Tara C. Smith
Associate Professor, lab rat (microbiologist/infectious disease epidemiologist) and occasional blogger, full-time nerd.
tsmith
Posts by this author
March 28, 2006
I'd like to continue the overview of emerging infectious diseases (part one is here) by discussing some reasons why diseases "emerge." Obviously, this will be somewhat of a simplification; many diseases may emerge due to a combination of the topics mentioned below, or may have factors involved…
March 27, 2006
Sometimes amid all the news about H5N1, the "old and boring" diseases get overlooked, such as chickenpox and mumps.
State health officials said they are concerned about a rare strain of virus behind an outbreak of 60 mumps cases in Iowa.
Mary Gilchrist, director of the state's University Hygienic…
March 27, 2006
Part One: Introduction to Emerging Diseases and Zoonoses
Part Two: Introduction to Emerging Diseases and Zoonoses continued
Part Three: Bushmeat
Part Four: War and Disease
Part Five: Chikungunya
Part Six: Avian influenza
Part Seven: Reporting on emerging diseases
Part Eight: Disease…
March 27, 2006
So, I'm back from Atlanta. While there, I attended two back-to-back conferences. First, ICEID: International Conference on Emerging Infectious Diseases; second, ISEZ: International Symposium on Emerging Zoonoses. I thought I'd do a multi-part series this week discussing some of the highlights…
March 27, 2006
Phew! Good to know we have a strong terrorist deterrent here. Seen just outside of Iowa City:
You just can't make this stuff up...
March 26, 2006
Over at Good math, bad math, Mark has a bit more on mathematical modeling. Before anyone screams "witch hunt," please note:
I'll leave the science debate over at Aetiology, where it belongs. But there's definitely a mathematical aspect to this. Professor Culshaw lends her authority as a…
March 24, 2006
Actually being at a conference soaking up so much of this stuff means, alas, not nearly as much time as I usually spend during the week actually reading the new literature in many of the areas I write about. Over at Effect Measure, as usual, they help to make up for that, by commenting on two new…
March 24, 2006
So, much attention has been drawn to my comment pointing out that Rebecca Culshaw is a mathematician (well, isn't she?), while my elaboration in my very next comment was ignored. So I thought I'd take some time to highlight this, and discuss the problems in general with arguments from authority…
March 24, 2006
Via Stranger Fruit:
Unlike mathematical theorems, scientific results can't be proved. They can only be tested again and again until only a fool would refuse to believe them.
March 23, 2006
So, I moved the malaria entry to another post--since all the comments focused on Culshaw's post (noted in the first comment below), might as well have a more focused discussion on it. I'll be back tomorrow with a somewhat related post, but until then, feel free to chat amongst yourselves.
March 23, 2006
...is up over at Science and Politics. Check out the best microbe-related posts in the past 2 weeks.
March 22, 2006
Get your entries to coturnix--contact info here. I'm still away and have less internet access than I'd anticipated--apologies, but next week will be back to normal.
March 20, 2006
Yesterday, as mentioned previously, was Dunk Malaria day. I'm on the road today in cold 'n' gloomy Atlanta so pardon the delay, but coturnix has a collection of posts here regarding the topic. Just spent much of the morning hearing about new strategies to control vectors (aimed mostly at dengue,…
March 19, 2006
The Daily Transcript, a new Scienceblog, has a nice two-part post on the worst and the best parts of scientific life.
March 19, 2006
This is too cool.
One of the world's most powerful supercomputers has conjured a fleeting moment in the life of a virus. The researchers say the simulation is the first to capture a whole biological organism in such intricate molecular detail.
The simulation pushes today's computing power to the…
March 18, 2006
I swear this really wasn't my intention, but I dunno--I'm a bit obsessed with these critters. I mentioned them here just last weekend. Yesterday, Josh over at Thoughts from Kansas blogged more about botflies, linking a video that had been passed around the Panda's Thumb email list (and that even…
March 18, 2006
I discussed the so-called "cervical cancer vaccine," a multivalent vaccine protective against several strains of the human papilloma virus previously here. In the new issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, there's aperspective on the vaccine, and issues surrounding it:
Genital HPV…
March 17, 2006
The next edition of Animalcules, the carnival of all things microbial, will go live at Science and Politics next Thursday, March 23rd. Though you can send your entries to me, if they're last-minute, it's probably best to send them along to coturnix (email here), as I'll be out of town and not sure…
March 17, 2006
Is Crohn's disease caused by Mycobacterium avium pseudotuberculosis (MAP)?
In an article out yesterday, Australian Dr. Thomas Borody claims yes, and that the medical community is simply too "stuck in their ways" to admit it. I explain below why I think this is incorrect--or at least, premature…
March 17, 2006
Not to steal Janet's sprog blogging motif, but overheard in my kitchen last night:
Z (son, age 3): Mommy, your card has a "3" on it! You're three, just like me!
A (daughter, age 6): Uh-uh, that's a thirty, 3-0. She's old now. [dramatic eye roll]
So, break out the botox and retinol...and have…
March 16, 2006
Over at Immunoblogging, Joseph has a multi-post series on the evolution of the immune system that I've been meaning to highlight, since obviously the claim that there's no research done in this area plays a large part in IDists' claims. So, some background reading on a few of the issues:
Part…
March 16, 2006
Following up a bit on my hobbit post from last week, SciAm Observations has a new post (part one of what I assume will be at least a series of two!), describing a bit of the back-n-forth at a recent American Association of Physical Anthropologists meeting in Alaska. You can also listen to the…
March 16, 2006
...is up over at Paige's Page. Lots of good stuff there-- and who knew there'd be two posts on epidemiology? The other (in addition to mine on Edenomics) is over at Salto Sobrius on what he calls "Divine epidemiology"--aka, punishment from a disgruntled deity.
March 15, 2006
Tim Lambert over at Deltoid notes Dunk malaria day is coming up this Sunday, and has offered to match donations (up to $300 total) readers make to The Global Fund to fight AIDS, TB, and malaria. Very cool--I'm kicking in a few bucks for a good cause--if you do the same, drop a line at Tim's blog…
March 15, 2006
This is pretty cool. In the "Innovators" section of this week's Time, several different epidemiologists are profiled--you can read it free through this Sunday. They are:
1. Michael Sadowsky, who has combined good, old-fashioned leg work with robotics to track various strains of E. coli in soil…
March 15, 2006
*People Eating Tasty Animals
(From Animal Crackers via Science and Politics).
March 14, 2006
Okay, so sure, it's admittedly nerdy, but sheesh, why all the haters? One of my favorite high school memories was a party we had in 1992, celebrating the 500th anniversary of the decimal point--complete with an all-night party at the local YMCA, a huge decimal point cake, and all sorts of…
March 14, 2006
I mentioned yesterday that Mike had a post on the war on epidemiology. That might sound a bit strange--doesn't have quite the ring to it as Chris's book. But, never fear, epidemiology is indeed under attack--or, at least, it's being redefined by young earth creationists.
In a pair of articles…