October 31, 2005
Category: Cancer epidemiology • Clinical trials • General Epidemiology • General biology • Infectious causes of chronic disease • Infectious disease • Policy • Politics • Public health • Various viruses
As mentioned in the comments to this post, there is a brewing controversy over upcoming guidelines outlining who should receive the "cervical cancer vaccine," a vaccine against the human papilloma virus (HPV). Briefly, the HPV vaccine is a highly...
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Posted by Tara C. Smith at 9:42 AM • 0 Comments
October 27, 2005
Category: General biology • Intelligent design/creationism
(And not in a supportive way). PZ and Orac discussed a recent New England Journal of Medicine editorial critical of intelligent design. Though the article had several shortcomings, it's always a bonus to see other scientists treating ID as a...
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Posted by Tara C. Smith at 10:00 AM • 0 Comments
October 24, 2005
Category: General Epidemiology • Infectious disease • Outbreak • Policy • Public health • Various bacteria • Various viruses
Doctors recommend hepatitis shot for kids Hepatitis A is a virus that causes (obviously) hepatitis, as well as jaundice, fatigue, nausea, fever, loss of appetite, and diarrhea. It's often spread fecal-orally; that is, you put something in your mouth that...
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Posted by Tara C. Smith at 3:28 PM • 0 Comments
October 20, 2005
Category: Intelligent design/creationism • Iowa/area news • Science education
That's my new favorite anti-ID quote, spoken by Mark Blumberg, at the University of Iowa Freethinkers' panel discussion on intelligent design last evening. Dr. Blumberg was discussing what a piss-poor design the human vertebral column is, and concluded his talk...
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Posted by Tara C. Smith at 12:12 PM • 0 Comments
Category: Humor • Intelligent design/creationism
I liked him so much better during his "Tiger Beat" days. Next thing they'll tell me is that Boner has become a monk... (But on the plus side, "argument from banana" is now my favorite creationist argument)....
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Posted by Tara C. Smith at 10:00 AM • 0 Comments
October 19, 2005
Category: General Epidemiology • Infectious disease • Outbreak • Policy • Politics • Public health • Various bacteria
It's situations like this that really irk me. I mentioned the tularemia detection in DC here almost 2 weeks ago, already annoyed that there hadn't been more information about it. There has been some discussion on the ProMed list, but...
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Posted by Tara C. Smith at 11:00 AM • 0 Comments
October 18, 2005
Category: General Epidemiology • General biology • Infectious disease • Influenza • Intelligent design/creationism • Science education
Ah, how rare is it that my interest in stomping creationists and my interest in infectious disease collide. But I guess that when there's a topic as hot as avian influenza, it's inevitable that even the folks at the DI...
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Posted by Tara C. Smith at 11:00 AM • 0 Comments
October 17, 2005
Category: Infectious disease
We still don't know what's going on with Idaho, where there have been 9 suspected cases of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in 2005. More below the fold....
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Posted by Tara C. Smith at 11:30 AM • 0 Comments
Category: Infectious disease
Andrea Bottaro has an excellent review of prion genetics over at Panda's Thumb. Prions are, of course, the transmissible agents that cause diseases such as kuru and Creutzfeldt-Jakob in humans, and related disease such as "mad cow" disease, scrapie, and...
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Posted by Tara C. Smith at 10:00 AM • 0 Comments
October 12, 2005
Category: General Epidemiology • Infectious disease • Politics • Public health • Various viruses
On Monday, I mentioned a survey MSNBC and Zogby conducted regarding attitudes about sex and STDs. Today on MSNBC, they have another article on the rise of STDs in America, highlighting some depressing trends. Meanwhile, in what you'd think would...
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Posted by Tara C. Smith at 12:00 PM • 0 Comments
Category: General Epidemiology • Infectious disease • Public health • Various bacteria
In the October issue of Emerging Infectious Diseases, James Hughes and Jeffrey Koplan discuss the problem of safe water. Hazardous drinking water and poor sanitation is something that gets brought up when there's a disaster (like Katrina, or the tsunami...
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Posted by Tara C. Smith at 12:00 PM • 0 Comments
October 10, 2005
Category: General Epidemiology • Infectious disease • Public health • Science education • Various bacteria • Various viruses
Okay, so it's just an MSNBC survey (aided by none other than Dr. Ruth), but geez, when will people ever wise up about sex? MSNBC.com and Zogby International asked online readers to share some intimate details about their personal lives,...
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Posted by Tara C. Smith at 12:00 PM • 0 Comments
October 7, 2005
Category: General Epidemiology • Infectious disease • Influenza • Policy • Public health • Various viruses
Thus far this week, I've discussed the history of pandemic influenza in general, and avian flu in particular. I've discussed some issues that must be addressed to prepare us for a pandemic, and the groundbreaking resurrection of the Spanish influenza...
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Posted by Tara C. Smith at 11:00 AM • 0 Comments
October 6, 2005
Category: General biology • Historical studies of disease • Infectious disease • Influenza • Public health • Various viruses
I know I said I was going to discuss a bit more about pandemic preparedness today, but I think I'll hold off on that to discuss this story: It sounds like a sci-fi thriller. For the first time, scientists have...
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Posted by Tara C. Smith at 11:00 AM • 0 Comments
October 5, 2005
Category: General Epidemiology • General biology • Infectious disease • Influenza • Public health • Various viruses
The scientific community is all too familiar with the dangers an influenza pandemic could bring. The politicians and general public are starting to become aware of the issue as well; indeed, one can hardly open a newspaper or turn on...
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Posted by Tara C. Smith at 11:00 AM • 0 Comments
October 4, 2005
Category: Ecology • General Epidemiology • Infectious disease • Influenza • Policy • Public health • Various viruses
Anyone working in the area of influenza virus epidemiology is familiar with the name Robert Webster. A virologist at St. Jude's Children's Hospital in Memphis, the native New Zealander has been leading the charge against influenza for well over 40...
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Posted by Tara C. Smith at 11:30 AM • 0 Comments
