A Richmond, Virginia, gastroenterologist woke from a dead sleep to find a bat physically pushing between her lips, and because she knew exactly what to do next, her story doubles as a public-health warning worth hearing. Dr. Krista Edelman was asleep in her home when something at her mouth jolted her awake. She reached up […] The post Virginia doctor wakes to find bat trying to crawl into her mouth — and her response is a lesson for every homeowner appeared first on American Almanac .
A Richmond, Virginia, gastroenterologist woke from a dead sleep to find a bat physically pushing between her lips, and because she knew exactly what to do next, her story doubles as a public-health warning worth hearing. Dr. Krista Edelman was asleep in her home when something at her mouth jolted her awake. She reached up and touched what she described as something "slimy and a little hairy and cool." It was a bat, and it was not just resting on her face. Edelman shared the account on Instagram , where the post gained wide attention. Her description left little room for ambiguity: "This bat was legitimately trying to burrow between my lips into my mouth, trying to get past my teeth. I grabbed this bat and I threw it across the room and…Open
What's the common thread connecting AI advances, biological breakthroughs, a preponderance of high-risk-high-reward research, escalating geopolitical tensions and a hollowed-out U.S. public health sector? - They all heighten the risk that one day a lethal human-made pathogen will emerge, either accidentally or intentionally, and we won't be ready for it. Why it matters: The same advances that make this a pivotal moment for medical innovation are intensifying the risk of catastrophic lab mishaps, though how significant a risk is hotly debated by experts. - "It is a very small tweak from trying to target a disease, and making gene therapies to try to target a disease, to turning a virus into something that can be much more detrimental,"…
Suffolk County health officials have confirmed a fourth case of tularemia on Long Island this year, extending a steady rise in the rare but potentially deadly tick-borne illness that has no vaccine available to the public. Dr. Gregson Pigott, commissioner of the Suffolk County Department of Health Services, confirmed the latest case to ABC News […] The post Fourth case of 'rabbit fever' confirmed on Long Island as tick-borne infections climb appeared first on American Almanac .
Suffolk County health officials have confirmed a fourth case of tularemia on Long Island this year, extending a steady rise in the rare but potentially deadly tick-borne illness that has no vaccine available to the public. Dr. Gregson Pigott, commissioner of the Suffolk County Department of Health Services, confirmed the latest case to ABC News on Thursday. The bacterial infection, caused by the organism Francisella tularensis, is commonly known as "rabbit fever" because hunters who skin and gut wild rabbits risk direct exposure. It spreads to humans primarily through tick bites, deer fly bites, handling infected animal tissue, breathing contaminated dust, or drinking contaminated water. It does not spread person to person. The case…Open
Demis Hassabis , Google DeepMind co-founder and CEO, is calling on the U.S. to establish a new AI watchdog with the power to screen the world's most advanced models — and coordinate an industry-wide slowdown if dangers mount . - Hassabis, the Nobel laureate behind Gemini, lays out the plan in a personal manifesto published Tuesday morning, "A Framework for Frontier AI and the Dawning of a New Age." Why it matters: In an exclusive interview with Axios, Hassabis said the time has come for a more "systematic" approach to AI regulation — funded by the industry, staffed by world-class technical experts, and answerable to the U.S. government. Today's AI-driven cyber risks are "warning shots," Hassabis told us from his London base.…
Many Americans are still experiencing high levels of distrust in health agencies and the medical establishment. In this most recent episode, a lab-infected monkey bit an employee, a detail that public health officials left out of their acknowledgment.
To ensure the joint force can fight and win in any environment, key organizations from across the Army and Department of War gathered at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash., to refine the complex challenge of operating through a chemical or biological attack.
“Why would you have some illicit labs set up in an Airbnb, except for, maybe, you’re trying to create some sort of, you know, patient zero scenario, that you might infect someone, that you might create another COVID-like scenario," Crawford says
