Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes

The sexually transmitted disease gonorrhea has increased in the past 10 years. No one knows exactly why gonorrhea is spreading—but experts suspect a mix of better testing and changing sexual habits. At the same time, we face reduced treatment options due to antimicrobial resistance.

Alcohol-associated liver disease (ALD) is a major cause of liver transplantation and death worldwide, and its impact is only growing. In 2022, the annual cost of ALD in the United States was $31 billion. By 2040, this number could be as high as $66 billion. ALD has limited therapeutic options, so scientists are looking for new ways to target the molecular biology of ALD to help prevent its occurrence or reduce its severity.

COVID-19 is once again climbing to troubling levels in California—a worrying trend as health officials attempt to navigate a vaccine landscape thrown into uncertainty by delays and decisions from the Trump administration.

UCLA researchers have created miniature stem cell-based organoid models of human lungs, hearts and brains to study how hantaviruses—rare but often deadly viruses spread by rodents—infect the body. Hantaviruses were thrust into the national spotlight earlier this year as the cause of death for Betsy Arakawa, the classical pianist and wife of late actor Gene Hackman.

A team from the Microbiology Department at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai has discovered three powerful monoclonal antibodies from a person who had previously been infected with mpox (formerly known as monkeypox).

For patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) using disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs), long-term routine laboratory toxicity monitoring (lt-RLTM) indicates that most very abnormal laboratory results are already known or suspected, according to a study published online Aug. 26 in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

Concordia researchers have developed a new method of monitoring and tracking how disease-causing particles, or pathogens, spread from one place to another. The tool could help contain future outbreaks of diseases like COVID-19.

Health experts across the country are issuing warnings about a surge in infections from a “flesh-eating” bacterium known as Vibrio vulnificus.

Women with cirrhosis and ascites experience worse health-related quality of life (HRQoL) than men, although no difference is seen in daily function, according to a study published in the August issue of the American Journal of Gastroenterology.

A resident of South Lake Tahoe, California, has been diagnosed with the plague, the state’s first human plague infection since 2020.