Hurricane Irene wasn’t nearly as bad as it could’ve been. The consensus here in DC seems to be “nowhere near as bad as Isabel” (which hit the Mid-Atlantic in 2003), and many of the New Yorkers who ignored Mayor Bloomberg’s orders to evacuate are probably feeling smug. Nonetheless, millions of people have lost power, and […]
As those of you who read other ScienceBlogs are probably already aware, the ScienceBlogs overlords have decided that all bloggers on this network must blog under their own names — no more pseudonyms. I don’t understand or agree with this policy. Some of my favorite ScienceBlogs are written by authors using pseudonyms, and the quality […]
By Kim Krisberg Public health director Kerran Vigroux sounds almost matter-of-fact when she talks about having to shut down her department’s screening services for sexually transmitted diseases. As she talks about the prevention and education opportunities that packed up and left along with the testing services, there’s that familiar, barely audible public health tone to […]
A few of the recent pieces I’ve liked (or, in the case of the first item, found horribly disturbing but important): Maryn McKenna at Superbug: Ringing the Warning Bell: Colistin-Resistant Klebsiella J. Malcolm Garcia in Guernica: Smoke Screen (“In Afghanistan, the U.S. military disposes of garbage–computers, motorbikes, TVs, shoes, even human feces–in open burn pits. […]
By Anthony Robbins According to the New York Times, President Obama will create an Atrocities Prevention Board. You might well ask, what has this to do with public health? I might have had the same thought except for a Commentary that my co-editor and I published in the Journal of Public Health Policy. Elihu Richter, […]
A few of the recent pieces I’ve liked: Brad Plumer at Ezra Klein’s blog: Will the new fuel economy rules actually work? Maryn McKenna at Superbug: Is Polio Eradication Slipping Out of Reach? David Bornstein at the New York Times’ Opinionator: Treating the Cause, Not the Illness John Culhane at Slate: Concussions and Cigarettes (“A […]
A few of the recent pieces I’ve liked: Ed Yong at Not Exactly Rocket Science: The disease trackers Maryn McKenna at Superbug: How Much Is a Drug-Resistance Death Worth? Less Than $600 Michele Norris at NPR: Why Black Women, Infants Lag in Birth Outcomes Fred Pearce at Yale Environment 360: Phosphate: A Critical Resource Misused […]
One of the disturbing aspects of the recent E. coli outbreak in Germany was the apparent lack of sufficient hospital surge capacity to handle a sudden influx of seriously ill patients. Der Spiegel reported: On Monday, hospitals all over northern Germany struggled to treat thousands of patients suffering from the effects of the bacteria. More […]
NPR’s Melissa Block traveled to Mozambique, where poverty and a shortage of both healthcare providers and facilities contribute to a high maternal mortality rate, for the first segment of the “Beginnings” series that will air throughout the summer on All Things Considered. She starts off with some grim statistics:
Within 15 minutes of my 6:00 am flight from Austin to Baltimore, I knew it was going to be a long, COLD, 3-hour trip. I’d already turned off the overhhad vents to stop the frigid air from blowing on me, and contorted myself into a ball on my seat trying to stay warm. As I […]