Is the HPV vaccine "weak science?" (Hint: no)
Category: Clinical trials
Shoddy science on a new Discover blog.
Posted by Tara C. Smith at 12:00 PM • 39 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Aetiology
Discussing causes, origins, evolution, and implications of disease and other phenomena.
Profile
Tara C. Smith is an Assistant Professor of Epidemiology. Her research involves a number of pathogens at the animal-human nexus. She also writes for The Panda's Thumb and previously for WIRED SCIENCE's Correlations. Please note the views expressed on this site are Dr. Smith's alone and may not be representative of the groups mentioned above.
"...a veritable expert on tawdry cosmetic procedures gone horribly awry..."--Kevin Beck
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Recent Posts
- Great Plains Emerging Diseases Conference
- Infectious disease epidemiology and zombies
- MRSA in pork products: does the "antibiotic-free" label make a difference?
- Castrating sheep with teeth: not a good idea (with video!)
- Is the HPV vaccine "weak science?" (Hint: no)
- Climate change and public health
- Does bestiality increase your risk of penile cancer?
- MRSA found in Iowa meat
- Another advantage of blogging
- Chickenpox parties--just a Facebook friend away
Recent Comments
- Andrew2k on Pandemic Influenza Series
- sirous on Staph in food--what does it mean?
- Tabelacı on Rock Stars of Science, part deux: coming to a GQ near you
- Johnny RN/EMT on Administration: overdose antidote not good public health policy
- gingerest on Infectious disease epidemiology and zombies
- Atif (Mr Epidemiology) on Infectious disease epidemiology and zombies
- Eric Lofgren on Infectious disease epidemiology and zombies
- Alyson Kelvin on Infectious disease epidemiology and zombies
- Deborah on Scarlet fever--past and present
- afrika mangosu on MRSA in pork products: does the "antibiotic-free" label make a difference?
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Infectious Disease Series
Infectious causes of chronic disease:
Does bestiality increase your risk of penile cancer?
Category: Cancer epidemiology
A recent study out of Brazil suggests that bestiality is a risk factor for penile cancer. I couldn't make this up if I tried.
Posted by Tara C. Smith at 10:00 AM • 22 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS): history and implications
Category: General Epidemiology
Part One It appears that the E. coli O104 sproutbreak is starting to wind down, with more than 3,500 cases diagnosed to date and 39 deaths. Though sprouts remain the key source of the bacterium, a recent report also documents...
Posted by Tara C. Smith at 10:20 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) in history--part 4: the bigger picture
Category: General biology
What does the realization of the cause of HUS tell us about other "complex" diseases?
Posted by Tara C. Smith at 9:00 AM • 9 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) in history--part 3
Category: General Epidemiology
Thirty years after it appears in the literature, the cause of HUS is pinned down.
Posted by Tara C. Smith at 9:00 AM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) in history--part 2
Category: General Epidemiology
First reported in 1955, several studies looked for a cause of hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) in the 1960s and 70s--when a breakthrough finally started to shine light on the bacterial cause.
Posted by Tara C. Smith at 9:00 AM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) in history--part 1
Category: General Epidemiology
While HUS is known to be caused by E. coli today, this wasn't the case as recently as 30 years ago.
Posted by Tara C. Smith at 9:00 AM • 5 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
The importance of gut flora
Category: Ecology
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 transplants to treat Clostridium difficile infections. If you're at...
Posted by Tara C. Smith at 8:12 AM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Is There a Viral Cause for Idiopathic Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension?
Category: General Epidemiology
Student guest post Dayna Groskreutz Pulmonary hypertension (PH) refers to a condition in which there is high blood pressure in the vessels carrying blood from the heart to the lungs. Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a subset of PH referring...
Posted by Tara C. Smith at 4:00 PM • 6 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Can your pet dog make you sick? Multiple Sclerosis and Canine Distemper Virus
Category: General Epidemiology
Student guest post by Raj Nair. Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic inflammatory demyelinating disease that affects the central nervous system (CNS) consisting of the brain and the spinal cord [1]. It is thought to be an autoimmune disease since...
Posted by Tara C. Smith at 12:05 PM • 9 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
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