Outbreak News Radio

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), group B strep is the leading cause of sepsis and meningitis in a newborn's first week of life.

July is International Group B strep awareness month and retired obstetrician and infectious disease specialist, Dr James A McGregor joined me to discuss a variety of topics related to Group B strep.

Dr McGregor also serves on the board of the Group B Strep International , an awareness organization.

Scientist and engineer, Sarah Ferrari, who is a member of the Alliance to Prevent Legionnaires' Disease, a coalition of subject matter experts and stakeholders formed to promote best practices on Legionnaires' Disease prevention joined me in the second part of this interview on Legionnaires' disease and Legionella.

Legionnaires' disease is caused by the bacterium, Legionella. The bacterium was named after an outbreak in 1976, when many people who went to a Philadelphia convention of the American Legion got sick with pneumonia.

In the United States, approximately 5,000 cases of Legionnaires' disease are reported annually. However, Legionnaires' disease is likely underdiagnosed and the true numbers are likely higher.

I was joined by two experts on Legionnaires' disease, Legionella and water systems–civil engineering/environmental engineer and the Charles P. Lunsford Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Virginia Tech, Dr. Marc Edwards and scientist and engineer, Sarah Ferrari, who is a member of the Alliance to Prevent Legionnaires' Disease, a coalition of subject matter experts and stakeholders formed to promote best practices on Legionnaires' Disease prevention.

An article published last year in the European Journal of Microbiology and Immunology, an international, peer-reviewed online journal, was the first to demonstrate the presence of Borrelia biofilm in human infected skin tissues making the spirochete resistant to treatment as the allows it to "hide out" from antibiotics.

Study lead author and Professor and Department Chair at the Department of Biology and Environmental Science at the University of New Haven, Dr. Eva Sapi joined me to discuss the research in this 2016 interview.

"A biofilm is a complex aggregation of microorganisms growing on a solid substrate," Sapi, who has chronic Lyme disease, said. "Unlike the more familiar free-swimming bacterial forms, cells in biofilms surround themselves with a complex matrix, better known as 'slime,' to protect the cells from environmental stresses such as the attack of the immune system or the exposure to antibiotics."

Researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania have found evidence that the most difficult C. difficile cases, known as multiple recurring C. difficile infections (mrCDI), are rapidly becoming more common.

This is documented in a recent study published in the journal, Annals of Internal Medicine.

Lead author and Professor of Medicine in the Gastroenterology Division and Senior Scholar in the Center for Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, James Lewis, MD to discuss the study, the findings and the use of fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT).

A recent study published in the Entomological Society of America's Journal of Medical Entomology demonstrates the duration of attachment of a single nymphal blacklegged tick (Ixodes scapularis) needed for the tick to be likely to transmit the bacterial species Borrelia mayonii, identified in 2016, is 48 hours or more, according to the study. By 72 hours, however, likelihood of transmission has risen significantly.

This timeframe aligns with existing research on Borrelia burgdorferi, previously the sole bacteria species known to cause Lyme disease in the United States.

Director of the Clinical Parasitology Laboratory in Mayo Clinic's Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, Bobbi Pritt, MD joined me in Feb. 2016 to discuss the discovery of Borrelia mayonii.

23andMe is a popular company that offers genomic analysis for customers using a saliva sample. They offer ancestry testing and health and ancestry testing for 100-200 dollars.

My guest for this show, health law professor at the University of South Florida College of Public Health, Katherine Drabiak, JD warns in a new article, "Caveat Emptor: How the Intersection of Big Data and Consumer Genomics Exponentially Increases Informational Privacy Risks" published in Health Matrix: Journal of Law-Medicine that the consumer should also be aware of how their personal information could be shared.

Rabies is among the deadliest communicable diseases in the world with a case-fatality rate of ~100% with out post exposure treatment and vaccination. People usually get rabies from the bite of a rabid animal. It is also possible, but quite rare, that people may get rabies if infectious material from a rabid animal, such as saliva, gets directly into their eyes, nose, mouth, or a wound.

While human rabies deaths are rare in the US, with maybe 1-2 cases annually, according to the Global Alliance for Rabies Control, some 70,000 people die from this preventable viral disease each year.

Pamela Wilson, LVT, MEd, MCHES joined me for a comprehensive Q & A on rabies. Pamela works for Zoonosis Control with the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) in Austin and is the author of a number of articles on the topic of rabies.

Professor Emeritus of Epidemiology at the Yale School of Public Health, Durland Fish, PhD joined me to discuss the tickborne virus, Powassan. Dr. Fish talked about the history of Powassan, signs and symptoms, geography and some additional thoughts he had on the serious viral disease.