Plague-erism

Hello bloggers! Yes, it is me again, if any of you [readers] are still out there!

2011-06-24T08:54:00.002-04:00

I am still alive, and have not completely forgotten about this blog.

First, I would like to make a public statement that I am going to attempt to pick this blog back up.

Second, I read an interesting article this morning that I would like to share. Although, it is probably old news on here, as I have been out of touch for so long.

This article presents an efficient way to purify contaminated water in the developing world.

I hope to follow-up with some science-based articles soon...

My favorite part of summer is sitting by the poolside with a cold glass of pink lemonade

2010-03-22T18:53:00.011-04:00

5:30pm, time to take another pool count, before the next birthday swim party comes in. On Saturday I worked at my local recreation center, where I am an aquatic supervisor and instruct learn-to-swim classes. As I watched the 67 people stand in line patiently for the water slide, relax in the lazy river, dive (ahhh—no diving!) and jump in from the side, or sit peacefully in the spa/whirlpool, I began to think about the frivolous uses we find for clean water here in the Developed world (primarily the US), in comparison to the dire need for clean water in the rest of the Globe. This pool, which is only one of the 14 public pools (that I can think of) within a 5mile radius of my home, can probably hold approximately 150 “bathers” comfortably at one time… not to mention the fact that we are only talking about the indoor pool here, there is also an outdoor pool open during the summer season!… can you imagine what a Malagasy or Ethiopian village could do with all of that water??? Although I don’t as often as I should, every day I must remind myself how blessed I am to live in this Country.

15 – the time, in minutes, I use to take a shower each day

4 – average number of times I flush the toilet every day

3.5 – the average amount of water, in gallons, used every time someone flushes a Standard American toilet

150,000 – the approximate number of gallons held in the pool where I teach swim lessons twice a week

4 – due to our standard filtration system in the indoor pool, the entire volume of water is “changed out” or filtered out in an estimated period of four hours (yeah, that’s an average of 900,000 gallons each day)

884 – the number of people, in millions, who lack access to safe water

3.575 – the number of people, in millions, who die every year from water related diseases (according to the WHO) such as scabies, dracunculiasis (guinea-worm), ringworm, and diarrhea.

15 – according to the UN Human Development Report, an estimated every 15 seconds a child dies from a water related disease

8 – the average economic return in US dollars, for every US dollar invested in bringing clean water and sanitation to the underdeveloped world

For more information on World Water Day/Week and the global impact of water and sanitation: WHO, Water.org, CDC

Photo Credits: image 1 is not of my pool, though I so wish it was. image 2 acquired from water encyclopedia

New hope for a malaria vaccine!

2010-02-12T19:13:00.009-05:00

Last week’s edition of Nature published some exciting advancements towards Malaria research. A laboratory in Australia, the Walter & Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, identified an essential protein needed by the malaria parasite for survival. Additionally, the Washington University School of Medicine in St Louis identified the same protein as being a potential vaccine target, which only further confirmed the findings in Australia.

Background While malaria can be caused from several different species of the protist Plasmodium, the most virulent form is caused by Plasmodium falciparum. When an individual is bitten by a malaria infected mosquito, the parasites are transmitted into the blood. The parasites enter the red blood cells (RBC) and immediately begin exporting hundreds of effector proteins (effectors bind to another protein thereby activating or inhibiting activity) into the RBC’s cytoplasm, in so doing the parasite alters their intracellular environment so as to evade an immune response, permitting their replication and spread of infection, thus ensuring survival.

Current Research The published research identifies a protein, Plasmepsin V, directly essential to the export of effector proteins into the cell. Plasmepsin V is a membrane-bound aspartic protease, which primes the effector proteins prior to export. It recognizes a particular “tag” on the proteins to be secreted and cleaves it off. The cleaved/primed protein is believed to bind to a chaperone protein which carries it to the membrane channel, where it is exported to the RBC’s intracellular space. In vitro assays demonstrated that by interfering with Plasmepsin V activity effector protein export is inhibited, thus preventing the spread of infection. Plasmepsin V makes for an excellent drug target for two reasons: its closest equivalent in humans is the very distantly related Beta Secretase, which would hopefully minimize any potential adverse side effects, and because this protein does not vary widely across the four different Plasmodium species.

