Welcome to the last installation of our exploration of diseases! While I debated some on what illness to focus on for this final post, I decided to go back to this blog’s roots. We started this journey by looking at rinderpest, an animal-only disease that is one of only two to have been fully eradicated. […]

At Dan’s request, this week we’re examining a pathogen that impacts chickens. We’ll specifically be looping back around to the flu with a look at avian influenza, which has been causing problems for US farmers over recent weeks.  The term “bird flu” describes certain strains of influenza type A viruses. This category encompasses those strains […]

This week, in the spirit of examining at zoonotic diseases, we’re taking a look at a parasite that commonly infects domestic cats, plus an estimated 60 million people in the United States: Toxoplasma gondii (the causative agent of toxoplasmosis). T. gondii infects cats after they eat other infected animals (such as mice or birds). The […]

Valentine’s Day is right around the corner! In the spirit of the holidays, I thought it’d be fitting to discuss something that makes you feel all warm and fuzzy, itchy and burny – STIs. In particular, I’ll be highlighting one of the most common sexually transmitted disease in the United States: gonorrhea.  Caused by Neisseria […]

Continuing with the theme of vector-borne diseases from my previous post, today we’ll be covering Lyme Disease.  The name is ubiquitous throughout Pennsylvania and much of the Northeast. This is unsurprising, considering the incidence of the disease has almost doubled since 1991. Spread to humans via the bite of an infected black-legged tick (also known […]

To celebrate the new semester, I thought that it would be fitting to dive into a classic zoonotic illness, dating back to over 2,000 years ago: the plague. Caused by Yersinia pestis, a bacteria primarily spread via the bites of infected fleas, it is well known for some of its most deadly pandemics. The first […]

As I wrap up my paradigm shift essay, which explores the ways in which inventions such as pasteurization have allowed for a decrease in the spread of milk borne pathogens, my mind is on cattle. However, this isn’t entirely unusual for me; my grandfather is a farmer, so cows have played an abnormally active role […]

In my first post, I briefly mentioned cholera. While the name is likely familiar to most readers, for many of us in the United States, it comes across more like a relic of the past rather than something to lose sleep over.  Yet for other nations, it remains a very real, very present threat. Every […]

Halloween is just around the corner! From pumpkin painting to haunted houses, it feels like campus has been especially lively in its celebration of a holiday characterized by the undead. In honor of the festivities, I thought it’d only be proper to focus on something particularly chilling: zombie viruses. Luckily for us, a virus that […]

Now that we’re partway through October, it seems as if the weather is actually cooling down and autumn is setting in. Pumpkin- and apple-flavored foods are touted by restaurants (and the dining halls), sweaters and sweatshirts can finally be worn without overheating, and Halloween is just around the corner. But there’s another, less pleasant, factor […]