Many of us had never heard of the Zika Virus until recently, when it first took the media by storm. The Zika Virus, first discovered in Uganda Forest of Zika in 1947, is a mosquito-transmitted pathogen similar in nature to yellow fever and the West Nile Virus. This May, it made its first appearance in the Western Hemisphere, with an outbreak in Brazil. Now, the virus is running rampant, and has spread to numerous other countries, even making as far as the U.S. in Texas.
The Donation Equation: Organ Transplants and Waiting Lists
There are currently more than 123,000 people on waiting lists for potentially life-saving organ donation in the United States alone. Many of these individuals will not receive the organ(s) they need in order to survive, raising the question of whether or not patients with the most need are on the top of the waiting lists.
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Public Housing’s Smoking Quandary
The crackdown on cigarette smoking is still in full swing, as evident by the new law proposed by the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Julian Castro. Proposed on November 12th, this rule would enact a nation-wide requirement for public housing agencies to transition their buildings into smoke-free facilities.
The Snooze Button: Should School Start Earlier?
Currently, 75-100% of public schools in 42 states have start-time earlier than 8:30 a.m. , with Louisiana leading the pack with an average school starting time of 7:40 a.m. The push for schools to adopt later starting times enters the political sphere periodically as new studies come out annually suggesting that sleep has become both a hot commodity and a scarcity for students.
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Marijuana’s Pesticide Problem
A wealth of information, both reputable and otherwise, can be found about the health effects of marijuana. Amid claims that the drug can cure cancer and studies documenting its negative health repercussions, it is sometimes difficult to get a sense of just how using marijuana could affect one’s health. However, one of the most clear-cut health concerns involving marijuana may not even stem from the drug itself. According to The Atlantic’s Brooke Borel, every time marijuana users light up, they are not just inhaling the intoxicating smoke. With it also comes sometimes-dangerous levels of pesticides – chemicals that, at least for now, go almost completely unregulated.
Misinformation in the Age of Ebola
As the Ebola outbreak has progressed, public discourse of the matter has reached a fever pitch. From announcements that airports will screen for the disease to coverage of the growing number of cases in Dallas, we are inundated with coverage of the outbreak. And as some call for the closure of borders and bans on flights from West Africa, it is clear that our perception of the issue is at its most fearful, and indeed its most vulnerable, since the epidemic began.
Ebola: No Longer a Microscopic Problem
Over the past two weeks, reports of a Liberian man with Ebola being treated in Dallas have captivated our public discourse. Some worry that this may be a “Patient Zero” situation, and that the outbreak will soon transcend borders to become a global epidemic. While this fervor has taken place at home, however, even more profound turns in the handling of the Ebola outbreak are unfolding abroad.