There are five Plasmodium species that cause malaria with the vast majority of reported cases being due to Plasmodium falciparum.

Plasmodium vivax is the second most common reported cause of malaria.

My guest today says P. vivax infections represent a major unrecognized burden on global health calling it "obscure and insidious" and we'll take a look at why he says this.

Joining me today to discuss Plasmodium vivax, it's burden and a new study published in PLoS Medicine is Kevin Baird, PhD.

Professor Baird is the head of the Eijkman-Oxford Research Unit in Jakarta, Indonesia and Professor of Malariology, Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford.

In today's Outbreak News This Week Livestream, I'll look at some recent polio news to include a circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus 2 (cVDPV2) case reported in Ukraine.

In addition, Ebola appears to have resurfaced in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

I'll look at an article about H5N6 avian influenza, piggy-backing on last week's show.

There was an additional Naegleria fowleri case, this one in Arlington, Texas, where the child contracted the parasite at a splash pad. The parents are suing the city.

On today's livestream, I'll be looking at the human rabies case in Illinois, H5N6 avian influenza in China in 2021, dengue in South Asia and the outbreaks in Nigeria.

World Rabies Day is celebrated annually to raise awareness about rabies prevention and to highlight progress in defeating this horrifying disease.

28 September also marks the anniversary of Louis Pasteur's death, the French chemist and microbiologist, who developed the first rabies vaccine.

Texas State University's Dr. Rodney Rohde and from the Texas DSHS Zoonosis Control Branch, Dr. Pamela Wilson joined me for a discussion on this serious zoonotic disease.

Naegleria fowleri is a microscopic amoeba which is a single-celled living organism. It can cause a rare and devastating infection of the brain called primary amebic meningoencephalitis (PAM).

The amoeba is commonly found in warm freshwater such as lakes, rivers, ponds and canals.

Infections can happen when contaminated water enters the body through the nose. Once the amoeba enters the nose, it travels to the brain where it causes PAM (which destroys brain tissue) and is usually fatal.

So how does the body's immune system react to the parasite and what research is being done on the immune response?

Joining me today to discuss this is Ashley Moseman, PhD. Dr. Moseman is an immunologist at Duke University and his lab is studying the host immune response to Naegleria fowleri.

Worldwide, 50 million people are living with Alzheimer's disease and other dementias. Million of these people are right here in the US.

Lewy body dementia is the third most common cause of dementia, experts estimate, after Alzheimer's disease and vascular dementia, accounting for 5 to 10 percent of cases.

This will be the focus of today's show.

Joining me today to discuss Lewy body dementia is James E. Galvin, MD, MPH. Dr. Galvin is a Professor of Neurology and Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences and Director of the Comprehensive Center for Brain Health at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine.

He is also Director and Principal Investigator for the Lewy Body Dementia Research Center of Excellence in South Florida.

Last week, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis issued a proclamation recognizing September as Brain Aneurysm Awareness Month.

The governor's proclamation included important facts about brain aneurysms to include symptoms and risk factors.

Joining me today to discuss brain aneurysms and the story of Trinity Hoblit and the work of the Trinity Love Hoblit Foundation is Olivia Hoblit.

Olivia is President and founder of the Trinity Love Hoblit Foundation.

There has been a number of suspected and confirmed anthrax outbreaks/infections in China recently, including an anthrax pneumonia case and a human fatality in a 14-year-old boy.

In addition, cases have been reported from Turkey, Russia and Kazakhstan in recent weeks. The has also been a number of animal anthrax cases in the US.

So what is anthrax? How do animals and people get it? and What is it's "dark history"?

Joining me today to look at this serious bacterial pathogen is Stephen Berger, MD. Dr Berger is co-founder of GIDEON Informatics (Global Infectious Diseases and Epidemiology Network) and he is the Emeritus Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Tel Aviv School of Medicine.

The cadre of threats facing the nation's water management system is alarming and sobering. Arguably, no menace is more compelling and problematic than Legionella, a waterborne bacterium of major concern in the US.

There has been an increase in Legionnaires' disease sweeping the nation in states like New York, Michigan and Missouri causing a state of emergency, especially since symptoms are similar to COVID-19.

Joining me today to discuss the Legionella bacterium and the available testing procedures is Trevor Craig. Trevor is the Corporate director of Technical Consulting at Microbac Laboratories.

In this latest livestream, I look at the parasite, Baylisascaris procyonis or the raccoon roundworm