Hurricane Maria made landfall in Puerto Rico on September 20, 2017, causing major damage to infrastructure and severely limiting access to potable water, electric power, transportation, and communications. Public services that were affected included operations of the Puerto Rico Department of Health (PRDOH), which provides critical laboratory testing and surveillance for diseases and other health hazards.

Recently Puerto Rico had its first reported case of the Zika virus. This virus is transmitted by the Aedes Aegypti female mosquito, which also transmits dengue fever and chikungunya.

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The Department of Health and the City of San Juan are working on a community effort to prevent chikungunya and dengue fever in the Barrio Obrero community.

The original version of this article is in Spanish. You can read it by clicking on ESPAÑOL at the top right of your screen.

The use of antimicrobial hand sanitizers has been on the rise around the world and in Puerto Rico. Instead of protecting people, their overuse could lead to antibiotic resistance and the evolution of new "bugs" that could be harder to control...

The author is a doctoral candidate in environmental microbiology at the University of Arizona and a member of Ciencia Puerto Rico.

The original news story is in Spanish. To read the full text, please click on the "Español" button below or the link at the top right of the page.