Lydia Anderson

One Health: Leveraging the connection between humans, animals, and the environment

Don't forget!! One Health Day is coming!! https://t.co/dUmFU7SPOt pic.twitter.com/FWLmKg1taO — OneHealth Commission (@OneHealthCom) October 12, 2018 What is One Health? One Health is an approach that acknowledges the interactions between human and animal health are inextricably linked, and interdependent to the health of the surrounding ecosystem. These interactions offer opportunities for the emergence and spread

athenssciencecafe October 28, 2018

Do These Genes Make My Butt Look Big?

Today's chickens are bigger than ever before, which raises the question â€“ how did we do that? Over the years, companies have selected chickens with the healthiest growth and size for breeding, to help them get the best start possible. Understandably,food animal production is an emotionally-charged topic, and with conflicting information readily available online

athenssciencecafe July 11, 2018

Man's best friend is a hospital superbug's worst enemy

Dogs can do amazing things from sniffing out bombs to hunting rabbits. But Angus, a 3-year-old English springer spaniel, is a detection dog like no other. In 2016, Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) in Canada introduced this four-legged bacteria fighter to help detect Clostridium difficile (C. diff) in their hospitals. According to the Centers for Disease

athenssciencecafe May 23, 2018

Egg Freezing: Are Silicon Valley Companies Entering the Ice Age?

In 2014, Facebook was the first tech company to announce it would pay for egg freezingâ€”both for female staff and the spouses of its employees. Soon after, Apple and Google started offering egg freezing as a benefit too. We all know that a gender gap exists in the workplace; and STEM industries, especially tech companies,

athenssciencecafe March 25, 2018

Flu Shots: Hitting a Moving Target

Coughing, sneezing, runny nose, yes it's that time of year againâ€”flu season is upon us. By now you've seen plenty of â€œget your flu shot hereâ€ paraphernalia. Each year, a new flu shot is developed to try to combat the virus strains predicted to wreak havoc that season. As we learned in Part II of

athenssciencecafe December 6, 2017

Influenza: The MacGyver Virus

Flu season is coming in hot, folks! What better way to prepare than by brushing up on your knowledge? First let's recall the important features of influenza viruses. There are four types of influenza viruses: A, B, C, and D. As we saw in the previous influenza blog installment featuring canine influenza, the emergence of

athenssciencecafe October 18, 2017

Bird Flu Finds Fido

Seriously, don't come to work if you're sick. How many times have we all heard this mantra? When people bring their infectious illness to work, it spreads like wildfire. Especially in the case of influenza (flu), a sick person can spread their tiny infectious droplets to other people up to 6 feet away. The same

athenssciencecafe August 20, 2017

Screwworm Drives Fear of Zombie Deer

It's never a good sign when the deer in real life appear more gruesome than those depicted on the infamous zombie apocalypse TV series, â€˜The Walking Dead'. On October 3, 2016 the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) confirmed that the flesh-eating New World Screwworm had infested endangered Key Deer in the National Key Deer

athenssciencecafe April 12, 2017