Edward McSweegan

Last updated
Edward McSweegan
Alma mater Boston College
University of New Hampshire
University of Rhode Island
Scientific career
Institutions Naval Medical Research Institute
State Department
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
Global Virus Network

Edward McSweegan is an American microbiologist, science writer and fiction author.

Contents

Education and early research

McSweegan earned his undergraduate biology degree from Boston College in 1978. He went on to earn two degrees in microbiology, a masters degree from the University of New Hampshire and a Ph.D. from the University of Rhode Island. [1]

In 1984, McSweegan received a resident research associateship from the National Research Council, and he performed postdoctoral research at the Naval Medical Research Institute. [2] [1] He published research on the disease-causing mechanisms of the bacteria Campylobacter jejuni and Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli. [2] [3]

Career

From 1986-1988, McSweegan was stationed at the State Department as an American Association for the Advancement of Science diplomacy fellow. [1] At the State Department, he was involved in developing a science and technology pact between the United States and Poland. [4] He helped negotiate additional agreements with Hungary and the former Soviet Union. [1]

In 1988, McSweegan joined the National Institutes of Health's National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and eventually became program officer for Lyme disease. [5] McSweegan was among a number of Lyme disease experts who were worried about the influence that an advocacy group was having over the NIH, some politicians, and the general public. The group, called Lyme Disease Foundation, promoted the belief in "chronic Lyme disease" and claimed that it required long-term, expensive, and unproven antibiotic treatments. The group was operated by two accountants, received funding from companies that sold intravenous antibiotics, and made claims that lacked scientific support. It also referred people with indeterminate symptoms to chronic Lyme disease-believing doctors who would diagnose them, even though evidence indicated most did not have Lyme disease. [6]

Beginning in 1995, McSweegan denounced the Lyme Disease Foundation in his personal time and continued to speak out against the group's influence on the NIH. [7] [5] The NIH eventually removed him from responsibilities, both related and unrelated to Lyme disease. The media characterized the NIH's actions as retaliation for McSweegan blowing the whistle on NIH mismanagement. [8] In 1997, after noticing that his personal web site characterized the Lyme Disease Foundation as "whacko", the NIH suspended him for two weeks. [6] However, the NIH's own lawyers felt there was no basis for firing him. The Lyme Disease Foundation later sued McSweegan for slander, but lost. McSweegan won a countersuit against them. Through the process, he continued to receive positive job reviews. [7]

The NIH said it reassigned him to a post as director of the U.S.-Indo Vaccine Action Program. McSweegan told The Washington Post in 2003 that he didn't know he was director of that program, and was instead assigned tasks better suited for an intern. [5]

Reports by the Post and CBS News led Senator Chuck Grassley, then the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, to demand that the NIH give McSweegan work. In a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson, Grassley questioned the NIH's uses of taxpayer money, saying it was unacceptable for the NIH to "come rattling a tin cup asking for more money" when it was forcing taxpayers to "pay for full-time novelists." [7] The NIH promised to investigate the allegations. [9]

McSweegan has commented on diverse issues related to infectious disease. In 2004, McSweegan hypothesized that the mysterious "English sweating sickness" may have been an outbreak of anthrax poisoning. He speculated that the victims could have been infected with anthrax spores present in raw wool or infected animal carcasses, and he suggested exhuming the victims for testing. [10] He has also criticized the Centers for Disease Control for investigating Morgellons, a proposed infectious condition whose existence is disputed by current scientific consensus. [11]

Mcsweegan was detailed by the NIH to the Global Virus Network, where he became a program manager. [1] There, he reported on a number of pathogens, including Zika, chikungunya, and Hepatitis C. [12] [13] [14] [15] He worked at the Global Virus Network until 2018. [16]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dengue fever</span> Mosquito-borne disease

Dengue fever is a mosquito-borne disease caused by dengue virus, prevalent in tropical and subtropical areas. It is frequently asymptomatic; if symptoms appear they typically begin 3 to 14 days after infection. These may include a high fever, headache, vomiting, muscle and joint pains, and a characteristic skin itching and skin rash. Recovery generally takes two to seven days. In a small proportion of cases, the disease develops into severe dengue with bleeding, low levels of blood platelets, blood plasma leakage, and dangerously low blood pressure.

