James is a published author with multiple pop-history and science books to his name. He specializes in history, space, strange science, and anything out of the ordinary.View full profile James is a ...

In February 1926, residents of Dickinson, N.D., were a lot like the Badlands at the edge of town — rugged, tough and not easily rattled. But that winter, 100 years ago, a medical ...

In the early 20th century, a mysterious disease swept across the world, leaving millions unable to move, speak, or react—fully conscious but trapped in their bodies. Known as encephalitis lethargica, ...

Encephalitis lethargica is an illness that attacks the brain, leaving the victims like living statues—speechless and ...

Despite well-established links between pathogens and chronic illness, the U.S. government continues to weaken public health measures to treat and prevent infectious diseases — a strategy that will ...

Dear Dr. Roach: My 28-year-old son is in the hospital. He hasn't been acting like himself for a few weeks (not sleeping nor eating well), and he suddenly had four seizures. The doctors are worried ...

A straightforward case of measles is nasty—but the disease’s complications are even worse. One of those complications has been confirmed in the ongoing, record-breaking measles outbreak in South ...

Some children affected by measles in the ongoing South Carolina outbreak have developed a serious complication of the disease called encephalitis, or swelling of the brain, state epidemiologist Linda ...

South Carolina children who have contracted cases of the measles virus in recent months have also been affected by a worrying and sometimes deadly complication, the state’s epidemiologist said ...

South Carolina health officials are warning of "irreversible" neurological damage in children as measles-related hospitalizations climb in the state. Of the 876 confirmed cases in the state’s upstate ...

Slight differences in clinical features can help physicians distinguish between two rare but similar forms of autoimmune brain inflammation in children, a new study suggests. The findings could ...