influenza
tsmith | September 18, 2006It seems like every other story that comes out about H5N1 contradicts the previous one. I've blogged previously about some reasons to think that the diagnosed cases of H5N1 are only the tip of the iceberg (see here, here, and here, for instance). Though there I present some evidence to suggest that we may be missing asymptomatic or mild influenza cases, other stories have come to the opposite conclusion. For example, a recent news story from Cambodia reports that no mild or asymptomatic cases of H5N1 infection were found:
Researchers who tested 351 Cambodian villagers after they had…
tsmith | August 23, 2006So, you may or may not be aware of the latest "challenge" to evolutionary theory--DI Fellow Jonathan Wells' new book, "The Politically Incorrect Guide to Darwinism and Intelligent Design." Following in the footsteps of Tom Bethell's "Politically Incorrect Guide to Science" (whose terrible chapter on AIDS I reviewed here), the book is just all shades of terrible. (As has been pointed out by many others who've read books in the "Politically Incorrect" series, they should just drop the pretense of "Politically"--simply "Incorrect" sums them up much better). I'll have a more comprehensive…
tsmith | August 2, 2006 I mentioned just last month the dearth of research into what really makes an influenza virus easily transmissible from host to host, noting:
If we had a better handle on the factors that caused an avian strain of influenza virus to be more efficiently transmitted among humans, then we could better focus our resources and know when to really sound the alarm--unlike now, when we're flying blind in many ways.
A new paper in PNAS has started to do just that, and the research findings have prompted such headlines as Bird Flu Pandemic may not develop (via Effect Measure). Revere has already…
tsmith | July 31, 2006I was busy over the weekend (and disgusted by the hot, nasty weather that will not die), so I don't have a lot on tap for today. Luckily, though, there's some interesting stuff elsewhere that's already written up--thoughtfully saving me some of the trouble.
I discuss the link between infectious and "chronic" disease with some regularity on this site. I think it's a fascinating area; perhaps oversold by some, perhaps over-criticized by others, but certainly a hot topic and an interesting direction for research in microbiology. This weekend's New York Times had a new story that touched on…
tsmith | July 29, 2006More fascinating topics I didn't get around to:
Orac disses a report linking Ipods to autism. Really. He also has the low-down on snake oil salesman Kevin Trudeau's unbelievable new book. You think having a few people on a blog deny the germ theory is bad; it's even worse when an author who'll sell millions of books does so.
Carl Zimmer has an excellent post discussing circuits and evolution, and even touching on network theory.
Joseph wonders about the gender gap in academic medicine.
The Bad Astronomer asks, is the government trying to kill us?
Dr. Charles gives the details on a…
tsmith | July 28, 2006Chuck Darwin posed a very good question here that I'm spinning off into a new discussion.
The work Taubenberger and others are doing on the evolution of influenza a century ago is fascinating and could very well be pertinent to prediciting future influenza virus genetic drift/shift, host-virus interactions, etc. However, I ask myself if the benefits of this work for future public health, as well as for general scientific interest, is worth the risks when it comes to biosecurity. With reverse genetics methods introduced a few years ago, any influenza virus can be generated through relatively…
tsmith | July 27, 2006Somehow I missed this story in the June issue of Science:
...Jeffery Taubenberger of the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology (AFIP) in Washington, D.C., said that RNA found in tissue samples from pneumonia patients who died in 1915 shows that the virus's hemagglutinin--an all-important coat protein--is a subtype called H3. If confirmed, "that's tremendously exciting," says molecular biologist Ian Wilson of the Scripps Research Institute in San Diego, California. Knowing the virus's entire genetic makeup--which Taubenberger believes is possible--would shed fresh light on where the 1918 killer…
tsmith | July 25, 2006 I've mentioned previously the potential role that mild or asymptomatic infections with influenza may play in transmission and evolution of the virus. Right now, most of our reports of H5N1 have been due to serious infections that caused a patient to seek medical care. These cases are the tip of the iceberg in a normal influenza outbreak, when most of us don't have physician-diagnosed influenza. Instead, we recognize the signs and symptoms, and stay at home to ride it out. Is this happening in Indonesia, Thailand, and elsewhere? For every person who shows symptoms of H5N1 infection, are…
mikethemadbiologist | July 17, 2006The carnival o'the wee beasties known as Animalcules is up at Science Matters. I have a post about MRSA and drug use in this edition. There's also a good post about drug resistance in the HIV virus.
While I'm advertising things microbial, revere at Effect Measure has a good post on patenting microbes and other organisms. He's right: it's stupid.
mikethemadbiologist | July 16, 2006One of the most important things in science is the free exchange of information. This is all the more vital when the information deals directly with human health. In a recent Nature editorial, the hoarding of influenza genetic data was criticized:
Genetic data are also lacking. When [H5N1] samples [collected from animals or human patients] are sequenced, the results are usually either restricted by governments or kept private to an old-boy network of researchers linked to the WHO, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the FAO.... Many scientists and organizations are also…
tsmith | July 15, 2006More interesting stories that I didn't get to this week...
