In the midst of alarming stories and studies on the rise of drug-resistant bacteria, an article posted today on Slate discusses how developing strategies to …
Category: Infectious Diseases
H1N1 has peaked but will it return?
According to numbers just posted by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, new infections of the H1N1 virus continue to decrease across the …
Some sobering reflections on World AIDS Day
On World AIDS Day, I typically take time to reflect on the people I have met who have been affected by this ongoing crisis. They …
How the H1N1 vaccine is made
Blogger Jason Kottke has complied a succint, interesting description of the manufacturing process for the H1N1 influenza vaccine: The most striking feature of the H1N1 …
Web site offers H1N1 resources for public media
I just came across FluPortal.org, a site designed to help public radio and television stations cover the H1N1 pandemic. It provides local and national reports …
New book shows the pain and hope of AIDS orphans
My colleague Ruthann Richter has both a professional and personal connection with AIDS: she has been covering AIDS as a medical writer since the early …
Swine flu panic hits Germany
When I was visiting family in Germany last month, no one seemed to be concerned about swine flu, no one wanted a vaccine and they …
H1N1 flu tips for pregnant women and new moms
In this new video from Lucile Packard Children's Hospital, obstetrician Natali Aziz, MD, offers the latest flu advice for pregnant women and mothers of infants. …
Locate clinics offering flu shots with the click of a mouse
Google recently launched a new online tool called Flu Shot Finder to assist you in searching for pharmacies and clinics offering both the seasonal flu …
The girl who would be Queen
Queen died today. That is the latest bit of distressing news I received from friends in Kenya. She was a quiet little girl whom I …
Kitty has H1N1 …
"Don't kiss the cat, don't put beans in your nose, and don't go through the neighbors' garbage." I can't count the number of times my …
South Africa finally comes to grips with AIDS
It was nearly a decade ago that I wrote a story about a protest by 5,000 scientists worldwide, including several at Stanford, against South Africa's …
How a wealthy family in 18th-century China fought smallpox: The view from a novel
I've been reading The Story of the Stone, the great 18th century Chinese novel, which is much more accessible to my 21st-century Western mind than …
Researchers identify dominant chemical that attracts mosquitoes to humans
UC Davis researchers have identified the sweet, sweet cologne that draws blood-feeding Culex mosquitoes (which transmit West Nile virus and other diseases) to humans. Apparently …
Gender differences in H1N1 vaccine response?
An op-ed piece in the New York Times this morning caught my eye. The authors, two women with strong backgrounds in public and women's health …
Harvard Medical School launches H1N1 influenza iPhone app
Harvard Medical School recently released an iPhone application designed to educate its users about the H1N1 influenza pandemic. Here's the description from iTunes: The Swine …