Infectious Dose

S2E40 Monsters, Movies, and Microbes: When Infection Becomes Horror

It’s horror movie night, but Heather can’t stop seeing infectious disease in the monsters. Heather is joined by her friend Valerie to explore the real biology behind som

S2E39 Skeeters on a Plane: The Curious Tale of Airport Malaria

How do eight people get falciparum malaria in Germany when none of them traveled somewhere malaria is circulating? The answer may be that they didn't have to travel. The

Outbreak Watch: September 18, 2026

This week on Outbreak Watch, we’re tracking signs that Ebola transmission may be stopping in some parts of the DRC while continuing elsewhere; what still hasn’t happened

S2E38 Dengue Next Door: How an Imported Virus Becomes a Local Outbreak

In this episode of Infectious Dose, we follow the dengue transmission chain from traveler to mosquito to locally acquired infection. How does dengue become infectious ins

S2E37 Every Clade, Everywhere, All at Once: The Strange Emergence of Candida auris

A fungus appears in hospitals on different continents. You assume it started somewhere and spread. Then scientists sequence it and discover that the story is much strange

S2E36 Because Mom Said So: The Infection Myths We Grew Up With

Put on a coat. Dry your hair. Don’t sit on that toilet seat. Green snot means antibiotics. And if food hits the floor, you have five seconds. But how much of the infecti

Outbreak Watch: August 28, 2026

In this Outbreak Watch, we return to the outbreaks and signals we’ve been tracking...and several have changed.  New genomic evidence is revealing the hidden early months

S2E35 Campfire Curiosities: The Can, the Crabs, and the Note

Somebody's roommate's cousin definitely knows the person this happened to. This month on Outbreak After Dark, pull up a chair for an evening of infectious-disease urban

S2E34 Night Hike: Following Microbes Into the Dark

What changes when the sun goes down? In the final episode of From Sunrise to Starlight, we're heading down a summer trail as dusk gives way to darkness, following the mi

S2E33 Afternoon Picnic: How Microbes Move Through a Summer Meal

It’s afternoon in our journey From Sunrise to Starlight, and we’re spreading out the picnic blanket. This week, we’re following the hidden microbial pathways running thr

Booster Dose - The Vaccine Executive Order: What You Need to Know

The guy in the white house signed a new executive order changing federal childhood vaccine policy. So what actually changed and what does it mean for families? In this b

Outbreak Watch: August 7, 2026

Ebola nears 4,000 confirmed cases in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, New World screwworm continues circulating in Texas, and the U.S. cyclosporiasis outbreak is exp

S2E32 Morning Swim: The Hidden Microbial World of Freshwater Lakes

A summer morning at the lake is about swimming, skipping stones, dragonflies, and family memories, but it's also the perfect opportunity to explore one of nature's most f

S2E31 For Medicinal Purposes: Whiskey, Jazz, and Germs

Medicine. Contraband. Comfort. Step inside a hidden 1920s speakeasy where the jazz is live, the whiskey is illegal, and one of the most surprising chapters in medical hi

S2E30 Do No Harm: The Birth of Infection Prevention

For much of history, entering a hospital could be one of the most dangerous decisions a person could make. Patients survived injuries and operations only to die from infe

Outbreak Watch: July 17, 2026

In this edition of Outbreak Watch, we provide a current briefing on the major outbreaks unfolding now, including Ebola in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda,

S2E29 A Shot in the Dark: The Science That Outsmarted Smallpox

For most of human history, epidemics were something people endured—not prevented. Smallpox alone killed hundreds of millions of people, leaving survivors scarred, blinded

S2E28 Holding the Line: How Prevention Became Military Strategy

For much of history, disease claimed more soldiers than combat. In this episode of Infectious Dose, we trace the evolution of military preventive medicine—from the Revol

S2E27 On the Fly: Lessons From a Screwworm

In the mid‑20th century, ranchers across the southern United States watched livestock being literally eaten alive by a flesh‑eating parasite: New World screwworm. This ep

S2E26 Dusk Hunters: The Anatomy of a Blood Meal

June's Summer Rain series wraps up with a tribute to Gulf Coast mosquitoes. In this episode of Outbreak After Dark, Heather and Kate explore the anatomy of a mosquito bi