29 min listen
S2E1 / The Goddess of Smallpox
ratings:
Length:
23 minutes
Released:
Jul 18, 2023
Format:
Podcast episode
Description
In the mid-’60s, the national campaign to eradicate smallpox in India was underway, but the virus was still widespread throughout the country. At the time, Dinesh Bhadani was a small boy living in Gaya, a city in the state of Bihar. In his community many people believed smallpox was divine, sent by the Hindu goddess Shitala Mata. In Bihar people had misgivings about accepting the vaccine because, Bhadani says, they did not want to interfere with the will of the goddess. Others hesitated because making the vaccine required using cows, which are sacred in the Hindu religion. Still others hesitated because the procedure — which involved twirling a barbed disk into a patient’s skin — hurt.But when Bhadani was 10 years old, he saw the body of a school friend who had died of smallpox. The body was covered in blistering pustules, the skin not visible at all.Soon after, when eradication workers came to town, young Bhadani remembered his friend, gritted his teeth, and agreed to get the painful vaccine. Variola major smallpox was deadly and highly contagious. Infected people often died within two weeks – many of them young children. Those who survived could be left severely scarred, infertile, or blind.Episode 1 of “Eradicating Smallpox” explores the layered cultural landscape that eradication workers navigated as they worked to eliminate the virus. Success required technological innovations, cultural awareness, and a shared dream that a huge public health triumph was possible. To close the episode, Céline Gounder wonders how the U.S. might tap into similar “moral imagination” to prepare for the next public health crisis. Find a transcript of this episode here.To hear other KFF Health News podcasts, click here.Subscribe to Epidemic on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Pocket Casts, or wherever you listen to podcasts. In Conversation with Céline Gounder:adrienne maree brownSocial justice organizer and science fiction authorInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/adriennemareebrown/Twitter: https://twitter.com/adriennemareeWebsite: https://adriennemareebrown.net/Voices from the Episode:Rajendra Prasad Dhyani, temple priest at the Shitala Mata Temple in New DelhiDinesh Bhadani, retired Indian Railways station manager living in New DelhiPriyanka Bhadani, journalist living in Delhi
Released:
Jul 18, 2023
Format:
Podcast episode
Titles in the series (95)
S1E11 / Surviving COVID / David Lat: "The other point I made about ventilators is, they're not a panacea. Many patients don't survive them, but I don't think that reduces their importance. I think, if anything, the fact that many patients don't survive means we need to make sure that as many patients as could benefit from them actually get them. I hope that one thing we get out of this crisis is enough of a supply so that, if and when we have a future pandemic like this, we are ready." –David Lat, COVID-19 survivor In today’s episode, Ron Klain and Dr Celine Gounder speak with David Lat, a 44-year-old legal journalist who endured days unconscious on a ventilator to survive COVID-19. Still on a path to recovery, he shares his experience and the impact the disease has had on his family and his career, and how he is making a contribution to research going forward. This episode also includes a first-hand account from a frontline healthcare provider in Michigan, Dr. Scott Regenbogen who c by EPIDEMIC with Dr. Celine Gounder