How dangerous is it…REALLY?

Everyone knows arsenic is bad for you. Today we discuss where arsenic comes from, its history as a medicine, how much is bad for you, and how it got its awful reputation.

Welcome back, everyone. 

I hope you are all weathering the Coronavirus pandemic well.  I'm sure the world will survive this pandemic

like it has the others, but individually I hope you all stay safe and healthy.

Today’s topic is

Arsenic: who eats old lace anyway?

Arsenic as a medicine

As the world searches for a cure to the Coronavirus, could I

make a suggestion?  Let’s not try

arsenic.  Through the centuries, it seems

that arsenic has been advertised as a cure for many major illnesses.  Since Hippocrates first recommended arsenic

as a cure for ulcers and abscesses, it seems that arsenic was recommended for

about every conceivable illness.  It has

been used to “cure” skin conditions, stomatitis, gingivitis in infants, asthma,

rheumatism, hemorrhoids, cough, a fever reducer, and an all-around great health

tonic. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1365-2141.2009.07623.x

From 1910 till the introduction of penicillin, an arsenic

derivative known as Salvarsan was the primary cure for syphilis, and

indications are that it actually did a pretty good job of killing the bacteria

without killing the patient, something that not all syphilis cures could claim.

https://www.sciencehistory.org/distillations/magazine/early-solution

Today, arsenic trioxide is used to treat lymphoma and

leukemia. https://pmj.bmj.com/content/79/933/391

However, arsenic is most famous as a cure for rich relatives

who were too stubborn to exit this world and leave behind a well-earned birthright.  A little sprinkle of some inheritance powder

and suddenly the money started to flow again.

Arsenic is a metalloid element with an atomic number of 33.  While it can be naturally found as a pure element, it is often found bonded with sulfur or oxygen. 

Mankind has known about arsenic since before the Egyptians

used it to embalm their dead to preserve the bodies until heat and moisture

could prevent natural decay. 

Arsenic in groundwater

The most common natural way to encounter arsenic is through

contaminated groundwater.  While

occasionally human activity is responsible for the presence of arsenic in

water, generally most contaminated wells are a result of the leaching of

naturally occurring arsenic.  As a child,

I remember having our well tested several times to determine arsenic

levels.  The areas most affected by

natural arsenic in the US are the southwest, northwest, northeast, and

Alaska.  Arsenic in groundwater can be a

hazard because dangerous levels of arsenic don’t affect the taste of drinking

water.  Generally, the only way to detect

these levels is through laboratory testing. 

The EPA limit for arsenic in groundwater is 10ppb.  They also estimate that 2% of water supplies

exceed 20ppb.  2ppb is a normal level,

but levels of up to 1000 ppb have been found in drinking water.  https://www.atsdr.cdc.

In today's podcast we answer a listener's question about the dangers of radon. What do you need to do to protect your family from this monster in the basement?

Hello everyone. 

Thanks for tuning in to another podcast. 

I appreciate all of you taking time out of your day to listen.  As always, I’d love to hear from you if you

have a topic you would like me to discuss or suggestions for improvement.  The best way to reach me is through my

website sci-vs-fear.com.

Before I get started with today's topic, I got some feedback

on the childbirth

podcast from Gretchen.  She included

some research from the CDC that showed a large disparity in maternal mortality

between black and white women.  This

study showed that black women had 2-5 times the maternal deaths of white women.

https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2019/p0905-racial-ethnic-disparities-pregnancy-deaths.html

Upon looking into it, there were several studies exploring

the reason for the discrepancy.  All of

the authors acknowledged that attributing cause in cases like this is very

difficult.  I really appreciate Gretchen

bringing this to my attention.  In the

4-5 hours I have to research a topic, I am bound to miss something. 

The interesting thing to me is that the study I cited in the

podcast was also from the CDC, and it showed white women having slightly higher

maternal mortality.  So, who is

right?  I don't know.  Usually, when there is a discrepancy in data

the truth lies somewhere in the middle. 

