Zoonotic Infections News

As a fourth-year medical student at the University of South Florida College of Medicine, I did an elective rotation with Dr. John Greene at Moffitt Cancer Center. I was awestruck as I saw the fellows and Dr. Greene make incredible diagnoses based on details from the patients’ histories. We conversed with radiologists, pathologists, other internal medicine subspecialists and surgeons; a constant busy mission to determine what kind of infections patients had. Their knowledge was superior, having to understand different cultures, practices and hobbies that could lead to the diagnosis. I witnessed the way that the infectious disease physicians conversed with others; their pleasant demeanor toward patients and staff was infectious. Most compelling of all was the microbiology lab, where you came face to face with your patients’ foes: Staphylococcus, Acinetobacter, Fusarium, Cryptosporidium, etc. This to me was the defining moment: looking into the viewing ocular pieces of the microscope to view something that was a millionth our size and had the potential to cause incredible pathologic havoc. This experience, which I also had during my internal medicine residency, is what led me to my interest in host-pathogen responses and to choose a career in infectious diseases.

Cases of work-related infectious disease in the United States are concentrated in certain industries and occupations, particularly among health care, laboratory, animal and public service workers, according to the results of a literature review published in Emerging Infectious Diseases.

Researchers found that two commonly used insect repellents, including DEET, mask human smell, making people invisible to Anopheles mosquitoes, which transmit malaria.

Health officials have linked a multistate outbreak of Salmonella Typhimurium infections to contact with pet hedgehogs, the CDC reported.

Health officials have linked a multistate outbreak of Salmonella Typhimurium infections to contact with pet hedgehogs, the CDC reported.

Ebola antibodies are not widespread among more than 30 nonhuman primate species, supporting claims that nonhuman primates are intermediate hosts for Ebola viruses, according to a recent study.

An otherwise healthy adult man was diagnosed with acute hepatitis infection caused by rat hepatitis E virus, and experts suggest the virus may be an “under-recognized” cause of hepatitis infection.

I followed a somewhat circuitous route to a career in ID. In medical school and residency, I was strongly drawn to oncology but got a bit distracted by also falling in love with viruses, especially retroviruses. I worked in research virology labs all through college and medical school, and as retroviruses were considered as potentially causing common cancers in humans, that research was typically found not in ID but rather in oncology divisions. I came to UCSF in 1978 for my oncology fellowship and to work in Jay Levy’s retrovirus lab. But when an ID giant, Merle Sande, offered me the chance to start a medical oncology division at San Francisco General Hospital immediately following the end of my training, I eagerly accepted. I left retrovirus research forever, only to walk into the very beginning of the AIDS epidemic on July 1,st 1981, when I saw the first Kaposi sarcoma KSpatient admitted to SFGH. I started the world’s first comprehensive AIDS clinic with Connie Wofsy, my ID counterpart in 1983 and when HIV was discovered (in part by Jay), I realized I might get back to my favorite viruses! While I still feel as if part of me is in oncology, my community is clearly ID! Definitely hooked on ID!

Currently, all eyes are on the worrisome Ebola virus disease outbreak going on in the northeast of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. However, this is not the only hemorrhagic disease that merits our attention. WHO and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations has identified Lassa fever as an important threat to global health and in urgent need of research and development efforts.

WHO announced a list of 10 health issues that will require their attention in 2019. To address these issues, WHO is beginning a 5-year strategic plan, the 13th General Programme of Work. The plan has a triple billion target to ensure 1 billion more people benefit from access to health care, 1 billion more people are protected from health emergencies and 1 billion more people experience better health and well-being.