Tara C. Smith
Associate Professor, lab rat (microbiologist/infectious disease epidemiologist) and occasional blogger, full-time nerd.
tsmith
Posts by this author
June 8, 2007
I previously mentioned Sierra Leone when discussing the effect of warfare on the emergence of disease. Sierra Leone has long been a country divided, and suffered through more than a decade of civil war (1991-2002) and decades of instability prior to that. Since the end of the war, changes have…
June 8, 2007
Well, this is a new low. I ran across this blog post from a few months back, discussing the Imus situation:
Anytime a person is negatively labeled because of gender or race, this affronts our shared human dignity. And we should be especially careful here, for this has not always been such an…
June 7, 2007
My office in the epidemiology department is located within the hospital. Therefore, every day when I walk into work, I pass by a sign like the one on the left. Like most states, Iowa has a safe haven law--a law that allows parents to leave a newborn infant at a designated site, no questions…
June 6, 2007
Check out the latest editions of:
Pediatric Grand Rounds
Grand Rounds
Tangled Bank
June 6, 2007
Over at her old blog, Karmen had a nice overview of Deinococcus radiodurans, a fascinating organism that's able to withstand many different extremes: genotoxic chemicals, oxidative damage, high levels of ionizing and ultraviolet radiation, dehydration, and, as the name suggests, incredibly high…
June 5, 2007
Time journalist (and newly minted Nieman fellow in global health) Christine Gorman recently gave a talk at the Global Health Council's annual meeting. Christine discussed topics that get a lot of press--such as HIV/AIDS--and others that occasionally bubble up to the surface, such as malaria and…
June 5, 2007
Today is the sixth annual Hunger Awareness Day, sponsored by America's Second Harvest. All too often we think of hunger as something affecting other countries (which of course it does) and focus more on obesity than hunger in America, but we have a serious problem with it here in the United…
June 5, 2007
You've probably already seen a few reviews of Michael Behe 's new book, The Edge of Evolution. I've barely cracked open my review copy yet, but I already know that one example that features prominently throughout the book is malaria (hence my interest in it, moreso than any more "irreducible…
June 4, 2007
Syphilis is a disease frequently shrouded in many levels of mystery. It appeared suddenly in Europe in the late 1400s as a highly virulent and often fatal disease, a disease that could give Ebola a run for its money when it comes to sheer grotesque-ness. Victims may be covered with pustules…
June 1, 2007
Back when I used to discuss evolution directly with creationists more frequently, I'd often cite Answers in Genesis' page of Arguments we think creationists should not use" page. I hadn't checked this out in awhile, and forgot they have on there as an argument that is "doubtful, hence, inadvisable…
June 1, 2007
Razib calls attention to a life-or-death situation affecting many minorities in this country: lack of organ and tissue matches for those in need of a transplant. He highlights one man in immediate need of a bone marrow transplant:
A tragedy, in five lines;
This is Vinay and his wife Rashmi.
They…
May 31, 2007
Just popping in quickly after I saw Klearchos' comment on the updated tuberculosis post. He notes on his website that the CDC has released additional travel information about the XDR-TB infected patient, including shorter flights made within Europe in addition to the intercontinental flights.…
May 31, 2007
Today is the kids' last day of school, and just happens to be an early dismissal as well, so I'll be busy with them and not tied to the computer this morning/afternoon. However, there are tons of good things to read elsewhere.
