Predicting Contagions:
Science Fiction or Science Fact
..Dr. Jonna Mazet............................
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I’m not much for scary movies so when I went to see the 2011 film Contagion starring Gwyneth Paltrow, I didn’t expect to be as terrified as I was. A simple dinner in a far away land lead to a worldwide disease outbreak that makes the 2014 Ebola outbreak look like a mild flu season. It would be comforting to think that it was just a movie, it could never happen in the real life. Sadly, viral diseases that affect our pets, canine influenza, our dinner, Avian Influenza, and our lives, SARS and MERS are too commonly featured on the nightly news.
How can you stop something that is smaller than a bacteria and antibiotics are helpless against? My guest, Dr. Jonna Mazet, Director of the One Health Institute at the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine will tell us how veterinarians have partnered with doctors, health workers and hunters to protect the health of all of us.
Questions or comments? Email Dr.Cruz at: thepetdoctor@petliferadio.com.
Jonna Mazet, DVM, MPVM, PhD, is a Professor of Epidemiology and Disease Ecology and Director of the One Health Institute in the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine where she focuses on global health problem solving, especially for emerging infectious disease and conservation challenges. Dr. Mazet is active in international One Health research programs, especially disease transmission among wildlife, domestic animals, and people and the ecological drivers for disease emergence. Currently, she is the Global Director of a $175 million viral emergence early warning project, named PREDICT, that has been developed with the US Agency for International Development’s (USAID) Emerging Pandemic Threats Program. She has recently been elected to the National Academies’ Institute of Medicine in recognition of her successful and innovative approach to emerging environmental and global health threats.
