Category: Microbiology History
Meet Microbiologist Ruth Ella Moore, the First Black Woman to Earn a PhD in the Natural Sciences
Social Distancing During the 1918 Influenza Pandemic and Lessons for Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)
A Public Health Detective Story: John Snow, Cholera, and the Germ Theory of Disease
It’s 1854 in London. The third major cholera pandemic was racing through the city. Spreading from the Ganges delta of India since 1837, it’s claimed over a million lives mostly among Asia, Europe, and North America.
Within the Soho district of Westminster, London, things weren’t looking good. The London sewer system had not reached Soho, but a large influx of people had. Animal droppings from cowsheds and slaughter houses lined the streets. Many cellars had cesspools underneath, formed from the sewage and filth seeping in from outside. Making matters worse, the London government was dumping waste into the River Thames and contaminating the water supply. (more…)
Secret Serratia: Then and Now
If you’re a microbiologist, the acronym HGT may have you thinking about horizontal gene transfer, the transfer of genes between microbes. But during the months of November and December, HGT takes on a different meaning: holiday gift transfer. As part of the annual #SecretSerratia holiday gift exchange, pairs of microbiologists exchange gifts, usually science and microbiology related.
I eagerly signed up to participate and my Secret Serratia and I swapped gifts and shared photos of our microbial gifts on Twitter, along with ~70 other microbiologists. (more…)