The internet is emerging as a valuable tool for scientists to gather data for critical research into rare diseases.

Researchers at Johns Hopkins have discovered that two clinically different inherited syndromes are in fact variations of the same disorder.

A rare disorder caused by an excess of two types of immune cells—the mast cell found in various tissues and its blood-based twin, the basophil—has successfully been treated with a cancer drug, report scientists from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).