By Robert Herriman  @bactiman63

Most years, I put out an end of year list of the Top 10 infectious disease news stories; however, this year is different with COVID-19.

Instead, I want to do a Top 10 list of the most downloaded Outbreak News Interviews podcasts of 2020.

The list is based upon the number of downloads as captured by Libsyn.

So let’s get started…

10. Dengue in 2019, the vaccines and the quest for a World Dengue Day–recorded Jan. 24, 2020.

In this interview, I spoke to Co-Founder and Communications Director of the International Society for Neglected Tropical Diseases (ISNTD), Kamran Rafiq about dengue fever in 2019, one of the worst years on record for dengue worldwide.

Aedes aegypti mosquito

9. Poison Control Centers: Fielding calls on everything from snakebites to coronavirus–recorded May 18, 2020.

Associate professor at the University of Arizona College of Medicine, clinical toxicologist and medical director of the Arizona Poison and Drug Information Center, Dr. Mazda Shirazi talked to me about what is poison control and the role of Poison control centers.


8. Chagas disease: 1st local transmission in Missouri–recorded Mar. 12, 2020

A MMWR report came out this year talking about a rare autochthonous Chagas disease infection in the United States and the first for Missouri. George Turabelidze, MD, PhD with the Division of Community and Public Health, Missouri Department of Health joined me to discuss the unusual case.

Chagas in Black and White

7. Robert Koch: Titan of Microbiology–recorded May 8, 2020.

93-year-old microbiologist and author of the book, Robert Koch–A Life in Medicine and Bacteriology, Thomas Brock, PhD, joined me to discuss the accomplishments of Robert Koch.

Robert Koch Quote

6. One Health with Cheryl Stroud, DVM, PhD–recorded Jan. 16, 2020

The Executive Director of the One Health Commission, Cheryl M. Stroud, DVM, PhD joined me to discuss One Health.

5. Nipah virus with Emily Gurley, PhD–recorded Feb. 11, 2020

Associate Scientist with the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health,  Emily Gurley, PhD came on the show to discuss one of the deadliest viruses, Nipah virus.

4. Dr. Mike Osterholm on COVID-19 testing, death rates and more–recorded Apr. 29, 2020

The director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP), Michael Osterholm, PhD, MPH joined me to look at the topics of death rates and COVID-19 testing.


3. Coronavirus Q&A with Rodney Rohde, PhD–recorded Feb. 6, 2020

Professor Research Dean and Chair of the Clinical Laboratory Science Program (CLS) in the College of Health Professions of Texas State University, Rodney Rohde, PhD joined for my second podcast on COVID-19 early in the year as we were beginning to learn more.

2. China pneumonia outbreak and a novel coronavirus–Jan. 10, 2020

In one of the first podcasts on the mostly unknown outbreak in Wuhan, China, Senior Scholar with the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law and adjunct Professor of Medicine-Infectious Diseases at Georgetown University Medical Center, Daniel Lucey, MD, MPH, joined me to try to shed some light on the subject.

1.COVID-19: How does it compare with the 2009 H1N1 pandemic, US pandemic preparedness–recorded Mar. 25, 2020.

Pandemic preparedness in the US, varying fatality rates in certain countries and a comparison with the 2009-2010 H1N1 influenza pandemic are explored with Senior Scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, Amesh Adalja, MD.

 

Got Smallpox?