ALL INFECTIOUS DISEASES MAY BE SEASONAL: New research finds evidence of seasonality in 69 infectious diseases.

In a new paper, Micaela Martinez, PhD, a scientist at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, makes a case that all infectious diseases have a seasonal element. The “Pearl” article appears in the journal PLOS Pathogens.

Martinez collected information from the World Health Organization, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and peer-reviewed publications to create a calendar of epidemics for 69 infectious diseases, from commonplace infections to rare tropical diseases. A given year will see outbreaks of flu in the winter, chickenpox in the spring, and gonorrhea and polio in the summer—to name a few of the best described seasonal outbreaks.

The article summarizes the research — and is worth reading.