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This Podcast Will Kill You – Exactly Right and iHeartPodcasts

This podcast might not actually kill you, but Erin Welsh and Erin Allmann Updyke cover so many things that can. In each episode, they tackle a different topic, teaching listeners about the biology, history, and epidemiology of a different disease or medical mystery. They do the scientific research, so you don’t have to.

Since 2017, Erin and Erin have explored chronic and infectious diseases, medications, poisons, viruses, bacteria and scientific discoveries. They’ve researched public health subjects including plague, Zika, COVID-19, lupus, asbestos, endometriosis and more.

Each episode is accompanied by a creative quarantini cocktail recipe and a non-alcoholic placeborita.

Erin Welsh, Ph.D. is a co-host of the This Podcast Will Kill You. She is a disease ecologist and epidemiologist and works full-time as a science communicator through her work on the podcast. Erin Allmann Updyke, MD, Ph.D. is a co-host of This Podcast Will Kill You. She’s an epidemiologist and disease ecologist currently in the final stretch of her family medicine residency program.

This Podcast Will Kill You is part of the Exactly Right podcast network that provides a platform for bold, creative voices to bring to life provocative, entertaining and relatable stories for audiences everywhere. The Exactly Right roster of podcasts covers a variety of topics including science, true crime, comedic interviews, news, pop culture and more. Podcasts on the network include My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark, Buried Bones, That’s Messed Up: An SVU Podcast and more.

Copyright: 2026 iHeartMedia, Inc. © Any use of this intellectual property for text and data mining or computational analysis including as training material for artificial intelligence systems is strictly prohibited without express written consent from iHeartMedia

Latest Episodes:

Ep 46 Lactose Intolerance: Never trust a fart Mar 17, 2020

Show notes

Everyone loves a good poop story, don’t they? We certainly hope so, because our good friend Katie shares a fantastic one to kick off our episode on lactose intolerance. In this episode, we explore what lactose is and the symptoms that lactose non-digesters experience when they eat some sneaky cheese or ice cream. Then we explain that this episode is actually flipped - turns out that not being able to digest lactose is the normal state, and those of us who can are actually the mutants! We trace the origins of this mutant allele and how the persistence of pastoralism spread milk drinking far and wide. Where do we stand with lactose intolerance today? Tune in for that answer and for an abundance of milk facts to arm yourself with for the next pub trivia night.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ep 45 Hepatitis C: Hepatiti? Mar 03, 2020

Show notes

From its discovery only 30 years ago to the recent development of an effective treatment, the short life of the Hepatitis C virus certainly has been action-packed. This week, we take you through the biology of this deadly virus by exploring its cancer-causing qualities and pondering the plural of hepatitis. Then we take a stroll through the often bizarre and disturbing history of blood technology, discussing how a lack of sterilization and screening allowed for the proliferation of the Hepatitis C virus around the world. Finally we ask, “what’s going on in the world of Hepatitis C today?” Spoilers: it’s not all bad! As long as you can afford the treatment of course...

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ep 44 Pertussis: Whoop Here It Is Feb 18, 2020

Show notes

[TRIGGER WARNING: see below] Whooping cough, that terrible childhood scourge, has been making an alarming comeback due to lapses in vaccination coverage across the globe. And in this episode, we’ll tell you why exactly its return is a cause for concern. From the devastation it wreaks on the body to the untold tragedy of past epidemics, pertussis is a dreaded disease that was nearly relegated to the past thanks to the amazing efforts of three incredible researchers, Pearl Kendrick, Grace Eldering, and Loney Gordon. But as the provider of our firsthand account illustrates, pertussis is still very much present today. We are joined by the incredible Catherine Hughes, who does us the honor of sharing her story about her son Riley and her efforts to raise awareness about the importance of childhood vaccinations.

Read more about the Light for Riley campaign and the Immunisation Foundation of Australia to see the hugely important work being done.

Trigger Warning: The firsthand account of this episode features the death of an infant. If you do not wish to hear this, skip to 5:10.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ep 43 M-m-m-my Coronaviruses Feb 04, 2020

Show notes

What better time to explore the world of coronaviruses than amidst an outbreak of the 2019 novel coronavirus that brings to mind memories of SARS and MERS? On this very special episode of This Podcast Will Kill You, we’ll take you through what we know about this diverse group of viruses, from the mild strains constantly circulating to the epidemic ones that make headlines with their lethality. Want to know how exactly these royal viruses make you sick? Or what went on during the 2002-2003 SARS epidemic? Don’t worry - we’ve got you covered. And to help us get a grasp on the current 2019-nCoV outbreak that’s got the world’s attention, we’ve brought on four experts from Emory University to give us the lowdown: Dr. Colleen Kraft, Dr. G. Marshall Lyon, Dr. Aneesh Mehta, and Dr. Carlos del Rio.

