PBS Frontline: The Ebola Outbreak

 

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For those who may have missed the live broadcast last night on PBS’s Frontline, they’ve posted the 30 minute documentary showing conditions in an MSF Ebola hospital in Sierra Leone, and the almost impossible job of contract tracing, on their website http://www.pbs.org.

I watched it this morning, and it is a graphic, and somber depiction of the Ebola Outbreak it was in July.  As bad as the conditions shown were, it is far worse today.

 

This show is also available on Apple TV, through PBS apps, and on iTunes.

 

FRONTLINE

Ebola Outbreak

Aired: 09/09/2014

• 27:26
• Rating: NR

FRONTLINE travels to the epicenter of the Ebola crisis to find out how and why the outbreak has spiraled out of control -- and to track the fight to contain the virus's deadly spread.

PBS: Ebright, Racaniello, & Zimmer Weigh In On Bird Flu Research

 

BSL-4 Lab Worker - Photo Credit –USAMRIID

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We are now 10 days into the self-imposed 60 day moratorium on the conducting (and publication) of controversial H5N1 research, and the meeting to discuss the future direction of such work in Geneva is still more than a couple of weeks away.

 

Meanwhile, the war of words - and the battle for the hearts and minds of the public - continues full throttle with advocates on both sides of this issue making their case in the media.

 

Today PBS Newshour has posted responses from three experts to a series of questions about this debate.

Richard H. Ebright - a molecular biologist at Rutgers

Vincent Racaniello - a microbiologist at Columbia, and author of the Virology Blog

Carl Zimmer, a journalist, author, and blogger

 

As you might imagine, there is a considerable difference of opinion over what should be done. Follow the link below to read:

 

 

SCIENCE -- January 30, 2012 at 11:54 AM EDT

Experts Weigh in on Bird Flu Research

By: David Pelcyger

 

 

For earlier coverage of this story, you may wish to revisit:

 

Nature: Yoshihiro Kawaoka Talks About His H5N1 Research

WHO: Will Host H5N1 Talks In Geneva

ScienceMag: Ron Fouchier Interview On The H5N1 Research Moratorium

Science Magazine: Public Health, Biosecurity, and H5N1

 

 

There’s an old saying that Academic infighting is so vicious, because the stakes are so low. But in this case, both sides view the stakes here as being enormously high.

 

Biosecurity and concerns over public safety versus revered and well established principles of Scientific Freedom.

 

Given the tenor of some of the discussions I’ve seen over the past couple of weeks, the gulf between these two sides doesn’t seem to be getting any narrower.

PBS: Schuchat & Osterholm Take Questions

 

 

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As part of the debut of the PBS Newshour documentary Anatomy of a Pandemic – Rear Admiral Ann Schuchat M.D., Director of the CDC National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases (NCIRD) and Michael T. Osterholm, Director of CIDRAP  at the University of Minnesota – answer a number of viewer questions regarding the documentary and the pandemic virus.

Bios From the PBS website:

Rear Admiral Anne Schuchat is the director of Centers for Disease Control's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases and has worked at CDC since 1988 on immunization and infectious diseases. Prior to her current appointment, she served as the director of CDC's National Immunization Program (NIP); acting director of the National Center for Infectious Diseases (NCID); chief of the Respiratory Diseases Branch at NCID.

Mike Osterholm, PhD, MPH, is director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP), director of the NIH-supported Minnesota Center of Excellence for Influenza Research and Surveillance (MCEIRS) within CIDRAP, a professor in the Division of Environmental Health Sciences, and an adjunct professor in the Medical School, University of Minnesota.

 

 

You can either listen online, save the MP3 file (about 18 Mbytes) to your computer, or read the transcript from the links below.

In Case You Missed It

 

 

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Last Night’s  Anatomy of a Pandemic broadcast on PBS is available to watch online this morning on the the PBS Newshour Video page.

 

(Click image to view video)

 

On Tuesday, December 15 at 4 p.m. ET: "PBS NewsHour" will hold an Online Forum with Dr. Anne Schuchat, the Director of the CDC National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases (NCIRD), and Dr. Michael Osterholm, world-renown influenza expert and Director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP) at the University of Minnesota. 

 

The Moderator will be Betty Ann Bowser, health correspondent for “PBS NewsHour

Reminder: PBS Anatomy Of A Pandemic Tonight

 

 

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You’ll find more information on this documentary, including several video excerpts in my blog from last week (PBS: Anatomy Of A Pandemic).

 

This morning, I’ll simply remind my readers that the special airs tonight on PBS (check your local listings).

 

 

Tonight;  Monday (December 14th)  PBS Newshour will premier a documentary on the 2009 H1N1 pandemic.

 

And on Tuesday, December 15 at 4 p.m. ET: "PBS NewsHour" will hold an Online Forum with Dr. Anne Schuchat, the Director of the CDC National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases (NCIRD), and Dr. Michael Osterholm, world-renown influenza expert and Director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP) at the University of Minnesota. 

 

The Moderator will be Betty Ann Bowser, health correspondent for “PBS NewsHour

 

Last week the documentary’s companion website went online, with video segments, previews, pandemic news, Q&As,  and even a place to ask public health officials questions.