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Marina Spelzini, a registered nurse, measures out an H1N1 vaccine shot at the Miami Dade County Health Department downtown clinic on November 3, 2009 in Miami, Florida. (influenza, swine flu)

When Was the Last Pandemic?

People wearing surgical masks (also called face mask or medical masks or safety masks) walk through the city center of Milan, Italy on Feb. 23, 2020. Coronavirus disease COVID-19 pandemic

How Do Face Masks Control the Spread of Disease?

Infographic on the Influenza Pandemic of 1918-19

Influenza Pandemic of 1918–19 Chart

Scanning electron micrograph showing the spiral-shaped bacteria of the genus Leptospira. These organisms cause leptospirosis.

8 Zoonotic Diseases

close up of 3d microscopic blue bacteria

What Was Life Like Before We Knew About Germs?

Discover

New Zealand. Political/Physical map. Includes locator.

Where Is “Old Zealand”?

Rural Irish landscape, Sligo, Ireland.

Why Is Ireland Two Countries?

Battle of the Alamo from "Texas: An Epitome of Texas History from the Filibustering and Revolutionary Eras to the Independence of the Republic, 1897. Texas Revolution, Texas revolt, Texas independence, Texas history.

6 Wars of Independence

Small, white rat (genus Rattus) on a glass table. (rodent, laboratory, experiment)

Cruel and Unusual Punishments: 15 Types of Torture

Fish. Lionfish. Lion-fish. Turkey fish. Fire-fish. Red lionfish. Pterois volitans. Venomous fin spines. Coral reefs. Underwater. Ocean. Red lionfish swims by seaweed.

10 of the World’s Most Dangerous Fish

Easter Procession of Maria Santisima del Sacromonte in Granada, Spain. This statue is known as Virgen de los Gitanos or The Virgin of the Gypsies.

What is Holy Week?

Hemp (Cannabis sativa).

9 Mind-Altering Plants

kuru: Related Content

Written and fact-checked by The Information Architects of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Topics

prion central nervous system nervous system disease transmissible spongiform encephalopathy nervous system disease polio cephalic disorder meningitis Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease neural tube defect syringomyelia ataxia lymphocytic choriomeningitis Minamata disease AIDS

Key People

D. Carleton Gajdusek

American physician

Quiz

44 Questions from Britannica’s Most Popular Health and Medicine Quizzes

full human skeleton

Diseases, Disorders, and More: A Medical Quiz