Outbreak News Radio

A measles outbreak investigation can be a very expensive task as was demonstrated in the Minnesota outbreak earlier this year when some 79 mostly children were infected costing the health department $2.3 million during the five-month outbreak. Recently in the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), an analysis was published looking at the Public Health Economic Burden Associated with T...

On today's show we will be talking about a trematode or fluke that is not seen often in humans, but is fascinating just the same Dicrocoelium dendriticum, or the lancet liver fluke. Joining me to lend her expertise in answering questions about this flatworm is Parasitology teacher and author of Parasites: Tales of Humanity's Most Unwelcome Guests, Rosemary Drisdelle.

This week is World Antibiotic Awareness Week (Nov 13-19). It's an annual observance to raise awareness of the threat of antibiotic resistance and the importance of appropriate antibiotic prescribing and use. Chair and Professor of Medical Laboratory Science at Texas State University, Rodney Rohde, PhD joined me to discuss a variety of issues concerning antibiotic resistance, what's being done at t...

Today on the podcast we'll look at the parasitic lung fluke, Paragonimus. Parasitology teacher and author, Rosemary Drisdelle joins me to discuss the life cycle, the geography of a couple of the species and how people contract this food borne trematode, or fluke. In addition, we talk about disease and symptoms, diagnosis and treatment of this flatworm. As always, Rosemary includes an interesting n...

November is Clostridium difficile Awareness Month . The C. diff foundation says over 41 individuals lose their life to a Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) in the United States of America alone every day — It has no boundaries — It can be acquired by anyone – at any location and at any age. Infectious disease physician and returning expert guest, Steven LaRosa, MD joined to to discuss several a...

With all eyes on Nigeria as they battle a monkeypox outbreak that has affected at least 38 people to date, which even prompted the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to send a team, I wanted to touch on something some may have never heard of, or may have forgotten--the 2003 Monkeypox outbreak in the US. In this short podcast, I discuss who and how many were affected, how this virus f...

Today in our running series on parasites, the topic will be the trematode or fluke, Clonorchis sinensis. Clonorchis sinensis, also known as the "Chinese liver fluke" or "Oriental liver fluke", is found only in Asia. When clonorchiasis has been reported in non-endemic areas, the infection was found in Asian immigrants, or following ingestion of imported, undercooked or pickled freshwater fish conta...

What's the difference between a pandemic and an epidemic and why is this difference important? What is the difference in pandemic preparedness vs epidemic preparedness? These questions were raised after a recent PATH publication, "Healthier world, safer America: A US government roadmap for international action to prevent the next pandemic" in a commentary by CIDRAP director, Michael Osterholm, PhD...

In 2016, more than 7,000 diphtheria cases were reported worldwide with about half reported in India. In addition, diphtheria hasn't been seen in Venezuela in decades; however, under a socialist, dictatorial regime, Venezuela has seen the comeback of this vaccine preventable killer to the tune of 450 cases since the summer of 2016. In this podcast, I briefly talk a little about the history of dipht...

There are three main genera of free living amoeba that infect humans -- Acanthamoeba, Balamuthia, Naegleria that are are important causes of disease in humans and animals. The topic for today's podcast will be one of them-- Acanthamoeba. Acanthamoeba is a microscopic, free-living amoeba that can cause rare, but severe infections of the eye, skin, and central nervous system. Joining me to talk abou...

On today's podcast, my special expert guest, Parasitology teacher and author of Parasites: Tales of Humanity's Most Unwelcome Guests, Rosemary Drisdelle and I continue our look into the wonderful world of human parasites sticking with the intestinal nematodes--Trichuris trichiura or whipworm. Along with the other soil-transmitted helminths we've discussed, hookworms, and Ascaris lumbricoides, they...

Today we learned that the Madagascar plague outbreak is spreading rapidly throughout the country with UN health officials now reporting some 1300 cases and more than 100 deaths since August. Last time I did a podcast on plague just a few short days ago, I gave a short history on the plague--the pandemic through current days. Today, I will look at the transmission, disease and symptoms, diagnosis a...

