If you’ve ever read the little instructions pamphlet included in a box of tampons, you probably came across a paragraph calling attention to a condition called toxic shock syndrome (TSS). It describes the association between TSS and tampon use, symptoms of TSS, and guidance on how to reduce risk. This legally mandated warning label has formed an indelible link connecting tampons and TSS, and indeed, tampons form a large part of the story of TSS. But they are not the entire story. In this episode, we delve into that full story, examining what TSS actually is, the pathogens it’s associated with, and how it was first identified. If you’ve had TSS questions ever since you first heard of it in health class or on your box of tampons, this is the episode for you!

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This week, we’re coming at you with a classic TPWKY episode on one of the most notorious poisons out there: strychnine. Although strychnine might not flash across too many headlines these days, it was once imported by the ton in certain regions of the world. What did people want with so much strychnine? Depends on who you ask. Maybe it was for a revitalizing tonic, maybe a rat poison, or maybe it was to murder the founder of a famous university. Tune in to learn how this deadly poison acts on the body and keep listening for a very special musical treat. 

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For the past few months, measles has been in regular rotation in the news cycle here in the US, with outbreaks occurring across the country in regions with low vaccine uptake. These outbreaks represent a worrying trend in the rejection of scientific and medical expertise, with long-term consequences not only for those individuals refusing vaccines but also the communities to which they belong. In this TPWKY book club episode (recorded March 14, 2025), Dr. Adam Ratner joins us to discuss his book Booster Shots: The Urgent Lessons of Measles and the Uncertain Future of Children's Health. With his firsthand experience treating children with measles and other vaccine-preventable diseases, Dr. Ratner provides a powerful perspective on the dangers of the measles virus and vaccine hesitancy. What can we learn from the history of measles and the measles vaccine rollout? Why is measles such a dangerous virus? Where do we go from here? Tune in for all this and more.

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Last week, we started this two-parter with a big picture view of pasteurization and the raw milk movement. In this episode, we address the alleged health claims made by proponents of raw milk and dive into the very real risks carried by its consumption. Is raw milk actually better for you? Does it have more vitamins or prevent allergies? What deadly pathogens does it harbor? How much does drinking raw milk increase your chance of contracting a milk-related disease? (Spoilers: A LOT). We tackle these questions with reliable data that paint a very different picture of raw milk than that shown by many raw milk influencers. Tune in for all this and more.

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Seriously, what’s the deal? Lately, it seems like raw milk has started to pop up more and more frequently in our feeds, with influencers touting the alleged health benefits of raw milk over pasteurized milk. In this and next week’s episode, we explore the raw milk phenomenon as it has grown over the past few decades. We start this two-parter with a look at the dangers of milk in a pre-pasteurization world, how Pasteur developed the life-saving process that bears his name, the subsequent rise of anti-pasteurizers, and how the anti-science sentiment surrounding raw milk today reveals a larger and more troubling agenda.

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Tuberculosis, or consumption as it was once known, might conjure up images of huge sanitoriums or writers and artists from the late 1800s (Moulin Rouge, anyone?). But this deadly disease is far from an illness of the past. In many parts of the world, tuberculosis remains an insidious killer, despite the fact that we’ve had effective drugs to treat the infection for decades. In this week’s TPWKY book club episode, we’re thrilled to be joined by the one-and-only John Green to chat about his latest book, Everything Is Tuberculosis. Tune in for a fascinating conversation that tours the past, present, and uncertain future of this devastating illness.

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After last week’s episode, we all know about each of the diseases that we’re protected against thanks to our childhood vaccine schedule here in the US. And after this week’s episode, we’ll understand more about the schedule itself - why it might look different from other schedules around the world, how it gets made, and who makes the recommendations. We’ll also review some of the current outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases before leaving you with some of our thoughts on how to talk about vaccines and vaccine hesitancy.

Updates:

At the time of recording, the ACIP meeting originally scheduled in Feb 2025 had not been rescheduled. It is now rescheduled for April 15-16 and the agenda is posted here: https://www.cdc.gov/acip/meetings/index.html

Additionally, the case numbers of current measles outbreaks in the US have grown substantially since the time of our recording. Updated case numbers are reported every Friday here: https://www.cdc.gov/measles/data-research/index.html and at the time of episode release there have been 712 cases reported in the US and 3 deaths.

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We’re already back with our first episode of season 8! This week and next, we’re exploring childhood vaccine schedules - what diseases they protect us from, how the schedule is arranged, and who decides on the vaccines to include and the timing of vaccinations. In this first episode, we start with a refresher on how vaccines work before running through the entire schedule we have here in the US, vaccine by vaccine, comparing pre- and post-vaccine mortality rates. We close out the episode by discussing why vaccination is so important, not just for personal protection but for our communities. Stay tuned for more childhood vaccine schedule talk next week!

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Content Warning: This episode includes mentions of miscarriage, pregnancy loss, pregnancy complications, traumatic birth experiences, and other potentially disturbing topics related to childbirth, pregnancy, and the postpartum period.

We close out our pregnancy series with a big picture view of how the childbirth experience has changed over the past century - both for the better and for the worse. From home to hospital, what have we lost and what have we gained? We also delve into the period known as the fourth trimester, examining the physiological changes that can occur after childbirth as well as one of the most common (but not commonly discussed) conditions that people develop during this time: postpartum depression. Tune into this info-packed episode, and don’t forget to send us your recommendations for future topics!

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Content Warning: This episode includes mentions of miscarriage, pregnancy loss, pregnancy complications, traumatic birth experiences, and other potentially disturbing topics related to childbirth, pregnancy, and the postpartum period.

In Act 3 of our pregnancy series, we arrive at the big moment: childbirth. We begin the episode with a closer look at one of the most commonly performed surgeries around the world: the cesarean section. Exploring how this procedure went from rare to everywhere reveals some of the larger medical trends shaping the childbirth experience in nuanced ways. Then, we take a step back to ask “what is actually happening in labor?” Journeying through the labor and delivery process contraction by contraction gives us the opportunity to examine what is happening in our bodies during this crucial time and how things might not go according to plan.

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