It’s a pathogen that’s quickly become a household name.
Most of the world had never heard of coronavirus until just two months ago, when a novel version known as SARS-CoV-2, which causes a respiratory disease known as COVID-19, quickly began to spread first in China and then across the globe.
It has since infected tens of thousands, disrupted global supply chains and led investors to predict the onset of an economic recession. Planners from the White House to major cities to Major League Baseball have since formed task forces to coordinate responses.
It was the middle of the afternoon when Phales Milimo saw a pregnant woman go into labor and collapse on the sidewalk.
She was in the Sinazongwe District in southern Zambia, just a five-hour drive from her hometown of Lusaka, the country’s bustling metropolitan capital. Technically, she hadn’t left her country, but it felt like she was in a different world.
Anti-NMDAR encephalitis is a neurological autoimmune disease that can cause hallucinations, memory loss and even death — but it hasn’t stopped this UNI student from remembering where she’s going.
Swallowing can be something we take for granted. We do it without thought. But for someone suffering from dysphagia, which is the medical term for a difficulty with swallowing, this seemingly simple task is actually an intricate dance between the many nerves and muscles that coordinate eating and breathing. A misstep can be the difference between life and death. For these individuals, UNI is there to help.
During an eight-week internship at Boston University this summer, senior Mollie Sherman saw all sides of medicine – the thrilling successes and the anguishing defeats. And it gave her the confidence to pursue a goal she had been told she could never accomplish.