First, Orac has a long-awaited update on the Tripoli Six: the group…
May 31, 2007
In the comments to the XDR-TB update post, Scott suggested that bloggers were putting too much emphasis on whether the TB patient was stupid/arrogant/self-centered/whatever, and later that "waxing indignant is pointless." I started this as a response to those comments, but thought instead it might…
May 30, 2007
I blogged earlier about the Georgia man who globe-trotted while infected with XDR-TB. I wrote that post late Tuesday evening, and since then, a number of other details about his case have come to light--and they're not encouraging. In fact, this serves as a nice example of a convergence of a…
May 30, 2007
As a native Ohioan and longtime creationist watcher, of course I'm morbidly fascinated with (and dismayed by) the opening of the new Creation Museum just outside of Cincinnati. I'm not going to give a full response to its ridiculous "science;" others have done that across the blogosphere (…
May 30, 2007
I blogged back in March about World TB day, the theme of which was "TB anywhere is TB everywhere." We know that someone can simply hop on a plane halfway across the world, and be practically anywhere else on the globe in the span of about a day--and their bacteria and viruses are just along for…
May 29, 2007
A few readers have asked in comments or emailed me regarding the tenure denial of Iowa State astronomer (and Discovery Institute fellow) Guillermo Gonzalez. I noted that I've not written about it because I've just not been around much lately due to travel, and because others are covering it quite…
May 29, 2007
Scanning today's New York Times, I ran across this article on designing for the world's poor, which isn't really an issue I'd spent much time considering previously. From the article:
"A billion customers in the world," Dr. Paul Polak told a crowd of inventors recently, "are waiting for a $2…
May 29, 2007
While I'm still getting caught up on work from time at the conference and the holiday, check out the latest edition of Grand Rounds over at From Med Skool.
May 25, 2007
A long time ago, in a galaxy far far away, I reviewed the HIV/AIDS chapter in Tom Bethell's book, "The Politically Incorrect Guide to Science." I discussed his characterization of AIDS in Africa:
As the chapter title suggests, Bethell claims that AIDS in Africa is a made-up epidemic; AIDS is…
May 24, 2007
As I mentioned, last night I took a break and went out for dinner and conversation with a wonderful group of science bloggers. Larry Moran of Sandwalk (not pictured) was good enough to arrange it all, and we met up in his office (home of the Talk.Origins server). Joining us were (left to right…
May 24, 2007
Way back in a few editions of Animalcules, several of the submissions mentioned a fungus that was killing frogs. Wednesday at the ASM meeting suggested that there may be a way to protect these amphibians:
First in a petri dish and now on live salamanders, probiotic bacteria seem to repel a…
May 23, 2007
This week's Grand Rounds is a real treat. Rather than just being a "best of" writing for the recent week, contributors were asked to dig through the archives and send in the posts that best defined their blog, a sample of their best writing (in their own opinion, of course). Check out the results…
May 23, 2007
Everyone knows about the "butterfly effect": the idea that a butterfly flapping its wings in Brazil could eventually result in the formation of a tornado in Texas by virtue of very small alterations in the initial conditions of a system. Though this description of it is often decried by people…
May 22, 2007
I haven't had a chance yet to mention Seed's promotion of the Intel Science and Engineering Fair, the cream of the science fair crop. It's so prestigious, in fact, that it attracts young adults from all over the world to share their research. However, one brought more than the judges bargained…
May 21, 2007
Well, I made it here for the American Society for Microbiology general meeting. In Canada. So far, I had the people at my hotel completely screw up where the airport shuttle left from, leaving me waiting at the airport for an hour and a half, screwing up my reservation by almost shorting me a…
May 21, 2007
I had a strange worry as a kid. I was very scared of getting bit by a tick and developing Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever (RMSF). I know, weird--even for nerdy kids like me, who knows about Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever? How many readers are even familiar with it?
For those who aren't, RMSF is a…
May 21, 2007
...check it out over at Ami Chopine--thanks to Shinga for sending along my entry on a little boy's brush with death following his father's smallpox vaccination. Lots of excellent posts collected over there; check em out.
However, what may be the most notable, well, note, is that Dr. Flea has flown…
May 18, 2007
I think it must be difficult to study infectious disease without having some kind of interest in history. The field is so rich in stories from decades and centuries past, and infectious disease has played an enormous role in shaping our societies today. As with many fields, I believe our…