Dr Trent Yarwood does not wear a white coat because they are a Bad Thing. (Photo: Brisbane Times. Digital processing: Stilgherrian)

The summer series continues, and it’s more science. Today’s special guest is infectious diseases physician Dr Trent Yarwood.

In this episode we talk about infectious diseases, of course, from smallpox to long covid, and HIV to measles. But we also discuss the appendix, biological warfare, norovirus, poo, and the medical semiotics of bow ties.

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Episode Links

01. Professional biography of Dr Trent Yarwood

Trent Yarwood is an infectious diseases physician, based in Cairns, Australia.
02. Trent (@trent@eigenmagic.net) - eigenmagic.net (Mastodon)

Drug-resistant infection, digital health, random geekery and rants. Future Wise. "Ninja old guy". Doesn't pity the fool. Personal opinions.
03. Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana - Wikipedia

"Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana" is a humorous saying that is used in linguistics as an example of a garden path sentence or syntactic ambiguity, and in word play as an example of punning, double entendre, and antanaclasis.
04. ejustin46 — Bluesky

[27 January 2025] A HIGHLY CONTAGIOUS VIRUS with NO TREATMENT is SPREADING in PA. Norovirus can spread quickly from person to person, so you'll need to clean up the right way to prevent others from getting ill.
05. How to avoid norovirus — and what to do when you get it - WHYY

[7 January 2025] One expert says the rate of norovirus infections has increased substantially this year compared to years past.
06. Norovirus - Wikipedia

Norovirus, also known as Norwalk virus and sometimes referred to as the winter vomiting disease, is the most common cause of gastroenteritis.
08. Mark Newton - eigenmagic.net

[13 January 2025] @stilgherrian @daedalus ACMA is the Commonwealth's appendix. At some point in the past it might have served some kind of useful purpose, but these days you can mostly ignore it, except when it flares up and causes pain, at which point the best answer is to just remove it.
09. Appendix Isn't Useless At All: It's A Safe House For Good Bacteria | ScienceDaily

[8 October 2007] Long denigrated as vestigial or useless, the appendix now appears to have a reason to be - as a "safe house" for the beneficial bacteria living in the human gut. The gut is populated with different microbes that help the digestive system break down the foods we eat. In return, the gut provides nourishment and safety to the bacteria. Parker now believes that the immune system cells found in the appendix are there to protect, rather than harm, the good bacteria.
10. Appendix (anatomy) - Wikipedia

The appendix (pl.: appendices or appendixes; also vermiform appendix; cecal (or caecal, cæcal) appendix; vermix; or vermiform process) is a finger-like, blind-ended tube connected to the cecum, from which it develops in the embryo
11. Travel, grant and funding cuts ‘stifling’ US health agencies in new Trump era | US healthcare | The Guardian

[24 January 2025] Halts to external communications, publishing reports and reviewing and approving research a ‘dramatic shift’.
12. Here’s How Trump Attacked Reproductive Freedom During His First Week in Office - Reproductive Freedom for All

[27 January 2025] Despite Trump’s campaign promises to not attack reproductive freedom, he wasted no time using his executive powers to do exactly that. From rescinding Biden-era executive orders that expanded access to reproductive health care, including access to abortion and contraception, to pardoning anti-abortion extremists, Trump took expansive action to roll back reproductive freedom.
13. What a US exit from the WHO means for global healthcare | Donald Trump News | Al Jazeera

[28 January 2025] US withdrawal from WHO means missing February’s meeting, reducing influence and hindering global health efforts.
14. ReAct

Created in 2005 ReAct is one of the first international independent networks to articulate the complex nature of antibiotic resistance and its drivers.
15. Semiotics - Wikipedia

Semiotics (/?s?mi??t?ks/ SEM-ee-OT-iks) is the systematic study of sign processes and the communication of meaning. In semiotics, a sign is defined as anything that communicates intentional and unintentional meaning or feelings to the sign's i...