In this episode of the Virulent Vortex, Matthew Collins tells us about dengue, an infectious disease caused by a virus transmitted by mosquitoes. Controlling the disease has been difficult, but Collins explains how scientists are infecting mosquitoes with bacteria to stop them from spreading the virus. He also discusses how he and his colleagues are studying the specific immune responses against viruses to create better vaccines. 

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Our world is divided, says Gonzalo Vazquez-Prokopec, but there is one thing we all agree on: we hate mosquitoes. Not only do these insects give us itchy bites, they also excel in transmitting life-threatening pathogens. In this episode of the Virulent Vortex, Vazquez-Prokopec explains how his team went back to basics, showing how understanding some very simple mosquito behavior can help us better control disease. 

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In this episode of the Virulent Vortex, Dave Civitello discusses snails and schistosomes. Expecting that schistosomes from humans and cattle could hybridize and create super-parasites, Civitello found a much bigger problem. As he explains, cattle deposit huge amounts of feces into water bodies, where they fertilize algae, thereby providing food for snails and causing more transmission of parasites. While building fences around ponds may seem like an easy solution, ecology is telling a different story.

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In this episode Lance Waller talks to Jaap de Roode about his new book Doctors by Nature, discussing the many ways in which animals use medicine and what we can learn from them.

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What do pigs and chickens have to do with antibiotic resistance? In this episode of the Virulent Vortex, Maya Nadimpalli explains how the overuse of antibiotics in the livestock and poultry industry selects for drug-resistant bacteria that can end up causing untreatable infections in humans in low-income settings. Reducing the unnecessary use of antibiotics is key, but as Nadimpalli explains, improving water and sanitation infrastructure can also go a long way.

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From two stripes to one: many of us have felt the relief when our at-home COVID-19 test finally turned negative. While COVID-19 infections generally last days to weeks, some people can be infected for years. In this episode of the Virulent Vortex, Amber Coats explains how those long-lasting infections contribute to the evolution of new variants of concern, thereby causing new epidemic waves that require updated vaccines.

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Using fertilizer to increase plant growth and crop production is common practice. But fertilizing to make snails grow? Not so much. In this episode of the Virulent Vortex, LM Bradley explains why she is fertilizing water bodies to increase algal production and therefore aquatic snail growth. Teaser alert: the snails transmit schistosome parasites, and by fertilizing them, Bradley aims to understand how cattle waste can increase disease outbreaks. 

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If your dream is to discover a new scary virus, then this episode of the Virulent Vortex is for you. Anne Piantadosi is passionate about ticks and employs a technique called metagenomics to identify and discover new viruses that are vectored by these eight-legged creatures. As a medical doctor, she is also especially tuned into the symptoms that could indicate that her patients have tick-borne infections. Oh, and she wears tick earrings. 

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Severe diarrheal disease can be caused by many different pathogens, but doctors will often prescribe bacteria-killing antibiotics, even when the disease is caused by viruses. In this episode of the Virulent Vortex, Liz Rogawski McQuade explains that this unnecessary use of antibiotics is risky business. The antibiotics can select for drug-resistance in pathogenic bacteria that are lurking in the guts of patients. These bacteria can cause hard-to-treat disease in these patients, or even spread to other people in the community. 

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What do Ebola and COVID-19 have in common? Both are caused by viruses, and both can be controlled using contact tracing and smart vaccination campaigns. In this episode of the Virulent Vortex, Natalie Dean explains how her studies of Ebola outbreaks in west Africa provided insights into ring vaccination and pandemic preparedness, with lessons for COVID-19 and future pandemics. She also discusses the difficulties of communicating science and the importance of acknowledging uncertainty.

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