Why is this significant?

Following information obtained from WHO World Malaria Report 2009

- half of the world’s population is at risk for malaria - an estimated 243 million cases occurred worldwide in 2008 - an estimated 863 thousand deaths occurred worldwide in 2008 - the damages of this disease continue to cripple any hope for economic development in Africa

Photo credit: WHO

more on Google trends

2010-02-08T22:38:00.002-05:00

The Spanish National Epidemiology Center conducted a study Jan 2004—Feb 2009, evaluating the use of internet databases, such as Google insights, for tracking emerging infectious diseases. They compared the Google queries regarding Influenza-like-illnesses to reported cases. Their results suggest that internet databases and tools such as HealthMap (my new favorite website!) can be used as early warning signals for an outbreak in addition to standard surveillance systems.

Although published on the US CDC website, these results should not be taken too heavily by the general public, as is often done. I would imagine the results would be strongly biased based on a number of factors.

A is for Anthrax, B is for Borrelia burgdorferi, C is for Clostridium difficile...

2010-02-07T23:02:00.010-05:00

Here is a blog I found which discusses science toys. What a great idea for educating young children about the invisible world: Giant Microbes! Pictured are some illnesses that have been previously discussed here.

EbolaTuberculosis (Mycobacterium tuberculosis)

HIV

The Shigella (bacteria which causes stomach ache) toy was given a 2008 Preferred Choice Award by Creative Child Magazine. Each toy comes with a card describing the microorganism and the illness it causes. Giant Microbes carries a variety of different viruses, bacteria, and other microscopic organisms. Becoming more common in classrooms, these plush "germs" make science fun and easier to explain for young children.

No, the Government's not entirely crazy...................

2010-01-20T11:10:00.004-05:00

This morning an editorial was released by the Indian Journal of Medical Microbiology, regarding the outcome of the H1N1 outbreak in the East, from the standpoint of public health management. This article reminded me of a conversation I recently had with a gentleman regarding H1N1 and the “unnecessary overreaction of the WHO and the CDC.”

In India alone there were 16820 reported cases testing positive for H1N1 and 555 deaths. And as a reminder, the global death toll resulting from this pandemic was estimated to be 8800 in mid-December 2009.

Through the panic and confusion, laboratories and public health officials worldwide scrambled to maintain the outbreak, utilizing systems established as a direct result of the SARS outbreak in 2002-03. This time around, challenges primarily arose from internal, rather than global, communication. Lessons learned from this pandemic have stimulated governments, such as in India, to strengthen their outbreak management strategies.

Lessons Learned/Reminder:

- Efficient communication results in greater public resilience and rapid containment, thus limiting morbidity and mortality

- Lessons learned from one outbreak may not always apply to the next, and so laboratories need to be prepared to adapt and respond to new scenarios in short periods of time

- Increased awareness of systems development and lateral communication among clinical microbiologists is needed

“Every time the dust settles after an epidemic or an outbreak, there is complacency at various levels in the system. With the establishment of nodal agencies, departments, international collaboration and multiple resources, it is hoped that healthcare set ups are prepared adequately for rapid response in outbreak management.”

White Matter Matters... p.2

2009-12-05T16:11:00.003-05:00

Adrenoleukodystrophy (ALD) is a neurodegenerative disorder, and although it is not an infectious disease, which is the focus of this blog, there has been some groundbreaking research recently published regarding this chronic illness that I am excited to write about.

Current Research: Due to the high risk of the bone marrow transplant (HCT) brought on to the patient and the occasional lack of donor match availability, recent research has focused on a means of gene therapy for treating ALD. On November 06, 2009, Science magazine published a research article regarding the successful development of a potential ALD therapy, and the so far successful treatment of two 7-year old males diagnosed with ALD and exhibiting progressive cerebral demyelination. Patient 1 contained a large deletion from exon 6 of the ABCD1 gene, while patient 2 contained a missense (E609K) mutation on ABCD1.

Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were taken from the patients. Immunomagnetic separation was used to isolate the CD34⁺ cells. The stem cells were then infected with a replication-defective Lentiviral vector expressing wild type ABCD1 cDNA. The transduced cells were later transplanted back into the patients.

In patient 1, 23% of his PBMCs were observed to express ALD protein, and 25% of patient 2’s PBMCs were observed to express ALD protein 30 days after transplantation. Nine months after gene therapy expression levels dropped by approximately 10% in each patient. Thirty months after treatment, each patient’s ALD protein expression levels were found stabilized to 10% and 15% respectively in the PBMCs. Furthermore, 24 months after gene therapy very long-chain fatty acids were found to be reduced by 20% and 28% in each patient, respectively.

Brain MRI scans were taken of patient 1, patient 2, and an untreated ALD patient. An increase in demyelination was observed in all three patients between diagnosis and 12 months after gene therapy. However, scans of both 16 months and 24-30 months after gene therapy showed demyelination had leveled and stopped increasing. In the untreated patient, scans taken at 18 months and 24 months post-diagnosis each showed significant degradation in the brain and increasing demyelination. Most importantly here is the absence of actual brain tissue degradation, exhibited in bone marrow transplantation patients, along with the treated patients’ comparable cease of demyelintaion. While extensive testing still remains for this therapy, the fact that its results compare strongly to the positive results of the bone marrow transplant indicates a major success in research and the prospect for a new treatment.

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Cartier, N., S Hacien-Bey-Abina, CC Bartholomae, G Veres, M Schmidt, I Kutschera, M Vidaud, U Abel, L Dal-Cortivo, L Caccavelli, N Mahlaoui, V Kiermer, D Mittelstaedt, C Bellesme, N Lahlou, F Lefrere, S Blanche, M Audit, E Payen, P Laboulch, B L’Homme, P Bougneres, C Von Kalle, A Fischer, M Cavazzana-Calvo, P aubourg. Hematopoietic Stem Cell Gene Therapy with a Lentiviral Vector in X-linked Adrenoleukodystrophy. Science 326:818—823 (2009).

White Matter Matters... p.1

2009-12-05T15:22:00.012-05:00

Background information: ALD is an X-linked recessive disorder, indicating it is most commonly found among males and is inherited from the mother. It is characterized by an accumulation of very long-chain fatty acids in the brain, spinal cord, and plasma, which in turn destroy myelin sheath in the nervous tissue.

Very long-chain fatty acids are typically produced within the body and are transported into the peroxisome where they are broken down through β-oxidation. Myelin sheath is the white matter, or layer of lipid fats and proteins, “insulating” the axon of a nerve cell.

Figure 1: Very Long-Chain Fatty Acid Photo Credit: < http://www.x-ald.nl/biochemistry.htm>

The demyelination exhibited in ALD leads to vision loss, impaired coordination, difficulty swallowing, dementia, and paralysis. This illness is most commonly diagnosed at a young age and typically results in death within 2-4 years after diagnosis. At present, there is no general curative therapy for ALD. Traditionally, adrenal steroid replacement therapy and “Lorenzo’s Oil” has been used as treatment; however, both have little to no effect on neurological symptoms. A recent therapeutic method is hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT), or in other words, bone marrow transplantation. HCT stops cerebral demyelination, thereby arresting the disease progression. Despite the apparent benefits to this treatment, this procedure puts the patient at a very high risk.

Figure 2: Brain MRI scans of 10-year-old, male, ALD patient Photo Credit: Tolar, et al. 2007

Figures 2, images A—D depict the MRI scans of an ALD patient, prior to HCT. Extensive inflammation and an abnormally high presence of white matter are observed in the various regions of the brain. Figures 2 E—H depict the MRI scans of the patient, 3 months after treatment. A significant decrease in white matter is observed; however, atrophy and deterioration of the actual brain tissue is also seen.

