Categories: Global Health Threats
May 24th, 2012 4:28 pm ET -
Curt Shannon
This 1963 poster featured CDC’s national symbol of public health – Wellbee – and included the date, time, and location of where one could receive a vaccination for polio and other diseases. Photo courtesy of the CDC Public Health Image Library.
Dr. Cara Burns is team lead of CDC’s Polio Molecular Epidemiology Laboratory within the Polio and Picornavirus Laboratory Branch, Division of Viral Diseases, National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Disease. We asked her about her work:
1. What do you do at CDC?
As a research microbiologist, I lead a team of scientists who support the worldwide polio eradication program by sequencing viral genes and tracking polioviruses as they spread. We can determine if polioviruses have been imported from one country to another. We can also figure out where children are being missed by the immunization teams, by combining the sequencing information with information about where and when people are paralyzed by polio. This combined approach is called molecular epidemiology, which is an important part of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative. CDC works with other major partners such as the World Health Organization, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, UNICEF and Rotary International.
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Categories: Innovative Labs
March 20th, 2012 1:56 pm ET -
Curt Shannon
Dr. Arnold Castro has developed innovative tests to more quickly diagnose syphilis. As a result, patients may begin receiving treatment sooner.
Editor’s Note: Dr. Arnold received this honor from the Laboratory Science, Policy and Practice Program Office (LSPPPO) in the Office of Surveillance, Epidemiology, and Laboratory Services (OSELS) at CDC. We asked Dr. Castro some questions about his work:
What do you do at CDC?
I am a research microbiologist and I am responsible for the development of new innovative point of care (POC) rapid tests for the diagnosis of syphilis using serum, plasma or whole blood. The test is simple, inexpensive, requires no expertise to interpret the results and it is capable of determining the serological status of a patient by screening and confirming the result in a single test within 2 to 15 minutes while the patient waits at the clinical site. I also have other duties related to syphilis detection, including serving as technical advisor for the WHO syphilis Proficiency Testing Program at CDC.
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Categories: Global Health Threats
January 27th, 2012 2:54 pm ET -
Curt Shannon
Dr. S. Patrick Kachur grew up on Ohio’s Mosquito Lake. He trained in preventive medicine and public health and has worked on malaria at CDC since 1995.
Meet Dr. S. Patrick Kachur, who oversees CDC’s Malaria Branch. Not only is the Malaria Branch the oldest program at CDC but with more than 60 staff, it’s the largest group of malaria scientists in North America. We recently talked to Dr. Kachur about his work.
What personal experience in your work are you proudest of?
I was fortunate to work with Kenyan and Tanzanian scientists on studies that proved how treated bednets and new combination medicines save lives–even in the remote communities hardest hit by malaria.
How does your work save lives and protect people?
Scientists in CDC’s Malaria Branch help set global and national policies to scale up malaria prevention and treatment. As a result of CDC’s work, and the efforts of many of our partners, the number of deaths from malaria has fallen from more than 1.5 million to 655,000 in less than ten years.
What is the biggest barrier you face in doing your work?
Even though we have seen tremendous progress in combating malaria in recent years, this could unravel if political will and financial support fall off. Malaria parasites and the mosquitoes that carry them are constantly adapting and we need to continue our current interventions as well as advance the science that will lead to new tools like the RTS,S vaccine.
What is the most important thing for the public to know about what you do?
CDC started the fight against malaria. Now let’s finish it together.
You can read more about Dr. Kachur and CDC’s malaria team in the CDC Works For You 24/7 article, Malaria Vaccine Trial: Behind the Scenes in Kenya, which describes CDC/Kenya Medical Research Institute’s participation in the RTS,S malaria vaccine Phase III clinical trial.
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Categories: Global Health Threats
December 20th, 2011 2:25 pm ET -
Curt Shannon
Polio is a crippling and potentially fatal disease that is completely preventable through vaccination. In fact, polio was eradicated in the Americas by 1994 through large scale vaccination efforts. Now, partners in the Global Polio Eradication Initiative are stepping up to take down polio worldwide. You can learn more in the latest post on Public Health Matters http://go.usa.gov/N1s.
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Categories: Disease Detectives
November 17th, 2011 1:19 pm ET -
Curt Shannon
Dr. Benjamin Silk, CDC
Dr. Benjamin Silk is a lieutenant commander with the U.S. Public Health Service and an expert on tracking the bacteria listeria that can cause foodborne sickness and death. He played a key role in CDC’s response to the recent multi-state listeria outbreak. Dr. Silk served as a CDC Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) officer from 2008 to 2010, and has 16 years of experience in public health disease tracking, disease investigation, and research to prevent and control infectious disease.
We recently spoke to Dr. Silk about his work. We are also reposting his video blog from a few weeks ago.
What do you do?
I’ve always wanted to do meaningful work that I believed in. I was in the Peace Corps in El Salvador in the 1990s, working on rural water sanitation. It was a former war zone and there was a need to rebuild the infrastructure and improve sanitation. I was working with the community and trying to promote safe water and sanitation, but I didn’t realize there was a more systematic way to do it – and that was through public health. So I went back to graduate school and got into disease investigation.
Now I focus on the tracking and investigation of foodborne diseases. Most of my time is dedicated to listeriosis, which is caused by the bacteria Listeria monocytogenes. Listeriosis is rare, but an important public health issue because it can severely sicken or even kill people – especially older adults, people with weakened immune systems, developing fetuses, and newborns.
What personal experience are you proudest of during your career?
First, I’m proud of all the work it took to get through graduate school and get the level of training I have now – all those hours of studying to get where I am. In my role in the current national listeria outbreak, I have been able to help coordinate CDC’s response using the best science available as our guide. I am also very proud to be part of the effective partnerships that CDC has established with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and many public health departments and laboratories – especially the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. Our collaborations in tracking disease, investigating food outbreaks, and discovering where they originate were essential to the rapid identification and removal of the contaminated cantaloupes that caused the most recent listeria outbreak.
How does your work protect people and save lives?
Controlling outbreaks is the most immediate way we prevent disease and save lives. That’s always inspiring because we can quickly see the effects of our work when the outbreak ends. The impact of our public health actions, including protecting the food supply and educating consumers through the media, is always most potent during an outbreak.
The current listeriosis outbreak is already the second largest listeriosis outbreak known to have ever happened in the United States. Therefore, we are certain that our rapid investigation and public health actions prevented a large number of illnesses and deaths among people who would have eaten the cantaloupes had they remained in the food supply longer. This historic outbreak will also allow us to learn more about how to investigate listeria, and especially how to prevent contamination of cantaloupes and other foods in the future. These lessons will be very valuable to the public health and regulatory officials who are working constantly to prevent listeria outbreaks.
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