February 1st, 2020

In late December 2019 a story broke about a respiratory illness outbreak in the town of Wuhan, China. This illness has now been called the Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCov). About two months later this virus has become a household name in almost all counties. Before you start panicking that this will be the virus that turns this reality into one of the movie Contagion, take a deep breath and let me explain this virus so you can be equipped with knowledge.

What is a Coronavirus?

First off, it is important to understand what type of virus this is. The Coronavirus is a family of viruses that can cause illnesses ranging from the common cause of many colds or other more lethal upper respiratory infections. They are zoonotic, meaning that they can infect some animals, and as seen with this 2019 Novel Coronavirus, spread from animal to human. The Chinese health authorities shared the full genome of this virus and it is now known that the 2019 nCoV is a betacoronavirus. This specific type of coronavirus originates in bats. When I was first researching this virus to write this post I was shocked that this virus originated in bats of all animals because that seems like a very uncommon animal to come into contact with.

Source and Spread:

As previously mentioned this respiratory illness caused by the Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCov) was first reported in Wuhan, China in late December 2019. The first couple of infections were linked to a big seafood and animal market in this city. What probably happened, according to scientist and to what I also agree with, is that people picked up the virus from infected animals at this market. It has been shown that a variety of animals at this market are sold, including bats. As this disease has progressed many more cases are popping up in people with direct connection to this market. Scientist now think it also spreads from person to person. This one virus, in the span of about two months, has gone on to kill hundreds and infect thousands in China. And more recently, this virus, thanks to travel, has spread internationally. Cases have been reported in many countries including the United States. However there have been no deaths associated with the cases in the United States and these cases have been isolated, meaning there is not community spread of this disease. It is not quite understood how exactly this disease is being transmitted from person to person yet. In my opinion it is probably being spread by the inhalation of airborne virus containing droplets because of how many people seem to be infected in China from person to person. Extensive research is continuing to be done, so the exact mechanism of transmission will likely soon be known.

Sign, Symptoms, and Treatment:

Signs and symptoms of this disease include: cough, fever, shortness of breath, and in severe cases (elderly or immunodeficient patients) have developed pneumonia or bronchitis. This infection has many common respiratory sings and symptoms. If you are presenting this symptoms I would only be concerned if you have been in close physical contact with someone who has recently been to China. this is a virus that means that antibiotics will not be affective in treating it. As of now there are no approved anti-viral medications yet. Though this is alarming, I have full trust that the scientist working around the clock on this will find an effective treatment. With the resources and technologies being used there is a lot of hope for one. People with this receive supportive care to help with the signs and symptoms and help give them their best chance at survival.

What Now?

Now that you have read this blog post I hope you have become a little more informed about this virus. I think it is very important for people to be equipped with as much knowledge as possible about stuff like this. It is very easy for panic to take over when issue like this arise. In the United States you should not be that concerned with contracting this disease unless you come into contact with someone who has been to China and has this virus. AKA your risks are very very low in the United States. However, in China this virus continues to infect people by the thousands and has killed hundreds. So it is important that the world steps in and helps China contain this and help them find a possible cure. It is also important to note that in the United States hundreds die because of the flu, and none have yet to die from this coronavirus, yet this new virus has gotten all the buzz. This is quiet interesting to me, and I assume it is because of the severity in China and the fear that it could lead to a pandemic. But, for now I would tell you to keep up with the news and stay cautious. Until next time 🙂

January 31st 2020

My first blog post is finally here!!

I thought I would start my blog off about a topic that many of my readers might be familiar with, but not really know much about. I have decided to discuss the controversy around one former British doctor’s claims about a possible connection between the MMR vaccine and autism. Before you freak out because you have this vaccine or gave it to your child, let me discuss some of the facts around this issue so you can have a better understanding.

Andrew Wakefield was a gastrointestinal (GI) doctor and researcher from Britian. In the early 1990s he began conducting research on the possible link between the MMR vaccine, GI issues, and autism after he noticed a possible pattern with some of his patients. Based on a study of 12 patients he, along with 12 other doctors, published their findings, out of the Royal Free Hospital, in The Lancet. It is in this publication that he made the alarming claim that the MMR vaccine could predispose children to behavioral regression and pervasive developmental disorder in children. In other words, they were claiming that the vaccine could lead to autism or autistic like tendencies in children who received it. My first issue with this is the sample size of his study, which was 12 patients. If I were to make a shocking claim like this I would want to be as sure as I could be. And it is hard for you to be that sure with a study of only 12 kids. How can you be certain that this is true in all people with this vaccine when you looked at 12 kids, all in the UK??? Second, it’s hard to know wether or not the kids were already showing signs of regression or developmental disorders prior to the vaccination. However, if I were a parent in this time this might have caused quite a scare in me. I mean, I wouldn’t want to give my child a vaccine if seemingly could do more harm to them than good. But, this is why it is very important to do your own research and not trust everything you read on the web.

