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9:15 video Fewer children in the United States are getting vaccinated. That's bad news for those kids, and also for public health in general. Often, the response is to argue and debate and get angry at people who are we see as making terrible, irrational decisions. Instead of doing that, let's use science to understand why this is happening in the first place.

Emerging diseases and potential pandemics make the news nearly every year. Students (and everyone else) may wonder where new infectious diseases come from, how scientists assess the risk of a pandemic, and how we might go about preventing one. This case study uses a PowerPoint presentation to explore these questions by focusing on HIV, a pandemic that began as an emerging disease. The storyline progresses backwards through time as scientists attempt to unravel the origins of a new, mysterious plague. Much of the case relies on audio excerpts from an episode produced by Radiolab, an acclaimed radio show that explores a variety of topics in science and culture (www. radiolab.org). Students use graphics, animations, and sound clips presented in the PowerPoint slides to discuss several sets of questions. The case is suitable for a wide range of high school and college introductory biology courses, as well as undergraduate microbiology, ethics, and public health courses.

This case study centers on an active teaching game that simulates a cholera outbreak among five villages along a river, similar to the Haitian outbreak of 2010. By enacting the behaviors of fictional villagers, students learn how trade, travel, sanitation practices and geographic location contribute to the spread of diarrheal disease. Documenting various contamination events of village water supplies allows students to trace the progression of the disease and illustrates how adequate sanitation facilities provide protection against the bacteria Vibrio cholera. Originally designed for an undergraduate upper-division biology course focusing on the epidemiology of diseases, the simulation is also appropriate for microbiology and public health courses, as well as lower division undergraduate biology courses and high school. Biology or epidemiology components of the case study can be highlighted depending on the emphasis of the course being taught. The game can be completed within a 45- to 60-minute class period. Playing cards are available from the Supplemental Materials tab; detailed instructions are found in the teaching notes.

A single genetic mutation causes resistance to DDT and pyrethroids (an insecticide class used in mosquito nets), new research concludes. With the continuing rise of resistance, the research is key as scientists say that this knowledge could help improve malaria control strategies. The researchers used a wide range of methods to narrow down how the resistance works, finding a single mutation in the GSTe2 gene, which makes insects break down DDT so it's no longer toxic. They have also shown that this gene makes insects resistant to pyrethroids raising the concern that GSTe2 gene could protect mosquitoes against the major insecticides used in public health.

Bedbugs are a growing public health issue in the United States and around the world, but their resurgence in recent years may have been aided by humans who unwittingly helped the pests evolve numerous ways of thwarting a common insecticide, scientists say.

In the wake of a potential global crisis we will investigate the biology of infectious diseases to better understand how they transmit, replicate and induce an immune response in humans. Our objective is to pose solutions to the Ebola outbreak in the United States by studying other infectious diseases. We will investigate infectious diseases and the development of vaccines to show how they have changed the course of human health and populations as a whole. We will determine public perceptions about infectious diseases and identify misconceptions. Ultimately, we will develop community awareness information to manage and in future prevent an outbreak of Ebola.

As the prevalence of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) continues to rise, there has been an increasing public interest for information concerning the safety of these products. Concerns generally focus on how the GMO may affect the environment or how it may affect the consumer. One specific concern is the possibility for GMOs to negatively affect human health. This could result from differences in nutritional content, allergic response, or undesired side effects such as toxicity, organ damage, or gene transfer.

For this third episode of our video series with Vox's Future Perfect team, we went to North Carolina, a state that's been battling the public health and environmental impact of hog lagoons for decades. The issue is especially grave in this state due to the vulnerable populations who bear the brunt of this pollution, and because hog facilities are so concentrated in such a small area.

West Africa was under the media spotlight this year-and rightly so after nearly 11,000 people died in the largest Ebola outbreak ever recorded. But although the disease flickers in and out of the public consciousness, a new study shows that another killer was nearly as deadly: snakebites.

Comprehensive list of CDC accessible data

Lesson plans from a 5 day summer workshop through the CDC