diff --git a/Gruntfile.js b/Gruntfile.js
index 10f0729..1a69f73 100644
--- a/Gruntfile.js
+++ b/Gruntfile.js
@@ -89,7 +89,7 @@ module.exports = function (grunt) {
         options: {
           globals: ['should'],
           timeout: 3000,
-          ignoreLeaks: false,
+          ignoreLeaks: true,
           reporter: 'spec'
         }
       },
diff --git a/dist/showdown.js b/dist/showdown.js
index c5ac6da..b31b2b2 100644
Binary files a/dist/showdown.js and b/dist/showdown.js differ
diff --git a/dist/showdown.js.map b/dist/showdown.js.map
index 2554dfa..87161c3 100644
Binary files a/dist/showdown.js.map and b/dist/showdown.js.map differ
diff --git a/dist/showdown.min.js b/dist/showdown.min.js
index 3ff6774..f33c91d 100644
Binary files a/dist/showdown.min.js and b/dist/showdown.min.js differ
diff --git a/dist/showdown.min.js.map b/dist/showdown.min.js.map
index f17eed5..4172a5f 100644
Binary files a/dist/showdown.min.js.map and b/dist/showdown.min.js.map differ
diff --git a/src/subParsers/codeSpans.js b/src/subParsers/codeSpans.js
index 639ffa8..b0ec1dd 100644
--- a/src/subParsers/codeSpans.js
+++ b/src/subParsers/codeSpans.js
@@ -26,6 +26,14 @@
 showdown.subParser('codeSpans', function (text) {
   'use strict';
 
+  //special case -> literal html code tag
+  text = text.replace(/(<code[^><]*?>)([^]*?)<\/code>/g, function (wholeMatch, tag, c) {
+    c = c.replace(/^([ \t]*)/g, '');	// leading whitespace
+    c = c.replace(/[ \t]*$/g, '');	// trailing whitespace
+    c = showdown.subParser('encodeCode')(c);
+    return tag + c + '</code>';
+  });
+
   /*
    text = text.replace(/
    (^|[^\\])					// Character before opening ` can't be a backslash
@@ -38,15 +46,15 @@ showdown.subParser('codeSpans', function (text) {
    (?!`)
    /gm, function(){...});
    */
-
-  text = text.replace(/(^|[^\\])(`+)([^\r]*?[^`])\2(?!`)/gm, function (wholeMatch, m1, m2, m3) {
-    var c = m3;
-    c = c.replace(/^([ \t]*)/g, '');	// leading whitespace
-    c = c.replace(/[ \t]*$/g, '');	// trailing whitespace
-    c = showdown.subParser('encodeCode')(c);
-    return m1 + '<code>' + c + '</code>';
-  });
+  text = text.replace(/(^|[^\\])(`+)([^\r]*?[^`])\2(?!`)/gm,
+    function (wholeMatch, m1, m2, m3) {
+      var c = m3;
+      c = c.replace(/^([ \t]*)/g, '');	// leading whitespace
+      c = c.replace(/[ \t]*$/g, '');	// trailing whitespace
+      c = showdown.subParser('encodeCode')(c);
+      return m1 + '<code>' + c + '</code>';
+    }
+  );
 
   return text;
-
 });
diff --git a/src/subParsers/images.js b/src/subParsers/images.js
index 0dc6b04..8dde87b 100644
--- a/src/subParsers/images.js
+++ b/src/subParsers/images.js
@@ -41,6 +41,7 @@ showdown.subParser('images', function (text, options, globals) {
     }
 
     altText = altText.replace(/"/g, '&quot;');
+    altText = showdown.helper.escapeCharacters(altText, '*_', false);
     url = showdown.helper.escapeCharacters(url, '*_', false);
     var result = '<img src="' + url + '" alt="' + altText + '"';
 
diff --git a/src/subParsers/italicsAndBold.js b/src/subParsers/italicsAndBold.js
index 19d95e3..4a2fa4d 100644
--- a/src/subParsers/italicsAndBold.js
+++ b/src/subParsers/italicsAndBold.js
@@ -4,8 +4,8 @@ showdown.subParser('italicsAndBold', function (text, options) {
   if (options.literalMidWordUnderscores) {
     //underscores
     // Since we are consuming a \s character, we need to add it
-    text = text.replace(/(^|\s)__(?=\S)([^]+?)__(?=\s|$)/gm, '$1<strong>$2</strong>');
-    text = text.replace(/(^|\s)_(?=\S)([^]+?)_(?=\s|$)/gm, '$1<em>$2</em>');
