Journalist and Author
There’s news out this week that feels almost impossible to deliver without an eyeroll: The CIA has promised that it will “never again” use an international vaccination campaign as a cover for intelligence gathering.
I can’t see why not. I mean, the last attempt ended so well.
(Yes, that was sarcasm.)
Read MoreA troubling and also kind of odd story came out of Denmark this weekend. In a court proceeding, a microbiologist has disclosed that three residents of the country who had no known connection to farming died of MRSA infections caused by ST398, the livestock-associated strain of drug-resistant staph that first appeared among pig farmers in […]
Read MoreIn a move that is simultaneously discouraging, urgent and deeply unusual, the World Health Organization has declared that the resurgence of polio is a “public health emergency of international concern.” It’s an extraordinary statement, coming less than four months after India — once considered a place where polio might never be vanquished — was declared polio-free after three years without a new case.
Read MoreA new report from the World Health Organization spells out the incredible danger humanity faces from antibiotic resistant bacteria. But even more troubling is the gaps in our knowledge that could lead to even graver problems.
Read MoreA paper published this week reminded me to take a fresh look at NDM, the “Indian superbug” — actually a gene and enzyme — that got so much attention, including from me, in 2011. (Most of the posts are here.) Quick reminder: NDM surfaced in 2008 in Sweden, then was found in the United Kingdom, […]
Read MoreA new report from the CDC and Foodborne Diseases Active Surveillance Network shows that incidents of food-related bacterial illness are increasing in the U.S. Even worse, it’s getting harder to identify exactly which strain is causing more and more of these infections.
Read MoreA new study just published in EuroSurveillance, the peer-reviewed journal of Europe’s equivalent of the CDC, raises the possibility that even if you are doing the right thing, you could pick up some very nasty stuff while you’re abroad — and that what you bring back could endanger not only you, but others around you as well.
Read MoreNews from the Minnesota Department of Public Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: A Minnesota traveler returning from Africa has been hospitalized with what the CDC confirms to be Lassa fever, a viral hemorrhagic fever that is often lumped together with Ebola hemorrhagic fever, though they are caused by different organisms. Given […]
Read MoreThe President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST for short) is preparing a major report on the problem of antibiotic resistance. The report won’t be published for a few months, but today PCAST held one of its periodic meetings, and aired what it thinks the most important issues are going to be. For […]
Read MoreBig news in the realm of agricultural antibiotics: For the first time in almost 37 years of trying, the US Food and Drug Administration has achieved some control over the meat-industry practice of routinely giving antibiotics to livestock. The drawback: The control comes in the form of a voluntary commitment by veterinary drug manufacturers — […]
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