These studies are a good demonstration of how the sample population can

change the study outcome.  One study that

I looked at found that some of the discrepancy is possibly due to the quality

of the hospitals more likely to be used by black mothers.  They found that white mothers using the same

hospitals, had similar outcomes.  https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5915910/#R20 

That would make sense since much of the improvement in mortality we saw in the

1930s was attributable to improvements in medical care.

Gretchen also mentioned that in the US, maternal mortality

is on the rise and higher than Europe.  I

too had found this during my research. 

Determining the factors responsible for this uptick would certainly be

worth investigating.  I suspect the

answer is quite complex but worth pursuing. 

Thanks again for checking my facts and the input.

For today's podcast, I got a question from Brett. "I

recently had a salesman come to my house wanting to test it for radon.  He said that our area has high radon levels

and that my house could be poisoning my family. 

How dangerous is radon and am I putting my family at risk?"

So, today’s topic is

Radon: the monster living in the basement

Well, Brett, deciding to get your house checked and

potentially mitigated is a personal decision I can't make for you but there is

a lot of interesting information available.

The US attention to Radon began in 1984 when construction

engineer Stanley Watras headed into work at the Limerick nuclear power plant in

Pottstown Pennsylvania.

We've all heard the stories, a simple cut rapidly turns into a life threatening infection that destroys muscle, skin, and tissue. Flesh eating bacteria, how worried should you be?

Thanks for joining me again. 

Thanks for all of you who provided feedback on the podcast.  Next week’s podcast will be a listener

suggested topic.  For those of you who

haven’t yet suggested a topic, I would still love to hear from you.  Sci-vs-fear.com

Today's topic is:

Flesh-eating bacteria: It's not just a flesh wound

I first heard of flesh-eating bacteria as a young

microbiology student.  It is pretty scary

stuff.  It starts out as a minor scrape

or cut and within a few days can result in a gruesome death.

Take for instance the 2008 case of a 5-year-old Wisconsin

boy.  He fell off his bike and skinned

his chin and bit his lip.  Not an

uncommon event in the life of a five-year-old. 

One day later, he was in the ICU fighting for his life against

flesh-eating bacteria.  Over the next

three days, he underwent five different surgeries to remove dying and infected

tissue.  As his body fought the

infection, his blood pressure began to drop precipitously.  As the illness progressed, it became increasingly

likely that he might not survive.  Thanks

to aggressive antibiotic therapy and surgical interventions, after a week in

the hospital, his condition began to improve and eventually he recovered

completely. https://www.livescience.com/19722-flesh-eating-bacteria-early-treatments.html

Flesh eating bacteria: also known as necrotizing fasciitis

The medical term for the disease caused by flesh-eating

bacteria is “necrotizing fasciitis”. 

While many different organisms have caused necrotizing fasciitis, the

most common bacterial cause is group A Streptococcus.  This is the same organism that causes strep

throat, however, the infection takes a completely different course.

Flesh eating bacteria is the same organism that causes strep throat

Within 24 hours of infection, the symptoms are readily

apparent.  The area of the cut or

abrasion becomes red, warm, and swollen. 

There is a significant amount of pain at the site of the infection, much

more than you would normally associate with a minor cut or scrape. 

The redness and swelling can begin to travel to other parts

of the body.  Other symptoms include

diarrhea, nausea, fever, dizziness, weakness and intense thirst.

If not treated immediately, within 3-4 days the symptoms can

become much more severe.  Swelling

increases, often accompanied by a purplish rash.  This rash can spread, then it transforms into

blisters filled with a dark, foul-smelling liquid.  The skin begins to discolor, flake and even

peel away as it dies.  If not treated

aggressively death can occur in four to five days due to a drop in blood

pressure, toxic shock, and organ failure. https://www.webmd.com/skin-problems-and-treatments/necrotizing-fasciitis-flesh-eating-bacteria#2

While the most shocking cases are those who are otherwise

healthy, most individuals who acquire the illness have underlying medical

conditions that weaken the immune system. 

Childbirth has been a constant in human history. Unfortunately, death among mothers was far from rare. We discuss how dangerous it was and how far we have left to go.

Welcome, everyone. 

