Ricki Lewis

While pharmaceutical companies focus on drug discovery for Ebola virus disease, a powerful clue is coming from a rare “Jewish genetic disease” that destroys the brain. People with Niemann-Pick C1 disease can’t get Ebola, adding to the list of disease pairs that arise from a fascinating form of natural selection.

Balanced polymorphism, aka heterozygote advantage, is a terrific illustration of ongoing evolution. And it pits the human body against all sorts of invaders – prions, viruses, bacteria, protozoa, and fungi. Read More 

My last post continued Emmanuel Gokpolu’s reporting from Ebola ground zero in Liberia. Ebola interrupted Eman’s medical education, so now he is educating his people about strategies to minimize risk of infection.

Eman and I began a very special friendship when he first contacted me when using my human genetics textbook in college. Right now he is in a hospital with a fever, after finally convincing the staff to admit him. It might be a flare-up of his malaria, we don't yet know.

This post picks up in early October, when Ebola suddenly jumped from a topic rarely reported in the U.S. ,to major news when it arrived here.  Read More