Public Health

Can drinking a chlorine dioxide bleach solution cure children of autism? There is no evidence that it can. Parents of autistic children, however, are being targeted by deceptive online ads for “Miracle Mineral Solution,” “Master Mineral Solution,” and similar products marketed with false claims of curing autism. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a recent warning about these products, noting that ingesting them has made consumers sick and can even lead to death.... Read More »

As students return to the classroom with brand-new backpacks and high hopes for a good academic year, an invisible army of microbes is preparing an attack on the little learners. Legions of cold and flu viruses are determined to circulate through the “student body” in a show of force that will make school PTA newsletter... Read More »

A drug-resistant fungus originally identified in the ear of an elderly woman in Japan in 2009 is raising global health concerns. Candida auris, or “C. auris” (“auris” is Latin for “ear”), is a yeast that is considered an “emerging” pathogen because of rising numbers of infections reported around the globe. C. auris infections are common in medical centers, nursing homes, and long-term care facilities among people who are already ill. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports nearly half of all people who contract the fungal disease die within 90 days. CDC tracks C. auris cases reported in the U.S.... Read More »

We are all familiar with cleaners, those handy products that help us remove visible debris, dirt, and dust from surfaces. Cleaners play an important role in building maintenance, but they cannot consistently eliminate disease-causing microorganisms (pathogens), such as bacteria and viruses on surfaces. Sanitizers and disinfectants are the antimicrobial products made to destroy those. Disinfectants are used to help halt the spread of infectious illnesses, such as colds, flu, norovirus, and resistant organisms such as MRSA. These infectious illnesses and outbreaks can devastate student or worker attendance and productivity in any institution.... Read More »

Healthcare associated infections (HAIs) affect about one in 31 hospital patients in the U.S., according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Eliminating HAIs is an important public health goal, and one that researchers can help meet by generating the scientific data that lead to “best practices” and engineering solutions that help... Read More »

Has the flu made an appearance in your household this season? Flu is not a reportable disease in most areas of the U.S., so only estimates of numbers of cases and related medical visits are possible. Preliminary reports from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) note that between October 1, 2018, and January 26, 2019, there were between 10.1 and 11.7 million cases of flu in the U.S., at least 4.7 million flu-related medical visits, and up to 141,000 hospitalizations. Although CDC has been making these “in-season” flu estimates since 2010, reporting them to the public in real time is new as of this season. The estimates are made using mathematical models based on rates of laboratory confirmed flu-related hospitalizations.... Read More »

Family lore has it that during a yellow fever epidemic in Little Rock in the 1890s, my maternal grandmother’s family escaped the quarantined city via a flat boat, probably along the Arkansas River to the Mississippi River. The story goes that under the cover of darkness, great grandfather Nathan slipped the boat under a blockading chain across the Mississippi and spirited his wife Jennie, their children, and the rest of the family away from the outbreak. The family returned to Little Rock when the epidemic was over, and Nathan and Jennie’s daughter, Gida, my grandmother, went on to graduate from college in 1911, a rare feat for a woman in those days. ... Read More »