Outbreak News Interviews

In this September 2013 radio interview, I talk to Jeremy Lewis of Kyle Cares Amoeba Awareness and Heidi LaMeyer of Swim Above Water, about their personal stories with the tragic deaths of their respective children and the work they were doing at their awareness organizations.

In a July 2013 interview on the Tampa-based, Outbreak News This Week radio show, I talk to Dr. Patricia Quinlisk, Iowa Dept. of Public Health Medical Director and State Epidemiologist, about the large cyclospora outbreak in Iowa and the midwest.

An active surveillance investigation is underway by the CDC, FDA and state health departments regarding a nationwide surge of cyclosporiasis cases, a parasitic infection. Dozens of states are affected, and of particular note, a massive spike of over 3,300 cases have been reported as of today. A single food source or supplier has not been definitively identified. Joining me today to discuss cyclospora and the outbreak is Wesley Long, MD, PhD. Dr Long is the medical director of microbiology at Houston Methodist.

Current Lyme disease tests look for antibodies produced by the immune system in response to Borrelia burgdorferi bacteria transmitted to humans by infected blacklegged ticks. My guest today says, "The problem is that these antibodies don't have the right characteristics to be clinically useful". New research led by Tufts University School of Medicine suggests that a group of immune molecules called anti-lipid antibodies may address these shortcomings. Joining me today do discuss this problem and the potential solution is Peter Gwynne, Phd. Dr Gwynne is a research assistant professor at Tufts University School of Medicine and the senior author of the new paper published in the journal, Infection and Immunity.   Antiphospholipid antibodies in acute and post-treatment Lyme disease

In this newscast, I talk about the rapidly growing cyclospora outbreak in Michigan, especially in the southeast part of the state. I also talk about a little history of the parasite here in the US and go over some recommendations from health officials.

In a 2025 WHO report on global antibiotic resistance, they revealed that one in six bacterial infections worldwide in 2023 were completely resistant to standard antibiotic treatments. Between 2018 and 2023, antibiotic resistance increased in over 40% of the monitored pathogen-antibiotic combinations. The average annual increase in resistance sits between 5% and 15%. Bacterial AMR was directly responsible for an estimated 1.27 million global deaths in 2019 and contributed to 4.95 million deaths. Projections indicate that without massive interventions, deaths could surge by 70% by 2050, claiming nearly 10 million lives annually. Joining me today to discuss antibiotics, how they work, their history and antimicrobial resistance is Brenda A Wilson, PhD. Dr Wilson is a professor of microbiology and adjunct professor of pathobiology at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. She is also the coauthor of the fantastic book, Revenge of the Microbes, 2nd ED

As tick populations grow and their ranges expand, the number of people being diagnosed with alpha-gal syndrome (AGS) is rising. So what is alpha gal syndrome? Today I want to dive into this serious, potentially life-threatening type of food allergy that is associated with the bite of a tick. Joining me today is Cara Martone, Cara is a doctoral student at Tufts University who is currently doing her research on AGS.

The New World screwworm has returned to the United States as the first case was reported in Texas on June 3, Since then, a number of additional cases have affected animals in Texas and New Mexico. What is the new world screwworm? How is it transmitted and how dangerous is it? And how will we get it under control? These are just a few of the questions I will pose to my expert guest. Joining me today is Lee Haines, Ph.D. Dr Haines is a medical entomologist and associate professor of Biological Sciences at the University of Notre Dame.

In this news report, I give an Ebola update, human screwworm in Honduras, measles in Bangladesh and Guatemala, hepatitis A in Manitoba, Canada and CCHF in Iraq.

On today's news report, I look at the large dengue outbreak in Sri Lanka, Florida reports new travel associated dengue and chikungunya, diphtheria in Haiti, polio in Afghanistan, Virginia''s measles outbreak and dengue increases in Malaysia.

On this episode of Outbreak News Radio, I look at the latest from Africa and the Ebola outbreak, a Powassan virus case in New Hampshire, Japanese encephalitis in Asia and a H9N2 avian influenza case confirmed in Hong Kong.

In this report, I look at the shigella outbreak and the new Nipah virus case reported in Kerala state in southern India.

On today's livestream, I will update on the case count in the DRC Ebola outbreak, the screwworm situation in the southern US, measles in the US and Bangladesh and more.

In this first episode in the Microbiology 101 series, I look at the catalase test.

In this first episode in the Microbiology 101 series, I look at the catalase test.

In today's newscast I look at the latest on the screwworm detection in Texas, the latest numbers from the DRC Ebola outbreak and measles in the US.

