Nathan Seppa

Biomedical Writer (retired September 2015)

All Stories by Nathan Seppa

  1. Health & Medicine

    Defense Mechanism: Circumcision averts some HIV infections

    Men who get circumcised reduce their risk of acquiring the AIDS virus by more than half.

  2. Health & Medicine

    Single drug dose may be better against cholera

    A single dose of the antibiotic ciprofloxacin cures cholera in children as often as a 12-dose regimen of erythromycin does.

  3. Exposure to seawater proves deadly

    Vibrio bacteria, carried in seawater, have caused a spate of infections in people along the U.S. Gulf Coast in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

  4. Health & Medicine

    Iraq war casualties often complicated

    Hundreds of injured soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan harbor an unusual bacterium that complicates wound healing.

  5. Illness linked to microbe in group that makes vinegar

    Researchers have identified a new bacterium in a severely ill patient.

  6. Health & Medicine

    Strep vaccine stirs antibody production

    An experimental vaccine against the microbe that causes strep throat can induce a potent immune response in adults.

  7. Health & Medicine

    Vaccine Clears Major Hurdle: Injections offer new tool against cervical cancers

    An experimental vaccine against the virus that causes most cancers of the cervix has passed a test typically needed for regulatory approval.

  8. Humans

    Nobel prizes: The power of original thinking

    The 2005 Nobel prizes in the sciences honor a gutsy move, optical brilliance, and chemical crossovers.

  9. Health & Medicine

    Give It Up: Cutting back helps, but even a cigarette or two a day carries risks

    Reducing tobacco use curbs the risk of lung cancer, but smoking even a few cigarettes a day puts a person at three to five times the risk faced by a nonsmoker.

  10. Health & Medicine

    Acne medicines can be a pain in the throat

    Treatment with antibiotics for acne might predispose an individual to getting severe upper respiratory infections.

  11. Health & Medicine

    Silenced gene may foretell colon cancer

    A cancer-suppressing gene, which is often shut down in colorectal cancer, is sometimes silenced in healthy colorectal tissues as well.

  12. Health & Medicine

    Sharpening the focus of mammograms

    Digital mammography can detect up to one-fourth more cancers than traditional film mammography can in women who are under 50, haven't gone through menopause, or who have dense breast tissue.