With this episode, I have over 20 podcasts under my belt.  It has been a lot of fun and I appreciate all

of you.  I have a completely self-serving

request of you.  I'm trying to make my

podcast better and I really need some good feedback to do so.  I would like to know your favorite episode

and one topic that you would love for me to discuss.  Simply go to my website sci-vs-fear.com and

click on the red contact button or if it is easier, email me directly at [email protected].  Again, I’d like to know your favorite podcast

so far and one topic you would like for me to discuss.  Thanks again for all of your support!

Today’s topic is:

Childbirth: There’s got to be a better way

As most of you could guess, the only direct experience I’ve

had with childbirth is being born and those memories are a bit fuzzy.  I have four kids and so I’ve had plenty of

experience on the Dad side, but doesn’t really count.  Not too long ago, we were in the hospital

with our daughter, welcoming our first grandchild into the world.  As I watched her struggle to bring my

grandson into the world, I thought “this has to be one of the most dangerous

things ever.”  This episode goes out to

my daughter and my wife.

Today’s podcast is going to look at how dangerous childbirth

is for the mother.  Making it to 5 years

old is a big gamble for the baby and is a topic for another podcast. 

US Childbirth deaths

In the US, about 700 women a year die due to complications

with pregnancy. https://www.cdc.gov/reproductivehealth/maternalinfanthealth/pregnancy-relatedmortality.htm

 For a country with the population of the

US, this is a pretty low rate.  Other

causes of death with similar rates are slipping and tripping falls, falls from

ladders, drowning in swimming pools, and freezing to death. https://injuryfacts.nsc.org/all-injuries/preventable-death-overview/odds-of-dying/data-details/

As we will discuss in a minute, it has taken a lot of hard

work to get to this place.  The leading

causes of maternal death are cardiovascular conditions, hemorrhage, infection,

embolism, cardiomyopathy, mental health conditions, and

preeclampsia/eclampsia.  Interestingly,

the death rates were very similar for black and white women, except that deaths

due to mental health conditions were noticeably absent among black women.

Of these fatalities, a quarter occurred during pregnancy,

15% on the day of delivery, 18% 1-6 days postpartum, another 18% 7-42 days

postpartum, and the remaining quarter 43-365 days postpartum.

The fatalities can be categorized as preventable, and

non-preventable.  Hispanics had the

lowest rate of preventable deaths at 62%, blacks at 63%, and white at 68%.  I found it interesting that of the maternal

deaths in this CDC study, over 65% were still preventable. https://www.cdc.gov/reproductivehealth/maternal-mortality/erase-mm/mmr-data-brief.html

The next pandemic flu is an inevitability. The 1918 flu killed more people than WWI. Today we talk about steps you can take to protect yourself and family.

Thanks for joining me for this bonus podcast.  As we talked in the flu

podcast, a global flu pandemic is pretty much inevitable.  Proper preparation is the vaccination for

fear, and today we will discuss what you can do.

Today’s episode is:

Pandemic influenza: 

You can’t fight the flu with kung fu

As we talked previously, if the next flu pandemic is like

the 1918 Spanish Flu, the worldwide death toll could approach 1 million.  This is despite all the medical advances that

have been made since 1918.

Were we prepared for the 2009 flu?

The problem with the flu is that it is a constantly morphing

threat.  An evaluation of the 2007

pandemic flu strategy is a good illustration. 

When this plan was made, the assumption was that the next pandemic would

be a highly pathogenic avian strain in the H5N1 family.  To this end, vaccine for this family was

strategically stockpiled for rapid response.

Another assumption was that the virus would emerge overseas,

lengthening the available response time.

When the next pandemic strain emerged in 2009, it was from

the H1N1 family, a swine-origin virus rather than avian.  Instead of emerging overseas, the strain

emerged in Mexico and rapidly spread to California.

Fortunately, the strain proved to have a fairly low

lethality and so the consequences of being wrong were not catastrophic.  Once the strain was recognized in April

production of a vaccine was immediately started.  However, the vaccine wasn’t completed until

October-6 months later.  It wasn’t until

December that enough vaccine could be produced to protect the general

public.  That’s 8 months to produce

enough vaccine to protect the public once the strain is identified. 

