Lorian writes:
If you plan to take your mouse to the opera, I would suggest “Die Fledermaus,” rather than “‘Der’ Fledermaus.”
I have no idea what the latter is, but I’m sure it’s not nearly as entertaining as the real thing! (Sorry! My area of expertise!) 😂
John writes:
Vincent and TWIV Team,
I first have to say that you are all amazing. I have now listened to every TWIV—some more than once—and your insights and comments are always enlightening. The passion all of you have for show’s content, whether it be virology, immunology or biochemistry is infectious (sorry for the pun).
Over the last few months, the concept of “truth” has come up in many podcast episodes, from RFK to the flu vaccines, and I just wanted to comment that even though following the science is best, there are sometimes deeper causalities driving people to ignore it—or as you have repeated many times, to act irrationally by modern western standards.
In my lab we spend a great deal of time mapping and analyzing the spread of infectious diseases and trying to understand the geospatial reasons for their movement. We are currently working with the data from the 2013-2016 Ebola outbreak in West Africa.
What became obvious very quickly to us, at least in this example, is the difference between the recommendations of science and deeply held cultural beliefs and practices, which while not explicitly in conflict with the science, inform behaviors at odds with public health recommendations.
Deeply held customs, especially kinship structures and funeral rites (which here in the Kissi, Mende, and Temne speaking regions are very different from US or European ideas) often supersede in people’s minds recommendations from outside their cultural context. In most cases these obligations are considered inescapable.
An interesting paper in this regard, which you might be interested in, was published in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases and is entitled, “Social Pathways for Ebola Virus Disease in Rural Sierra Leone, and Some Implications for Containment”. ( https://journals.plos.org/plosntds/article?id=10.1371/journal.pntd.0003567 )
Social Pathways for Ebola Virus Disease in Rural Sierra Leone, and Some Implications for Containment
Author Summary Ebola virus disease is a disease of social intimacy. The main infection pathways are through nursing of the sick and through preparation of corpses for burial. In African rural communities these are activities mainly undertaken by close family members. Infection thus spreads to those most intimate with the patient. In effect, Ebola virus disease exacts a high price for family loyalty. It also causes a potential breach between family members and the authorities responsible for imposing infection control. Understanding the social pathways through which infection spreads, and the conflict of human values invoked by infection control are thus key topics in managing the current Ebola epidemic in Upper West Africa. The paper offers a picture, based on case study data from central Sierra Leone, of some of the social factors to be taken into account in efforts to control the epidemic.
journals.plos.org
The article goes into some detail about marriage rituals and how the death of a spouse compelled travel in many cases, not to a funeral, but for economic and status reasons, which in the minds of most (their data is very clear on this) rural residents of Sierra Leone, far outweighed the dangers of Ebola transmission during the outbreak. No direct denial of science here, just trusted and long-standing customs being considered more important than the risk of death or transmission.
This is all just to say the “culture” is an important consideration when thinking about what informs people’s actions–and that what counts as rational is a culturally informed concept.
As far as the staff pick goes there is a new volume from the University of Pennsylvania Press called On Pestilence. The book is a translation of the lectures given by the Renaissance physician, Girolamo Mercuriale in Venice in 1577. In 1576 the Public Health Office of Venice imposed a quarantine on the city because of a plague outbreak. Mercuriale misdiagnosed the plague and suggested opening up the city, especially for economic reasons. By July 50,000 Venetians had however died of the plague.
The book is his lectures on the plague and public health policy AFTER he recognized his tragic mistake. The lectures are surprisingly modern and show how some of the same public health issues—problems like economics and politics entering into public health decisions have been with us for centuries.
Thanks for all you do—and for reading this way too long email!!
Best,
John
Suzanne writes:
Does a virus’ origin affect its epidemiology?
I can think of no way this would affect what we know about SARS-CoV-2 at this point. But I also know this person isn’t going to listen to me because I have no training in virology whatsoever! So I figured I’d share this question with you:
Question for the #epidemiology crowd: setting politics aside, what impact, if any, does the origin of the #Covid19 pandemic have on the course of this disease?
For example, if this pandemic was caused by a lab-modified corona virus, would this have implications for this virus’s evolutionary course?
For the purposes of predicting epidemiological outcomes, do “initial conditions” matter in this context?
If there are peer-reviewed papers I should read on this, a nose-point would be great.
To be clear, I’m not interested in wading into a “zoonotic origin vs lab leak” debate on #SARSCoV2. That way lies misery.
I’m only interested in knowing whether zoonotic vs lab matters from an epidemiological PoV.
Put another way, is this particular corona virus’s propensity for mutation at odds with others in this family? If so, how is this explained? How does this mutational propensity factor into predictions about what “living with SARS-CoV-2” will look like 5 years from now?
I’d LOVE to hear that it makes no difference whatsoever now that this virus is happily mutating away on its own.
But, if so, I’d like to know HOW we know this to be so.
Big ask, I know, but I think it’s a question worth posing to Fedi’s #epidemiology experts.
Charles writes:
Hello TWiVers;
80F and sunny in Chapel Hill, NC today. I listened to TWiVs 1044 and 1045 while driving back from NJ yesterday. The last letters from 1045 (or is that 02025) reminded me of another virus hunting program.
Project Argus from Georgetown University was also canceled a few years ago and was handcuffed before that.
Project Argus, the many eyed and in this case many eared, creature looked at news sources around the world for signs of epidemics. It gathered from sources in 34-50 languages. It was a cheap way to get an early indication of what was happening in the world without having to rely on official channels. It had real world success.
I wish it would start up again and be allowed to look at all public sources.
Thanks,
Charles Fischer
Description link:
Success Link:
https://www.hsgac.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/imo/media/doc/WilsonTestimony.pdf
Handcuffed link:
Az writes:
Free solo
Documentary about Alex Honnold’s Free Solo climb of El Capitan in Yosemite. ‘Free Solo’ means climbing without a rope and alone.