Ebola Is Bad, But Measles Was Worse

This Year’s Terrifying Outbreak Won’t Spread as Far or as Fast as Historic Epidemics

As an epidemiologist who works with mathematical models to analyze outbreaks, I can tell you–despite the disclosure of a U.S. case in Dallas last week–there is some good news in the Ebola outbreak ravaging West Africa. This Ebola is not spreading nearly as fast as some scourges of the past.

I first worked on Ebola back in 2004 at Cornell University (under the supervision of Carlos Castillo-Chavez and in collaboration with the Los Alamos National Laboratory) as part of my doctoral dissertation modeling how the virus is transmitted. Ebola was …

by Gerardo Chowell-Puente | October 6, 2014

Could Shoes Help Contain the Ebola Epidemic?

Growing Up in Sierra Leone, I Walked Barefoot. It Was Painful, and Now It’s a Public Health Hazard.

by Stephen T. Fomba | August 15, 2014

Growing up in the village of Konjo in the Eastern Province of Sierra Leone, I remember the walks. After waking up to the crowing of hens, I’d take long, cold …

Come for the Fish, Stay for the Story

Sushi Chefs Speak With Their Hands. Thank Goodness California Is Letting Them Keep Talking.

by Tomoko Kurokawa | April 18, 2014

As you enter a sushi restaurant, it may be the invigorating aroma of cypress—the hinoki countertop that is meticulously sanded down, daily, to a feathery finish—that greets you. It may …

Why the Heck Are People Thumping Their Chests on the Bus?

Don’t Just Laugh. Put Down Your Phone, Check Out My Videos, and Use Your Commuting Time Wisely.

by Ann Kaneko | April 8, 2014

Whenever I am swinging my arms—a simple warm-up exercise as part of the practice of qigong, which cultivates energy by aligning mind, breath, and body—I imagine that I look like …

California Has a Mosquito Problem

A Global State Invites Global Insects. Is It Prepared to Bite Back?

by Robert K. Washino | March 25, 2014

One stifling July evening in 1952 a recently discharged Marine veteran, home from Korea, was spending the Fourth of July weekend camping at Lake Vera in the rolling foothill terrain …

Remember When Trans Fats Were Supposed to Be Good For You?

Eliminating Them, However, Won’t Do Much to Improve Our Health

by William J. McCarthy | March 24, 2014

Not so long ago, it was near impossible to avoid trans fats—more widely known in food ingredient lists as partially hydrogenated oil. Trans fats, which were processed to mimic saturated …

public health

Ebola Is Bad, But Measles Was Worse

This Year’s Terrifying Outbreak Won’t Spread as Far or as Fast as Historic Epidemics

Could Shoes Help Contain the Ebola Epidemic?

Growing Up in Sierra Leone, I Walked Barefoot. It Was Painful, and Now It’s a Public Health Hazard.

Come for the Fish, Stay for the Story

Sushi Chefs Speak With Their Hands. Thank Goodness California Is Letting Them Keep Talking.

Why the Heck Are People Thumping Their Chests on the Bus?

Don’t Just Laugh. Put Down Your Phone, Check Out My Videos, and Use Your Commuting Time Wisely.

California Has a Mosquito Problem

A Global State Invites Global Insects. Is It Prepared to Bite Back?

Remember When Trans Fats Were Supposed to Be Good For You?

Eliminating Them, However, Won’t Do Much to Improve Our Health

Get More Zócalo

My Struggle to Report on Ebola Without Provoking Panic—or Complacency

In West Africa, Journalists Have to Sift Fact from Rumor About Links Between the Deadly Virus and Sex

I Was on the Front Line of L.A.’s Last Measles Outbreak

Why Doesn’t Anyone Remember the 12,000 People Who Got Sick, or the 600,000 Vaccine Doses We Gave Out 25 Years Ago?

Could Ebola Kill Global Trade?

Western Nations Need to Remain Open to Africa—and Break a Centuries-Old Pattern of Restricting Commerce in Response to Disease

Are Ebola Patients America’s New ‘Lepers’?

A Century Ago, Panic over Leprosy Led to Rampant Stigma and Bizarre Quarantines

Get More Zócalo