<i>Campylobacter</i> Genus of gram-negative bacteria

Campylobacter is a type of bacteria that can cause a diarrheal disease in people. Its name means "curved bacteria", as the germ typically appears in a comma or "s" shape. According to its scientific classification, it is a genus of gram-negative bacteria that is motile.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chikungunya</span> Infection caused by the Chikungunya virus

Chikungunya is an infection caused by the Chikungunya virus (CHIKV). The disease was first identified in 1952 in Tanzania and named based on the Kimakonde words for "to become contorted". Symptoms include fever and joint pain. These typically occur two to twelve days after exposure. Other symptoms may include headache, muscle pain, joint swelling, and a rash. Symptoms usually improve within a week; however, occasionally the joint pain may last for months or years. The risk of death is around 1 in 1,000. The very young, old, and those with other health problems are at risk of more severe disease.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Enteritis</span> Intestinal inflammatory disease

Enteritis is inflammation of the small intestine. It is most commonly caused by food or drink contaminated with pathogenic microbes, such as Serratia, but may have other causes such as NSAIDs, radiation therapy as well as autoimmune conditions like coeliac disease. Symptoms include abdominal pain, cramping, diarrhoea, dehydration, and fever. Related diseases of the gastrointestinal system involve inflammation of the stomach and large intestine.

<i>Campylobacter jejuni</i> Species of bacterium

Campylobacter jejuni is a species of pathogenic bacteria that is commonly associated with poultry, and is also often found in animal feces. This species of microbe is one of the most common causes of food poisoning in Europe and in the US, with the vast majority of cases occurring as isolated events rather than mass outbreaks. Active surveillance through the Foodborne Diseases Active Surveillance Network (FoodNet) indicates that about 20 cases are diagnosed each year for each 100,000 people in the US, while many more cases are undiagnosed or unreported; the CDC estimates a total of 1.5 million infections every year. The European Food Safety Authority reported 246,571 cases in 2018, and estimated approximately nine million cases of human campylobacteriosis per year in the European Union. Campylobacter jejuni infections are increasing at an alarming rate in Europe, North America, and Australia. In Africa, Asia, and the Middle East, data indicates that C. jejuni infections are endemic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Emerging infectious disease</span> Infectious disease of emerging pathogen, often novel in its outbreak range or transmission mode

An emerging infectious disease (EID) is an infectious disease whose incidence has increased recently, and could increase in the near future. The minority that are capable of developing efficient transmission between humans can become major public and global concerns as potential causes of epidemics or pandemics. Their many impacts can be economic and societal, as well as clinical. EIDs have been increasing steadily since at least 1940.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Epidemiology of chikungunya</span>

Chikungunya is a mosquito-borne alpha virus that was first isolated after a 1952 outbreak in modern-day Tanzania. The virus has circulated in forested regions of sub-Saharan African in cycles involving nonhuman primate hosts and arboreal mosquito vectors. Phylogenetic studies indicate that the urban transmission cycle—the transmission of a pathogen between humans and mosquitoes that exist in urban environments—was established on multiple occasions from strains occurring on the eastern half of Africa in non-human primate hosts. This emergence and spread beyond Africa may have started as early as the 18th century. Currently, available data does not indicate whether the introduction of chikungunya into Asia occurred in the 19th century or more recently, but this epidemic Asian strain causes outbreaks in India and continues to circulate in Southeast Asia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zika fever</span> Infectious disease caused by the Zika virus

Zika fever, also known as Zika virus disease or simply Zika, is an infectious disease caused by the Zika virus. Most cases have no symptoms, but when present they are usually mild and can resemble dengue fever. Symptoms may include fever, red eyes, joint pain, headache, and a maculopapular rash. Symptoms generally last less than seven days. It has not caused any reported deaths during the initial infection. Mother-to-child transmission during pregnancy can cause microcephaly and other brain malformations in some babies. Infections in adults have been linked to Guillain–Barré syndrome (GBS).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Emerging Pathogens Institute</span>

The Emerging Pathogens Institute (EPI) is an interdisciplinary research institution associated with the University of Florida. The institute focuses on fusing key disciplines to develop outreach, education, and research capabilities designed to preserve the region's health and economy, as well as to prevent or contain new and re-emerging diseases. Researchers within the institute work in more than 30 different countries around the world, with over 250 affiliated faculty members stemming from 11 University of Florida colleges, centers, and institutes. The 90,000-square-foot building includes laboratories and collaborative space for bioinformatics and mathematical modeling.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mosquito-borne disease</span> Diseases caused by bacteria, viruses or parasites transmitted by mosquitoes

Mosquito-borne diseases or mosquito-borne illnesses are diseases caused by bacteria, viruses or parasites transmitted by mosquitoes. Nearly 700 million people get a mosquito-borne illness each year, resulting in over tens million deaths. The devastation is almost equivalent to the entire 3 year COVID-19 global pandemic.

