This highly contagious disease has been used as a biological weapon Name Anthrax Transmission A severe infectious disease caused by Bacillus anthracis bacteria The bacteria mainly affect wild and domestic plant-eating animals though other types of animals can also contract it Animals become infected when they ingest bacterial spores in contaminated soil,... read more →

This disease kills more people than AIDS, tuberculosis, or malaria each year Photo Credits: Washington.edu, FDA.gov Name Viral hepatitis There are five main types of viral hepatitis, but for this post we are focusing on hepatitis B and hepatitis C Transmission Hepatitis B and C are two highly contagious viral... read more →

If you end up in the hospital, beware of this deadly fungal infection Name Candida auris (the word auris is Latin for “ear” as the fungus was first discovered in the ear of a Japanese patient in 2009) Transmission Candida auris is a type of yeast that causes severe, invasive infections throughout the body... read more →

This rare disease was discovered 11 years ago and not much is known about it Name Elizabethkingia (named after Elizabeth O. King, the scientist who discovered the bacteria in 2005) Transmission Elizabethkingia anophelis is a type of bacteria usually found in the environment (soil and water) and also in mosquitoes The... read more →

Wild animals and even your beloved pets can infect you with rabies, a disease that is nearly 100% fatal Name Rabies Transmission A disease caused by the rabies virus The virus is most often transmitted through the bite of an infected animal when the infected animal saliva enters the human... read more →

Very little is known about this disease which destroys skin, flesh, and bones Name Madura foot (also known as mycetoma) The disease was first reported in the mid-19th century in the Indian town of Madura, which is where it gets its name Transmission A chronic, progressively destructive disease affecting the... read more →

This tropical disease affects the skin and bones and the spiral bacteria that cause it are closely related to the bacteria that cause the sexually transmitted disease syphilis Name Yaws Transmission Yaws is part of a group of chronic bacterial infections called treponematoses The sexually transmitted disease syphilis is also part... read more →