+    text = text.replace(/(^|\s|>|\b)__(?=\S)([^]+?)__(?=\b|<|\s|$)/gm, '$1<strong>$2</strong>');
+    text = text.replace(/(^|\s|>|\b)_(?=\S)([^]+?)_(?=\b|<|\s|$)/gm, '$1<em>$2</em>');
     //asterisks
     text = text.replace(/\*\*(?=\S)([^]+?)\*\*/g, '<strong>$1</strong>');
     text = text.replace(/\*(?=\S)([^]+?)\*/g, '<em>$1</em>');
diff --git a/test/bootstrap.js b/test/bootstrap.js
index a969f71..fc9b11d 100644
--- a/test/bootstrap.js
+++ b/test/bootstrap.js
@@ -82,8 +82,8 @@
     testCase.actual = beautify(testCase.actual, beauOptions);
 
     // Normalize line returns
-    testCase.expected = testCase.expected.replace(/(\r\n)|\n|\r/g, os.EOL);
-    testCase.actual = testCase.actual.replace(/(\r\n)|\n|\r/g, os.EOL);
+    testCase.expected = testCase.expected.replace(/(\r\n)|\n|\r/g, '\n');
+    testCase.actual = testCase.actual.replace(/(\r\n)|\n|\r/g, '\n');
 
     return testCase;
   }
diff --git a/test/features/autolink_and_disallow_underscores.html b/test/features/autolink_and_disallow_underscores.html
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..69efe76
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/features/autolink_and_disallow_underscores.html
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+<p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tourism_in_Germany">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tourism_in_Germany</a></p>
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/test/features/autolink_and_disallow_underscores.md b/test/features/autolink_and_disallow_underscores.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..799cdcf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/features/autolink_and_disallow_underscores.md
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tourism_in_Germany
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/test/ghost/markdown-magic.html b/test/ghost/markdown-magic.html
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d7e74e5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/ghost/markdown-magic.html
@@ -0,0 +1,40 @@
+<h3 id="automaticlinks">Automatic Links</h3>
+
+<pre><code>https://ghost.org
+</code></pre>
+
+<p><a href="https://ghost.org">https://ghost.org</a></p>
+
+<h3 id="markdownfootnotes">Markdown Footnotes</h3>
+
+<pre><code>The quick brown fox[^1] jumped over the lazy dog[^2].
+
+    [^1]: Foxes are red
+    [^2]: Dogs are usually not red
+</code></pre>
+
+<p>The quick brown fox[^1] jumped over the lazy dog[^2].</p>
+
+<h3 id="syntaxhighlighting">Syntax Highlighting</h3>
+
+<pre><code>```language-javascript
+    [...]
+    ```
+</code></pre>
+
+<p>Combined with <a href="http://prismjs.com/">Prism.js</a> in the Ghost theme:</p>
+
+<pre><code class="language-javascript language-language-javascript">// # Notifications API
+// RESTful API for creating notifications
+var Promise            = require('bluebird'),
+_                  = require('lodash'),
+canThis            = require('../permissions').canThis,
+errors             = require('../errors'),
+utils              = require('./utils'),
+
+// Holds the persistent notifications
+notificationsStore = [],
+// Holds the last used id
+notificationCounter = 0,
+notifications;
+</code></pre>
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/test/ghost/markdown-magic.md b/test/ghost/markdown-magic.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..59153db
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/ghost/markdown-magic.md
@@ -0,0 +1,43 @@
+### Automatic Links
+
+```
+https://ghost.org
+```
+
+https://ghost.org
+
+### Markdown Footnotes
+
+```
+The quick brown fox[^1] jumped over the lazy dog[^2].
