About two years ago, I took a course in epidemiology out of UCBerkeley extension. The instructor was an expert in HPV, and she frequently used the peculiarity of that virus - human papillomavirus - to illustrate the trickiness of combating disease on a population (rather than individual) level. The fundamental quirk of HPV is that it is largely benign - some 75% of women carry the virus (and conceivably an equal number of men, though no thorough studies on male carriage have been done as far as I know). But of those 75%, HPV is a major contributing factor for cervical cancer; indeed, the upswing in cervical cancers in recent decades can be almost entirely attributed to the spread of HPV. All of this is backstory to what's recently hit the front page: the availability of a HPV vaccine and, inevitably, the backlash against the vaccine from the Christian Right. The vaccine is controversial because it's most effective when given to girls (not women) *before* they start having sex. It doesn't do squat once you already have the virus.
Read MoreSo I know I'm not the only one smirking at this story: the possible hepatitis A outbreak after a swanky Hollywood party - the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue party, no less - catered by Wolfgang Puck. This version of the story contains one especially telling detail: Beyonce isn't worried about getting infected because she didn't eat. Thankfully, of all the Hep viruses, Hep A is the easiest to treat.
Read MoreAmericans may be the cleanest people on the face of the earth. We bathe more frequently than any other nation. We spend $15 billion a year on household cleaning products, and another $2 billion on soap and $1 billion on antibacterial soaps, sanitizers and sprays. We have made hygiene into a national religion, with Proctor & Gamble as our Jupiter and Juno.
Read MoreGotta start with a list of epidemics. Thank you, Wikipedians.
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