Discovering Innovative Solutions To the Most Pressing Health Concerns Facing The World
03.14.18
By Tom Vincent
This week, the World Health Organization released a list of diseases that have the potential to cause public health emergencies, and that have no efficacious drugs or vaccines. The list was meant to direct and prioritize research and development and included some familiar names: Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever, Ebola and Marburg virus diseases, and Lassa fever. […]
02.22.18
By Tom Vincent
This post was coauthored by Tom Vincent and Dr. Jean-Paul Gonzalez. Dr. Gonzalez is the Deputy Director of the Center of Excellence in Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases at Kansas State University. Ebola virus disease is a hemorrhagic febrile illness that has case-fatality rates that vary from 32% to 88% across well-studied outbreaks. Thankfully, the number of […]
01.23.18
By Tom Vincent
If you were around in the 1990s-2000s, you might remember Mad Cow Disease – a disease in cows that can spread to humans via consumption of infected meat, and that leads to a degeneration of the brain and spinal tissue (known as Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans). Despite having a more scientific name—bovine spongiform encephalopathy […]
12.21.17
By Tom Vincent
This article is one of two on the O’Neill Blog this week that focus on confinement, human rights, and public health. In October 2014, Kaci Hickox, upon her return to the United States, found herself confined to a tent outside of Newark, New Jersey’s University Hospital. Hickox, a nurse, was returning from Sierra Leone, where […]
11.30.17
By Tom Vincent
Micrograph of Marburgvirus (credit: The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston) Last month, the Ugandan Ministry of Health (MOH) declared an outbreak of Marburg Virus Disease (MVD) in Eastern Uganda. To date, three cases have been reported (two confirmed, one probable), and all have died, resulting in a case-fatality rate of 100% […]
10.23.17
By Tom Vincent
“These woods are where silence has come to lick its wounds.” – Samantha Hunt In 1994, Ebola, a lethal virus that had been silent for fifteen years, awoke. Two separate outbreaks would shatter this silence, but one of these was unique, the likes of which has not been seen since. Though the last […]
10.05.17
By Tom Vincent
Last week, two scientific discoveries were announced that could lead to better and earlier treatments for persons with Ebola virus disease. First, scientists at University of Texas Medical Center in Galveston have discovered a protein within the body’s immune system that plays a central role in Ebola infections. Ebola virus infections are known to cause […]
09.14.17
By Tom Vincent
Left: Martin Shkreli (photo courtesy of The Source). Right: A “kissing bug” (photo courtesy of Scienceline). On August 29th, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted approval to benznidazole for use in children ages 2 to 12 years with Chagas disease. The approval is the first treatment of its kind to be approved […]
08.28.17
By Tom Vincent
Flooding is turning out to be a major news story this month. At the time of this publication, the catastrophic flooding in Houston has displaced thousands, and at least five are reported dead. Meanwhile, in Freetown, the capitol of Sierra Leone, people are still searching for the missing after a mudslide and flood that has […]
07.20.17
By Tom Vincent
Rhesus monkey (Image source) A new study published this week in Nature Microbiology brings good news for research toward the persistence of Ebola virus in asymptomatic individuals. Ebola virus (EBOV) is the virus that causes Ebola (now referred to as Ebola virus disease, or EVD), a viral hemorrhagic fever that has a very high […]
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The views reflected in this expert column are those of the individual authors and do not necessarily represent those of the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law or Georgetown University. This blog is solely informational in nature, and not intended as a substitute for competent legal advice from a licensed and retained attorney in your state or country.
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