Ewen is looking for volunteer producers for his radio show. If you're in his neck of the woods and would like to learn about science journalism, drop him a line.
Mike notes that MRSA is winning the war on drugs, due in part to dirty needles and a lack of needle exchange programs.
Orac discusses the latest Geiers drama (those would be the folks who've been most prominent in pushing the vaccination/autism link here in the U.S.) Turns out a court recently laid the smackdown on them, Kitzmiller-style.
More sequence information has been…
mikethemadbiologist | July 13, 2006A recent Harris survey reveals that 61% of children aged eight to eighteen think that viruses can be stopped by antibiotics. The Harris Interactive summary explains why this matters (italics mine):
Today's young people, tweens (ages 8 to 12) and teens (ages 13 to 18) are raised in a world where potentially deadly viruses frequently make news headlines. In addition to Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) the virus that causes Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), recent public attention has also focused on viruses such as those which cause bird flu (avian influenza), Human Papillomavirus…
tsmith | July 13, 2006Here in the U.S., we've not found any high pathogenicity H5N1 influenza viruses, be it in our wild waterfowl, our domestic poultry, or our human population. But a recent story shows how quickly (and quietly) it could enter our country:
Officials investigate poultry from Troy warehouse
Michigan agriculture officials said Wednesday they have found no evidence of contaminated food in their investigation of frozen poultry that originated from China, where bird flu has been reported in some areas.
Some of the poultry found in a Troy warehouse has been seized and destroyed in the past few weeks…
tsmith | July 10, 2006...but luckily, I'm set straight over at Effect Measure, where Revere completely refutes my silly notion of mutations in H5N1 by citing this excellent guest commentary in the Greely Tribune (where their top story today is about a hot dog from 1952). The commentary is titled "Bird flu a lame claim to evolution theory" and written by one Mike Martin, former editor of Ag Weekly Magazine. He certainly demolishes my silly science-y notation of just what "mutations" (such as those discussed in the Nature article I cited use for analysis) are all about:
But now, "mutation" is being redefined to…
tsmith | July 8, 2006Holy cow, it's Saturday again already. Since this was a short week, I didn't have as much time for posts or for story-gathering, but there are still a few goodies I missed:
I was planning on highlighting this new research that showed, once again, no link between vaccination and development of autism. But then I decided not to re-invent the wheel, as Orac already covered it extensively.
Similarly, Mike highlights a story drawing attention to the under-diagnosis of influenza in children, and its ramifications on the health of the rest of the population.
Malaria continues to be a scourge…
tsmith | July 7, 2006Those of you who have followed creationism/intelligent design literature over the years have probably felt as if you're living in an alternate universe sometimes. In that literature, many times it seems as if "up" means "down" and "highly supported by the evidence" means "a theory in crisis."
You may not have been following the comments to this thread on AIDS (and lord, I can't blame you), but if you have been, you've seen a similar phenomenon, where it's suggested that mutations found in RNA viruses are just due to sloppy lab work, essentially blowing off an entire field of research.…
mikethemadbiologist | July 7, 2006From the Boston Globe comes this disturbing report of the massive underdiagnosis of influenza in children:
Doctors fail to diagnose the flu in the vast majority of young children, depriving them of medicines that could shorten their illness and keep them from spreading it to others, a study suggests.
Flu infections were missed in four out of five preschoolers who were treated for flu symptoms at a doctor's office or emergency room and in about three-quarters of those who were hospitalized, researchers report.
"Many of the children did not have a test performed and few of the children were…
tsmith | July 1, 2006More interesting topics, too little time...
Mike discusses the dearth of qualified people to work in clinical microbiology labs--and the effect it may have on your health.
I'm a wanna-be history nerd. I really enjoy the topic, but as a science major, I didn't have a lot of time to take formal coursework in college, and since then much of my reading has focused on historical issues that are somehow related to science or medicine. So, there's a new blog to update me on all the other cool history news.
I've had several posts on butterflies and moths this week. It's also a theme at…
mikethemadbiologist | June 30, 2006This week, our benevolent Seed Overlords ask, "What are some unsung successes that have occurred as a result of using science to guide policy?" Well, I thunked, and thunked, and thunked. Then my head began to hurt. Then I thought of one unsung success.
Vaccination.
Think about it. Typically, vaccination policy is decided by experts, and politicians usually don't meddle in it. There are problems with our vaccination policy--we don't vaccinate enough people, and we vaccinate the wrong groups (most experts claim that the most effective strategy would be to vaccinate those under 18, since…
tsmith | June 30, 2006 One of the things I love about science--but that can also be frustrating--is that every new piece of information leads to a new unanswered question. We've learned so much about microbiology and human disease since the time of Koch and Pasteur, but in many other ways, we're still at square one. One reason is because research over the last century has largely focused on disease-causing organisms--and within those, many studies have focused on identifying factors that allow these organisms to cause disease. This concentration has led to many breakthroughs (such as vaccine targets), but it…