Can't we just make a vaccine for pandemic flu?

These vaccines will be central in slowing a pandemic, but

remember that the efficacy of most vaccines is only ~40% and the protection

begins to wane rapidly.  Unless we get

very lucky or better at predicting future strains, our most effective medical

intervention will be unavailable for at least half a year. https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/66/rr/rr6601a1.htm

If the strain follows the 1918 model, where the first wave

of the pandemic isn’t particularly lethal, this delay before the more deadly

waves may be the advantage we need to get ahead of the virus.  There is no telling whether the next pandemic

will follow this model.

I wouldn't feel comfortable waiting 6 months before I took

action to protect myself.  There are

things we can do besides medical treatment. 

The CDC calls these actions Non-Pharmaceutical Interventions.

Communities fight the pandemic

These include both community-based and personal protective

measures.  Community-based interventions

could include cancellation of schools, cessation of public gatherings and

working from home or not at all.

These measures would not be without difficulties.  As we are seeing in the coronavirus outbreak,

Tens of thousands of people die from the flu every year, yet most of us tend to ignore it. In today's podcast we discuss the dangers of influenza, the effect it has had on history, and what the future holds.

Greetings all.  Hard

to believe that my podcast has been going for almost 4 months.  I really do appreciate all of you tuning in

every week.  Hope you’ve enjoyed

listening as much as I have enjoyed making them.

Today’s podcast is

Influenza: I think there is a shot for that

All the coverage the

coronavirus has been getting has made me want to talk about the flu.  It is always easy to be scared of the new

unknown thing, while we easily disregard the common everyday hazards.

Year-in and year-out the flu kills almost as many people as

traffic deaths.  Yet, we almost

completely ignore this illness every fall.

I pretty much ignored the illness, after all, what's the

worst that could happen?  You just feel

lousy for a couple of days and then get back to everyday life.

Prevalence of the flu

However, that illusion was shattered when one of my

co-workers had a child catch the flu. 

After a couple of days in the hospital, she passed away.  Everyone was shocked and heart-broken.  How does this happen in our day of advanced

medical care?

Turns out, these deaths aren’t really all that rare.  In the US, during the 2018-2019 flu season

over 35 million people were infected.  Of

those, 16 million sought medical care, half a million were hospitalized, and

over 34,000 people died.  https://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/burden/2018-2019.html

This was actually a fairly mild year.  In the 2017-2018 season, these numbers were

almost doubled with an estimated 60k deaths due to the flu.  https://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/burden/2017-2018.htm

Just to put that number in perspective, between 2016-2018 each

year there were about 40k deaths due to traffic accidents in the US. 

Who's at risk from influenza?

Of those 60k flu fatalities, the 0-5 age range fared the

best, representing only 0.1% of all fatalities. 

Generally, most diseases target the young and the old, but with our

current influenza strains, the risk increases with age.  Only six percent of flu deaths occur in

people under 50 years old even though they account for nearly 60% of all flu

illnesses.  For this age group, the flu

is generally just an unpleasant, but not fatal, experience.  On the other hand, the 65+ age group

represents only 13% of total flu illness, but 83% of all flu deaths. https://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/burden/2017-2018.htm

Clearly, the elderly are at much greater danger from the flu

than the general population.  The reasons

for this get pretty complex, but it is hard to argue with the numbers.

Like the coronavirus, influenza is a virus.  While we have multiple antibiotics to treat

bacterial infections, our viral treatment options are still amazingly

limited.  Because viral reproduction

occurs in a host cell, targeting of viruses is something we still have a long

way to go on.  I believe we will

I thought it was time for an update on the Coronavirus or COVID19 now that things have progressed a little bit. Hope you enjoy listening to the update.

I didn't have time to transcribe the podcast, but below are my references.

https://www.cnn.com/asia/live-news/coronavirus-outbreak-02-12-20-intl-hnk/index.html

https://www.cdc.gov/media/dpk/diseases-and-conditions/coronavirus/coronavirus-2020.html

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-nCoV/summary.html

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2761044

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2761043

https://www.busiweek.com/the-economic-consequences-of-the-coronavirus/

https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2020-global-economic-impact-of-wuhan-novel-coronavirus/

https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2020-global-economic-impact-of-wuhan-novel-coronavirus/

Listen to the original Coronavirus podcast

I've wondered for a long time how dangerous energy drinks are. In today's podcast we talk about caffeine and investigate the dangers posed by the booming energy drink industry.

