San Diego was one of the primary regions of the H1N1 outbreak, inducing a lot of public anxiety and media coverage. They had a confirmed case of H1N1 on our campus and their child care center closed down because on the number of kids with flu-like
symptoms. The campus spent a lot of time on ou... Read More
Here's a history piece on the 1976 swine flu epidemic in which vaccines were developed and distributed throughout the U.S. And while swine flu did not break out into a pandemic, many people developed Guillain-Barré syndrome, a rare neurological condition that causes temporary muscle weakness or ... Read More
Why is the immune system able to fight off some viruses but not others, leading to chronic, life-threatening infections like HIV and hepatitis C?
A new UCLA AIDS Institute study suggests the answer lies in a protein called interleukin-21 (IL-21), a powerful molecule released by immune cells d... Read More
A team of chemists from the University of Almería (UAL) has developed a method to simultaneously detect the presence of 17 antibiotics in honey within less than 10 minutes. The researchers have shown that traces of antibiotics used to treat diseases among bees can be found in some commercial hon... Read More
The title pretty much sums up the main thrust of the post, which also includes section on cheap, rapid diagnostic tests that not only can identify known pathogens, but provide quite a bit of information about novel pathogens (link to a great Pop!Tech video lecture by Ian LIpkin). There's also a ... Read More
Over at the World's Fair Science blog David Ng has come up with this song about mitochondria.
It sort of reminds me of a Social Distortion song. Read More
Wow, the NEJM is really knocking out some great "perspectives" in their most recent issue.
The Internet has become a critical medium for clinicians, public health practitioners, and laypeople seeking health information. Data about diseases and outbreaks are disseminated not only through onli... Read More
The air smells cleaner in Canda thanks to thanks to University of Alberta researchers who have developed a formula to reduce methane gas in cattle.
By developing equations that balance starch, sugar, cellulose, ash, fat and other elements of feed, a Canada-wide team of scientists has given be... Read More
Artist Laura Splan has created lace doilies, aka ornamental mats, of the herpes and SARS viruses.
Excerpt from Artists's Bio: My work explores perceptions of beauty and horror, comfort and discomfort. I use anatomical and medical imagery as a point of departure to explore these dualities an... Read More
Bird flu kills more than 60 percent of its human victims, but doesn't easily pass from person to person. Swine flu can be spread with a sneeze or handshake, but kills only a small fraction of the people it infects.
So what happens if they mix?
This is the scenario that has some scientists ... Read More
A photomicrograph of Salmonella bacteria. Courtesy of Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. Read More
It is perhaps fitting that a NASA satellite to carry yeast into orbit has roughly the shape and dimensions of a bread box.
The tiny 10-pound satellite known as PharmaSat will be hitching a ride aboard an Air Force Minotaur 1 rocket next to the main payload, a military reconnaissance satellite... Read More
Raw milk is often criticized as a vessel for foodborne pathogens, but advocates claim when handled and consumed correctly it's as safe as pasteurized milk. Artisan cheese makers in particular are in favor of raw milk because in their view it makes better, tastier and unique cheeses.
Vermont, ... Read More
As soon as Doris Bucher learned that a new strain of swine flu had turned up in the United States, she e-mailed the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention offering to send materials that might be useful in making a vaccine.
Her colleagues at the C.D.C. had a better idea. Less than a week... Read More
The Windsor-Essex County Health Unit is launching a very public food safety program in Windsor, Canada. Patrons are being encouraged to look for restaurants with 5 star ratings. In the US we have the AAA diamond ratings for food quality but I would love to see something similar here.
On June ... Read More
This is a look at the future of science journalism and whether online media can truly replace the professionalism found in today's withering science desks in traditional media. I'm all for new media, but Chris Mooney's comments got me thinking.
Chris Mooney, the youngest panelist and a promin... Read More
A new perspective from NEJM looks at past pandemics and how they came in waves, and suggests this history should help us prepare for the next wave of H1N1 should one occur.
Vast amounts of time and resources are being invested in planning for the next influenza pandemic, and one may indeed h... Read More
More than 2,000 people in 23 countries worldwide now have confirmed cases of the new strain of the H1N1 flu, the World Health Organization said on Thursday.
Over half of the 2,099 laboratory confirmed cases are in Mexico, the apparent epicenter of the virus, where 44 people are confirmed to h... Read More
Interesting blog post on why health agencies such as the WHO and CDC need to develop a web-centric 24/7 communications strategy and more citizen friendly sites utilizing Web 2.0 tools. Read More