Medical Discovery News
Science permeates everyday life. Yet the understanding of advances in biomedical science is limited at best. Few people make the connection that biomedical science is medicine and that biomedical scientists are working today for the medicine of tomorrow. Our weekly five-hundred-word newspaper column (http://www.illuminascicom.com/) and two-minute radio show provide insights into a broad range of biomedical science topics. Medical Discovery News is dedicated to explaining discoveries in biomedical research and their promise for the future of medicine. Each release is designed to stimulate listeners to think, question and appreciate how science affects their health as well as that of the rest of the world. We also delve into significant biomedical discoveries and portray how science (or the lack of it) has impacted health throughout history.
Medical Discovery News
How Now, Brown Cow
Welcome to Medical Discovery News. I’m Dr. Norbert Herzog.
And I’m Dr. David Niesel
The next big pandemic threat that scientists hope to prevent is the H-five-N-one avian influenza virus.
The same virus has infected over two hundred dairy cow herds in at least fourteen states. And as of this recording, sixteen people have tested positive for the virus.
All but one farm worker had direct contact with infected animals. And the one case in Missouri with no animal contact is still untraceable.
The concern is that as this virus has become more adept at spreading among dairy cows and as more farmworkers get the virus, it could mutate to infect humans easily.
The virus was first identified in the nineteen nineties in Southern China’s farm birds. Since then, it has become the dominant strain of bird flu in bird populations worldwide. Millions of wild and domestic birds have died and three years ago, it began infecting chickens in the US and eventually, dairy cows.
As for humans, the first human deaths were reported in Hong Kong in nineteen-ninety seven. Overall, nearly nine hundred human infections worldwide have been reported with over half being fatal.
Even with this knowledge, some people still drink raw milk. Most commercial milk is pasteurized which heats milk to high temperatures killing pathogens such as viruses including H-five-N-one flu virus.
Scientists are closely monitoring the spread of H-five-N-one, and we hope we won’t have to face the threat of another epidemic or worse, pandemic.
We are Drs. David Niesel and Norbert Herzog, at UTMB and Quinnipiac University, where biomedical discoveries shape the future of medicine. For much more and our disclaimer go to medicaldiscoverynews.com or subscribe to our podcast. Sign up for expanded print episodes at www.illuminascicom.com