Glad you could join me today.  Hope you find today’s podcast as interesting

as I did.  If you enjoy the podcasts, you

could really help me out by sharing them with friends and family.

Today’s podcast is:

Energy Drinks:  I like

to measure my caffeine intake in grams

At work, we have recently been discussing energy

drinks.  While we all partake from time

to time, one individual ingests a remarkable amount of caffeine.  The last time we figured out his caffeine

intake, it was almost 2 grams per day. 

We all agreed that there is no way this could be healthy.  However, opinions based on gut instinct are

rarely reliable and so I decided to dig into the facts and see what the science

says.

I realize I am treading dangerous ground by potentially

interfering with people’s morning routines, but here goes.

Caffeine has been a sacred part of the morning ritual for

most of the history of mankind.  About

85% of Americans consume caffeine daily. 

It is probably one of the most widely consumed substances in

America.  This is great from a scientific

standpoint as it gives us a huge human test population.  With these types of numbers, even very rare

adverse outcomes should be readily visible.

How does caffeine work?

We all know that caffeine makes us more alert, but how does

that happen.  I found a couple of

different explanations but they all have to do with the adenosine

receptor.  Adenosine is created by the

brain to let the body know when it needs sleep. 

Adenosine binds to the nerves slowing down nerve cell activity and

prepares the body for sleep.  Caffeine preferentially

binds to these receptors preventing the attachment of adenosine without slowing

the nerves.  This increases neuron firing

causing us to feel more alert and improves athletic ability by decreasing the

reaction time of our nerves.  Over time,

the caffeine degrades and there is a large amount of accumulated adenosine

waiting to bind to the receptors.  This

sudden binding is what leads to the crash after caffeine consumption.  https://science.howstuffworks.com/caffeine4.htm

https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/54536/how-does-caffeine-work

Can you die from caffeine overdose?

Lethal overdoses of caffeine have occurred, but they are

rare.  Most of these overdoses occur

through ingestion (often intentional) of purified caffeine rather than through

the ingestion of beverages.  In

fatalities, 10 grams or more are ingested in a single dose.

In 2016 there were over 3700 cases of caffeine poisoning

reported to Poison Control Centers in the US. 

Of these poisonings, 846 required treatment at a hospital and 16 of

those had negative outcomes. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK532910/?report=printable

How much caffeine is in an energy drink

How much caffeine is in your typical energy drink?  While there is no “typical” energy drink,

National Institutes of Health says the caffeine ranges from ...

Fentanyl has caused a large increase in opioid related drug overdoses. In today's podcast we discuss fentanyl's history, uses, why drug dealers love it, and the dangers it poses.

Welcome back, everyone. 

Thanks to all you who have shared the podcast with friends and

family.  As a reminder, all my show

references and as well as bonus content can be found on my website at

sci-vs-fear.com

Today our topic is:

Fentanyl: When straight heroin just isn’t enough

In the past couple of years, there has been a significant

rise in the number of opiate-related overdoses. 

Opiates like heroin are nothing new, they have been used by mankind for

thousands of years.  As a pain-reliever,

it is difficult to match.  However, the

addiction associated with opiates has always been an unfortunate

side-effect.  This addiction often leads

to death by overdose as addicts continually chase a better high.

In the US, from 2016-2017, opiate overdoses increased by 47%

primarily due to the synthetic opioids. 

That’s an additional 24,000+ deaths a year due to man-made opiate-like

drugs.  These drugs have names like fentanyl,

acetylfentanyl, acrylfentanyl, carfentanil, furanylfentanyl, and U-47700.  In this podcast, we are going to refer to all

of these substances as fentanyl.

