Meet MERS, the New Coronavirus on the Block

This Foreign Policy headline sounds way too scaremonger-ish, but none other than the New England Journal of Medicine just published "Hospital Outbreak of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus."

Thoughts on Livestrong

Read this, please.  If you are interested, Livestrong's website is here.  You know, you can slam Lance himself all you want, but his founding Livestrong was a big and big-hearted act of philanthropy, and that remains true.

What Fresh Hell Is This? Deadly Blunders in the NHS

WHAT.

Quote of the Day: The Coming Medical Ethics Crisis?

Oh, goody.  Terrifying thought by a practicing physician in the new age of government intrusion:

When the physician’s primary obligation is to satisfy the wishes of the payer—ultimately the wishes of the state—how can patients be truly confident in their doctors’ decisions? 

I submit that it all boils down to a question of professional ethics. 

The medical profession must decide—and soon—which ethical doctrine to follow: Are doctors to be agents of their patients or agents of the state? All of us should dread the latter choice—because we will all be patients some day.

India's Progress Against Polio

Once India led the world in polio cases (5000 cases recorded since 2000).  Now here is the happy news that with India's immunization efforts, since January 13 of 2011 no new cases were recorded.  Pakistan now takes the dubious title of world's most polio-prone nation.

“Warning: Over-Concern for Your Health May Be Damaging to Your Health.”

A British doctor considers the outbreak of E. coli in organic food in Germany that killed 50 and sickened thousands.  See too an article on the subject in the latest issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.  On a more or less related note, I hate sprouts.  In terms of texture and taste, I might as well eat the paper linguine from my paper shredder.  At least that won't give me E. coli!

Nerd News: Yes, Virginia, the Black Death Was Bubonic Plague

This isn't new news to most of us, but it's nice to have the diagnosis confirmed by some enterprising scientists who went and dug up 75 skeletons of 14th-century plague victims to do DNA analysis.

Forgotten History: Japanese Biological Warfare in 1930s-40s China

“This was the most intensive use of biological weapons in modern history. Yet Japan remains silent. And so do most of us.”

For the record, in 2002 Japan officially acknowledged the use of such weapons during the 1930s and 40s.

Medical News: Hearts Can Actually Break

The doctors are calling it "broken heart syndrome."

(Well, then, I guess it's a good thing, according to some of my students, that I have no heart.)

How Would You Like Your Government Health Care Described as Causing "Unimaginable Suffering"?

Oh, these poor people. This is a horrible news story from the UK:

Patients were routinely neglected or left “sobbing and humiliated” by staff at an NHS trust where at least 400 deaths have been linked to appalling care.

An independent inquiry found that managers at Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust stopped providing safe care because they were preoccupied with government targets and cutting costs.

. . . The report, which follows reviews by the Care Quality Commission and the Department of Health, said that “unimaginable” suffering had been caused. Regulators said last year that between 400 and 1,200 more patients than expected may have died at the hospital from 2005 to 2008.

Good grief.

Friday Fun Video: the H1N1 Swine Flu Rap

Via Geeks Are Sexy (it's just a funny tech blog, so get your mind out of the gutter, please) comes this hilarious video:

Great Moments in Research: a Mathematical Model for Surviving a Zombie Attack

Some enterprising nerds at Canada's Carleton University and the University of Ottawa have taken research on infectious diseases and applied it to zombies. The result is a crazy mashup of pop culture and nerd neurons. Here are some details, including the equation in which S = susceptible people and Z = zombies (natch).

Bonus: An actual academic paper was the result. Entitled "When Zombies Attack!: Mathematical Modelling of an Outbreak of Zombie Infection," you can see the PDF version. I give you the abstract:

Zombies are a popular figure in pop culture/entertainment and they are usually portrayed as being brought about through an outbreak or epidemic. Consequently, we model a zombie attack, using biological assumptions based on popular zombie movies. We introduce a basic model for zombie infection, determine equilibria and their stability, and illustrate the outcome with numerical solutions. We then refine the model to introduce a latent period of zombification, whereby humans are infected, but not infectious, before becoming undead. We then modify the model to include the effects of possible quarantine or a cure. Finally, we examine the impact of regular, impulsive reductions in the number of zombies and derive conditions under which eradication can occur. We show that only quick, aggressive attacks can stave off the doomsday scenario: the collapse of society as zombies overtake us all.

This is just hilarious. Now go watch "Shaun of the Dead" IMMEDIATELY.

Hey, What's Scarier Than Swine Flu?

How about people in China dying from PNEUMONIC PLAGUE? 2 dead, with thousands more quarantined.

It's even nastier than its infamous cousin, bubonic "Black Death" plague. Did you know pneumonic death can kill you in 24 hours? DANG!