Better ways to diagnose, treat and prevent E. coli 0157:H7 infections are badly needed.
I think it would be over-exaggeration to think that there are millions of viruses ready to jump on us and bring us back to the 14th century. That would be looking over a ledge that isn't there.
Previous efforts to eradicate malaria failed for several reasons, including political instability and technical challenges in delivering resources, especially in certain countries in Africa.
It is now widely recognized that any attempt at malaria eradication must be a long-term commitment that involves multiple interventions, disciplines, strategies and organizations.
The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases is an institute of the National Institutes of Health that is responsible predominantly for basic and clinical research in the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of immunologic and infectious diseases.
Certainly the support for research in HIV/AIDS was good in the Clinton administration, good in the Bush administrations. It just was.
When you're dealing with a very sick person and you're doing something to them, an intervention, be it a procedure or a medication, safety is critical.
You can have an epidemic in a state. You can have it in a region. You can have it in a country where the critical level of disease passes a certain threshold, and we call that an 'epidemic threshold.'
The difference between H7N9 and H5N1, is that H5N1 kills chickens very rapidly, so it is easy to identify where the infected flocks of chickens are. H7N9 doesn't make the chicken sick, so it has been difficult to pinpoint where the infected chickens are.
Staph lives on skin. That's the reason why many infections start as a boil.
There's always going to be the need for new medications, better medications.
I think the media can be a very positive influence by essentially holding people to task about the importance of high quality medical care. And when the media is scrutinizing you, then I think that's a very good, positive thing for the field of medicine.
I'm a born, cautious optimist.
Testing two vaccines against different H1N1s at the same time has never been done.