Nigeria has over 120 million people at risk nationwide for the mosquito borne parasitic disease, lymphatic filariasis. The most populous country in Africa follows only India as far as endemicity. Last week, the Carter Center announced after years of work, two states, Plateau and Nasarawa, have eliminated lymphatic filariasis as a public health problem- an incredible achievement. Epidemiologist for...

Plague has a long and storied history throughout the centuries, rivaled by only smallpox. In this podcast, I look briefly at the three major plague pandemics-The Justinian Plague, the Black Death and the Modern Plague. In addition, I look at plague in more recent history as it still infects thousands and kills hundreds in several countries across the globe annually.

As many of you know, I've been doing a series on the podcast titled Parasites 101. I thought I'd something similar with virology and viruses and I reached out to who I feel is clearly one of the best virologists and virology educators to help me out with this. So here is the 1st episode of Virology 101 with Professor of Microbiology & Immunology in the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbi...

With Halloween about two weeks away, people are getting prepared putting together the most detailed costumes, much different than when I was a kid, I might add. While they are transforming themselves into goblins and ghouls using all manner of costume, one item needs to be looked at with some caution--that's novelty contact lenses. There are some definite health risks associated with the use of no...

To date we've covered several different types of parasites on the podcast--protozoa, tapeworms and roundworms. On today's episode of Parasites 101 on Outbreak News Interviews, we'll be looking another soil transmitted helminth--the hookworms. Joining me as always to answer some questions about the hookworm is Parasitology teacher and author of Parasites: Tales of Humanity's Most Unwelcome Guests,...

While most tick bites do not transmit infectious disease, some very serious infections can be contracted from the bite of this vector. There are more than a dozen tickborne diseases in the United States and several others that are found only in other countries. Massachusetts-based infectious disease physician, Steven LaRosa joined me on the show to go over the laboratory testing and findings and t...

Last month, The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded a three-year, $800,000 grant to explore predictive analytic techniques using data collected by the MyLymeData patient registry. LymeDisease.org CEO, Lorraine Johnson, JD, MBA joined me to talk about MyLymeData and the NSF grant.

On Sept 20, Hurricane Maria pulverized Puerto Rico, the worst hit the island had taken since 1928. Access to drinking water has been restored to 45% of Puerto Rico — but more than half of the U.S. territory of 3.4 million is still going without. Reports of some disease outbreaks have already been published, including false reports of cholera. What are the infectious disease risks we'll be seeing i...

This week we got the latest data on sexually transmitted infections from a CDC's annual Sexually Transmitted Disease Surveillance Report which told of some serious problems we're having with STDs in this country. More than two million cases of chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis were reported in the United States in 2016, the highest number ever. Perhaps most tragic is the continued increase in cong...

Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA is a bacteria that is resistant to many common antibiotics. It can cause a variety of problems ranging from are skin infections and sepsis to pneumonia to bloodstream infections. Monday is World MRSA Day, a day to raise the awareness of MRSA around the globe and to activate survivors, communities, governments, healthcare officials and personnel...

In the latest installment of the Parasites 101 series on the podcast, Parasitology teacher and author of Parasites: Tales of Humanity's Most Unwelcome Guests, Rosemary Drisdelle joined me to discuss the protozoan parasite, Dientamoeba fragilis. "The unflagellated human flagellate", D. fragilis is a pathogenic protozoan parasite with a world-wide distribution. Interestingly, a resistant cyst stage...

In this podcast, which is a short segment from a comprehensive interview about sepsis I had with infectious disease physician, Steven LaRosa, MD this past weekend on the radio show, I pulled out an interesting segment on his views of what laboratory tests he found useful in the diagnosis of sepsis. In the segment, LaRosa goes into quite a bit of detail on the Complete Blood Count, or CBC and looks...

According to the Sepsis Alliance, sepsis has been named as the most expensive in-patient cost in American hospitals costing billions each year with forty percent of patients diagnosed with severe sepsis not surviving. September is Sepsis Awareness Month and infectious disease physician and returning guest, Steven P. LaRosa, MD joined me for a comprehensive discussion on this very important topic....