Ken Perrott • Aug 12, 2015 •
Paul Connett is the Executive Director of the anti-fluoride propagandists group, the Fluoridation Action Network (FAN). His recent presentation to the Denver Water Board’s fluoridation forum was full of scientific misrepresentations and distortions. I debunked his claims on fluoridation and … Continue reading → … Read More
Siouxsie Wiles • Jun 08, 2015 •
“MERS-CoV electron micrograph1” by Maureen Metcalfe/Cynthia Goldsmith/Azaibi Tamin – http://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/mers/photos.html. Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons. In 2012 a new virus emerged in the Middle East. Causing severe respiratory and flu-like, the disease was called Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS)* or “Saudi-SARS”. The virus responsible was found to be a … Read More
Siouxsie Wiles • Mar 24, 2015 •
For World TB day, here are my top 10 TB facts. Read More
Siouxsie Wiles • Nov 24, 2014 •
With Ebola now moving into Mali, I thought it was time for a quick update and some links. According to the CDC and WHO, as of the 16th November 2014 there have been an estimated 15145 cases, including 5420 deaths. Since the end of October there have been 6 cases in neighbouring Mali; all cases have died. American … Read More
Siouxsie Wiles • Nov 03, 2014 •
Today Wellington’s Dominion Post newspaper ran a piece of (in my opinion..) misleading propaganda they passed of as a cartoon which can be summed up as naturopathy vs science. I assume it is in response to the bad press that homeopathy received last week after Green Party MP Steffan Browning signed a petition calling for … Read More
Eric Crampton • Oct 13, 2014 •
I'm not particularly worried about any large-scale Ebola outbreaks in the developed world. It's easier in the developed world to run effective quarantine and to track down those who might have been exposed to an infected and contagious person.That certainly doesn't mean Ebola isn't worth worrying about. The burden of Ebola in Africa looks likely to be huge. Even where … Read More
Siouxsie Wiles • Sep 26, 2014 •
In this week’s New Zealand Medical Journal is a paper by Deborah Williamson and Helen Heffernan on antimicrobial resistance in New Zealand (1). This comes hot on the heels of the WHO report which gave a global picture of antibiotic resistance (2), and highlights what the big challenges are for New Zealand. So what are the antibiotic resistant superbugs that … Read More
Siouxsie Wiles • Aug 03, 2014 •
As the Ebola outbreak worsens, the WHO has announced a US$100 million response plan to help bring the outbreak under control by scaling up control measures and helping neighbouring at-risk countries prepare for any cases. According to the latest WHO update, between 24 and 27 July, a total of 122 new cases of Ebola and 57 … Read More
Siouxsie Wiles • May 01, 2014 •
Life as we know it could end in ten years if we don’t start taking drastic action. This is the message to come out of a new report by the World Health Organisation (WHO), their first look at antibiotic resistance around the world. The report finds that antibiotic resistant superbugs are present in every region of the world … Read More
Siouxsie Wiles • Apr 28, 2014 •
A quickie to point to a paper in the New England Journal of Medicine which summarises the ongoing outbreak of Ebola in Guinea (1). Sequencing of the virus from several patients points to a new strain of Ebola Zaire, related but distinct from the strains which have caused previous outbreaks in the Democratic Republic of Conga and Gabon. Read More