The development of syphilis cures profoundly shaped disease discourses and health promotion materials such as posters (above). The left poster contrasts the ancient history of syphilis with its modern curability. The right poster highlights the effectiveness of the new cure, promising favourable outcomes for those who are cured and further disability for those who are not cured. The new curabil...

Many a science writer has fantasized about capping a story with the headline “Good News for Sick Mice!” One of the toughest struggles is deciding how to cover a story that has produced tantalizing, even amazing, results in laboratory animals but could well be a total bust by the time it gets to humans. That issue came up in early July, when Elan Pharmaceuticals, an Irish company with laboratori...

In African endemic area, adults are less vulnerable to cerebral malaria than children probably because of acquired partial immunity or semi-immune status. Here, we developed an experimental cerebral malaria (ECM) model for semi-immune mice. C57BL/6 (B6) mice underwent one, two and three cycles of infection and radical treatment (1-cure, 2-cure and 3-cure, respectively) before being finally chal...