A sudden and mysterious outbreak of communicable disease began recently in my apartment building in Manhattan. Three 7-year-olds, a boy and two girls, were sharing the elevator one day with a ...

We all know that cooties aren’t real. (Besides, we’ve all been vaccinated sufficiently as kids, so we’re safe.) But if they were real, what disease would cooties be? Well, let’s look at the ...

"Cooties" refers to a highly infectious disease. The word "cootie" derives from the Tagalog word "kutu," or "parasitic biting insect." The related word "kudis" translates to "playground death." The ...

Newton Blog takes a serious look... at cooties. "I'm sorry, Mrs. Peabody. I've never seen a child this infected; I'm not sure there's anything that I can do." "But doctor, you must do something!" ...