Eradicating Infectious Disease: Can We and Should We?

Eradicating Infectious Disease: Can We and Should We?

These are the pessimistic words of René Dubos in 1965, encapsulating the challenges of attempting to eradicate infectious disease. In 1979, smallpox became the first infection to be eradicated, a huge triumph for science and humanity. Sadly, this impressive feat has only been replicated once since then with the eradication of rinderpest virus in 2011, and the words of Dubos seem as relevant tod...

Yes, We Can! (Should We?).

We Can, but Should We?

We can, but should we? After recently reflecting upon our profession as pediatric critical care physicians , I concluded that this one complex question gets asked many times throughout the day – or at least it should. A recent report discussed an emerging paradigm in pediatric critical care medicine (1). With more and more chronic patients filling our pediatric intensive care unit (PICU), perha...

Glycemic variability: should we and can we prevent it?

Diabetes is characterized by glycemic disorders that include both sustained chronic hyperglycemia and acute glucose fluctuations. There is now cogent evidence for the deleterious effects of sustained chronic hyperglycemia that results in excessive protein glycation and generation of oxidative stress. The role of glucose variability from peaks to nadirs is less documented, but there are many rea...

Infectious Disease: Can We Avert a Lethal Flu Pandemic?

If avian flu becomes directly transmissible among humans, could we prevent a pandemic by using prophylactic antivirals? Possibly, if the virus is not too transmissible, and we react fast and efficiently.