infectious disease
tsmith | February 24, 2006This time for prostate cancer.
In a surprising discovery, researchers say they have found a virus in some prostate cancer patients, a finding that opens new research avenues in the most common major cancer among men in the United States.
The virus, closely related to one previously found only in mice, was found in cancerous prostates removed from men with a certain genetic defect. The researchers, with the University of California, San Francisco and the Cleveland Clinic, warn that they have not discovered any links between the virus and prostate cancer, but they were nonetheless excited about…
tsmith | February 23, 2006As promised, a discussion on the paper, Heterosexual transmission of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in northern California: results from a ten-year study.
First, let's backtrack a bit and see what's already been said, lest I repeat myself. The little summary below can also catch anyone up who's not up to wading through 250-odd comments. Those who've already done so can skip the quoted parts and scroll down...
[Note: I've uploaded a .pdf of the Padian paper for anyone to access Here.]
Hank Barnes said here about the paper:
1. It was the longest and largest epidemiological study of…
tsmith | February 23, 2006Good morning! Welcome to your semimonthly dose of wholesome microbial goodness.
Lots on your plate this morning.
To whet your appetite, check out a study described over at Biology News examining the genomics of bacteria that cause ehrlichiosis. While you're there, you might want to do some jaw exercises by repeating the names of the bacteria examined: Anaplasma phagocytophilum, Ehrlichia chaffeensis, and Neorickettsia sennetsu. Talk about a mouthful.
Speaking of mouthful, PharmaBawd's all about the herpes viruses, including chicken pox (varicella) and HHV-8: the cause of Kaposi's…
tsmith | February 22, 2006 New York man falls ill with anthrax
Musician reportedly had contact with natural anthrax sources
A New York musician has tested positive for anthrax that authorities say came from unprocessed animal skins used to make traditional African instruments.
"The man poses no public health threat of transmitting anthrax to the community or the health care providers caring for him," the department said in a statement.
The 44-year-old man recently traveled to Africa, where he bought animal hides and took them back to New York City to make drums, the department said.
The man, who plays native African…
tsmith | February 15, 2006It's been about a week since my last "bird flu" post--and I know that many people, including myself, tend to get burned out on the same ol' thing, but there's some interesting news out that I wanted to share. First, two posts from Effect Measure. Here, Revere discusses the newest reports of H5N1 spread: swans in Austria, Germany, and Iran. Revere also discusses one of GrrlScientist's favorite topics, spread of the virus caused by wild birds vs. domestic poultry. I agree with his conclusion (and not just because he linked my "small world" post):
Another (and in our view more likely)…
tsmith | February 14, 2006So, yesterday morning I had to spend an hour in employee health, having my lungs checked out and my blood banked just in case I end up needing to work in a BSL-3 lab sometime in the future (due to a grant we're pursuing). Stupid me didn't realize I'd have to wait so long and went there empty-handed, and my choices of reading material consisted of either hunting magazines or a really old People magazine (I swear, this week is a conspiracy to get me to obsess about pop culture). In the midst of all the celeb stories, though, was an article on chickenpox parties. Where people take their kids…
tsmith | February 12, 2006As PZ mentioned, today would be Charles Darwin's 197th birthday. To celebrate, Mike over at The Questionable Authority is putting together a mini-carnival of posts on evolution. Specifically, he asked how those of us who are scientists use evolutionary theory in our work.
Personally, I'm a bit of a hybrid. I'm a microbiologist by training (my PhD is in microbial pathogenesis and gene regulation), but I loved epidemiology as an undergrad, and so did post-doctoral work in that area--and now am officially titled and "infectious disease epidemiologist". But, I'm still a lab rat rather than…
tsmith | February 10, 2006 Chris has been excoriating Tom Bethell (author of "The Politically Incorrect Guide to Science") over on The Intersection and elsewhere (see, for example, here, here, and several posts here). However, since he's not yet done a takedown on Bethell's chaper on AIDS (titled "African AIDS: a Political Epidemic"), he suggested I have a go at it. Man, I knew the book would be bad, but it reaches a whole new level of terrible.
Bethell's central thesis will be familiar to anyone who's read the anti-HIV arguments by Peter Duesberg and others. As the chapter title suggests, Bethell claims that…
tsmith | February 9, 2006This question was discussed yesterday in the comments to this post. An article in yesterday's New Scientist offers some ideas:
But New Scientist can reveal that the location of Africa's first reported outbreak should not come as a surprise. The region affected is right beside a major wintering ground for two relatively common species of duck. Those ducks shared breeding grounds in Siberia last summer with birds that winter in Turkey and around the Black Sea, where the virus also appeared recently.
Furthermore, Kano is near the Hadejia-Nguru inland river delta, which is a major wintering…
tsmith | February 8, 2006So far, just in poultry.
PARIS -- A "highly pathogenic" strain of the H5N1 bird flu virus has been found in poultry stocks in Nigeria-- the first reported case of the disease in Africa, the Paris-based World Organization for Animal Health said Wednesday.
