Epidemiology

Antibiotic pills displayed in a pill bottle

Antibiotic Use during Pregnancy: Too Much of a Good Thing?

Lixin Zhang, PhD ’99

The discovery and use of antibiotics is one of public health’s great achievements, but antibiotic use is not without its problems. At therapeutic doses, antibiotics exert a strong selection pressure on the microbial community. When antibiotics interact with an infant’s developing microbiome, they can affect gut health and with it the child’s health for years to come.

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Racism as a Public Health Crisis: Increasing Awareness through Access to Research

Matthew L. Boulton, Jillian Morgan, and Sara McAdory-Kim

In recent weeks, the killing of Black and African Americans during encounters with police has brought renewed and overdue attention to the public health and societal crisis that is racism. Matthew L. Boulton, Jillian Morgan, and Sara McAdory-Kim share how the American Journal of Preventive Medicine is working to raise awareness of this issue.

Hands holding a mask

Racism: The Root Cause of COVID-19 Disparities in Washtenaw County

Jeremiah Simon

Black residents of Washtenaw County, like elsewhere in Michigan, have been disproportionately affected by COVID-19. In the fight to gain racial justice in the US, it is critical that we examine how racism contributes to health inequities right here in our backyard.

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What Makes a "Wave" of Disease? An Epidemiologist Explains

Abram L. Wagner

With daily deaths from COVID-19 in the US rarely going below 600 for months, the US is not yet in a second wave. Instead, we seem to be sustaining an ongoing first wave that just continues to crest. What will it take to get the US to a much-needed trough?