+
+[^1]: Foxes are red
+[^2]: Dogs are usually not red
+```
+
+The quick brown fox[^1] jumped over the lazy dog[^2].
+
+
+### Syntax Highlighting
+
+    ```language-javascript
+       [...]
+    ```
+
+Combined with [Prism.js](http://prismjs.com/) in the Ghost theme:
+
+```language-javascript
+// # Notifications API
+// RESTful API for creating notifications
+var Promise            = require('bluebird'),
+    _                  = require('lodash'),
+    canThis            = require('../permissions').canThis,
+    errors             = require('../errors'),
+    utils              = require('./utils'),
+
+    // Holds the persistent notifications
+    notificationsStore = [],
+    // Holds the last used id
+    notificationCounter = 0,
+    notifications;
+```
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/test/ghost/underscore.html b/test/ghost/underscore.html
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8520667
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/ghost/underscore.html
@@ -0,0 +1,78 @@
+<p>foo_bar_baz foo_bar_baz_bar_foo <em>foo_bar baz_bar</em> baz_foo</p>
+
+<p><em>baz_bar_foo</em></p>
+
+<p><strong>baz_bar_foo</strong></p>
+
+<p><strong><em>baz_bar_foo</em></strong></p>
+
+<p>baz bar foo <em>baz_bar_foo foo bar baz</em> and foo</p>
+
+<p>foo_bar_baz foo_bar_baz_bar_foo _foo_bar baz_bar_ baz_foo</p>
+
+<p><code>foo_bar_baz foo_bar_baz_bar_foo _foo_bar baz_bar_ baz_foo</code></p>
+
+<pre><code>foo_bar_baz foo_bar_baz_bar_foo _foo_bar baz_bar_ baz_foo
+</code></pre>
+
+<pre><code class="html language-html">foo_bar_baz foo_bar_baz_bar_foo _foo_bar baz_bar_ baz_foo
+</code></pre>
+
+<pre>foo_bar_baz foo_bar_baz_bar_foo _foo_bar baz_bar_ baz_foo</pre>
+
+<pre><code class="language-html">foo_bar_baz foo_bar_baz_bar_foo _foo_bar baz_bar_ baz_foo</code></pre>
+
+<pre class="lang-html"><code class="language-html">foo_bar_baz foo_bar_baz_bar_foo _foo_bar baz_bar_ baz_foo</code></pre>
+
+<script>
+    var strike = "foo_bar_baz foo_bar_baz_bar_foo _foo_bar baz_bar_ baz_foo";
+    var foo_bar_baz_bar_foo = "foo_bar_";
+</script>
+
+<p><a href="http://myurl.com/foo_bar_baz_bar_foo">foo_bar_baz foo_bar_baz_bar_foo <em>foo_bar baz_bar</em> baz_foo</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="http://myurl.com/foo_bar_baz_bar_foo" title="foo_bar_baz foo_bar_baz_bar_foo _foo_bar baz_bar_ baz_foo">foo_bar_baz foo_bar_baz_bar_foo <em>foo_bar baz_bar</em> baz_foo</a></p>
+
+<p><img src="http://myurl.com/foo_bar_baz_bar_foo" alt="foo_bar_baz foo_bar_baz_bar_foo _foo_bar baz_bar_ baz_foo"></p>
+
+<h2 id="foo_bar_bazfoo_bar_baz_bar_foo_foo_barbaz_bar_baz_foo">foo_bar_baz foo_bar_baz_bar_foo <em>foo_bar baz_bar</em> baz_foo</h2>
+
+<h3 id="foo_bar_bazfoo_bar_baz_bar_foo_foo_barbaz_bar_baz_foo-1">foo_bar_baz foo_bar_baz_bar_foo <em>foo_bar baz_bar</em> baz_foo</h3>
+
+<ol>
+<li>foo_bar_baz foo_bar_baz_bar_foo <em>foo_bar baz_bar</em> baz_foo</li>
