Today, Dr. Michael Oldstone joins us to discuss the history of diseases. We talk about diseases, viruses and their role in our history.
Left: A yellow-fever epidemic when building the Panama Canal
Right: Children would be regularly paralyzed before the polio vaccine
Shownotes
00:00: Introductions
02:36: What is a virus?
03:45: DNA viruses vs RNA Viruses
07:30 Understanding virulence and persistance in viruses
08:45 How do viruses evolve?
10:00 Smallpox
“In the 20th century, smallpox has killed more people than all the wars of the 20th century combined”
10:30 Ancient inoculations against the smallpox
12:00 Attenuated viruses: The Slow Road to the Vaccine
14:14 Why haven’t other viruses been eliminated like the smallpox?
16:00 Smallpox in the new world
18:00 The slave trade and yellow fever in the new world
20:00 Yellow fever during the Haitian Revolution
21:00 Yellow fever during the continental congress
22:00 How businesses refused to lockdown during yellow fever in Memphis
25:00 Doctors who self-experimented to find the inoculation against the yellow fever
Viruses cause more casualties than guns during war
31:00 SARS
35:00 Covid-19 vs SARS: How Covid-19 spread fast?
39:00 How would a functioning public health system deal with Covid-19?
42:00 How to develop a vaccine?
48:00 Accurate information about viruses
About Dr. Michael Oldstone
Viruses lie at the heart of some of humanity’s most pernicious and devastating diseases, such as AIDS, hepatitis, and influenza. Michael Oldstone, a professor of immunology and microbiology at The Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California, has devoted his career to a molecular understanding of how viruses infect cells, evade and manipulate the immune system, and cause disease.
Learn more about his book: Viruses Plagues and History
Smallpox to Covid-19: the history of diseases with Dr. Michael Oldstone