Morgellons is the informal name of a self-diagnosed, scientifically unsubstantiated skin condition in which individuals have sores that they believe contain fibrous material. Morgellons is not well understood, but the general medical consensus is that it is a form of delusional parasitosis, on the psychiatric spectrum. The sores are typically the result of compulsive scratching, and the fibers, when analysed, are consistently found to have originated from cotton and other textiles.

The International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society is a non-profit advocacy group which advocates for greater acceptance of the controversial and unrecognized diagnosis "chronic Lyme disease". ILADS was formed by advocates for the recognition of "chronic Lyme disease" including physicians, patients and laboratory personnel, and has published alternative treatment guidelines and diagnostic criteria due to the disagreement with mainstream consensus medical views on Lyme disease.

<i>Zika virus</i> Species of flavivirus

Zika virus is a member of the virus family Flaviviridae. It is spread by daytime-active Aedes mosquitoes, such as A. aegypti and A. albopictus. Its name comes from the Ziika Forest of Uganda, where the virus was first isolated in 1947. Zika virus shares a genus with the dengue, yellow fever, Japanese encephalitis, and West Nile viruses. Since the 1950s, it has been known to occur within a narrow equatorial belt from Africa to Asia. From 2007 to 2016, the virus spread eastward, across the Pacific Ocean to the Americas, leading to the 2015–2016 Zika virus epidemic.

Chronic Lyme disease (CLD) is the name used by some people with non-specific symptoms, such as fatigue, muscle pain, and cognitive dysfunction to refer to their condition, even if there is no evidence that they had Lyme disease. Both the label and the belief that these people's symptoms are caused by this particular infection are generally rejected by medical professionals. Chronic Lyme disease is distinct from post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome, a set of lingering symptoms which may persist after successful antibiotic treatment of infection with Lyme-causing Borrelia bacteria, and which may have similar symptoms to those associated with CLD.

In October 2013, there was an outbreak of Zika fever in French Polynesia, the first outbreak of several Zika outbreaks across Oceania. With 8,723 cases reported, it was the largest outbreak of Zika fever before the outbreak in the Americas that began in April 2015. An earlier outbreak occurred on Yap Island in the Federated States of Micronesia in 2007, but it is thought that the 2013–2014 outbreak involved an independent introduction of the Zika virus from Southeast Asia. Investigators suggested that the outbreaks of mosquito-borne diseases in the Pacific from 2012 to 2014 were "the early stages of a wave that will continue for several years", particularly because of their vulnerability to infectious diseases stemming from isolation and immunologically naive populations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Global Virus Network</span> International group of medical virologists

The Global Virus Network (GVN) is an international coalition of medical virologists whose goal is to help the international medical community by improving the detection and management of viral diseases. The network was founded in 2011 by Robert Gallo in collaboration with William Hall and Reinhard Kurth, and 24 countries were members of the network as of 2015. The GVN fosters research into viruses that cause human disease to promote the development of diagnostics, antiviral drugs and vaccines, and its mission includes strengthening scientific training and response mechanisms to viral outbreaks. The GVN has organized task forces for chikungunya, human T-lymphotropic virus, and Zika. The network is headquartered at the Institute of Human Virology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, and Gallo serves as its scientific director.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">MK-608</span> Chemical compound

MK-608 is an antiviral drug, an adenosine analog. It was originally developed by Merck & Co. as a treatment for hepatitis C, but despite promising results in animal studies, it was ultimately unsuccessful in clinical trials. Subsequently it has been widely used in antiviral research and has shown activity against a range of viruses, including Dengue fever, tick-borne encephalitis virus, poliovirus, and most recently Zika virus, in both in vitro and animal models. Since it has already failed in human clinical trials previously, it is unlikely MK-608 itself will be developed as an antiviral medication, but the continuing lack of treatment options for these emerging viral diseases means that much research continues using MK-608 and related antiviral drugs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">NITD008</span> Chemical compound

NITD008 is an antiviral drug classified as an adenosine analog. It was developed as a potential treatment for flavivirus infections and shows broad spectrum antiviral activity against many related viruses such as dengue virus, West Nile virus, yellow fever virus, Powassan virus, hepatitis C virus, Kyasanur Forest disease virus, Omsk hemorrhagic fever virus, and Zika virus. However, NITD008 proved too toxic in pre-clinical animal testing to be suitable for human trials, but it continues to be used in research to find improved treatments for emerging viral diseases.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John P. Woodall</span> American entomologist

John Payne Woodall (1935–2016), known as Jack Woodall, was an American-British entomologist and virologist who made significant contributions to the study of arboviruses in South America, the Caribbean and Africa. He did research on the causative agents of dengue fever, Crimean–Congo hemorrhagic fever, o'nyong'nyong fever, yellow fever, Zika fever, and others.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John R. Mascola</span> American Physician-Scientist

