epidemiology

You’ve Been Lied to About Rats and the Black Death

�ٲ��ʴǱ貹 — Fri, 18 Apr 2025 16:02:20 +0000

Rats have long been associated with and blamed for the spread of plague, a disease that has killed over 200 million people throughout the past two millennia. The Black Death, a bubonic plague pandemic, is estimated to have resulted in the death of nearly 50% of Europe’s 14th century population, making it one of the deadliest disease outbreaks in human history. However, emerging research suggests that rats may not have played a central role in the outbreak and transmission of plague.

Dr. Oz’s Sad Trip Down the Rabbit Hole

Joe Schwarcz PhD — Fri, 18 Feb 2022 22:01:11 +0000

It seems that Dr. Mehmet Oz’s transformation from respected surgeon to deplorable pseudoscience advocate is complete. He recently slandered Dr. Fauci as a “petty tyrant” and then called him “cowardly” for not taking the bait to get into a “doctor-to-doctor debate” with the surgeon-turned TV snake oil salesman-turned politician. Oz may once have been a very competent physician, but he is way, way out of his depth when it comes to immunology, virology and epidemiology. He is just not in Dr. Fauci’s league.

Let’s Hear It for the Voices of Reason

Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. — Thu, 08 Apr 2021 16:45:11 +0000

The COVID-19 pandemic has been a golden opportunity for schemers, contrarians and conspiracy theorists to use public distress and thirst for knowledge to widen their reach. It is easy to get lost in those weeds and forget that there are good people whose intellectual rigour and clarity have provided us all with metaphorical flashlights during these dark times. They have looked at an expanding (and sometimes contracting) body of evidence on COVID-19, delineated the border between what we knew and didn’t know, and explained to us the maddening uncertainties of science in real-time.

The Discovery of Cholera

OSS — Thu, 10 Dec 2020 20:53:30 +0000

Video of Dr. Joe Schwarcz on the discovery of cholera