References: X-linked Adrenoleukodystrophy Database. Kennedy Krieger Institute, Human Genome variation Society, & Academic Medical Center University of Amsterdam. http://www.x-ald.nl/ (last updated 19 Nov 2009, accessed Dec 2009)

Tolar J., P.J. Orchard, K.J. Bjoraker, R.S. Ziegler, E.G. Shapiro & L. Charnas. N-acetyl-L-cysteine improves outcome of advanced cerebral adrenoleukodystrophy. Bone Marrow Transplantation 39:211--215 (2007).

A day of awareness and advocacy

2009-11-29T22:51:00.014-05:00

1 December 2009: World AIDS Day

On Tuesday UNAIDS—a joint UN program which seeks to fight HIV/AIDS through the partnership of 10 different non-governmental programs—will remember those affected by HIV/AIDS; raise awareness about the effects of HIV/AIDS; advocate for increased HIV/AIDS research, treatment, and prevention; and celebrate their accomplishments in the battle against HIV/AIDS. According to the WHO, the purpose of World AIDS Day is to “draw[s] together people from around the world to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS and demonstrate international solidarity in the face of the pandemic.” After reading several personal accounts, posted on the World AIDS Campaign site, regarding the effects of HIV/AIDS, I could not help but post a response to my October 22 post relating to the continuance of HIV vaccine research.

On November 24 a news release was published by UNAIDS stating a 17% reduction in new HIV infections since 2001. As stated in the press release, HIV prevention programmes are making a difference!

· An estimated 33.4 million people are currently living with HIV worldwide. There were approximately 2.7million people newly infected in 2008. Additionally, an estimated 2million people died of an AIDS related illness in 2008

· A higher amount of HIV-infected people are currently living than ever before, due to the increased life-expectancies of HIV-infected individuals as a result of the benefits of antiretroviral therapy.

· The number of AIDS related deaths has declined by over 10% in the past 5 years, as treatments become more available worldwide

· HIV prevention programs are not commonly made available to married couples, individuals over the age of 25, or widowers and divorcees, in many countries. However, the highest population of HIV-infected individuals falls under one or more of those categories, in most countries.

This just goes to show how important and beneficial HIV/AIDS research is. In relation to the last bullet point, it is critical that HIV/AIDS research continues and that more HIV prevention programs are either established or expanded. In the words of Dr. Margaret Chan, Director General of WHO, “We cannot let this momentum wane. Now is the time to redouble our efforts, and save many more lives."

An update on H1N1

2009-11-28T01:12:00.007-05:00

According to this week’s HealthMap Blog Somalia reported its first cases of H1N1, raising the pandemic into 86 different nations. Furthermore, HealthMap reported on the emergence of Tamiflu-resistant strains among hospitalized patients in Wales. The BBC News reported, last Friday 20 November, that while the strain does not appear to cause more severe illness in patients than the common H1N1, and while this was expected by virologists and public health officials, its rise and even more so person-to-person transmission is of serious concern to public health. Additionally, similar cases were reported last Friday at the Duke University Hospital in North Carolina. Little more information was found regarding these cases; however, reports have stated that much ongoing research is investigating the detriment caused by this strain.

In addition to the rise of the tamiflu-resistant strain, HealthMap also noted the most recent detection, by Norwegian scientists, of a mutated viral strain potentially causing infection deeper into the airways leading to more severe disease. However, the same mutated strain was also observed in Finland, where at least 14 lives have been claimed out of the Nation’s near 5,900 reported cases, yet the strain was not found to cause more severe illness. According to the WHO, this same mutation has been observed in China, Japan, Mexico, Ukraine, and the United States without appearing to give rise to increased virulence.

As the “swine flu” or, to be politically correct, H1N1 continues to wage war against the strength of the human immune system, supplemented with anti-viral drugs, and the management of public health; we should not succumb to public fears. Despite the approximate 525,000 reported cases, the near 7,000 deaths caused by H1N1, and the eastward spread of the virus, its activity has significantly decreased in the United States, where cases run the highest.

