The likelihood that a pathogen will overwhelm the immune system and cause a person to become ill has to do with the dose of the exposure. Scientists have explored the dose of exposure in a variety of infectious diseases such as Lyme borreliosis and – most recently – COVID-19. Scientists are learning more about how […]
What does the Novel Coronavirus Mean for Tick-borne Disease Exposure?
As states continue to enforce shelter-in-place and social distancing orders, news reports suggest that people and their pets are spending more time engaging in outdoor activities. While this is not necessarily a bad thing, people should be aware that experts are warning the mild winter may mean larger populations of disease-carrying ticks across the United […]
Successful Move for Galaxy Diagnostics! What is coming next?
Our staff is hard at work returning to normal operations and accepting samples shipments now. Stay tuned for improvements to existing assays and new test options coming soon! We are excited to announce that the Galaxy team moved our offices and laboratory on April 20th to a beautiful location just up the road from our […]
The Impact of Host Response on COVID-19
Bartonella species are complex bacteria that cause non-specific, multi-systemic symptoms in people and animals. The presence of these bacteria as well as many other infectious pathogens leads to differing symptoms between individuals because of variations in host responses. These differences in severity and duration of symptoms have also been observed in patients infected by SARS-CoV-2. […]
Novel Pathogens Come Out of Old Stories
In late 2019, Chinese doctors noticed an unusual number of cases of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). ARDS can be caused by a wide variety of issues ranging from pancreatitis to brain injuries to severe pneumonia. The condition went through several layers of scientific description before we reached the point today where it is called […]
Zoonotic Diseases and Why We Are So Interested in Bats
The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 75% of new human diseases discovered in the last decade are caused by zoonotic pathogens. The bat is a host that is uniquely perfect to evolve pathogens that are dangerous to people. One Health is an outlook that brings animal health, human health and environmental experts together to […]