Outbreak News Radio

Since the Haiti cholera outbreak began in October 2010, months after the Jan. 12, 2010 earthquake, more than 800,000 cases have been reported, including about 9500 deaths.

Although the numbers have decreased dramatically over the years, the island nation still sees thousands of cases annually.

Today, cholera outbreaks are reported in Kenya, Nigeria, the DRC , Tanzania and most notably Yemen where more than 360,000 suspected cases, including 1800+ deaths have been reported in the past three months.

In fact, according to the humanitarian organization, Oxfam, the number of people with cholera in Yemen is now the largest ever in any country in a single year since records began, topping the previous annual record of 340,311 in Haiti in 2011.

Amesh Adalja, MD joined me to discuss cholera. Dr. Adalja is a Senior Associate with the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security.

Lyme disease is a tickborne disease caused by the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferii in which antibiotics are the standard treatment. However, this type of treatment is not always effective and relapses occur.

Researchers in Connecticut have been studying the use of Stevia for the treatment of Lyme disease as an alternative to routine antibiotics.

Professor and Department Chair Department of Biology and Environmental Science at the University of New Haven, Eva Sapi, PhD joined me to discuss her research. Dr. Sapi is also Director of the Lyme Disease Program at the school.

Visiting Scientist at the University of Guelph, Jason “The Germ Guy” Tetro, joined me to discuss mumps and the reasons it has made a comeback. Jason gives a thorough talk on mumps and talks about why mumps has seen a resurgence, as he explains in his recent article in Huffington Post Canada, “The trouble wasn’t due to the vaccine. […]

Visiting Scientist at the University of Guelph, Jason "The Germ Guy" Tetro, joined me to discuss mumps and the reasons it has made a comeback.

Jason gives a thorough talk on mumps and talks about why mumps has seen a resurgence, as he explains in his recent article in Huffington Post Canada, "The trouble wasn't due to the vaccine. Instead, it was the virus. It had changed."

In this Aug. 2013 interview following a correspondence published in the journal, Nature, Professor of Microbiology and Immunology at Columbia University and founder of Virology Blog, Vincent Racaniello, PhD explains what gain-of function experiments are and went on to make his case of why he was for doing it.

I also introduced some of the arguments against performing these experiments to the prominent virologist for his response.

H1N1, H7N9, H5N1--we hear this "alphanumeric" description of various influenza, or flu viruses all the time.

In this short clip from an older interview, Professor of Microbiology and Immunology at Columbia University and founder of Virology Blog, Vincent Racaniello, PhD explains more about the Hemagglutinin (HA) and neuraminidase (NA).

The Dean for the National School of Tropical Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine, Dr Peter Hotez is concerned about measles in his state of Texas, so much that he is raising the alarm by predicting a measles outbreak could happen as early as the winter or spring of 2018. In an article published in PLoS Medicine last fall, Hotez […]

The Dean for the National School of Tropical Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine, Dr Peter Hotez is concerned about measles in his state of Texas, so much that he is raising the alarm by predicting a measles outbreak could happen as early as the winter or spring of 2018.

In an article published in PLoS Medicine last fall, Hotez writes: Measles vaccination coverage in certain Texas counties is dangerously close to dropping below the 95% coverage rate necessary to ensure herd immunity and prevent measles outbreaks.

He tells me during the interview, "Something awful is happening in Texas," Dr Hotez said. "Texas is becoming the epicenter of what looks like, some neo-antivaxxer movement". There have been some 50,000 nonmedical or "reasons of conscience" exemptions to school immunization laws, almost double the number of exemptions in 2010.

According to an American Cancer Society annual report, in 2017 there will be an estimated 1.7 million new cancer cases diagnosed and more than 600,000 cancer deaths in the US.

Of this total, a quarter million breast cancer diagnoses and 40,000 deaths are estimated in US women in 2017--the most common cancer reported in women, accounting for nearly a third of all cancers in women.

Deputy Chief Medical Officer for the American Cancer Society, J. Leonard Lichtenfeld, MD joined me to discuss a number of issues concerning breast cancer.

For more information, visit the American Cancer Society website or call the Cancer helpline at 800.227.2345

There is likely no bigger accomplishment in medicine and public health that has saved so many lives and prevented so much misery over the decades as the introduction of vaccines.

In the U.S. alone, between 1963 and 2015 nearly 200 million cases of polio, measles, mumps, rubella, varicella, adenovirus, rabies and hepatitis A — and approximately 450,000 deaths from these diseases — were prevented by vaccination, researchers estimate.

Public health physician and a vaccinologist, Melvin Sanicas, MD joined me to discuss several topics on vaccines to include how they are made, how they work and a look at several misconceptions.

Dr. Sanica's professional experience spans the globe and for the past 10 years he has been involved in different stages of drug and vaccine development and research in Asia Pacific, US, Africa, and Europe. He was a Global Health Fellow at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. a fellow of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene and a fellow of the Royal Society for Public Health.