Mental Floss

DISEASE



We hope he checked the water quality.

Swimming in lakes (or any wild water) has its risks. When in doubt, check local advisories and trust your senses. And if the water looks or smells off, you might have better luck sticking to land.

Sam Hindman






Nurse Agnes from Uganda’s Bwindi Community Hospital prepares a vaccination against measles.

Before the measles vaccine, there were between 3 and 4 million cases in the U.S. per year. Now, it’s less than 500.

Shaunacy Ferro


Several factors make people more susceptible to the flu in winter.

Like clockwork, flu viruses seem to strike more people in winter than in any other season—and there are several reasons for that.

Matt Soniak






Uh oh.

The super-contagious gastrointestinal virus is causing outbreaks across the U.S. Here's how to protect yourself (and everyone around you) from norovirus.

Jennifer Billock


The world of medicine is even stranger than you can imagine.

From Alice in Wonderland Syndrome to the real-life version of Benjamin Button’s disease, these rare conditions could come straight out of a storybook.

Bethel Afful


MRSA bacteria bound to a neutrophil, a type of infection-fighting white blood cell.

Public health officials are concerned that we could move back into a situation like that of the early 20th century, before antibiotics were discovered.

Tara Smith




Free-range chickens.

Bird flu is one of the reasons egg prices have skyrocketed. Here’s what else you should know about the current outbreak of the H5N1 virus among U.S. poultry and dairy cows.

Nick Keppler