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Alumni Update
The Disease
Detective
BY KATHRYN WHITE
Tracking down the culprits sick, the origin of the infection, and CDC training program, she is
that threaten human health how to stop it from spreading. stationed in Indianapolis, Indiana,
assigned at the Indiana State
Gaub says her interest in epidemi- Department of Health.
Most people are unaware of how ology piqued during a trip to South
many potentially hazardous health Africa, as a pre-med undergraduate, “Every day is different,” she said. “I
threats get thwarted each day when she volunteered in an infec- work on things as they pop up.”
before they spiral into serious tious disease clinic. There she met a
health problems, or who is actually woman who had a zoonotic parasite For example, Gaub has responded
working under the radar to protect in her liver and lungs. to many calls involving bats. Bats
our local and global communities. are responsible for 7 out of 10
After switching to veterinary college, rabies deaths in the United States,
Kathryn Gaub (DVM ’17, MPH ’18) she read a book describing a year according to the CDC. In this
is one of those disease detectives. in the life of EIS officers and the instance several families were
The CCVM alumna is part of the exposed to bats that
Center for Disease Control’s (CDC) showed up in their
Epidemic Intelligence Service “The ability to impact the health homes. Gaub jumped
(EIS). She was one of 65 candidates of communities really excites me. in to determine
selected from a highly competitive whether post
pool of 600 applicants—physicians, I think we are doing some very exposure prophy-
veterinarians, public health experts, important work here.” laxis treatment was
and doctoral-level scientists—to necessary. In another
represent the class of 2018. case, she was tasked
work they perform combating with examining a Legionella spp
The two-year EIS fellowship health epidemics such as foodborne cluster that surfaced in an Indiana
provides on-the-job training outbreaks, SARs, and anthrax. After county. Legionella spp is a bacteria
under the guidance of experienced that, Gaub was all in and began typically transmitted through water
mentors, giving these young profes- asking herself what she could do droplets or a mist such as an air
sionals an opportunity to investigate to make herself a more desirable conditioning system. Legionella spp
both infectious and chronic diseases. candidate for EIS. produces flu or pneumonia-like
When an outbreak occurs, the EIS symptoms, and is treatable with
team is sent out to determine who is Now in her final year of the two-year antibiotics.
22 • Oregon State University Carlson College of Veterinary Medicine
