear to be growing. The number of individuals who are allergic to peanuts is increasing, especially in recent years. While it’s unfortunate that these people miss out on a beloved food, the allergy can be quite dangerous too. Peanuts and related products create one of the most severe reactions for food allergies.

Thankfully, research for a peanut allergy vaccine is underway.

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Nearly 2.8 million people from yellow fever endemic countries flew to the United States in 2016. Such a large amount of foreign visitors can create an issue if there’s no requirement for yellow fever vaccine certificates.

Many cities in the U.S. are now realizing this problem could be the source of future yellow fever outbreaks.

The mosquito-borne illness is normally found in tropical and subtropical areas of Africa and South America. The virus only reaches U.S. travelers in extremely rare cases. Out of roughly 200,000 yellow fever cases per year worldwide, 90 percent are in Africa.

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Venezuela is currently in the middle of a tremendous malaria crisis with case amounts five times higher than they were in 2013.

Numbers have been growing rapidly over the years. In 2017, the country had approximately 406,000 cases of malaria, which is up almost 70 percent from 2016. That year alone had a rise of approximately 76 percent of cases from 2015.

The spike’s cause cannot be traced to one sole factor, though officials cite falling malaria education and prevention efforts as a primary force.

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