General Epidemiology
Category archives for General Epidemiology
Aw Schucks: When the world is NOT your oyster!
Posted by Tara C. Smith on June 21, 2012 This is the eleventh of 16 student posts, guest-authored by Ilze Berzins. When one hears the words “food-borne illness”, what comes to mind? For me, I think of a medium rare, pink, juicy hamburger, or something like potato salad that may be made with mayonnaise containing raw eggs, or maybe a fresh green garden salad sprinkled…
A Query about Q fever –Answers to the Questions you should ask
Posted by Tara C. Smith on June 21, 2012 This is the tenth of 16 student posts, guest-authored by Jean DeNapoli. I own a small back yard flock of sheep and lambing season is the most exciting and rewarding time of the year. Nothing is more enjoyable than watching a lamb who takes a few wobbly steps and nurses for the first time as her…
Growth hormones in milk: myth/fact
Posted by Tara C. Smith on June 19, 2012 This is the ninth of 16 student posts, guest-authored by Jaspreet Gill. It’s been over a decade since FDA approved use of artificial (recombinant) growth hormones in dairy cows. This topic remains controversial till this date. Not everyone is well educated on this subject and questions often come to people’s mind; what is this BST or…
Wait, the infamous “Black Death” still plagues the United States?
Posted by Tara C. Smith on June 19, 2012 This is the eighth of 16 student posts, guest-authored by Michelle Formanek. For many of us in the scientific world, particularly budding infectious disease epidemiologists like myself, the Plague (or, more dramatically, the “Black Death”) is a prime example of the rapid and devastating spread of an infectious disease. So devastating, in fact, that it wiped…
Is Chagas Disease Really The New AIDS Of The Americas?
Posted by Tara C. Smith on June 18, 2012 This is the seventh of 16 student posts, guest-authored by Joshua Pikora. Recently an article published in PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases titled Chagas Disease: “The New HIV/AIDS of the Americas” caused a stir in the media receiving coverage through Fox News and The New York Times among others. This article, as the title indicates, claims that…
Raw milk. Raw deal?
Posted by Tara C. Smith on June 18, 2012 This is the sixth of 16 student posts, guest-authored by Anna Lyons-Nace. Natural…unprocessed…raw. These terms are often used by consumers, nutritionists and health experts to denote the most healthful, high-quality food options available for consumption. However, when pertaining to the recent increasing trend in raw milk consumption, can consumers be confident that they are choosing the…
Spotlight on Nasty Parasites: Echinococcus granulosus
Posted by Tara C. Smith on June 16, 2012 This is the fifth of 16 student posts, guest-authored by E. Jane Kelley. Did you know that some dogs might have a tapeworm in their small intestine that can cause the development of large cysts in people’s livers, lungs, and brains? This is not very common in the United States currently, though there are cases reported…
Things that want to eat your brain
Posted by Tara C. Smith on June 15, 2012 This is the fourth of 16 student posts, guest-authored by Eric Wika. Let’s face it, it’s a dangerous world to be a brain. The brain is so soft and squishy it cannot even support its own weight. That’s right, even gravity itself is enough to take out an unprotected brain. Besides these passive threats, there are…
Atypical Typhus
Posted by Tara C. Smith on June 15, 2012 This is the third of 16 student posts, guest-authored by Mary Egan. Murine typhus has been in the news recently in Austin, TX, where in May of this year, two people were found to be positive and one died. This rings a number of alarm bells for me, since I live in Texas, and specifically in…
What you don’t see can hurt your cat…and you too
Posted by Tara C. Smith on June 14, 2012 This is the second of 16 student posts, guest-authored by Eileen Ball. The beauty of dogs and cats as companions is that we don’t have to raise them to go out into the world and be successful. As pet parents we can set the household “rules” according to what works for us and get on with…