Landscape ecology and infectious disease: macro meets micro
I spent all day yesterday in Madison, Wisconsin, at a conference on Landscape Ecology and infectious disease. I’ll discuss a few of the talks and issues below, but I wanted to start out with a bit of...
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Summer reading 3: Good Germs, Bad Germs by Jessica Snyder Sachs
Balance is a tricky thing to find in area, and medicine is notorious for its trade-offs. A drug that may make you well in the long run may also have side effects that make taking the medicine...
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Ebola in pigs! [UPDATED]
I’ve mentioned repeatedly how little we know about Ebola ecology–what the reservoir host(s) are, how it’s transmitted to humans (and other species), why it causes outbreaks when it does. We know even...
View ArticleWhat is the Hygiene Hypothesis?
Guest post by Zainab Khan In most western countries, germs have become synonymous with the idea of something bad that needs to be killed as quickly as possible. However, people have long been...
View ArticleThe importance of gut flora
Blogging from Atlanta at ICEID, the perfect venue to highlight today’s story in the NY Times by Carl Zimmer discussing gut microbes in health and disease–including an introduction focusing on fecal...
View ArticleClimate change and public health
I rarely write about climate change. As much as it’s been hashed out amongst climate scientists, and even many of the former “climate skeptics” have now changed their tune, I readily accept that...
View ArticleWaste not, want not? Poultry “feather meal” as another source of antibiotics...
The ecology of antibiotic resistance on farms is complicated. Animals receive antibiotic doses in their food and water, for reasons of growth promotion, disease prophylaxis, and treatment. Other...
View ArticleHere come the ticks: is global warming leading to an increase in Lyme disease?
This is the last of 16 student posts, guest-authored by Jessica Waters. Climatologists have been warning us about the ongoing and impending consequences of global warming for years. But the results of...
View ArticleEbola: Back in the DRC
August, 1976. A new infection was causing panic in Zaire. Hospitals became death zones, as both patients and medical staff succumbed to the disease. Reports of nightmarish symptoms trickled in to...
View ArticleEastern Equine Encephalitis: The Mosquito that bit the Snake
Guest post by Hillary Craddock Last week a new study regarding Eastern Equine Encephalitis (EEE) was published online (Bingham et.al.). EEE is a mosquito-borne virus that can cause serious, and...
View ArticleWhat is the harm in agricultural-use antibiotics?
After this post on antibiotic resistance, many of you may have seen an exchange on Twitter calling me out for being “knee-jerk” about my call to action to do something about the overuse of antibiotics....
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Antibiotic resistance: myths and misunderstandings
A pig flying at the Minnesota state fair. Picture by TCS. I’ve been involved in a few discussions of late on science-based sites around yon web on antibiotic resistance and agriculture–specifically,...
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