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From “Swine” to “NAFTA” Flu: Rob Wallace on CBC radio renames notable viruses

Big Farms Make Big Flu

Rob Wallace, author of Big Farms Make Big Flu: Dispatches on Infectious Disease, Agribusiness, and the Nature of Science, is heard, along with other scientists, on CBCradios ‘The 180 with Jim Brown,’ considering the question: Why do we name diseases the way we do?

“This week, six pregnant woman tested positive for the Zika virus in the Houston area. ¶ In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the World Health Organization is responding to a small Ebola outbreak. ¶ Zika and Ebola are names we hear cycling through the news. ¶ But what do we know about where the names came from? ¶ The 180’s Gavin Fisher went hunting for their origins—and found there’s a lot to be learned when it comes to disease names….”

Listen at CBC radio

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