When it comes to diseases like malaria, citizens and officials alike are still searching for answers.

The mosquito-borne disease remains one of the deadliest in the world. In 2017 alone, malaria caused over 219 million cases worldwide. According to the World Health Organization, those cases resulted in 435,000 deaths. Those numbers look to continue as we still lack treatment and globally-approved vaccines.

We’ve made some recent progress against the virus, including the recent plans to sterilize mosquitoes. In September of this year Kenya also became the third country to administer a licensed malaria vaccine.

Yet, we still have many reasons to fear the virus.

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For many of the world’s most dangerous diseases, we struggle to find treatment. Whether it’s vaccines or antibiotics, researchers spend years looking for some way to fight the illness.

When it comes to typhoid fever, treatment and prevention methods aren’t the problem.

There have been a couple of vaccines and treatment plans for this disease for a while now. But, an increasing resistance to different types of antibiotics is making treatment more complicated. With almost 22 million reported cases of typhoid and 200,000 related deaths worldwide every year, it’s proving much harder to fight the disease.

If left alone, this issue can lead to drug resistant typhoid fever becoming even more common than it is now.

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Researchers at Temple University recently discovered that an HIV drug may help to suppress the Zika virus, which could lead to treatment of the virus worldwide.

Up until now, there have been no known vaccines or cures for the Zika virus. Current outbreaks and case numbers may not reach the levels we saw in 2016, but any help against Zika could be a breakthrough.

What is the Zika Virus?

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In the 56 years since the measles vaccine was created, we’ve made significant strides in fighting the virus. Even in this century alone, deaths due to measles have dropped significantly.

According to the World Health Organization, measles caused 110,000 deaths worldwide in 2017. That may still be an alarming amount, but it’s 80% less than the 545,000 deaths in 2000.

But, as we’ve seen around the world this year, vaccine hesitancy has caused a resurgence in cases and outbreaks.

Even in the cases where measles isn’t deadly, those who survive the infection have an increased morbidity and mortality. Up until recently, the reasons behind the increased morbidity and mortality were poorly understood. A new study shows that there are dangerous effects even for those who catch and are cured of measles.

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We’ve seen a variety of methods to keep mosquitoes who spread diseases at bay. Despite years of efforts, we still lack a vaccine for many of the most dangerous illnesses. For many people, the best method to stay safe is to simply avoid the insects altogether.

But, that doesn’t mean scientists have stopped trying to fight the diseases. A new technique could help slow down the spread of many mosquito-borne illnesses.

Scientists are currently working on a new method that will use radiation to sterilize male mosquitoes. The technique involves the World Health Organization and the UN, and is also environmentally friendly.

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