The Galveston County Daily News, January 22, 2020 - UTMB to serve as hub for homelessness count - MLK Community Service Award honorees - Lefeber Winter Series on Aging

According to most public health officials, the public should be paying attention, but not panicking about the new coronavirus. In this story from WebMD, UTMB’s Jim LeDuc indicates he agrees with that advice. “I think we should be a little concerned, but not overly so,” says LeDuc.

UTMB researchers continue to monitor the recent spread of the newly identified coronavirus. In this report from ABC’s Houston affiliate, Tom Ksiazek explains researchers in UTMB’s Galveston National Laboratory are able to get involved in the fight to treat the virus.

James LeDuc, director of UTMB’s Galveston National Laboratory, outlines public health advancements in China since the SARS outbreak of 2003. The advancements have allowed the country to much more rapidly identify and begin to deal with the most recent novel coronavirus. In that time the National Laboratory has welcomed Chinese health officials to learn about biocontainment facility design and construction, biosafety training and laboratory operations.

A 1920 plague outbreak on Galveston Island, and the work of UTMB’s Paula Summerly to document the efforts that resulted in elimination of the illness, is revealed in this story originally published in The Galveston County Daily News. Summerly’s discoveries have turned up newspaper articles and a doctor’s journal documenting the city’s fight with plague, which included the extermination of more than 46,000 rats.

UTMB fellow Sagar Kamprath examines a theory from the book “The End of Alzheimer’s” that may explain why advances in treating the illness have been so elusive.

In this installment of their popular column, UTMB’s Megan Berman and Richard Rupp help readers understand why it is important that adolescents receive the human papillomavirus vaccine.

The Galveston County Daily News, January 15, 2020 - UTMB appoints chief nursing, patient care executive - Thayer Awards for excellence in teaching - UTMB’s 2019 by the numbers - Spatial neglect topic of next SCI Café

China’s announcement that researchers have quickly identified a microbe causing an outbreak responsible for one death and many hospitalizations is being seen as progress compared to the SARS outbreak in 2003. According to UTMB’s Jim LeDuc, “The biggest challenge in 2003 was the initial reluctance of China to explain what was going on.” Since that time, China has opened its first biosafety level 4 lab in Wuhan, and many of its scientists have trained with LeDuc in the Galveston National Laboratory.

A 1920 plague outbreak on Galveston Island, and the work of UTMB’s Paula Summerly to document the efforts that resulted in elimination of the illness, is revealed in this local story. Summerly’s discoveries have turned up newspaper articles and a doctor’s journal documenting the city’s fight with plague, which included the extermination of more than 46,000 rats.