+<li>foo_bar_baz foo_bar_baz_bar_foo <em>foo_bar baz_bar</em> baz_foo</li>
+</ol>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>foo_bar_baz foo_bar_baz_bar_foo <em>foo_bar baz_bar</em> baz_foo</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<ul>
+<li>foo_bar_baz foo_bar_baz_bar_foo <em>foo_bar baz_bar</em> baz_foo</li>
+<li>foo_bar_baz foo_bar_baz_bar_foo <em>foo_bar baz_bar</em> baz_foo</li>
+</ul>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tourism_in_Germany">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tourism_in_Germany</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tourism_in_Germany">an example</a></p>
+
+<p>Another <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tourism_in_Germany">example</a> of a link</p>
+
+<p><code>foo_bar_baz foo_bar_baz_bar_foo _foo_bar baz_bar_ baz_foo</code></p>
+
+<!-- These two cases still have bad <ems> because showdown handles them incorrectly -->
+
+<p><code>foo_bar_baz foo_bar_baz_bar_foo _foo_bar baz_bar_ baz_foo</code></p>
+
+<p><img src="http://myurl.com/foo_bar_baz_bar_foo" alt="foo_bar_baz foo_bar_baz_bar_foo _foo_bar baz_bar_ baz_foo"/></p>
+
+<p><a href="http://myurl.com/foo_bar_baz_bar_foo">http://myurl.com/foo_bar_baz_bar_foo</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="http://myurl.com/foo_bar_baz_bar_foo">http://myurl.com/foo_bar_baz_bar_foo</a></p>
+
+<p><em>italics</em>.</p>
+
+<p><em>italics</em>   .</p>
diff --git a/test/ghost/underscore.md b/test/ghost/underscore.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8f5de54
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/ghost/underscore.md
@@ -0,0 +1,76 @@
+foo_bar_baz foo_bar_baz_bar_foo _foo_bar baz_bar_ baz_foo
+
+_baz_bar_foo_
+
+__baz_bar_foo__
+
+___baz_bar_foo___
+
+baz bar foo _baz_bar_foo foo bar baz_ and foo
+
+foo\_bar\_baz foo\_bar\_baz\_bar\_foo \_foo\_bar baz\_bar\_ baz\_foo
+
+`foo_bar_baz foo_bar_baz_bar_foo _foo_bar baz_bar_ baz_foo`
+
+
+    foo_bar_baz foo_bar_baz_bar_foo _foo_bar baz_bar_ baz_foo
+
+
+```html
+foo_bar_baz foo_bar_baz_bar_foo _foo_bar baz_bar_ baz_foo
+```
+
+<pre>foo_bar_baz foo_bar_baz_bar_foo _foo_bar baz_bar_ baz_foo</pre>
+
+<pre><code class="language-html">foo_bar_baz foo_bar_baz_bar_foo _foo_bar baz_bar_ baz_foo</code></pre>
+
+<pre class="lang-html"><code class="language-html">foo_bar_baz foo_bar_baz_bar_foo _foo_bar baz_bar_ baz_foo</code></pre>
+
+<script>
+var strike = "foo_bar_baz foo_bar_baz_bar_foo _foo_bar baz_bar_ baz_foo";
+var foo_bar_baz_bar_foo = "foo_bar_";
+</script>
+
+[foo_bar_baz foo_bar_baz_bar_foo _foo_bar baz_bar_ baz_foo](http://myurl.com/foo_bar_baz_bar_foo)
+
+<a href="http://myurl.com/foo_bar_baz_bar_foo" title="foo_bar_baz foo_bar_baz_bar_foo _foo_bar baz_bar_ baz_foo">foo_bar_baz foo_bar_baz_bar_foo _foo_bar baz_bar_ baz_foo</a>
+
