Instagram made its first appearance in October 2010 and had 25,000 people sign up on the first day. Now, eight years later, it is one of the world’s most-used apps with at least 500 million users each day.

With its increasing list of appealing features, it is by far one of the fastest growing social media platforms to date.

Even with all these new features, the app is built on a pretty simple concept. Users post their own photos and videos, engaging with friends or viewers to keep people connected. Instagram is one of many apps that seems almost built for travelers with wanderlust. Influencers and ordinary people alike use Instagram to promote destinations and sites that are a must for anyone who has the travel bug.

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At least seven states across the United States are dealing with hepatitis A outbreaks. Not only is Kentucky home to the worst of those epidemics, but with almost 1,000 confirmed cases, it now has the worst recorded hepatitis A outbreak in the country.

Approximately half of the 969 patients come from Kentucky’s largest city, Louisville, where the hepatitis A outbreak was first detected in the fall. Over 500 hospitalizations have occurred in the state with 300 of them being in the Jefferson County city.

So far, Kentucky’s outbreak has resulted in six deaths. Compared to other states with a hepatitis A outbreak, Kentucky’s death rate is significantly lower. Dr. Jeffrey Howard, the Commissioner of Kentucky’s Department of Public Health, told WDRB that he believes that the high hospitalization rate contributed to the low death count. Currently, the state is hospitalizing almost 59 percent of hepatitis A patients.

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Traveling abroad is an experience that many people want to share with loved ones – including pets.

Although, a few factors determine whether this kind of travel is even possible. The destination, animal and method of transportation can all affect whether your pet is tagging along on a trip.

If you’re considering bringing along your pet while seeing the world, we have some suggestions to help. Here are some important tips, ranging from legal policies to pet pampering that we hope will be of use.

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Cases of Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) have dropped in the United Kingdom.

A U.K. government report revealed an 86 percent decrease of the two types of HPV which cause most cases of cervical cancer. Released on June 18, 2018, the report focused on a certain sector of England’s population.

But, this wasn’t the only recent good news for HPV prevention.

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After a year and a half of lab work, it was announced in June 2018 that a team from the University of Florida has discovered the first known case of a person infected with the Keystone virus.

Perhaps more startling is the thought from the study’s corresponding author J. Glenn Morris, M.D., M.P.H. Morris stated that the virus has likely been common in people in the Southeast for some time and we just lacked a way to test for it.

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Malaria infected approximately 216 million people worldwide in 2016, according to the WHO. That same year, Uganda saw between 70,000 and 100,000 cases of the mosquito-borne disease. Currently, the only way to detect malaria is through a blood test.

At least, until a recent breakthrough from someone who has firsthand experience with those many cases in Uganda.

So, who is the person to invent such a non-invasive device?

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There has been an increase in cases of dengue fever, along with many other infectious diseases worldwide.

Over the past 50 years, dengue fever incidence has increased 30-fold, according to Science Direct. Cases spiked to about 390 million recorded in 2010 alone. You can associate the rise in cases with globalization, demographic trends, and travel.

But, as of lately, environmental changes are also contributing. Warming temperatures have been behind the amplified spread of dengue fever.

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Before a deadly pandemic spreads across the globe, it starts small. The seemingly harmless cases can then slowly grow into global catastrophes. That journey has now been clarified with a new report from the John Hopkins Center for Health Security.

When considering what makes a disease a possible pandemic, there are no hard and fast guidelines. Instead, scientists typically look to the past to see historical examples of outbreaks showing effective responses to similar events.

But, this means we are always looking behind instead of properly evaluating serious pathogens with which we lack experience. Research, led by senior scholar Amesh Adalja, MD, has been put into “The Characteristics of Pandemic Pathogens” and aims to change this.

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The recent deaths of women from Oregon and New Mexico due to hantavirus have many asking, “What is Hantavirus?”

Essentially, hantavirus is a severe, potentially deadly, respiratory disease carried by rodents. There are several types of the virus, including the Andes virus and Seoul virus.

To date, no person-to-person contact has led to infection in the United States, though this has happened in Argentina and Chile. Hantavirus is best known to progress to HPS (Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome) though it can remain a non-pulmonary hantavirus infection.

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In the last year, there’s been a rise in diseases with a vaccine throughout the world. We’ve seen many recent outbreaks of diseases like yellow fever, cholera and measles.

There appears to be a similar risk of the illnesses in the United States.

A rise in the use of nonmedical vaccine exemptions in the U.S. means that preventable diseases are also on the rise, as shown by a June 2018 paper published in PLOS Medicine.

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