Now let me explain what this supposed autism-causing MMR vaccine is. This vaccine protects you against three diseases: measles, mumps, and rubella, which is where it gets its name. Children typically get their first dose between 9 to 15 months and their second dose between 15 months and 6 years of age. We have learned about these three infections in my Microbiology class at UNC and trust me you don’t want your kids or yourself contracting them. If you want more information about these three infections and the vaccine click here.

Now that you have a basic understanding of Andrew Wakefield, his paper, and the MMR vaccine, you are probably wondering what happened after this paper was released. Well, after its publication this paper got a lot of attention from the public. It caused a lot of fear and panic among parents. As a result, vaccine rates plunged in the UK and went from 92% in 1996/1997 to 80% in 2003/2004. This drop is quite alarming to me as this means millions of children, in the UK alone, were not receiving vaccines from diseases that could be lethal if contracted. Also as a (hopefully) future health care provider this is quite scary because when this happens it can lead to the outbreak of vaccine-preventable diseases. And this is exactly what happened in the UK following this drop in vaccinations. Soon after, there were outbreaks of many vaccine-preventable diseases.

With a claim and a public reaction like this the scientific community turned to investigate to see if what Wakefield at el. found is really supported by their data and if additional research could support it. Unsurprisingly, after much investigation no scientist supported this paper and its finding. They rather brought to light its inaccuracies and their fraudulent behavior. It has been found that Wakefield altered a lot of the data he used as evidence to support his claim. For example, in his study he claimed that all of the children were “normal” prior to vaccination, yet, it was uncovered that there were are developmental concerns with 5 of the children prior to their vaccination. Meaning that almost half of the children were showing autistic-like tendencies before the vaccine, which means without the vaccine they would must likely have continued to have behavioral regressions. Additionally, it was uncovered that Wakefield was funded by lawyers who were working with parents that were against anti-vaccine producing companies. This, in my opinion, probably caused Wakefield and his colleagues to manipulate and interpret the data towards the outcome that was favorable for them to make the claim they did as it also aligned with the views that their donors. It seems to explain why they were fraudulent, they did so for financial gain.

Thankfully, in 2010 The Lacent retracted the full publication and However, and quite surprising to me, many people still believe that there is a link between vaccines and autism and choose to not vaccinate their kids because of this. Wakefield and his colleagues were charged with fraud, for picking and choosing the data they wanted, and falsifying it to get the results that they wanted to support this claim. However, the damage has already been done and this is not a problem of the past Many parents still do not vaccinate their kids in fear of giving their kids autism or other issues. There are outbreaks of diseases that could be prevented with vaccines. In January of 2020 a case of mumps was noted at my university. However, I hope we are moving away from the fear surrounding vaccines and more people realize their importance in society.

I hope you all have a better understanding of this issue and realize that there does not need to be any fear around the MMR vaccine, and other vaccines in general. Rather, there should be more fear around not being vaccinated due to the possible diseases that you can contracts. If you have any further questions just write a comment and I will try to respond as soon as possible. Thanks again for reading and look out for next weeks post!

If you would like more information, here are the sources I used for research on this topic: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3136032/ https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vpd/mmr/public/index.html#what-is-mmr https://benthamopen.com/contents/pdf/TOVACJ/TOVACJ-6-9.pdf

Be yourself; Everyone else is already taken.

— Oscar Wilde.

This is the first post on my new blog. I’m just getting this new blog going, so stay tuned for more. Subscribe below to get notified when I post new updates.

Hi everyone!

I am so excited that you are visiting my blog about microbiology.

I’m Anna Dillon, a junior at UNC-Chapel Hill. I am currently taking MCRO 251, a class where we learn all about microbiology. With this blog I will be taking my knowledge from this class and discussing various topics.

Here is a little information to get to know me better:

I am one of five kids and also have an identical twin named Molly, who also attends UNC-Chapel Hill. I love to exercise, wether it is go for a walk or run, go to the gym, or try a fun new workout class. I also love to watch crime, medical, and reality TV shows. I always love new recommendations, so message me if you are watching a good show! I also love to travel. My favorite places that I have traveled are Italy, Greece, Puerto Rico, and China. I am an Exercise and Sports Science Major, and a Health and Society Minor. I hope to become a PA in the future. If you want to know more about me you can look at my Instagram my username is: annawdillon.