John R. Mascola is an American physician-scientist, immunologist and infectious disease specialist. He was the director of the Vaccine Research Center (VRC), part of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), National Institutes of Health (NIH). He also served as a principal advisor to Anthony Fauci, director of NIAID, on vaccines and biomedical research affairs. Mascola is the current Chief Scientific Officer for ModeX Therapeutics.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "Global Virus Network Staff". Global Virus Network. Archived from the original on 2015-03-15. Retrieved 6 September 2020.
  2. 1 2 McSweegan, E; Walker, R I (1986). "Identification and characterization of two Campylobacter jejuni adhesins for cellular and mucous substrates". Infection and Immunity. 53 (1): 141–148. doi: 10.1128/IAI.53.1.141-148.1986 . PMC   260088 . PMID   2873103.
  3. ↑ Laux, D C; McSweegan, E F; Williams, T J; Wadolkowski, E A; Cohen, P S (1986). "Identification and characterization of mouse small intestine mucosal receptors for Escherichia coli K-12(K88ab)". Infection and Immunity. 52 (1): 18–25. doi: 10.1128/IAI.52.1.18-25.1986 . PMC   262191 . PMID   3007359.
  4. ↑ "U.S., Polish Negotiators Report Progress on New Scientific and Technology Agreement". Los Angeles Times. 28 February 1987. Retrieved 6 September 2020.
  5. 1 2 3 Branigan, Tania (2003-07-04). "NIH Scientist Says He's Paid To Do Nothing". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2007-07-21.
  6. 1 2 Weiss, Rick (1997-04-21). "Lyme Disease Foundation's influence at NIH gets under scientist's skin". Washington Post. Retrieved 29 June 2021.
  7. 1 2 3 Atkisson, Sharyl (2003-06-27). "The Man With No Work". CBSNews.com. CBS News. Retrieved 2007-07-21.
  8. ↑ Shochat, Gil (2003). "Legislation aims to increase whistleblower protections". The News Media & The Law. No. Summer 2003. Retrieved 29 June 2021.
  9. ↑ FederalDaily.com > FederalDaily Top Stories
  10. ↑ Riddle solved? - 17 January 2004 - New Scientist
  11. ↑ "Morgellons | PDF | Delusion | Mental and Behavioural Disorders".
  12. ↑ Aliota, MT; Bassit, L; Bradrick, SS; Cox, B; Garcia-Blanco, MA; Gavegnano, C; Friedrich, TC; Golos, TG; Griffin, DE; Haddow, AD; Kallas, EG; Kitron, U; Lecuit, M; Magnani, DM; Marrs, C; Mercer, N; McSweegan, E; Ng, LFP; O'Connor, DH; Osorio, JE; Ribeiro, GS; Ricciardi, M; Rossi, SL; Saade, G; Schinazi, RF; Schott-Lerner, GO; Shan, C; Shi, PY; Watkins, DI; Vasilakis, N; Weaver, SC (August 2017). "Zika in the Americas, year 2: What have we learned? What gaps remain? A report from the Global Virus Network". Antiviral Research. 144: 223–246. doi:10.1016/j.antiviral.2017.06.001. PMC   5920658 . PMID   28595824.
  13. ↑ McSweegan, E; Weaver, SC; Lecuit, M; Frieman, M; Morrison, TE; Hrynkow, S (August 2015). "The Global Virus Network: Challenging chikungunya". Antiviral Research. 120: 147–52. doi:10.1016/j.antiviral.2015.06.003. PMC   4843800 . PMID   26071007.
  14. ↑ Akkina, Ramesh; Ellerbrok, Heinz; Hall, William; Hasegawa, Hideki; Kawaguchi, Yasushi; Kleanthous, Harold; McSweegan, Edward; Mercer, Natalia; Romanowski, Victor; Sawa, Hirofumi; Vahlne, Anders (June 2017). "2016 International meeting of the Global Virus Network". Antiviral Research. 142: 21–29. doi:10.1016/j.antiviral.2017.03.005. PMC   7113740 . PMID   28315708.
  15. ↑ Mathur, Poonam; Comstock, Emily; McSweegan, Edward; Mercer, Natalia; Kumar, Nongthombam Suraj; Kottilil, Shyamasundaran (October 2017). "A pilot study to expand treatment of chronic hepatitis C in resource-limited settings". Antiviral Research. 146: 184–190. doi:10.1016/j.antiviral.2017.09.007. ISSN   1872-9096. PMID   28927676 . Retrieved 12 February 2021.
  16. ↑ McSweegan, Edward (2020). "How conflict and bureaucracy delayed the elimination of yellow fever". Hektoen International Journal. Retrieved 6 September 2020.
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