Diseases

Why do infectious diseases emerge where they do? What makes them spread so quickly? Where do we look for the next one?

Tulane virologists and international research partners have come together to address a pressing global problem. Our world is connected more than ever before by travel and trade, by technology, and by our microbes. Explore the connections between human, animal, and environmental health, and discover how people around the world and at our university track down and respond to disease outbreaks.

Cancer

While the Tulane Cancer center was not founded until 1993, Tulane has a long history of research in the prevention and treatment of this disease.

Ebola

Ebola made headlines in 2014 when an epidemic broke out in West Africa. Tulane researchers were working in the area and immediately joined the fight against the disease.

Common Cold

The common cold is the most frequent infectious disease in humans, and a Tulane doctor was the first to isolate the virus for study.

Leprosy

Although there is a cure for leprosy (Hansen’s Disease), several hundred thousand new cases of this disease are detected worldwide every year. Tulane researchers were at the forefront of the treatment.

HIV

Acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) caused by human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) infection is arguably the greatest epidemic currently facing the human race. But there is hope – Tulane University researchers are currently testing a number of new therapies and vaccines.

Yellow Fever

Tulane University was founded in part to address yellow fever, a mosquito-borne disease that once plagued New Orleans and is still a risk today.