After a six month hiatus, the return to the Tampa Bay airwaves of the Outbreak News This Week Radio Show Sunday was a discussion about Ebola for the whole hour.
Joining host, Microbiologist and Editor of the news site, Outbreak News Today, Robert Herriman to discuss and clarify the situation in West Africa and the virology of the Ebolavirus was Tara Smith, PhD, Associate Professor with the Department of Biostatistics, Environmental Health Sciences, and Epidemiology at Kent State University’s College of Public Health and Earth’s Virology Professor, Vincent Racaniello, PhD, Professor of Microbiology and Immunology at Columbia University.
During the first segment Herriman quizzed Dr. Smith on topics of how the situation in West Africa got to the point of where it is–unprecedented high numbers of cases and deaths dwarfing all previous Ebola outbreaks. What factors led to the enormous, in Ebola terms, outbreak; how did “patient zero” likely get infected and what did Nigeria do so well to squash a potential disaster in Africa’s most populous country?
After the break, Dr. Racaniello gave us some insight on the hardiness of the Ebolavirus, the 21 day incubation period, the issue airborne vs direct contact transmission and topic of viral mutation.
Listen to the complete podcast below:
Check out Dr. Tara Smith’s blog, Aetiology
Check out Dr. Vincent Racaniello’s blog, Virology Blog
The Outbreak News This Week Radio Show airs every Sunday at 5 pm ET in the Tampa Bay area on 860 AM WGUL and online at HERE
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