Comments on: The A-Z of Epidemiology:

The A-Z of Epidemiology:

Blasdelb — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 15:18:16 -0800

Germs from Anthrax to Zoonoses. A disturbing bedtime book for kids.

In order:

Anthrax (previously) Botulism (previously) Chlamydia (previously) Diphtheria Ebola Food Poisoning Giardia Herpes Intestines John Snow MD Klebsiella Legionella Measels Norovirus (previously) Opportunistic Pathogen Petri Dish Q Fever Rabies Swine Flu Trichinosis (previously) Urine (an exhaustive report of what is in urine and what it can do to you, NASA Contractor Report No. NASA CR-1802, D. F. Putnam, July 1971 (PDF)) Veins Washing Xylella Yersinia Zoonoses

By: the man of twists and turns

the man of twists and turns — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 15:33:10 -0800

Disturbing? Who doesn't want to cuddle up with one of these guys?

By: gingerbeer

gingerbeer — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 15:44:35 -0800

This is great!

By: arcticseal

arcticseal — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 15:54:05 -0800

This is rather cute. Who doesn't want to cuddle up with one of these guys? Our cat loves cuddling with his Toxoplasmosis. Why not, we likely already are.

By: eviemath

eviemath — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 16:02:43 -0800

My local pharmacy sells those. I got my brother an ulcer for his birthday. They're really cute!

By: docgonzo

docgonzo — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 16:04:01 -0800

Uh, not to be too pedantic but this should more accurately be titled "the A-Z of infectious disease."

By: cromagnon

cromagnon — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 16:21:20 -0800

"Zoonoses" is a cop out.

By: supermedusa

supermedusa — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 16:36:52 -0800

oh come on, the Encyclopedia of Plague and Pestilence is one of my all time favorite gifts and a prized possession. I would have eaten this up as a kid!!!!

By: supermedusa

supermedusa — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 16:39:24 -0800

shout out for my homie Y.pestis oh yeahhhhhh

By: aeolicus

aeolicus — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 17:28:44 -0800

In case you're interested, this opus is due to Jennifer Gardy, who also published an interesting analysis of tuberculosis genomes alongside patterns of human contact in the New England Journal of Medicine a couple of years ago. If you're a real bioinformatics wonk, then you might also appreciate her earlier work on the PSORTb algorithm, which does an amazingly good job of taking mysterious bacterial protein sequences and telling you where in the cell they are likely to end up. Most prediction methods in bioinformatics fall somewhere on a scale of "meh" to "maybe useful", but this one even outperforms most experimental methods that aim to do the same thing.

By: gingerest

gingerest — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 17:33:31 -0800

Xylella is a stretch. I'd have gone with X-linked. And V should have been for Vector.

By: aeolicus

aeolicus — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 17:35:29 -0800

Vibrio cholerae!

By: gingerest

gingerest — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 17:47:03 -0800

Oh, yeah, for sure, if you have to stay with germs, Vibrios are where it's at. (V. parahaemolyticus and V. vulnificus aren't as famous or deadly as their cholera-causin' cousin, but they make pretty hostile dinner guests, and V. vulnificus also has a nasty habit of infecting wounds sustained in tainted saltwater.)

By: taff

taff — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 20:04:36 -0800

Not exactly thrilled about "leaving her for herpes".

By: BrotherCaine

BrotherCaine — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 00:53:53 -0800

I'd like to see a kickstarter to print up a nice glossy set of the infectious disease trading cards.

By: Decani

Decani — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 02:12:44 -0800

Not exactly thrilled about "leaving her for herpes". posted by taff at 4:04 AM on January 22 Neither was she!