The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "infectious diseases" ...
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No Small Thing
The Poughkeepsie Journal series “No Small Thing” goes where no other newspaper or media outlet has – it challenges the mainstream medical dogma on Lyme disease. In rigorously documented articles, Projects Writer Mary Beth Pfeiffer concludes that the major actors in this public health scandal -- chiefly the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Infectious Disease Society of America – have minimized and mismanaged a burgeoning epidemic of tick-borne disease at great harm to thousands of infected people. These two powerful institutions have held – in policy and pronouncement -- that Lyme disease is easy to diagnose and easy to cure. It is neither.
Tags: Media coverage; public health; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; CDC
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Culture of Resistance
The Seattle Time analyzed millions of computerized hospital records, death certificate and other documents to track the swath of one of the nation's most widespread, and preventable, epidemics. In its investigation, the Times gained access to state files that revealed 672 previously undisclosed deaths attributable to the infection. The Times also found that in Seattle's largest public hospital, some patients who are infected with contagious MRSA are roomed with non-infected patients because of overcrowding. In at least a dozen cases, the Times proved that death certificates were inaccurate or incomplete when it came to MRSA.
Tags: methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA); Washington state; health and safety; infectious diseases; epidemiology; staph infections.
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Beyond the Breach
Using accident reports from the Army's top biodefense laboratory as well as a report on a 2002 incident involving the discovery of Anthrax spores near laboratories, the News-Post found that while the Army had made efforts to improve safety, accidents attributable to negligence and carelessness still occurred. The investigation focuses on the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases.
Tags: U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases; U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command; ebola; anthrax; infectious diseases; safety, health
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Superbugs
This story reveals that, not only are "superbugs" (bacteria that are resistant to existing antibiotics,) proliferating, but the major pharmaceutical companies are not developing new antibiotics to combat them. Bacteria are becoming resistant to antibiotics at such a rate that pharmaceutical companies find it more profitable to develop big sellers like Viagra that do not become obsolete.
Tags: infectious disease; drug-resistant strains; FDA; MRSA; Texas Children's Hospital
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Outbreak: A Common Virus, A Military Recruit - And a Mysterious Death
The Wall Street Journal exposes the failure of the Pentagon to provide military training camps with vaccines against a wide-spread virus that in some cases can lead to death. The story reveals that the so-called adenovirus is a common one that causes respiratory illnesses, but "poses a unique problem for the military's nine basic-training camps" because of the "combination of cramped living quarters, close contact and stress." The report sheds light on the deaths of two recruits believed to have lost their lives because of the virus. A major finding is that in the 80s, because of tightened health budget, the military turned down Wyeth Laboratories' offer to buy vaccines, and now is expected to end up spending between $15 and $25 million on a far more expensive project to find a new manufacturer.
Tags: FDA; Armed Forces Epidemiological Board; vaccines; army; Pentagon; military; adenovirus; viral encephalitis; doctors; recruits; respiratory illness; Wyeth Laboratories; health; infectious diseases; defense
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War against the microbes
As deaths from infections surge, medicine is racing to regain control over superbugs. Business Week finds that although many battles over infectious diseases have been won, the war is still raging.
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No title (id: 13218)
This frightening account tells of infectious diseases, such as Lyme disease, the Hanta Virus, Ebola virus, measles, TSS, AIDS, etc. and the alarming speed at which they are spreading because of sanitary conditions and technological transportation, to name just a few factors. PS also reports on science and medical researchers inability to identify and develop vaccines for new viruses. (January 1996)
Tags: Cooke A plague on all our houses Nature Death Bacteria Infection Health 6 pgs.
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The Return of Infectious Disease
Foreign Affairs investigates the resurgance of infectious disease, and that despite much optimism in the late 1970's the world is still plagued by several viruses. FA also finds that many new illness could develop due to enviromental conditions. (January/February 1996)
Tags: Garrett; The return of infectious disease; Medical; 14 pages