Wikipedia defines "ecology" as the "scientific study of interactions among organisms and their environment" and "epidemiology" as the study of "the patterns, causes, and effects of health and disease conditions in defined populations." Ecology brings a key piece to the puzzle of infectious disease epidemiology: if we are to understand, in any meaningful way, the patterns, causes, and effects of infectious agents, we must understand the interactions of the agents themselves with their surrounding biotic and abiotic environments. Given an such an understanding, perhaps we can control infection.
This blog will explore such ideas, mostly (but not only) within the context of the hospital, community, and natural environments. Social, policy, and economic considerations will also be a theme. I suspect I’ll be blogging every couple weeks, but who knows. We'll see how that works out.
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