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Aetiology

Discussing causes, origins, evolution, and implications of disease and other phenomena.

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"...a veritable expert on tawdry cosmetic procedures gone horribly awry..."--Kevin Beck

Tara C. Smith is an Assistant Professor of Epidemiology. Her research involves a number of pathogens at the animal-human nexus. Additionally, she is the founder of Iowa Citizens for Science and also writes for The Panda's Thumb and 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.

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Infectious Disease Series

Various viruses:

A Deeper Look into Adenovirus-36 and Obesity

How strong is the link between adenovirus and obesity?

Bacteriophages to Fight Bacteria: Is this the Beginning of the End?

Will bacteriophage treatment for "superbugs" save lives, or create even worse pathogens?

Mumps in the midwest: a 2006 retrospective

How did mumps make a resurgence in 2006? A new paper examines the factors.

The threat of emerging poxviruses: replacements for smallpox?

1980 marked a milestone in infectious disease epidemiology: the World Health Organization declared the smallpox virus eradicated in the wild. However, while smallpox currently exists only in frozen stocks, poxviruses as a class certainly haven't disappeared. A related virus, monkeypox,...

The ABCs (and DEGs) of hepatitis viruses

Hepatitis viruses are making news around the world; find a roundup of the various types (and their basic epidemiology) here.

Behaviors, Human Papilloma Virus and Sex Act Cancers

HPV has been linked to more than cervical cancer; oral cancers can result from infection.

The "Skinny Shot" and Media Accountability

Infectious obesity: what's hype, and what's supported by the evidence?

Could the Cervical Cancer Vaccine Gardasil also Protect against Breast Cancer?

Viruses are increasingly being linked to cancers; could a vaccine against one type of virus protect against multiple cancers?

Yellow fever: the American plague

The fever hit suddenly in the form of a piercing headache and painful sensitivity to light, like looking into a white sun. At that point, the patient could still hope that it was not yellow fever, maybe just a...

What would it take to wipe out human rabies?

The rabies vaccine was one of the early public health success stories. Why, then, are millions of people still infected with the rabies virus every year--with a death from the virus occurring every ten minutes?

Influenza meta-update: H5N1 spreading, new swine influenza virus found

Avian influenza is still around, but don't overlook the swine!

Huckabee supported isolation for HIV+ individuals

"Isolate carriers of the AIDS plague," said Huckabee in 1992. And he's still not distancing himself from these words.

What's it like to work an Ebola outbreak?

Ever wondered what it was like to step into (and try to end) an Ebola outbreak? I interviewed Zoe Young and Armand Sprecher of Médecins Sans Frontières, who helped out in the Democratic Republic of Congo outbreak this fall.

New (as yet unnamed) Ebola strain found in Uganda

Ebola simmers in Uganda...

"Tree man" diagnosis and treatment upsets Indonesian health minister

Indonesia plays hard to get with its viral samples...including that taken from their "tree man."

Of jackalopes and tree men--and the virus they have in common

Papilloma viruses are not to be trifled with...

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