Seeking intriguing articles and videos about epidemiology.

September 6, 2018 6:47 PM

Help me find recent (2017-present), interesting articles or videos about chronic or infectious disease topics to share with undergraduates.

I teach undergraduates who are interested in health sciences careers. What recent articles or videos have you found that could be of interest to them? I have a number of resources that I've compiled, but they're from 2016 or before.

posted by terrierhead to Science & Nature (4 answers total)

Best answer: This year is the 100th anniversary of the 1918 Flu Pandemic (this is preparedness month!). This Atlantic article about whether America (or anyone) is ready for a new global pandemic is pretty interesting.
posted by jessamyn at 6:58 PM on September 6, 2018 [1 favorite]

Thanks for the link, Jessamyn! The thought of pandemics is deeply frightening; this article was, oddly enough, calming. At least a little calming.
posted by kestralwing at 8:49 PM on September 6, 2018

I don’t know if your students interests extend to health policy, but I really liked Vox’s series on the topic, called The Impact. It was put out in late 2017. I found the episode on maternal mortality particularly interesting.
posted by reren at 10:08 PM on September 6, 2018

In 1545, disaster struck Mexico's Aztec nation when people started coming down with high fevers and headaches, bleeding from the eyes, mouth and nose. Death generally followed in three or four days.

Within five years, as many as 15 million people—an estimated 80 percent of the population—were wiped out in an epidemic the locals named "cocoliztli".
The word means "pestilence" in the Aztec Nahuatl language. Its cause, however, has been in question for nearly 500 years.
...
The cocoliztli outbreak is considered one of the deadliest epidemics in human history, approaching the "Black Death" bubonic plague that felled some 25 million people in western Europe in the 14th century—about half the regional population.
...
A second cocoliztli outbreak from 1576 to 1578 killed half the remaining population.
...

posted by jamjam at 12:04 AM on September 7, 2018