Mary Beth Pfeiffer
Scientific American
Contact Mary
Discover and connect with journalists and influencers around the world, save time on email research, monitor the news, and more.
| Recent: |
|
| Past: |
|
Past articles by Mary:
In the Battle Against Lyme Disease, the Ticks Are Winning
The illness is still widely and falsely believed, even by doctors, to be easy to diagnose and readily treatable → Read More
How Lyme disease became the first epidemic of climate change – Mary Beth Pfeiffer
In a warming world, ticks thrive in more places than ever before, making Lyme disease the first epidemic of climate change → Read More
Go-To Lyme Drugs Don't Always Kill The Bug, At Least For Some
Nearly a generation of medical dogma on Lyme disease may be slowly unraveling as new test tube research shows that antibiotics long endorsed as curative ... → Read More
The fight for baby Molly: Why a biological family believes their toddler belongs with them
A New Jersey family fights Dutchess County to remove a 27-month-old toddler from foster care. → Read More
'Stomped on and kicked': Inmates allege beatings by guards and 24 win in lawsuits
Inmates were paid an average $62,000 in 24 lawsuits in which they alleged excessive force by correction officers at three prisons in Dutchess Count → Read More
Despite order, Sheriff wouldn't give Taser policy in criminal case; judge acceded
The Dutchess County Sheriff's Office said it would not comply with a subpoena to produce its Taser reporting policy; a judge acceded. → Read More
VIDEO: Review of Lyme disease treatment leaves out patients
She knows about cancer care. So why is she 'consumer rep' on Lyme disease panel? → Read More
One sick pup cured. One $9,473 bill for struggling college student.
After eight days in a veterinary hospital, a 16-week-old terrier puppy survives deadly parvovirus. But the tab to treat her runs to $9,473 for a college student carrying hefty loans. → Read More
Store owner faults ASPCA for 'mill' conditions; group denies charge
The owner of a puppy store says the ASPCA has made conditions worse for breeding dogs. → Read More
Puppies fill store shelves — and sometimes they're sick
Some pet stores buy from out-of-state farms that breed puppies by the score and government regulation is minimal. → Read More
Toddler's suspected abuse was reported to CPS, three months before Baby Mason was killed.
Dutchess County Child Protective Services officials had received a report of suspected abuse of Mason DeCosmo, three months before he was found dead in his bed last August, a victim of severe beatings. CPS has a high rate of repeat abuse and neglect reports, according to a report by the Office of the State Comptroller. → Read More
How it worked: Scheme to sell painkillers
Using fake patients, a doctor duped pharmacies and puts thousands of pills onto Dutchess streets. → Read More
Drug deaths mount
Dutchess County's 2014 drug overdose toll stands at 34 lives lost through Aug. 31 as an epidemic of addiction, driven largely by legal painkillers, proves difficult to control. → Read More
100 years on, a Great War lives in a field in Belgium
An American visits lands in Belgium where, 100 years later, the Great War is remembered in cemeteries, monuments and, even, farm fields. → Read More
A story of addiction and recovery
How a woman, 20, suffered an injury and became addicted to prescribed painkillers -- then heroin. A story of recovery. → Read More
Lyme disease drug costs soar -- for pets and people
The cost of doxycycline, the chief antibiotic used against Lyme disease, rose faster than any other generic drug in the year ending last November. Tick-borne illnesses – including Lyme disease and rapidly rising cases of anaplasmosis – have become more than a worrisome health threat for people and their pets. They have become an expensive one as well. → Read More
Tainted heroin deaths rise to 10
Overdoses of heroin laced with fentanyl have claimed 10 -- and possibly 11 -- people in Dutchess County, according to new figures. → Read More
FACES OF LOSS: Adam Bendel, 22, a 'sensitive, caring' son
FACES OF LOSS: Adam Bendel, 22, is lost to heroin, and a family struggles to understand → Read More
Pain pills: Relief, yes, but more addicted & more die
Nearly 250,000 prescriptions for the painkillers oxycodone and hydrocodone were filled in Dutchess and Ulster counties last year — enough to give one prescription to more than half the adults in Dutchess and nearly three-quarters in Ulster, according to an exclusive Poughkeepsie Journal analysis of narcotic drug data provided by the New York state Department of Health. Per capita prescribing rates… → Read More