Happy Thanksgiving

2009-11-28T00:45:00.004-05:00

GTCA, DNA, PCR... they're more than just a bunch of letters

2009-10-28T20:38:00.002-04:00

this just goes to show how cool scientists can be

Progress in the war against invisible killers

2009-10-22T12:26:00.005-04:00

In 2000, world leaders met at the UN in New York, to set up some Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to be fulfilled by 2015. These goals included plans to eradicate malaria, HIV/AIDS, and Tuberculosis (TB). Upon reconvening in 2008, the assembly realizes the latter two of the 3 goals unrealistic and unattainable by 2015.

Malaria Current Goals: The leaders still seek to cut cases by 75%, 2000—2015, and malaria-caused deaths to zero. Progresses: Insecticide-treated use of bed nets has tripled in 16 of 20 sub-Saharan African nations since 2000. Free Artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACT) distributed at all public health facilities in Zanzibar, Tanzania, has reduced novel cases reported by 70%. Genomes of three major mosquito vectors have been sequenced. RTS S vaccine is going into phase III trials across large areas of Africa. Problems: It has been estimated that $900 million more per year is required to develop vaccines and novel insecticides.

HIV/AIDS Current Goals: Universal access to HIV-AIDS treatment by 2010 Progresses: Rate of new infections fell from 3 million in 2001 to 2.7million in 2007. AIDS death rate dropped from 2.2 million in 2005 to 2 million in 2007. Approximately 3 million people living in low income nations are now receiving anti-retroviral treatments. World leaders pledged another $500 million to achieve goals. Problems: Demand for treatments far exceeds supply. Prevention is exceedingly difficult due to scientific, political, and cultural reasons.

TB Current Goals: Treat 50 million TB-infected people and prevent 14 million deaths Progresses: Incidence has slightly decreased. Global TB-prevalence rate fell by 2.8% and the corresponding death rate fell by 2.6%. Problems: TB detection is lagging, particularly in Africa, China, and India. Drug treatments are difficult to control.

Stone, M. 2009. Determined Progress in War against Malaria, HIV-AIDS, and TB. Microbe 4:115—118.

The cost-effectiveness of the continuance of HIV vaccine research

2009-10-22T12:15:00.009-04:00

In recent years much scientific literature has reported the repeated failures of potential HIV vaccines to pass the phase II and phase III trials. In 2008 a potential vaccine, developed by Merck, failed its phase III trial, for the second time. As a result, the NIAID (National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases), among others, began to debate and reconsider the cost and benefit of HIV vaccine research and development. In 2007-2008 Elisa Long, Margaret Brandeau, and Douglas Owens conducted a study assessing “the outcomes for a broad range of vaccine efficacy and costs, and the outcomes associated with either universal vaccination or vaccination targeted to high-risk groups.”

Demographic information of currently reported HIV-positive individuals in the U.S, including behavioral patterns, was extrapolated using a set of differential equations to establish a model simulating the HIV epidemic over a 20 year period. This model depicts the proposed transmission and progression of HIV/AIDS and the cost-effectiveness for various vaccine strategies. They took into account several variables, such as the thought that antiretroviral therapy would decrease an individual’s infectivity thus possibly reducing transmission probability; however, increased life-expectancy of individuals would also increase measure of sexual activity and/or needle-sharing behaviors thus potentially increasing transmission.

They estimated that without any vaccine program in place, 1.29 million new HIV cases would occur over a 20 year period. They projected that a universal vaccination program, with a 75% efficacy and lifetime duration, would prevent 912,000 cases (71%) over the 20 year period, with 196 million individuals being vaccinated. A vaccination program targeting uninfected high-risk groups could result in 774,000 cases (60%) being prevented, with 9 million individuals being vaccinated. Finally, the less efficient strategy, by targeting low-risk individuals, 187 million individuals would require vaccination in order to return a reduction by 110,000 cases (12%). The model also suggests that for only a 5 to 10-year protection period, still with 75% efficacy, and universal vaccinations, approximate 420,000 — 610,000 cases can be prevented. Vaccinating high-risk groups would, obviously, greatly reduce the prevalence of HIV among those individuals, but could also significantly decrease the prevalence among low-risk individuals, due to reduced secondary transmission. The analysis appeared to suggest that with a high-risk exclusive vaccination program, 75% efficacy and lifetime protection, the cost-savings in healthcare expenditures would approximate $31 billion.