*Please keep in mind, we recorded this episode on Sunday, Feb 2 and conducted the interviews between Jan 29 and 30, 2020. Since recording, the statistics on 2019-nCoV that we and our guests reported have changed as the epidemic continues to evolve. The figures are changing fast, but the basic info is still relevant.

To follow the 2019-nCoV outbreak, our experts recommend the following as reliable sources of information:

WHO 2019-nCoV website, especially the Situation Reports
Map Dashboard of 2019-nCoV Cases by Johns Hopkins Center for Systems Science and Engineering
CDC 2019-nCoV website

And to learn more about the amazing work that our special guests do on the regular, follow them on Twitter!

Colleen S. Kraft, MD, MSc (@colleenkraftmd)

G. Marshall Lyon, MD, MMSc (@GMLyon3)

Aneesh K. Mehta, M.D., FIDSA, FAST (@AneeshMehtaMD)

Carlos del Rio, MD (@CarlosdelRio7)

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Ep 42 Dandy Dengue Fever Jan 21, 2020

Show notes

Our first vector-borne disease episode of season 3 and our first mosquito-borne pathogen in quite some time, dengue virus proves itself to be more than a worthy topic (and quite a formidable adversary in terms of public health). This week we are joined by Dr. Alex Trillo who drops some firsthand knowledge on the excruciating symptoms that give dengue its colloquial name “breakbone fever”, and then we trace the virus’s path from its evolutionary origins in ancient forests to the inevitable emergence of dengue hemorrhagic fever following modern war. We round it all out with some truly horrifying stats on the prevalence of dengue today as well as some promising research on reducing the prevalence of dengue tomorrow.

To find out more about Alex’s incredibly cool research, check out her website at www.alextrillo.com and follow her on Twitter at @Trillo_PA.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ep 41 Ricin: A Bad Seed Jan 07, 2020

Show notes

Have you missed learning about plant poisons? Well, it’s your lucky day! Today is our first crossover of season three with our friend Matt Candeias of In Defense of Plants. In this episode we delve into the castor bean plant Ricinus communisand its two notorious products: castor oil and the star of the show, ricin. Join us as we learn about ricin’s storied history, which leads us through political assassinations and efficiency in engines, the biology of ricin, which horrifies us with its lethality, and finally, the ecology of the plant, which surprises us with its strategic partnerships.

Looking for more ways to cure your plant blindness? Check out In Defense of Plants at indefenseofplants.com and follow Matt on twitter @indfnsofplnts.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ep 40 Dancing Plague: Worst Dance Party Ever Dec 24, 2019

Show notes

In 1518 a strange sight could be seen all over the town of Strasbourg. Crowds of people dancing unceasingly, unable to control their movements, seemingly heedless of their blistered and bloodied feet. As the contagious dance grew, so did the body count as the frenzied dancers succumbed to exhaustion. Over 500 years later, this dancing plague leaves us with many questions, first among them being, “What in the heck?”. In this episode, we try to get to the bottom of this mysterious infectious dance by investigating several different hypotheses, which lead us down some wild roads. Tune in, put on your best dancing shoes, and drop that beat.

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Ep 39 Toxoplasmosis: Calling All Cats Dec 10, 2019

Show notes

You’ve seen the headlines: could this cat-associated parasite be controlling your every move? Is the love you have for cats pure or merely a manipulation? Join us as we discuss Toxoplasma gondii, the feline-associated parasite that infects a whopping one third of all humans. Yes, you read that right. From the behavior-altering effects on rodents to the ancestral origins of the domestic cat, we dive deep into all things toxoplasmosis, the disease that sounds like it comes straight out of a sci-fi novel.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ep 38 Lead Poisoning: Heavy Metal Episode Nov 26, 2019

Show notes

This episode, our first foray into toxic metals, is heavy in all kinds of ways - metallically, emotionally, informationally, politically. Lead poisoning has been around for about as long humans have been working with lead, but despite its extensive history, it still poses an incredibly huge public health problem today, especially for children. Tune in to hear us chat about the multitude of effects lead exposure can have on your body, the dark and often strange history of lead poisoning (ancient Rome, anyone?), and the alarming extent to which lead exposure affects people around the world today.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ep 37 E. coli (unless it's beets) Nov 12, 2019

Show notes

E. coli. Such a short name for such a massive topic. This episode we explore the delightful diversity of Escherichia coli, the ubiquitous bacterium that predates humans and can range in virulence anywhere from “you won’t even know I’m there” to “this is really, really, really gonna hurt”. Today we cover the good, the bad, and the ugly: you’ll hear about the innumerable contributions of E. coli to the fields of genetics, evolution, and microbiology, a detailed account of how pathogenic strains can wreak havoc on your guts, and an exploration of one of the most infamous food-borne illness outbreaks in US history. Hoping we’d end it on a happy note? Better luck next time, folks.

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