Guest post by Dr. Jennifer Gardy Senior Scientist, BC Centre for Disease Control; Assistant Professor, School of Population and Public Health, UBC The flu seems to come out of nowhere. One minute you’re feeling on top of the world, then within just a few short hours you feel feverish, achy, tired, and all-around miserable. It’s […]
public health
Do Bugs Need Drugs? Program: Keeping the Magic in the Bullet
Guest post by Stuart Shepherd and Dr. David Patrick Until the discovery of antibiotics in the mid-20th century, bacterial diseases played a gruesome role in the human canon. Plagues swept through the population with harrowing frequency; minor infections spread and disfigured; and 30% of all deaths occurred in children under 5 years old. Life was […]
Ebola and the fear factory
by Kasra Hassani & Hannah Hoag Health, Medicine, and Veterinary Sciences editors This is not the first Science Borealis editorial post about Ebola, nor will it be the last. We’ve discussed Ebola from multiple perspectives such as Health, Engineering, and Policy over the past few months. The deadly virus – which had previously caused only […]
The Canadian response to Ebola: a new science diplomacy?
Pascal Lapointe and Karine Morin, Science Policy co-editors In early August, the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade, and Development (DFATD) announced that Canada would provide $3.6 million dollars to both the World Health Organization (WHO) and Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) to help the international Ebola effort. This was not the first Canadian contribution; […]
Fear Factor
By Hannah Hoag Health, Medicine and Veterinary Sciences subject editor Ebola rivets the attention and incites panic. It is cruel to those it infects. Nearly 2,300 people have died from the virus in the current outbreak in West Africa, and the WHO has warned that as many as 20,000 people could become infected before the […]