In this news cast, I briefly talk about a cryptosporidium outbreak in Washoe County, Nevada, associated with animal yoga.

In this news report, I give updates on what I believe to be the two biggest infectious disease outbreak stories globally at this time- the Ebola outbreak in Africa and the Measles epidemic in Bangladesh,

In this video, I give a quick update on the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). But this video also serves as a reminder that there are many other infectious disease outbreaks in the country, year after year, and I'll briefly go over some of them.

In this update, I look at the latest on the Ebola Bundibugyo outbreak in Africa.

In this report, I go over the latest news surrounding the Andes hantavirus outbreak linked to the cruise ship, the MV Hontius.

In this news cast, I do an update on the hantavirus situation on board the MV Hondius.

In this livetream, I will look at some of the biggest news in infectious diseases and outbreaks across the globe.

A new University of Washington study has found that over a third of sampled coyotes across the Puget Sound region were infected with this parasitic tapeworm (Echinococcus multilocularis).

In this newscast, I look at three current outbreaks occurring in Nigeria, Senegal and Uganda- Lassa fever, Crimean Congo Hemorrhagic fever and anthrax, respectively.

With the arrival of spring, Ukranian health officials are warning of the increased rosk of two infectious diseases: rabies and Lyme disease.

In this livestream, I look at some of the news related to infectious diseases and outbreak over the past week.

In this newscast, I look at the situation in England with sexually transmitted Shigella species, including antibiotic resistance, primarily among men who have sex with men.

In this news report, I look at the situation with yellow fever in Venezuela.

In this news report, I give an update on the large measles outbreak in Mexico.

In this news report, I look at the state of New Mexico who reported the first hantavirus case and animal plague case of 2026 this week.

On today's news report, I discuss the increase in Trichophyton mentagrophytes genotype VII (TMVII) infections, that can be spread through sex, in Minnesota.

In this news report, I look at the measles situation in Singapore and the public health measures they are taking.

In this news report, I look at the increase in invasive meningococcal disease (IMD) cases reported in Chicago.

In this short news report, I look at the chikungunya outbreak in Bolivia, which prompted the CDC to issue a travel notice.

In this news report, I look at what the Brazil Ministry of Health is doing to vaccinate 1.2 million healthcare workers against dengue fever, using their homegrown vaccine.

In this news report, I look at the chikungunya outbreaks in Suriname and Seychelles.

In this news report, I look at the New World Screwworm (NWS) situation in Central America and Mexico and the efforts being made by the state of Texas and the US government to prevent its spread into the United States.

In this newscast, I look at the measles confirmed cases and deaths in Mexico since the beginning of 2025.

The Ethiopian government has declared the end to the its first-ever outbreak of Marburg virus disease (MVD) on Monday. The completion of enhanced surveillance and the mandatory follow-up period, with no new confirmed cases reported for consecutive 42 days.

In this newscast, I go over the recent encouraging news from the Carter Center concerning global Guinea Worm disease.

In this newscast, I report on the first locally-transmitted chikungunya case in the state of Florida in 2025 in Miami-Dade County.

In this newscast, I look at Haemophilus influenzae type B (Hib) following a Facebook post I did about a outbreak among homeless people in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

In this newscast, I report on the latest data on syphilis in Japan in 2025.

In this newscast, I look at the recent PAHO numbers concerning hantavirus in the Western Hemisphere.

In this newscast, I look at the global chikungunya situation in 2025. I also discuss transmission, symptoms and treatment of this mosquito-borne disease.

In this newscast, I look at the chikungunya outbreak in Cuba.

In this newscast, I look at the end of year Nipah virus situation in Bangladesh and the latest developments with the University of Oxford's Nipah virus vaccine candidate.

In this newscast, I look at the multistate salmonella outbreak possibly linked to raw oysters.

In this newscast, I report on two recent stories coming out of Chicago- the first dog rabies case in decades and the first mpox clade I case.

The CDC has reported nearly 2000 measles cases to date in 2025, a number we haven't seen since 1992. Next month, the US faces a critical deadline where we have to prove that we have stopped measles transmission, if not, we could lose our elimination status, something we have maintained for a quarter century. Is it too late? My guest today says losing elimination status isn't inevitable. Joining me today to discuss this public health wake up call in Rodney Rohde, PhD, Dr Rohde is a University Distinguished and Regents' Professor and Chair for the Medical Laboratory Science (MLS) Program in the College of Health Professions (CHP) at Texas State University. He is also the Associate Director for the Translational Health Research Center.