Posted by Gary Schwitzer in Health care journalism
My friend and fellow Minnesotan Maryn McKenna has written a powerful book on the drug-resistant staph infection called MRSA or methicillin-resistant Staphyloccocus aureus. The book was just published last week and is already drawing lots of due praise.
It’s also an interesting story of a path taken by a former daily newspaper health journalist. McKenna covered the CDC for years at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, where she admits to be called “Scary Disease Girl.”
She writes:
“When I examined my professional life, I realized that many of the outbreaks I drew my readers into were caused by diseases that may have fascinated them, but did not imminently threaten them. When I contemplated how MRSA advanced while I was not paying attention, I felt as though I had been telling my readers to stare up at the mountains for fear one of them might one day fall on us, while all the time a flood was rising unnoticed around our feet.”
Congratulations to Maryn on a terrific job of research, fact-finding, interviewing, storytelling and writing.
We look for more critical analysis of FDA expedited approval of a new drug like this.
Five-star story on small study that tries to counter large body of evidence on soy supplements for hot flashes.
Our reviewers, including a leading women’s health clinician-researcher, felt this piece would have been benefited from more data and context.
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