Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease caused by the bite of female Anopheles mosquitoes, which spread infectious Plasmodium parasites into a host. Traditional malaria symptoms include fever, chills, headache, muscle aches and fatigue. Nausea, vomiting and diarrhea also are common. Untreated malaria can lead to severe disease, kidney failure and death. Neurological complications can occur in severe cases, most commonly in young children.
Most malaria cases occur during rainy periods in endemic regions. The World Health Organization estimates that in 2020, globally about 240 million people had malaria and about 627,000 of them died. A disproportionate burden of malarial disease occurs in Sub-Saharan Africa, where children under age 5 account for about 80% of all malaria deaths.
A vaccine to prevent malaria is available; however, its variable efficacy underscores the need for new interventions that offer high-level protection against disease. Malaria is a research priority at NIAID, which is the lead U.S. government agency investigating the disease. Scientists are researching improved vaccines and preventive interventions as well as mosquito control techniques, easy-to-use diagnostics, and improved therapies as parasites continue to develop resistance to currently available antimalarials.
To learn about risk factors for malaria and current prevention and treatment strategies visit the MedlinePlus malaria site.
Escherichia coli (E. coli) bacteria live in the intestines of people and animals, and are key to a healthy intestinal tract. Most E. coli strains are harmless, but some can cause diarrhea through contact with contaminated food or water while other strains can cause urinary tract infections, respiratory illness and pneumonia.
CDC estimates that 265,000 Shiga Toxin-Producing E. coli (STEC) infections occur each year in the United States. Approximately 36 percent of these infections are caused by E. coli O157:H7.
Scientists in NIAID labs and NIAID-supported scientists are using basic, clinical, and applied research to better understand how to detect, treat, and prevent foodborne diseases.
To learn about risk factors for E. coli and current prevention and treatment strategies visit the MedlinePlus E. coli infection site.
Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses that usually cause mild to moderate upper-respiratory tract illnesses in humans. However, three coronaviruses have caused more serious and fatal disease in people: SARS coronavirus (SARS-CoV), which emerged in November 2002 and causes severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS); MERS coronavirus (MERS-CoV), which emerged in 2012 and causes Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS); and SARS-CoV-2, which emerged in 2019 and causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
Building on previous research on SARS and MERS, NIAID scientists and NIAID-supported researchers mobilized quickly to develop COVID-19 therapeutics, vaccines and diagnostics. Researchers continue to conduct basic research to understand how coronaviruses infect cells and causes disease, and what interventions can detect, prevent and stop the spread of disease.
NIAID conducts and supports clinical trials evaluating therapies and vaccine candidates against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus type 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the virus that causes COVID-19.
NIAID and the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health (FNIH) launched its first in a series of online webinars highlighting recent progress in the new Researching COVID to Enhance Recovery - Treating Long COVID (RECOVER-TLC) program.
A Phase 1 trial testing the safety of an experimental nasal vaccine that may provide enhanced breadth of protection against emerging variants of SARS-CoV-2 is now enrolling healthy adults at three sites in the United States.
Women who receive an mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccination or booster during pregnancy can provide their infants with strong protection against symptomatic COVID-19 infection for at least six months after birth.
Syphilis is a common sexually transmitted infection (STI) caused by Treponema pallidum bacteria. If untreated, syphilis can result in adult neurological and organ damage as well as congenital abnormalities, stillbirth, and neonatal death. After decades of relatively low prevalence, syphilis cases have risen sharply since 2000. NIAID participates in the National Syphilis and Congenital Syphilis Syndemic Federal Task Force and supports a broad syphilis research portfolio with a goal of advancing syphilis diagnosis, prevention and treatment.
Read the Syphilis Fact Sheet the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Syphilis can result in adult neurological and organ damage, as well as congenital abnormalities, stillbirths, and neonatal deaths. NIAID supports research to address these areas including studies featured at the STI & HIV World Congress in Chicago.
Providing optional syphilis tests to most people seeking care at a large emergency department led to a dramatic increase in syphilis screening and diagnosis, according to a National Institutes of Health (NIH)-supported study of nearly 300,000 emergency department encounters in Chicago. Most people diagnosed had no symptoms, which suggests that symptom-based testing strategies alone could miss opportunities to diagnose and treat people with syphilis. The results were published today in the journal Open Forum Infectious Diseases.
Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are caused by pathogens transmitted from person to person through sexual contact. STIs can be caused by bacteria, viruses, or parasites. STIs have a devastating impact on adults and infants and affect millions of people in the United States annually. Infection with certain STIs can increase a person’s risk of developing cancer and can increase the likelihood of acquiring or transmitting HIV. In addition, STIs can cause long-term health complications, especially in the reproductive and central nervous systems. In rare cases, STIs can lead to serious illness or death. Research is urgently needed to help reduce the public health burden of STIs.
The terms “venereal disease,” “sexually transmitted disease” and “STD” have previously been used interchangeably with, or in the place of, “sexually transmitted infection” and “STI” in scientific and other literature. NIAID favors the use of STI because the language is more precise—not all infections will have symptoms or result in disease—and the term is less stigmatizing to the large and varied population affected by this variety of pathogens and syndromes.
To learn about risk factors for STDs and current prevention and treatment strategies visit the MedlinePlus sexually transmitted infections site.
Also read Sexually Transmitted Infections Surveillance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
NIAID supports research to develop effective diagnostic, preventive, and therapeutic approaches to STIs. NIAID shares a snapshot of new projects and recent scientific advances in STI research.
A single dose of a novel oral antibiotic called zoliflodacin has been found to be as safe and effective as standard therapy for uncomplicated urogenital gonorrhea.
NIH has established a strategic plan for research that combines the efforts of the research community with those in public health and clinical medicine to develop interventions to reduce the health consequences of HSV.
Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infects the lungs and breathing passages, and, in the United States, nearly all children have been infected with RSV by age two. In healthy people, symptoms of RSV infection are usually mild and resolve within a week. However, RSV can cause serious illness or death in vulnerable individuals, including premature and very young infants, children with chronic lung disease or congenital heart disease, and people who are over age 65. In the U.S., RSV is the most common cause of bronchiolitis (inflammation of the small airways in the lungs) in children younger than one year old and causes approximately 58,000 hospitalizations among children under five annually. RSV infection is estimated to cause about 14,000 annual deaths in U.S. adults over age 65. Globally, RSV affects an estimated 64 million people and causes 160,000 deaths each year.
NIAID conducts and supports basic research on RSV to improve understanding of the virus and how it causes disease, as well as factors in animals and humans that affect susceptibility to RSV infection. Research is also underway to develop vaccines to prevent RSV.
To learn about risk factors for RSV and current prevention and treatment strategies visit the MedlinePlus respiratory syncytial virus site.
For more than 50 years, NIAID’s commitment to RSV research has been unparalleled. NIAID researchers were the first to identify and characterize RSV and have provided fundamental knowledge that improves our understanding, treatment, and prevention of RSV disease. NIAID basic research has led to the only preventive treatment currently available for RSV and given us new techniques to manipulate the virus that have brought us closer to a safe and effective vaccine.
NIAID-funded basic and clinical studies helped establish the fundamental knowledge necessary for the private sector to develop protein vaccines. These vaccines are safe and effective at preventing severe RSV in some target populations.
The study found that infants who were not infected with RSV in the first year of life had a 26% lower risk of asthma at 5 years of age than those who were infected with RSV as infants.