Various bacteria
Category archives for Various bacteria
Going out with a Bangs: Control of Human Brucellosis by means of an Animal Vaccine
Posted by Tara C. Smith on June 22, 2012 This is the thirteenth of 16 student posts, guest-authored by Jessica Ludvik. One Disease, Many Species Brucellosis, more commonly known as undulant fever in humans or bangs disease in cattle, is one of the oldest bacterial scourges of livestock-producing nations, especially those in which the animals live in close proximity with the human population. The disease…
Coexisting with Coyotes
Posted by Tara C. Smith on June 21, 2012 This is the twelfth of 16 student posts, guest-authored by Stanley Corbin. Disease in wildlife is an important concern to the health and safety of humans and domestic animals. The expanding growth of our nation and resultant land use changes with urbanization has resulted in a shrinking habitat and fragmentation for all animals, including humans. The…
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…
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…
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…
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…
The human origins of “pig” Staph ST398
Posted by Tara C. Smith on February 21, 2012 I recently gave a talk to a group here in Iowa City, emphasizing just how frequently we share microbes. It was a noontime talk over a nice lunch, and of course I discussed how basically we humans are hosts to all kinds of organisms, and analysis of our “extended microbiome” shows that we share not…
Castrating sheep with teeth: not a good idea (with video!)
Posted by Tara C. Smith on December 8, 2011 Just a quick post as I’m in end-of-semester hell. Via Maryn McKenna on Twitter, the CDC has released a report of Campylobacter illnesses due to not food consumption, but because of castrating lambs. With their teeth. On June 29, 2011, the Wyoming Department of Health was notified of two laboratory-confirmed cases of Campylobacter jejuni enteritis…