The Zika conspiracies have begun
Posted by Tara C. Smith on February 3, 2016 Like cockroaches, the conspiracy theorists suggesting the Zika virus outbreak is anything but a normal, naturally-occurring event have begun to come out of the woodwork. To be expected, the theories they’re espousing make no sense scientifically, and each theory is incompatible with the others, but why should anyone expect that conspiracy theorists would actually use…
Zika: what we’re still missing
Posted by Tara C. Smith on February 1, 2016 As you’ve probably seen, unless you’ve been living in a cave, Zika virus is the infectious disease topic du jour. From an obscure virus to the newest scare, interest in the virus has skyrocketed just in the past few weeks: I have a few pieces already on Zika, so I won’t repeat myself here.…
Preparing for the zombie apocalpyse
Posted by Tara C. Smith on December 15, 2015 I have a paper out in the Christmas issue of BMJ on the coming zombie apocalypse. You read that right. And yes, it was peer-reviewed. I’ve discussed previously how I’ve used the attention paid to zombies to talk about infectious diseases with children and other audiences; and to bring some science to the Walking Dead and…
Antibiotic resistance: myths and misunderstandings
Posted by Tara C. Smith on September 10, 2015 I’ve been involved in a few discussions of late on science-based sites around yon web on antibiotic resistance and agriculture–specifically, the campaign to get fast food giant Subway to stop using meat raised on antibiotics, and a graphic by CommonGround using Animal Health Institute data, suggesting that agricultural animals aren’t an important source of resistant bacteria.…
Interview with HIV denier-turned-science-advocate John Strangis
Posted by Tara C. Smith on August 20, 2015 Long-term readers of the blog know of my interest in HIV denialism, especially as it is maintained and spread via the Internet. In my online travels, I recently met John Strangis via this blog post. John has an interesting story to tell regarding his experiences with HIV denialism and subsequently, his turn to patient and science activism.…
Another “Frontiers In” journal steps in it
Posted by Tara C. Smith on August 4, 2015 Almost a year ago, I wrote about a terrible article that was published in the journal Frontiers in Public Health. FiPH is a legitimate, peer-reviewed journal, and they had just published a manuscript that was straight-up HIV denial, titled “Questioning the HIV-AIDS hypothesis: 30 years of dissent.” At the time, it was listed as a…
ST398 carriage and infections in farmers, United States
Posted by Tara C. Smith on April 30, 2015 I’ve been working on livestock-associated Staphylococcus aureus and farming now for almost a decade. In that time, work from my lab has shown that, first, the “livestock-associated” strain of methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) that was found originally in Europe and then in Canada, ST398, is in the United States in pigs and farmers; that it’s present…
Has Mayim Bialik changed her stance on vaccines?
Posted by Tara C. Smith on February 11, 2015 I’ve written previously about Mayim Bialik, an actress previously on the TV show “Blossom” and currently on the “The Big Bang Theory.” She has a PhD in neuroscience and is a brand ambassador for Texas Instruments. Sounds great, right? She’s also gone on the record stating that her family is “a non-vaccinating” one, and has promoted…
Why quarantine for measles is critical…and quarantine for Ebola was not
Posted by Tara C. Smith on January 15, 2015 Measles has come to the happiest place on Earth. As of this writing, a total of 32 cases of measles have been linked to Disneyland visits that took place between December 17th and 20th. About 75% of the cases identified to date were not vaccinated, either because they chose to forgo vaccines or because they…
Mike Adams and NY Post promote more hysteria over Ebola
Posted by Tara C. Smith on November 1, 2014 I’ve been asked several times about this NY Post article on the CDC’s “admission” that a sneeze could spread Ebola. The Post (which, I should note, is the least credible newspaper in New York City, for those not familiar with the paper) suggests that the CDC has changed their tune regarding the spread of Ebola.…