Tropical Diseases

West Nile Virus as seen under an electron microscope.

Hour 1:           Why are tropical diseases like dengue fever, Chagas disease, West Nile, and others making inroads in the United States and why are they having more of an impact in our country’s impoverished communities? We’ll talk this hour with Dr. Peter J. Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at the Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) and president and director of the Sabin Vaccine Institute and Texas Children’s Hospital Center for Vaccine Development and Dr. Kristy Murray, associate professor of pediatrics & tropical medicine at BCM and Texas Children’s, and principal investigator of the West Nile virus research program