Outbreak updates, plainly reported.
Outbreak News is a public health news program built around fast, factual outbreak briefings. Robert moves from place to place and disease to disease, translating health official reports into direct updates on risk, spread, symptoms, prevention, and travel guidance.
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Outbreak News is built for listeners who want infectious disease information in direct, bulletin-style form. It follows the shape of an outbreak report rather than a magazine conversation. A typical segment starts with the location, names the disease, identifies the reporting agency, then works through case counts, fatalities, affected regions, transmission, symptoms, and prevention. The delivery is plain and methodical. Recent coverage moves across Africa, Europe, North America, and South America, with episodes on Lassa fever in Nigeria, CCHF in Senegal, anthrax in Uganda, rabies and Lyme disease risks in Ukraine, measles in Mexico and North America, sexually transmitted Shigella in England, yellow fever in Venezuela, and hantavirus and plague in New Mexico. The show is especially attentive to official public health language. Agency names matter here. Numbers matter. So do states, municipalities, age groups, travel notices, vaccination guidance, and the details of how infections spread. Robert does not turn these stories into spectacle, but the material can be stark: fatality rates, severe symptoms, animal exposure, sexual transmission, and rapidly rising case counts are handled as part of the public record. That gives the show a utilitarian feel. It is not polished feature journalism, and it is not a debate show. It works more like a disease surveillance desk read aloud, with enough explanation to orient a non-specialist listener. Episodes often include practical prevention advice, such as avoiding contact with potentially infected animals, managing rodent exposure, recognizing rash or gastrointestinal symptoms, or following vaccine recommendations before travel. The recurring appeal is speed and specificity. Outbreak News gathers disparate health alerts into compact updates and keeps returning to places where the numbers are changing. It is best for listeners who already care about public health, travel medicine, zoonotic disease, emerging infections, and the everyday mechanics of outbreak response.
Made for: For public health watchers, travelers, science-minded news followers, and listeners who track infectious disease beyond headline coverage. It also suits anyone who wants agency-based updates without a panel format.
What sets it apart: Outbreak News stands out through its steady emphasis on official reports, exact case counts, affected locations, symptoms, and prevention guidance. It is closer to an infectious disease briefing than a general health conversation.
Interviews with expert guests on issues of infectious diseases, research, medicine and health.
Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
Bangladesh's worst dengue year gets a plain, useful public-health reading.
This episode frames Bangladesh's 2023 dengue season as a stark public-health case study, with the country trying to contain its most devastating recorded outbreak since dengue reappeared in 2000. Robert's conversation with Dr.
Taiwan, explained through its people.
Urgent questions, practical civic answers.
This episode discusses three recent rabies news stories: a fatal case in an organ transplant recipient, the theory of rabies transmission through cow's milk, and an upsurge in rabid raccoons in Quebec, with expert analysis from Dr.
This episode features a discussion on polio with two guests, preceded by a sponsor segment promoting Avocado Mattress's organic and health-conscious products.
Robert interviews Dr.
Host Robert examines springtime health warnings from Ukrainian officials regarding rabies and tick-borne diseases.
Outbreak News host Robert interviews board-certified urologist Carmen Calloran about kidney stones, which affect roughly one in 10 people in the United States over a lifetime.
Outbreak News host Robert interviews Brenda Wilson, a microbiology professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, about antibiotics and antimicrobial resistance.
Outbreak News Interviews examines alpha-gal syndrome, a tick-associated allergy to the mammalian sugar alpha-gal.
Outbreak News host Robert interviews Lee Haynes, a medical entomologist at the University of Notre Dame, about 15 reported New World screwworm cases involving animals in Texas and Mexico.
This episode covers three infectious disease outbreaks in Africa: Lassa fever in Nigeria, CCHF in Senegal, and Anthrax in Uganda, focusing on current statistics and contributing factors.
This episode discusses Ukrainian health officials' warnings about increased risks of rabies and Lyme disease during spring, exacerbated by war-related factors like reduced animal vaccinations.
This episode covers recent measles outbreaks in North America, focusing on nearly 11,000 cases reported as of Friday, with Mexico accounting for most infections and fatalities.
This episode discusses the rise of sexually transmitted Shigella cases in England, explaining the bacterial infection's symptoms, transmission, and affected populations.
This episode reports on a CDC travel advisory for Venezuela due to increased yellow fever cases, detailing recent statistics and vaccination recommendations.
This episode discusses the 2025 measles outbreak in the US, the risk of losing elimination status, and features an interview with Dr.
Dr. Caleb Miquet explains how repeated trachoma infections turn eyelashes into painful instruments that can cause blindness.
This episode discusses a 10-year study on the potential for indigenous transmission of Chagas disease via kissing bugs in Florida, featuring an interview with researcher Dr.
This episode explores the controversial 1978-1980 anthrax epidemic in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), examining whether it was a natural outbreak or the result of biological warfare during the Rhodesian Bush War, featuring an interview with Dr.