Nigeria reported the outbreak in Jaji, a village in the northern Kaduna state, according to the organization known by the acronym OIE. OIE spokeswoman Maria Zampaglione said the outbreak was the first reported case of H5N1 in Africa.
A laboratory in Padova, Italy, identified "a highly pathogenic H5N1" and has further analyzed its genetic…
tsmith | February 6, 2006In the comments to my interview with DarkSyde, another parent and I discussed "alternative" medicine and some of the autism literature. Today over on Respectful Insolence, Orac has an excellent post on how using data from the VAERS database isn't the best way to accurately gauge adverse effects.
A bit of background on VAERS: this is the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System. If you or your child has a bad reaction to a vaccine--a serious illness after receiving it, an unexpected side effect, etc.--they're the folks you contact to report it. These adverse effects are then analyzed to see…
tsmith | February 4, 2006In my piece with DarkSyde yesterday, I mentioned a bioterrorist attack with Salmonella that took place in Oregon in the 1980s. This is an organism that you've all certainly encountered (though hopefully didn't get sickened by), and it's certainly not one that's commonly thought of as a potential agent of bioterrorism. Well, the National Academy of Science says our current list of potential agents is seriously flawed.
US 'unaware' of emerging bioterror threats
The life sciences are developing so quickly that a watch list of dangerous pathogens and toxins is useless in fighting the threat of…
tsmith | February 3, 2006I've noted previously that infectious causes of so-called"chronic" diseases--illnesses such as cancer, heart disease, and autoimmune disease--are an interest of mine. The Guardian has a nice overview of infectious causes of cancer--and why one can't simply "catch" cancer as you catch a cold. It's a much better article (or at least headline) than this one, which discusses recent findings that a few types of adenovirus could play a role in the development of obesity. However, this does not mean--as the headline suggests--that "obesity is contagious." You're not going to "catch fat." Even…
tsmith | February 3, 2006...check out this post by DemfromCT (one of the founders of the Flu wiki). He discusses a topic near and dear to my heart--preparation for an influenza pandemic. And like I've pointed out, he agrees that we're not ready.
tsmith | February 2, 2006Quarantines were briefly discussed in the comments on this thread. A recent study in the journal "Health Affairs" carried out jointly by researchers at Harvard and the CDC determined attitudes about quarantine in Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and the U.S.
One thing to note: remember quarantine is for individuals who have been exposed, but are not showing signs of illness. Those who *are* sick would be put into isolation (likely at a hospital--if there are available beds). Just so no one gets those two confused...
U.S. perspective on compulsory quarantine. In the United States, compulsory…
Inexperienced religious groups receive AIDS funding--but don't worry, it's not politically motivated
tsmith | February 1, 2006Religious groups getting more AIDS funding,
Bush administration earmarked $200 million for less-experienced groups.
Aargh.
Franklin Graham just got federal AIDS money. His group, Samaritan's purse, has a mission described as "meeting critical needs of victims of war, poverty, famine, disease and natural disaster while sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ." This is the same Franklin Graham who has said about Islam,
The God of Islam is not the same God. He's not the son of God of the Christian or Judeo-Christian faith. It's a different God, and I believe it is a very evil and wicked…
tsmith | January 30, 2006Okay, not to overwhelm with Streptococcus biology, but I mentioned this new paper in the comments to this post, and had to share a bit of the results, because 1) it's just cool, and 2) it directly stems from some of the research I did for my dissertation. (Always a bonus when someone else can actually *use* stuff you slaved over).
A bit of background: I noted that Streptococcus pyogenes is a tough pathogen to study. Strains of the bacterium may vary in the presence or expression of virulence genes, and even when one insight into the regulation of these genes is uncovered in one strain,…
tsmith | January 30, 2006Well, it's official. H5N1 has killed humans in Iraq. As usual, EffectMeasure has the scoop.
tsmith | January 30, 2006I wrote up a critique of an article DI mouthpiece Casey Luskin wrote regarding avian influenza back in October. I don't know whether Luskin ever read my post; at the time, trackbacks to the DI site weren't working. But I'd guess I'm not the only one who pointed out the abundant mistakes in his article, which advanced the thesis that avian influenza wasn't a good example of evolution. He has since written a response to critics here (warning: .pdf file), correcting one of his errors in the original article (and making a confusing mess out of things).
Luskin's original thesis was that…
tsmith | January 27, 2006 Speaking of chronic diseases caused by microbial agents, one of the earliest characterized of these is the group A streptococcus (Streptococcus pyogenes). In addition to causing acute diseases such as strep throat and scarlet fever, a wide range of post-infectious sequelae (complications that appear following resolution of infection) have been attributed to S. pyogenes. It can cause glomerulonephritis, a kidney disease. It's long been known infection with the organism can lead to a condition called Sydenham's chorea, a neurologic disease characterized by jerky movements. Infection with S…