Nailah Blair Background: Hepatitis B is a potentially chronic virus of the liver causing inflammation, fibrosis, cirrhosis, and even hepatocellular carcinoma if unsuccessfully treated. 1,2. There are currently two families of medications widely being used to treat chronic HBV: Nucleoside/tide analogs, which inhibit the production of daughter virions, and interferons…

Kadambari Suri Background: Though prophylactic vaccines exist, ~80% of people (both men and women) will be infected by human papillomavirus (HPV) during their lifetime. While outcomes of HPV infection vary significantly among individuals, HPV is responsible for about one-third of all cancers – including the majority of cases of cervical…

Matthew Landry Background: Plague is one of the most historically and culturally important diseases ever to impact humankind. Yersinia pestis, the causative agent of plague, has led to no less than three pandemics within the last 1500 years, and continues to be medically relevant causing over 26,000 cases of illness…

Livia George Background: Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a chronic, progressive disease of the central nervous system with inflammation and demyelination of nerves. Although the pattern of symptoms can vary, common initial symptoms include visual deficits related to retrobulbar neuritis, paresthesia, and isolated sensory and motor symptoms.1 Although the exact cause of…

Joshua Carter Background: Legionnaires’ disease (LD) is characterized as a pneumonia secondary to an infection by the bacterium Legionella pneumophila (Lp).1 Identification of Legionella first occurred after an outbreak of an atypical pneumonia at the 1976 American Legion Convention in Philadelphia, PA – with the offending Gram-negative bacillus, Lp, being…

Hannah Clayton  Background: The Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus – 2 (SARS-CoV-2), also known as covid-19, caused the global pandemic that began in 2019. Covid-19 is transmitted via respiratory droplets and attacks ciliated cells and type II pneumocytes in lung tissue. It has had a case fatality rate of approximately…

Danielle Pischulla Background: Lyme Disease is a multisystem illness with the potential to affect the skin, joints, heart, and nervous system and accounts for roughly 90% of all vector-borne diseases in the United States.1,2 The spirochete bacteria, Borrelia burgdorferi, causes Lyme Disease and is transmitted by the bite of the…