Animal Planet episode
Posted Wednesday, July 1, 2009 10:37 AM

Animal Planet filmed one of our Leishmania field sites and our laboratory for an episode that will air July 8 at 8:00.  There is also a episode tonight, July 1, at 8:00 that will I think be interviews with patients who have the disease and dermatologists who treat it.  In the U.S., it's a parasitic disease that circulates in wood rats populations and is transmitted by sand flies.  Humans are only occasionally infected.  We were the first to work out the ecology of the transmission cycle.  We didn't have any input into the production and didn't get a chance to screen it so I hope they don't make us look to foolish.  The "star" will be Dr. Russell Raymond, a collaborator of ours.  I may have a cameo role explaining how we developed and tested our hypothesis.  My wife, Dr. Sara Kerr, who has worked on this with me for almost 20 years isn't featured at all.

Chad