Know Thyself

Our relationship with microorganisms is *ahem* complicated...mostly symbiotic, but often combative and, yes, fatal. In this episode I speak with a physician on the front lines of the battle to the death between viruses, amoebas, and bacteria and their human victims.   Dr. Mark Crisplin in an infectious disease doctor in Portland, OR, and the author of a bi-weekly blog and several books. He is also and app-maker and an award-winning podcaster, creator of the now discontinued QuackWatch series and the Persiflager's Puscast. We speak on a wide range of topics, including which infectious diseases have killed the most people in history, how they did it, which ones are still a threat now and in the future, a virus so deadly that no one has ever recovered from it, whether ebola is a world-historic threat, resistance to antibiotics and the coming post-antibiotic world, Abraham Lincoln's possible syphilis, and the disease that is wiping out Tasmanian Devils. The picture Dr. Crislip paints is in some ways admittedly bl