Targeted vaccination of high-risk groups appears by far more efficient than universal vaccinations. However the authors suggest that should an effective vaccine be developed, a universal vaccine strategy should still be utilized in order to ensure most, if not all, high-risk individuals participate. As the authors only appear to take into account the cost analysis of the hypothetical 20 year period, they fail to address the costs, towards vaccine research, accrued over the previous 20+ years, as well as the costs to amount over the next indefinite number of years until full vaccine development. While I cannot speak to the cost-benefit versus sunken-costs of this research over the last 20 years, the increase in life expectancy of those HIV positive in the U.S., and the reduced transmission rate appear to be significant enough to continue research in vaccine developments.

Long, E.F., M.L Brandeau, D.K. Owens. 2009. Potential population health outcomes and expenditures of HIV vaccination strategies in the United States. Vaccine 27:5402—5410.

Google: saving the world one internet-junkie at a time

2009-10-21T21:45:00.003-04:00

According to Marcia Stone, for Microbe Magazine, Google.com has donated over $10 million within the last calendar year toward “Infectious Disease Surveillance Efforts.”

My favourite, and the most accessible to the general public, was a $3 million grant to the International Society for Infectious Disease ProMED-mail (Program for Monitoring Emerging Diseases) program back in January 2009. The purpose of this financial award was to help strengthen the ProMED/HealthMap partnership. HealthMap is a digital surveillance program out of Harvard Medical School and Children’s Hospital Boston. HealthMap takes information from ProMED regarding emerging infectious disease outbreaks, and produces global [web] maps depicting the outbreaks geographically. The hope is to eventually identify and respond to the outbreak of a novel pathogen and prevent the regional outbreak from becoming a global pandemic. One downside to the current website is that it only displays reported cases, thus leaving the numbers of cases depicted strongly biased. An important goal in utilizing these funds is to expand and develop networks in Africa and Southeast Asia.

The use of visual communication

2009-09-28T22:20:00.014-04:00

In my opening post I briefly discussed the importance of science communication. As it is important for a variety of reasons, it must also be effective. Effective science communication can be measured in part by accuracy, the quantity of people reached, the amount understood and retained by the viewer/listener, and the level of intrigue raised by the communication piece. A primary effective means of communicating science that has recently arisen in both the classroom as well as the public is the use of film and video. For example, the recent, popular, films March of the Penguins and Earth have incited a new level of intrigue among thousands of Americans regarding the natural processes of the earth in which we live. Dr. Randy Olson, a film-maker and biologist, understood the effectiveness of film in science communication when he wrote & directed a number of independent short films regarding biological processes, as well as a full-length documentary regarding the Evolution Vs. Intelligent Design controversy. This short film, concerning barnacle mating, was shown in a biology class I took during the Spring of 2007. Highly effective, everyone in my class enjoyed viewing this video and, of course, remembered what they saw and learned. During the Spring 2009, I was studying marine biology in Costa Rica. While on a field trip in Guanacaste, a classmate and I were exploring the beaches and found some barnacles on a rock.

I immediately recognized the organism from the video I had watched in class 2 years prior, and recalled the interesting facts I had learned about barnacles and their copulating powers. Here is another video by the same film-maker which I also find to be very effective. It is funny, educational, and easily remembered.

the future? the FUTURE!.... oh dear

2009-09-24T20:47:00.010-04:00

The topic I have been avoiding for weeks....Today my room-mates and I were looking up graduate schools for our respective programs... and this was what i found... from the US News World Report, a list of 7 top universities (and a couple thrown in between), a list of 7 highly competitive (relatively unattainable) institutions, and nothing else-- the article did not give a list of any other, following, less-competitive schools thereafter. Other programs (i.e. higher education) listed scores or even 100s of universities, but not this one. Slightly discouraged, I decided, "no more lists or references, no more 'grad school search engines.' I am going to find graduate programs 'my' way (or the way my advisor told me to, rather)." So I Googled and Binged for hours. With the sounds of The Sound of Music dvd in the background this is what I compiled thus far:

Albany College of Medicine – Graduate Studies MS or PhD in Immunology & Microbial Disease Application deadline for Fall enrollment: 15 November?

