• Question: if you could wipe out any disease entirely would one would you pick

    Asked by date520doty to Simon, Philippa H, janemusson, jamiehoneychurch, Hannah on 26 Mar 2025.
    • Photo: Hannah Blyth

      Hannah Blyth answered on 26 Mar 2025:

      I’ll let a human disease researcher answer for what human-centric disease they’d wipe out (malaria, maybe? The author John Green of YouTube/TFIOS fame might say Tuberculosis at the moment)

      As a plant scientist, I want to time travel to eradicate a potato pathogen, Phytophthora infestans. Potato blight was partly responsible for a devastating famine in Ireland in the 19th century, causing widespread crop failure and worsening food shortages. Even today, it remains a threat to potato production worldwide, with significant economic impacts.

      If I can’t time travel, I might focus more on Wheat Rust or the fungus I study, Zymoseptoria tritici!

Comments

  • Photo: melissau

    melissau commented on :

    As a vet I’d like to wipe out rabies – it’s a disease which affects mammals, most commonly dogs, and it affects people too. The incubation period from being infected (usually by being bitten by an infected animal, but it can also be passed by eating meat derived from an infected animal) to actually showing signs of disease is long (may be up to six months) but once signs start to show it’s fatal, there is no treatment. It’s completely preventable by vaccination.