History of fentanyl

Fentanyl was invented in 1959 by Belgian physician Paul

Janssen.  He synthesized a

chemical similar to morphine, but slightly different.  It had a couple of medical advantages over

morphine.  It acted faster and was much

stronger.    https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2019/09/04/757089868/fentanyl-as-a-dark-web-profit-center-from-chinese-labs-to-u-s-streets

In fact, fentanyl is 50-100 times more potent than morphine.

This means you don’t have to use nearly as much to treat the same amount of

pain.  https://www.cdc.gov/drugoverdose/opioids/fentanyl.html  As we mentioned, there are different flavors

of fentanyl, over 30 different unique compounds so far.  These different compounds have vastly

different strengths.  For instance,

carfentanyl is estimated to be 10,000 times more potent than morphine. https://www.cdc.gov/drugoverdose/data/fentanyl.html

The normal IV fentanyl dose is ~ 120 ug which is roughly equal to 2 grains of

salt.  The lethal dose of fentanyl for a

normal adult is as low as 2mg (equal to about 32 grains of salt).  That’s not a lot.

Now let’s look at carfentanil.  Its’ normal use is as a large animal

tranquilizer.  Like elephant large.  It takes about 10 mg to sedate an elephant.

The lethal dose for a human is ~20ug. 

Keep in mind that a single grain of salt is ~ 60ug, so a single grain of

carfentanyl contains 3 lethal doses. 

Needless to say, this is pretty toxic stuff. 

Fentanyl as an illicit drug

As with any other legitimate medication, as soon as it

enters common use, someone will find a way to abuse it.  One of the first people to profit from

fentanyl was a self-taught chemist from Wichita, Kansas, named George

Marquardt.  Not only did he figure out

Any time a novel disease emerges it gets a lot of attention. Today we discuss the history of the coronavirus, where this strain came from, and how dangerous it might be.

Today’s topic is:

Coronavirus:  I’d like

mine with lime, chilled, and on a beach

I first heard of the new coronavirus outbreak a couple of

weeks ago.  First off, in full

disclosure, I did terrible in virology while getting my first degree in

microbiology.  Once something gets so

small that I can’t see it with a normal microscope, I lose interest.

Maybe you had better news coverage than I did, but the

information I first heard wasn’t super specific or particularly

informative.  The first report I heard

made it seem like coronavirus was a newly discovered virus.

What we know about coronavirus

The first coronavirus was discovered in 1965 by Tyrell and

Bynoe and named B814.  Pretty catchy name

huh?  We’ve gotten better at making new

diseases sound much scarier.  Since then,

we have discovered dozens of corona viruses in a wide variety of mammals,

birds, and reptiles.  https://journals.lww.com/pidj/fulltext/2005/11001/history_and_recent_advances_in_coronavirus.12.aspx

Corona in Latin means crown. 

The surface of the coronaviruses is covered with spikes that make it

look like a solar corona under electron microscopy.

The coronavirus is a  ~125 nm round particles.  For those of you like me, for whom the metric

system is still a bit of a mystery, that’s 125 billionths of a meter.  Pretty dang small.  They are known as a positive-sense RNA

virus.  I won’t go any further into what

this means as it bored me to tears in virology, but I’ve referenced several

papers in my show notes that explain it in depth. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3747522/

There is still debate as to whether viruses are actually

alive.  Viruses are essentially packets

of DNA/RNA that hijack a cell's machinery to produce more viruses.  Without a host, viruses cannot reproduce.  

Coronavirus is no different. 

The outside of the virus contains receptors that bond with the surface

proteins in the cell.  Once it binds, the

viron starts a process that enables it to become part of the cell wall, barfing

its RNA into the cell cytoplasm.  This

causes the cell to produce viral proteins and RNA.  These are then packaged by the cell using the

Golgi apparatus and other processes which then releases the newly formed viral

particles from the cell. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1306801/

You have likely been infected by a coronavirus as some point

in your life.  Fifteen to 30% of all

common colds are caused by a member of the coronavirus family.  We've all had colds, and while they are

pretty miserable, they are generally pretty minor and stay in the upper

respiratory tract where they don’t interfere with breathing in a

life-threatening way.  https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3416289/ 

Serious coronavirus outbreaks