Penn State – The Huck Institutes of Life Sciences MS or PhD in Immunology and Infectious Diseases Application deadline for Fall enrollment: 1 December

University of Rochester – School of Medicine and Dentistry PhD in Microbiology, Immunology & Virology Application deadline for Fall enrollment: 1 January

Washington State University – College of Veterinary Medicine Veterinary Microbiology and Pathology MS or PhD in Immunology and Infectious Diseases Application deadline for Fall enrollment: 10 January

George Washington University MS, MPH, PhD in Epidemiology MPH, MPH/Masters Peace Corps, PhD in Global Health MPH in Global Health Epidemiology MS in Public Health Microbiology and Emerging Infectious Disease Application deadline for Doctoral program, Fall enrollment: 15 January University of Wisconsin – Madison MS or PhD in Medical Microbiology and Immunology Application Deadline for Fall enrollment: 15 January

Indiana University – School of Medicine Dept of Microbiology and Immunology Interdisciplinary Program: MS? or PhD in Immunology and Infectious Disease Application deadline for Fall enrollment: 15 January

University of Virginia – Health System PhD in Microbiology, Immunology, & Infectious Disease Application deadline for Fall enrollment: 15 January

University of Arizona – College of Medicine MS or PhD in Microbiology & Pathobiology Application deadline for Fall enrollment: 1 April

University at Albany – School of Public Health MS, MPH, Dr.PH, PhD in Epidemiology & Biostatistics Application deadline for FA enrollment: 30 May

I am sure this list will be cut short as I look into their admission requirements (....blasted physics), and expanded as I continue to look for more. Thus the pursuit continues, or begins rather...

The Plague, among other things

2009-09-22T18:14:00.000-04:00

"Ring around the rosy

A pocket full of posies

Ashes, ashes

We all fall down!"

At the end of each parent & pre-school swim class we sing one of the little swimmers' favorite songs. The familiar sounds of their laughter as they, cradled in their parents' arms, splash the water, allow us to end the song without ever even considering its origin. This classic nursery song appears to have been around forever, yet children still sing it today. Have you ever wondered about the meaning behind the classic, playground, nursery rhyme?

“Ring around the rosy” was adapted from another children’s song, to describe the early outbreaks of the bubonic plague, amidst the rise of its spread. During the late 1800s countless children, men and women acquired a then-terminal illness characterized by ringed, red blisters and boils. The Plague was found to be caused by a bacterium called Yersinia pestis. The disease, carried among rats, was transmitted to humans through fleas. This was the same pathogen that gave rise to the Great Plague of London during the 17^th Century.

The Plague is not the only infectious disease that comes to mind when considering zoonotic diseases (diseases that can be transmitted from animals to people). Do you remember the SARS outbreak in 2002-03? Sever Acute Respiratory Syndrome, caused by SARS coronavirus, spread across China faster than a “he-said, she-said” thriller across a junior-high locker room. Despite its rapid rise and the world-wide use of commercial transportation, a global pandemic was quickly prevented through communication and collaboration. Without governmental cooperation and the collaboration of labs around the world, the virus and its source would not have been identified nearly as quickly as it was. Communication to the general public was key in preventing the further spread of infection.

More recently, the influenza H1N1 virus(aka: "swine" flu) has become a topic of concern among the general public. While the Western world wages this battle against the rise of pandemic, we see how once again effective communication and educating the general public is crucial to preventing further disease spread. The focus of this blog is on emerging infectious diseases, the importance of effective science communication, as well as other assorted topics. This blog is intended to bring attention to assorted topics in medical microbiology for those interested in infectious diseases, both a part of the scientific community as well as the general public.