We can create a public health infrastructure that is more resilient to outbreaks of viral illnesses by better understanding the nature of virus infections and how to address vaccine hesitancy.
smallpox
The year was 1947 – the last smallpox invasion in America. Ground zero: New York City. The carrier: an ex-pat named Eugene LeBar, who had arrived from Mexico on March 1. By the time his diagnosis was confirmed, more than a month later, he had likely exposed thousands of New Yorkers. Even before arriving in New York, LeBar had traveled through seven major American population centers, exposing probably hundreds more.
There are three major reasons why SARS-CoV-2, the novel coronavirus, will never be eradicated.
As infuriating as the World Health Organization can be, the reality is that the U.S. cannot "go it alone" on issues like global disease surveillance. Staying in the WHO is aligned with America's long-term security, economic, and geopolitical interests.
When is it safe to stop vaccinating against measles? Or against other rare and infectious diseases? In short, vaccinating against them can cease once the threat of future transmission is deemed sufficiently low.
In the mid-1600s, the remains of a small child from a family of nobility, were placed in a crypt in Lithuania. Now we are learning, according to a recent report in the journal Current Biology, that this small body is revealing secrets about the origins and spread of smallpox, one of the deadliest scourges to ever plague mankind.
CDC Follies, part two. No, part three. Well, whatever: our nation s chief repository of biological threats (i.e. bioterror weapons, potentially) resembles the gang that couldn t shoot straight. They keep spreading lethal organisms around.
Dr. Josh Bloom on Science 2.0, July 10, 2014.
You have to admire the consistency of our government, especially when it comes to protecting us.
While the TSA is strip-searching 95-year old women in wheelchairs, a janitor tripped over ...[Read more.]