Arsenic and Immune Response to Influenza: Implications for Human Health, with Josh Hamilton

EHP: The Researcher's Perspective

The many adverse health effects caused by chronic arsenic exposure are a concern for the hundreds of millions of people worldwide whose drinking water contains elevated levels of this naturally occurring element. A new rodent study suggests arsenic may also contribute to immune suppression. In this podcast, Josh Hamilton describes the potential implications of this finding for human health, including the possibility that arsenic exposure could help explain why certain populations have been hit harder by pandemic novel H1N1 flu. Hamilton is the senior author of "Low-Dose Arsenic Compromises the Immune Response to Influenza A Infection in vivo" and a senior scientist at the Bay Paul Center for Comparative Molecular Biology and Evolution, part of the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. Visit the podcast webpage to download a full transcript of this podcast.