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Join Robert Scoggins, a physician executive, as we discuss the challenges of diagnosing and treating sepsis in the emergency department compared to other emergent conditions like stroke and heart attack. We’ll …
Using technology to diagnose sepsis [PODCAST]
Many aspects of health care-associated infections are unseen. The bacteria that cause infections like C. difficile or catheter-associated urinary tract infections are invisible to the naked eye. Beyond the financial burdens of additional treatment and longer hospital stays, less obvious costs often fall below the radar in the form of suffering, distress, and shattered trust in the health care system when patients fall victim to preventable infections.
And, often low profile …
Unveiling the unseen: the hidden costs of health care-associated infections
The Texas Department of State Health Services reported the first case of H5N1 avian influenza in a human who contracted the virus not from a bird but from an infected dairy cow. The next pandemic could be around the corner, and the food we choose to purchase (or not to purchase) is playing a role in its development.
As we saw with the COVID-19 pandemic, viruses can undergo mutations rapidly, …
Eating our way to the next pandemic
A bunch of symptoms, which may persist many months or even years after an acute COVID infection has cleared, have been described in the medical literature with increasing frequency since the onset of the pandemic. This constellation of findings has been dubbed “long COVID.” Long COVID’s effects on the brain, in particular, have certainly been in the news, and it’s also been popping up in the medical literature. So, what’s …
Long COVID and your brain: the effect of virus and vaccines
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Join us for an insightful podcast episode featuring Sonali Mantoo, a critical care physician, as she shares her personal journey through long COVID. From her experience on the pandemic frontlines to …
A critical care physician’s journey through long COVID [PODCAST]
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We welcome Ketan Desai, a physician executive, as we’ll delve into the fascinating and concerning realm of biological warfare and bioterrorism. Join us as we explore historical instances of biological weapons, …
Biotechnology and biological warfare [PODCAST]
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Join infectious disease physician Sami El-Dalati as we delve into the complex issues surrounding medical literature and clinical guidelines. Sami sheds light on the challenges faced by medical providers in delivering …
When physicians disagree with medical journals [PODCAST]
Has a highly fatal SARS coronavirus already been discovered? Maybe yes, but just its report is highly concerning. On January 4, 2024, a letter to the editor was uploaded to a preprint server which gave too few details but described a 100 percent fatal virus in genetically modified mice. The modifications made these mice similar to humans by adding a human ACE2 receptor to their cells, including in …
A potential discovery of highly fatal SARS coronavirus?
Patients come into the emergency department (ED) with symptoms, not diagnoses. That’s when time is of the essence. Clinicians must quickly triage patients and establish an appropriate care pathway to obtain the best possible outcome. Most patients entering the ED are time-sensitive, requiring clear protocols for care. However, even some of the deadliest conditions still lack the necessary data, tools, and standards to quickly diagnose and effectively treat patients.
Over the …
I recognize your anguish. Long COVID is new, and I will do my best to support you through this new and confusing illness. This is all I wanted to hear in my countless doctor’s visits. Some came close. The rest were baffled, given how healthy I was prior to a “mild COVID” infection.
I felt patronized by my own colleagues for trying experimental therapy. When activities of daily living are a …
Critical care physician battles long COVID with hope and grit
Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is a transmissible prion disease seen in the deer family – including mule deer, whitetail deer, elk, and moose – in countries throughout the world. The prion affects nervous system tissue in infected animals. Eventually leading to erratic behavior and certain death. Currently, there is no evidence of direct transmission of CWD to humans. However, given the biological plausibility for transmission, equity/ecological concerns, and the …
Why the medical community should be invested in understanding chronic wasting disease
Those of you who have followed the game or series The Last of Us will recognize the name Cordyceps. This is the fungus that causes a global pandemic of zombies to break out and start attacking their fellow humans. The writers, in this case, did a good job by using this infection in their story.
Cordyceps is a genus of over 600 fungal species spread around the world called endoparasitoids, meaning …
Do parasites predispose to dangerous behaviors in humans?
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Join Tami Burdick, a patient advocate and the author of Diagnosis Detective: Curing Granulomatous Mastitis. We delve into the world of travel, uncovering hidden health and safety risks often overlooked by …
Travel’s hidden health risks [PODCAST]
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As the world continues to navigate the challenges posed by respiratory viruses, recent developments have highlighted the urgency of advancing our therapeutic arsenal, particularly in the realm of broad-spectrum antivirals.
1. Winter is here. It is winter again in the northern hemisphere, and with it come the known respiratory viruses like flu, RSV, and COVID-19. Recent reports have also identified a wave of childhood pneumonia in China, not entirely attributable to …
What’s trying to start the next pandemic? AI drug discovery and the quest for a pan-antiviral drug
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Join Shan Liu, an emergency physician and co-author of Masked Hero: How Wu-Lien Teh Invented the Mask and Ended an Epidemic. Discover the journey of Wu Lien-teh, Shan’s great-grandfather, who played …
How one family’s hero ended a pandemic [PODCAST]
Psychological distress. In 2021, 40% of high school students felt sad and hopeless, 20% seriously considered suicide, and 10% attempted it, with suicides among young people hitting their highest rates ever, though they fell in 2022. Since the greatest increase was before 2017, we can’t really blame the pandemic. And some “innovative” approaches for combatting …
Pandemic aftermath: Navigating a new normal in health, education, and social dynamics
Much has been written on the social divides laid bare and amplified by the COVID-19 pandemic. Thankfully, the more divisive punditry and polemics have receded along with the COVID-19 mandates. And yet, as professionals in health care who have worked in direct patient care and in support of our clinician colleagues, we still see a broad gap separating the culture and worldviews of the people in health care and the …
Bridging the health care divide: All our actions matter
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Join Megan Nix, a writer and author of Remedies for Sorrow: An Extraordinary Child, a Secret Kept from Pregnant Women, and a Mother’s Pursuit of the Truth. Megan shares her deeply …
CMV: the silent epidemic expectant mothers need to know about [PODCAST]
The cold and flu season is already causing a surge of viral infections among children in doctors’ offices and emergency rooms. Health care providers are urging parents to brace themselves for what’s expected to be another season of COVID-19, influenza (flu), respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), and other common viruses all circulating at the same time.
In young children, these viruses can cause bronchiolitis – a lung infection which is similar to …
What should you do if your child is diagnosed with bronchiolitis this cold and flu season?
I’m making morning rounds on the pediatric unit today: First up, 4-year-old twins with a severe asthma flare; next an infant with bronchiolitis on supplemental oxygen; then a dehydrated 3-year-old listless in bed. These children are all hospitalized with viral illness – but none of it is COVID-19. Meanwhile, their sniffling peers fill daycares and classrooms, and my daughter is among them. “Maybe it’s allergies,” I said to myself this …
Time to retire quarantine: Why 5-day isolation guidelines are doing more harm than good
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