Virulent Vortex

In this episode of the Virulent Vortex, Dave Civitello discusses snails and schistosomes. Expecting that schistosomes from humans and cattle could hybridize and create super-parasites, Civitello foun…

In this episode Lance Waller talks to Jaap de Roode about his new book Doctors by Nature, discussing the many ways in which animals use medicine and what we can learn from them.

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What do pigs and chickens have to do with antibiotic resistance? In this episode of the Virulent Vortex, Maya Nadimpalli explains how the overuse of antibiotics in the livestock and poultry industry …

From two stripes to one: many of us have felt the relief when our at-home COVID-19 test finally turned negative. While COVID-19 infections generally last days to weeks, some people can be infected fo…

Using fertilizer to increase plant growth and crop production is common practice. But fertilizing to make snails grow? Not so much. In this episode of the Virulent Vortex, LM Bradley explains why she…

If your dream is to discover a new scary virus, then this episode of the Virulent Vortex is for you. Anne Piantadosi is passionate about ticks and employs a technique called metagenomics to identify …

Severe diarrheal disease can be caused by many different pathogens, but doctors will often prescribe bacteria-killing antibiotics, even when the disease is caused by viruses. In this episode of the V…

What do Ebola and COVID-19 have in common? Both are caused by viruses, and both can be controlled using contact tracing and smart vaccination campaigns. In this episode of the Virulent Vortex, Natali…

Have you ever been scared of becoming a mushroom-spreading zombie? This scenario may sound familiar to viewers of the sci-fi show The Last of Us. While chances are low, fungal infections are in fact …

In this episode of the Virulent Vortex, host Jaap de Roode is interviewed by Lance Waller to discuss his research on malaria and butterfly disease. Crossing scales, de Roode’s work tries to understan…

Patients with cystic fibrosis are especially vulnerable to infections with harmful bacteria, including staph and Pseudomonas. In this episode of the Virulent Vortex, Ashley Alexander explains that th…

While vaccines and drugs are key in the control of infectious diseases, healthy living conditions are crucial too. In this episode of the Virulent Vortex, Stephen Mugel explains how clean water, non-…

Patients are rarely infected with a single pathogen, and understanding how pathogens interact with each other is key for controlling infectious disease. In this episode of the Virulent Vortex, Rachel…

While mosquitoes continue to take the spotlight as vectors of infectious disease, ticks are becoming increasingly important as transmitters of pathogens. In this episode, Steph Bellman talks about he…

Living through the COVID-19 pandemic, we sometimes forget that there have been, and will be, other pandemics. Many of these pandemics have involved flu. In this episode of the Virulent Vortex, Katia …

Ben Lopman has long studied how to optimize vaccination against rotavirus, which causes severe diarrheal disease in children. In this episode of the Virulent Vortex, he explains how his work on rotav…

If you are interested in bugs, this episode of the Virulent Vortex is for you. Sandra Mendiola explains how beneficial bacterial bugs can stop insect bugs from spreading harmful bacterial bugs to squ…

If you have ever had flu, it may feel like the flu virus is a perfect pathogen. Think again. In this episode of the Virulent Vortex, Anice Lowen explains that single flu viruses are actually pretty b…

When COVID-19 turned into a deadly pandemic in 2020, no effective treatments were available. In this episode of the Virulent Vortex, Mirko Paiardini describes how he demonstrated that the drug barici…

In this opening episode of the Virulent Vortex Podcast, Lance Waller proclaims his love for maps, explains what it means to study infectious diseases across scales, and describes how maps can help sa…