From Haiti to the Hajj: Real-time science to prevent pandemics
- Time:
- Sunday, November 3rd, 9:30 am to 10:30 am
- Location:
- Century Ballroom A
- Speaker(s):
- Gregory C. GrayProfessor and chair, Department of Environmental and Global Health, College of Public Health and Health Professions; director, Global Pathogens Laboratory, University of Florida
- J. Glenn Morris Jr.Director, Emerging Pathogens Institute; professor of medicine (infectious diseases) and public health, University of Florida
- Moderator(s):
- Maryn McKenna Author; contributing editor, Scientific American; blogger, wired.com
As the annual Hajj pilgrimage approaches, world health officials are watching with concern a SARS-like coronavirus that has already caused dozens of deaths in Saudi Arabia this year. Glenn Morris and his collaborators at the Emerging Pathogens Institute at the University of Florida scramble to do the basic science necessary to fend off and combat pandemics. Areas of current activity include understanding the transmission of the Saudi Arabian virus from animals to humans. Morris is also studying how Haiti’s newly established and highly virulent cholera strain continues to evolve, both in the island’s waters and during transmission from one human host to another. The establishment of a single strain in a new environment has turned Haiti, tragically, into a laboratory for puzzling out the dynamics of Vibrio cholerae.
Program Note: This session will conclude with a dialogue and Q&A with Maryn McKenna on the challenges emerging diseases pose for science writers and communicators.
For more information, see the CASW website.
