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| Thomas Scott is featured in a blog and podcast on dengue on the Discover website. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey) |
DAVIS--Medical entomologist Thomas Scott, professor of entomology, UC Davis Department of Entomology, is featured in a blog and podcast on dengue on the Discover website.
"On my latest podcast, I take a look at dengue fever, a viral disease that’s infecting some 50 million people a year and is even turning up in the United States," says Carl Zimmer in his blog, Meet the Scientist. "I talk to Thomas Scott of UC Davis about how this cunning virus takes advantage of human networks to spread its aches, pains, bleeding, and death."
Scott, who will be inducted as Fellow of the Entomological Society of America in December 2010, is an expert on dengue, considered the world's worst insect-transmitted virus.
His goal: to save lives through research, surveillance and implementation of disease prevention strategies.
“I study the patterns of human infection with dengue virus, doing detailed studies of mosquito populations and disease in humans in order to predict which prevention strategies work the best,” said Scott, who assesses risks, develops computer models and implements disease prevention strategies.
The culprit: Aedes aegypti, or the yellow-fever mosquito, that transmits dengue virus to people.
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| The Aedes aegypti mosquito transmits dengue. Click to enlarge. (Photo by James Gathany, CDC). |
The disease: Dengue, caused by any one of four serotypes or closely related viruses known as DEN-1, DEN-2, DEN-3, or DEN-4. Nicknamed “break bone fever,” classic dengue is characterized by high fever, headaches, muscle and joint pain, nausea, vomiting and a rash.
At risk: Some 2.5 to 3 billion people, primarily in tropical and sub-tropical countries around the world.
The prevalence: Some 50 to 100 million annual cases of debilitating dengue fever. The most severe form of the disease, dengue haemorrhagic fever (DHF), strikes half a million a year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. An estimated 5 percent with DHF die.
Zimmer, a former senior editor at Discover, contributes articles to the New York Times, as well as magazines including National Geographic, Time, Scientific American, Science, and Popular Science. He also writes an award-winning blog, The Loom.
Zimmer is a lecturer at Yale University, where he teaches writing about science and the environment. He is also the first Visiting Scholar at the Science, Health, and Environment Reporting Program at New York University’s Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute.
(Editor's Note: Zimmer says that to his knowledge, he is the only writer after which a species of tapeworm has been named.)
Related links:
Thomas Scott to Teach Medical Entomology, Winter Quarter
Thomas Scott Talks About Dengue
Thomas Scott Elected Fellow of Entomological Society of America.
--Kathy Keatley Garvey
Communications specialist
UC Davis Department of Entomology
(530) 754-6894
