Preventing Spread of an Avian Influenza Strain as an Army Veterinarian
By Katie L. Burke, Katie-Leigh Virginia Corder
July 28, 2014
From The Staff Biology Medicine Human Ecology Virology
Most people immediately assume someone working in the US Army does combat or engineering, but there are a vast and unique set of science skills among those who serve. An Army veterinarian discusses his journeys around the world studying zoonotic diseases, infections that jump from animals to humans, including a strain of avian influenza (H5N1).
Lieutenant Colonel Sam Yingst, PhD, is the chief of the US Army’s Epidemiology and Disease Surveillance Department and studies many zoonotic diseases worldwide by assisting those in developing countries with their research. While studying outbreaks of H5N1 in Egypt in the mid-2000s, he also looked at the possibility of the virus spreading through migratory birds in global flyways.
Dr. Yingst goes into more depth about his research adventures in studying avian influenza and foreign medical diplomacy in an interview with associate editor Katie L. Burke:
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