Viral Load

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Remember to stop and smell the roses. Unless of course those roses are in fact Oleanders, Love Beans, Corpse Flowers, or any number of vegetable seed roots. Better yet take a picture you'll last longer. Are there plants around us everyday that can be made into weapons of terrorism? Have we found the perfect plant that when placed on the tip of an umbrella is capable of taking down even the best secret agents? Watch your back Mr. Bond. Join us on this week's episode to find out what not to add to your summer bouquet or evening tea. 

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2020 the year of COVID-19, Murder Hornets, locust swarms, social injustice and...it's not over yet. What if we told you the death toll didn't stop with COVID-19? What if as predicted by some in the scientific community the shutdown had unintended consequences of epic proportions? No we aren't talking about suffocation from wearing a mask while shopping at Wal-Mart or getting your hair did. We are talking about The Others! 
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Resources: 

• https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/30/world/asia/h1n1-swine-flu-virus-china-pig.html
• https://www.cdc.gov/flu/spotlights/2019-2020/cdc-prepare-swine-flu.html
• https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/06/health/death-toll-other-diseases-pandemic-coronavirus-wellness/index.html
• https://whdh.com/news/squirrel-tests-positive-for-bubonic-plague-in-united-states/
• https://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/burden/preliminary-in-season-estimates.htm
• https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/california/articles/2020-07-18/tests-reveal-coronavirus-in-yosemite-national-parks-sewage?src=usn_fl
• https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/07/15/891551846/u-n-points-to-alarming-decline-in-child-vaccinations
• https://extranet.who.int/publicemergency

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Is there life on Mars? On this episode follow Brett and Andy down the black hole of Astrovirology. The guys discuss what extraterrestrial life could look like as well as the unintended consequences of the arms race to colonize Mars. 

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It's COVID-19 update time! This week, Brett and Andy bring in economist and friend of the show Austin Myers to discuss the economic implications of the pandemic thus far. Should we buy or sell? Tune in this week to find out! 

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Schistosomiasis where we're going we don't need dams! On this episode of Viral Load the guys wade into the world of Neglected Tropical Disease. How is it that there is a disease that affects almost 1 billion people and most of the world's never heard if it? Tune in this week to find out. 

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Dance, dance, dance until you die! No this isn't Hocus Pocus, this is 1518 and the dancing plague has overtaken Strasbourg. What caused people to dance until their feet bled and their bones were exposed? Tune into this episode of viral load to find out. 
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Sources

• https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2018/jul/05/bizarre-dance-epidemic-of-summer-1518-strasbourg
• https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20161028-the-town-the-nearly-danced-itself-to-death
• https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS014067360960386X/fulltext
• https://thepsychologist.bps.org.uk/volume-22/edition-7/dancing-plagues-and-mass-hysteria
• https://museumhack.com/dancing-plague/
• Waller, John (2008). A Time to Dance, A Time to Die: The Extraordinary Story of the Dancing Plague of 1518. Thriplow: Icon Books
• Get well soon - Jennifer Wright 

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On this episode of Viral Load Brett and Andy take a closer look into racial inequality in the united states amidst a global pandemic. The guys break down social justice and why the lack of social justice has led to a grave disparity in COVID-19 mortality rates in the black community nationwide. They also tackle smart ways to protest including a checklist of ways to keep standing up for what you believe in while keeping yourself and your loved ones safe. We here at Viral Load stand with you. Black Lives Matter.
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sources
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COVID-19 cases by race reported by state.
https://covidtracking.com/race/dashboard
.https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2020/05/30/865413079/what-do-coronavirus-racial-disparities-look-like-state-by-state
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/2764789

• https://www.bmj.com/content/369/bmj.m1483.full
• https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/31/health/protests-coronavirus.html?campaign_id=9&emc=edit_nn_20200601&instance_id=18980&nl=the-morning®i_id=117681300&segment_id=29766&te=1&user_id=07cbd203bdf60faa1d6adeaea6d6acf5
• https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/23/health/coronavirus-black-patients.html?action=click&module=RelatedLinks&pgtype=Article
• https://www.newyorker.com/science/medical-dispatch/how-the-protests-have-changed-the-pandemic
• https://www.discovermagazine.com/health/tear-gassing-protesters-could-increase-their-risk-for-covid-19?utm_source=Yesmail&utm_medium=email&[email protected]&utm_campaign=News0_DSC_200607_000000_COVID19
• https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/2020/06/racism-and-coronavirus-are-killing-people-of-color-protesting-is-not-enough/?cmpid=org=ngp::mc=crm-email::src=ngp::cmp=editorial::add=SpecialEdition_20200605&rid=0F873B58AD568B73BA5E41EE7A3732D8
• https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2020/06/05/870144402/tear-gassing-protesters-during-an-infectious-outbreak-called-a-recipe-for-disast
• https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/08/nyregion/coronavirus-race-deaths.html

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On this Viral Particle mini-sode Brett and Andy take on Quackery through the ages as well as a rare feel good story from a Sudanese refugee. 

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On part 2 of our "mother of all pandemics" mini-series, Brett and Andy look for parallels between the social and political responses to the 1918 "Spanish Influenza" pandemic and COVID-19. Spoiler alert: masks are still an issue 100 years later, cities handle things very differently, and politics can get in the way? Only epidemiology can save us! 

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On this week's episode Brett and Andy visit the mother of all pandemics. The 1918 Flu pandemic commonly known as the "Spanish Flu". In this episode the guys explore how during a world war the man in the foxhole beside you may have been deadlier than the enemy.