About Body Horrors

Body Horrors is a blog started in February 2011 which aims to explore the intersection of infectious diseases, the human body, public health and anthropology/sociology. My goal is to look at the interactions of local geography, cultural/social behaviors and economics upon communicable diseases. The focus is primarily on parasitic helminths, microbiological organisms and insect vectors.

The blog is written by Rebecca Kreston, a microbiologist and graduate of Tropical Medicine at Tulane University’s School of Public Health & Tropical Medicine. I’ve lived in tropical jungles, beaches and deserts around the world and have been exposed to quite a few diseases in my time. I now live in New Orleans and regularly battle insects of the Diptera, Siphonaptera and Hymenoptera orders. Lemme tell ya, I really dig infectious diseases, much to the dismay of those dining with me – I love reading about their history, their sociological implications, cultural-specific responses to infection, gross personal stories of infestation (go on!) and how modern humanity is managing their presence in society; this blog is an expression of that curiosity and my personal research.

If you have any questions about this blog or articles, or any ideas about how it might be improved, please post them in the Comments below or you can reach me at bodyhorrors at gmail dot com. Don’t worry, I’m not contagious! And I really do love feedback and hearing from people so go on and say something to me!

As to (mis)adventures in social media – I’m @thebodyhorrors on Twitter and check out the Body Horrors Tumblr if you dig phenomenal/gross/insert-adjective-of-choice images!