Have you ever wondered why we lose our appetite and feel so tired when we’re fighting off a cold or flu? It may seem as though this distinctive fatigue and disinterest in food is just a side-effect of illness. In reality, these changes in behaviour, termed sickness-behaviours, have evolved to aid our survival when facing […]
Stress – we all feel it, we all hate it. Thinking about it just makes it worse! This month is stress awareness month, nationally recognised since 1992. It feels particularly important to discuss stress this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, putting millions of people under new pressures. Albeit an evolutionary conserved process, and the […]
The highly anticipated COVID-19 vaccines have recently arrived, already being administered to millions around the world in record time. Although the newly approved COVID-19 vaccines were seemingly developed in a matter of months, the science behind has been in the works for decades. The mRNA vaccine differs from traditional vaccines in a number of ways […]
Pandemics. They’ve been around for longer than we might think, and they’ve caused havoc and death in numbers beyond our wildest imaginations. But in a rapidly changing world such as ours, do the dynamics of pandemics change as well? In this series on One Health and Pandemics, we will break down human influences on the […]
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) occurs when microorganisms, ranging from parasites to viruses, develop resistance to antimicrobial drugs, over time. These microorganisms are often referred to as superbugs. AMR is a product of genetic change over time, however the risk is increased by the overuse of antimicrobials, such as when an antibiotic is mis-prescribed to treat a […]
In this article, I would like to draw your attention to the question: what actually is ‘health’? Is it when we have eradicated all diseases? Or when our bodies are resilient enough to fight any pathogens? Or is it when we establish a symbiotic relationship with our environment? COVID-19 has taught us a painful lesson […]
The mental health problem prevalence is higher in prisons than in the general population, however there are not enough studies to determine if those individuals come in with mental health problems, and how many of those problems develop in the poor conditions of prisons.
Over the past few years, mental health, a term used to refer to psychological wellbeing, has become an increasingly common point of discussion. Sadly politicised, some believe that the mental health crisis requires urgent funding and support whereas others consider it to be an exaggerated and overrepresented topic. Further yet, this leads to the build […]
As ugly as the history of race and health may be, to define today’s relationship based on the past would be an injustice. Although it is clear that the relatively overt nature of medical racism in history is not present today, it is vital to understand how it has manifested itself and in what forms […]
The year was 1918. The world was occupied with the World War. By the start of the 20th century the steamboats had significantly improved travel between continents, and the expanding railroad were improving travel across continents. Then it happened: beginning in the spring of 1918 – unprecedentedly – an influenza virus swept through the world. […]
