I thought I’d do a series on some interesting tropical diseases over the next few weeks. Let’s start with a disease called filariasis- which can cause something called elephantiasis. You’ve probably heard of a disease in dogs called heartworm. It’s caused by tiny thread-like worms called microfilariae. Like many diseases, there’s a similar disease that [...]
If you’re a regular reader, you know how much value I place on using data to decide if interventions are successful and then sharing successful interventions with others. The way we helped change to hands-only CPR is a great example. We used evidence to craft our intervention (modifying how CPR is done), measured its effectiveness, and [...]
Remember the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic? That brand new virus that caused the pandemic was a combination of RNA from four different flu viruses – North American swine influenza, North American avian influenza, human influenza, and swine influenza virus typically found in Asia and Europe. The natural laboratories for new influenza viruses that end up causing pandemics [...]