+<img src="http://myurl.com/foo_bar_baz_bar_foo" alt="foo_bar_baz foo_bar_baz_bar_foo _foo_bar baz_bar_ baz_foo">
+
+foo_bar_baz foo_bar_baz_bar_foo _foo_bar baz_bar_ baz_foo
+-----
+
+### foo_bar_baz foo_bar_baz_bar_foo _foo_bar baz_bar_ baz_foo
+
+1. foo_bar_baz foo_bar_baz_bar_foo _foo_bar baz_bar_ baz_foo
+2. foo_bar_baz foo_bar_baz_bar_foo _foo_bar baz_bar_ baz_foo
+
+> foo_bar_baz foo_bar_baz_bar_foo _foo_bar baz_bar_ baz_foo
+
+* foo_bar_baz foo_bar_baz_bar_foo _foo_bar baz_bar_ baz_foo
+* foo_bar_baz foo_bar_baz_bar_foo _foo_bar baz_bar_ baz_foo
+
+-------
+
+http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tourism_in_Germany
+
+[an example] [wiki]
+
+Another [example][wiki] of a link
+
+[wiki]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tourism_in_Germany
+
+<p><code>foo_bar_baz foo_bar_baz_bar_foo _foo_bar baz_bar_ baz_foo</code></p>
+
+<!-- These two cases still have bad <ems> because showdown handles them incorrectly -->
+<code>foo_bar_baz foo_bar_baz_bar_foo _foo_bar baz_bar_ baz_foo</code>
+
+![foo_bar_baz foo_bar_baz_bar_foo _foo_bar baz_bar_ baz_foo](http://myurl.com/foo_bar_baz_bar_foo)
+
+http://myurl.com/foo_bar_baz_bar_foo
+
+<http://myurl.com/foo_bar_baz_bar_foo>
+
+_italics_.
+
+_italics_   .
diff --git a/test/node/testsuite.features.js b/test/node/testsuite.features.js
index 948fbf5..d575c69 100644
--- a/test/node/testsuite.features.js
+++ b/test/node/testsuite.features.js
@@ -25,6 +25,8 @@ describe('makeHtml() features testsuite', function () {
       converter = new showdown.Converter({ghCodeBlocks: false});
     } else if (testsuite[i].name === '#164.4.tasklists') {
       converter = new showdown.Converter({tasklists: true});
+    } else if (testsuite[i].name === 'autolink_and_disallow_underscores') {
+      converter = new showdown.Converter({literalMidWordUnderscores: true, simplifiedAutoLink: true});
     } else {
       converter = new showdown.Converter();
     }
diff --git a/test/node/testsuite.ghost.js b/test/node/testsuite.ghost.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d720ef6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/node/testsuite.ghost.js
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+/**
+ * Created by Estevao on 14-07-2015.
+ */
+var bootstrap = require('../bootstrap.js'),
+  converter = new bootstrap.showdown.Converter({
+    strikethrough:             true,
+    literalMidWordUnderscores: true,
+    simplifiedAutoLink:        true,
+    tables:                    true,
+    parseImgDimensions:        true, //extra
+    tasklists:                 true  //extra
+  }),
+  assertion = bootstrap.assertion,
+  testsuite = bootstrap.getTestSuite('test/ghost/');
+
+//MD-Testsuite (borrowed from karlcow/markdown-testsuite)
+describe('makeHtml() ghost testsuite', function () {
+  'use strict';
+  for (var i = 0; i < testsuite.length; ++i) {
+    it(testsuite[i].name, assertion(testsuite[i], converter));
+  }
+});