the following categories take priority:
Healthcare > Parasitology;
Science > Virology
this category takes priority over:
Science > Microbiology;
Ticks then thrive on the rodents, which are poor groomers.
Studies suggest that larval ticks have a 50% chance of surviving when they feed on mice, but only a 3.5% chance on opossums.
The Plague Is Back, This Time In New Mexico
June 29, 2017
http://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2017/06/29/534863486/the-bubonic-plague-is-back-this-time-in-new-mexico
Two Dead From Raw Milk Cheese Contaminated With Listeria
Mar 9 2017
by Maggie Fox
http://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/two-dead-raw-milk-cheese-contaminated-listeria-n731416
Unpasteurized milk is an important vehicle for transmission of pathogens, which include Brucella species, Mycobacterium bovis, Salmonella species, Listeria monocytogenes, Campylobacter species, Yersinia species, Coxiella burnetii, and Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli.
[ProMED Digest, Vol 57, Issue 26]
A ‘Forgotten Disease’ Is Suddenly Causing New Worries
March 25, 2016
http://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2016/03/25/471849390/a-forgotten-disease-is-suddenly-causing-new-worries
Mosquitoes. What Are They Good For?
February 19, 2016
http://www.npr.org/2016/02/19/467395225/mosquitoes-what-are-they-good-for
they’re food for fish and other insect predators and birds. They pollinate plants.
Correction: Only the female has the need for the iron from our blood for her offspring.
related:
the biting midge, a tiny bloodsucker that can spread diseases to animals and filarial worms to humans.
Dina Fonseca, a professor of entomology at Rutgers University, is that the biting midge is the only known pollinator of cacao.
http://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2016/02/20/467094440/would-it-be-a-bad-thing-to-wipe-out-a-species-if-its-a-mosquito
Ecology: A world without mosquitoes
Nature 466, 432-434 (2010)
Eradicating any organism would have serious consequences for ecosystems — wouldn’t it? Not when it comes to mosquitoes, finds Janet Fang.
http://www.nature.com/news/2010/100721/full/466432a.html
Fighting the ‘Cockroach of Mosquitoes’
The Zika-carrying Aedes aegypti species bites by day and hides indoors by night, making it hard to eliminate
By Betsy McKay et al.
Feb. 11, 2016
http://www.wsj.com/articles/fighting-the-cockroach-of-mosquitoes-1455238636
Experts working to halt the spread of the Zika, dengue and chikungunya viruses face a stubborn foe in the main mosquito that transmits them, and some of the many methods under consideration for fighting them are stirring controversy.
The Aedes aegypti mosquito primarily responsible for spreading these diseases has been called “the cockroach of mosquitoes.” It thrives around people, particularly in the densely packed neighborhoods that are common in the tropics. It bites during the day and hides at night in dark corners,…
Vibrio vulnificus
from the “Bad Bug Book,” Center for Safety
and Applied Nutrition, US FDA (Food and Drug Administration) at
http://www.fda.gov/downloads/Food/FoodborneIllnessContaminants/UCM297627.pdf#page46:
There are 2 points to be emphasized:
figure from:
The genomic code: inferring Vibrionaceae niche specialization
Nature Reviews Microbiology 4, 697-704 (September 2006)
http://www.nature.com/nrmicro/journal/v4/n9/fig_tab/nrmicro1476_F1.html
Long-term measles-induced immunomodulation increases overall childhood infectious disease mortality
Science 8 May 2015: Vol. 348 no. 6235 pp. 694-699
Michael J. Mina, et al.
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/348/6235/694.abstract
Immunosuppression after measles is known to predispose people to opportunistic infections for a period of several weeks to months. Using population-level data, we show that measles has a more prolonged effect on host resistance, extending over 2 to 3 years. We find that nonmeasles infectious disease mortality in high-income countries is tightly coupled to measles incidence at this lag, in both the pre- and post-vaccine eras. We conclude that long-term immunologic sequelae of measles drive interannual fluctuations in nonmeasles deaths. This is consistent with recent experimental work that attributes the immunosuppressive effects of measles to depletion of B and T lymphocytes. Our data provide an explanation for the long-term benefits of measles vaccination in preventing all-cause infectious disease. By preventing measles-associated immune memory loss, vaccination protects polymicrobial herd immunity.
journalistic version:
http://www.npr.org/blogs/goatsandsoda/2015/05/07/404963436/scientists-crack-a-50-year-old-mystery-about-the-measles-vaccine
Bad Flu Season Overshadows Other Winter Miseries
January 17, 2013
http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2013/01/17/169516804/bad-flu-season-overshadows-other-winter-miseries
Dr. Beth Zeeman says she can spot a case of influenza from 20 paces. It’s not like a common cold.
“People think they’ve had the flu when they’ve had colds,” Zeeman, an emergency room specialist at MetroWest Medical Center in Framingham, Mass., tells Shots. “People use the word ‘flu’ for everything. But having influenza is really a different thing. It hits you like a ton of bricks.”
Joachim Santos, a carpenter from Brazil in a nearby examining room, says he’s never been as sick in all his 57 years. “I worry that it’s going to get more serious and I could die,” he says.
Dr. Andrew Pavia, an infectious disease specialist at the University of Utah, says flu has certain hallmarks. “A classic case of flu starts off suddenly with high fever, maybe shaking chills, severe muscle and body aches,” he says. “It’s not uncommon for people to say their hair hurts, they hurt so badly.”
