Patient Zero

A New Hampshire town finds out its water has been contaminated by a chemical. The most basic question — whether the water is safe to drink — doesn’t have a clear answer. Nobody seems to know much about this so-called forever chemical, which is weird… because all of this has all happened before. From the Document team at New Hampshire Public Radio, Safe to Drink is a four-part series about a water contamination story that keeps repeating in town after town — and about the people who fought for answers through a maze of chemistry, regulations, and illnesses. You can binge the whole series now: subscribe to Safe to Drink on Apple Podcasts, or check out their page on NHPR’s website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Introducing “What Remains,” a special series from NHPR’s Outside/In. A classroom display of human skulls sparks a reckoning at the Penn Museum in Philadelphia. A movement grows to “abolish the collection.” The Penn Museum relents to pressure. But there are more skeletons in the closet. To hear all three parts, including the prologue, subscribe to Outside/In.

Introducing the newest series from NHPR’s award-winning Document team: “The Youth Development Center.” New Hampshire has sent its most troubled kids to the same juvenile detention center for more than a century. It's a place that was supposed to nurture them, that instead hurt them – in some of the worst ways imaginable. It's now at the center of one of the biggest youth detention scandals in American history. How did this happen – and how did it finally come to light? Listen to the full series, and explore an interactive digital story about the scandal here. If you have suffered abuse and need someone to talk to, you can call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-4673. If you’re in a mental health crisis, call the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 9-8-8.

Is it Lyme disease, or Lyme's disease? Can humans take the canine Lyme vaccine? Does everybody infected with Lyme also get co-infections? These are some of the listener questions we attempt to answer in this Bonus episode. It's the Lyme AMA! Patient Zero is sponsored by Ben’s. Click here to learn more or go to https://bens30.com/patientzero

The earliest known case of Lyme disease? Or the problem with correcting the record? Patient Zero is sponsored by Ben’s. Click here to learn more or go to https://bens30.com/patientzero

The origin of ulcers. The rise and fall of a medical recommendation. Certainty and science. Patient Zero is sponsored by Ben’s. Click here to learn more or go to https://bens30.com/patientzero

Society inadvertently engineers an epidemic. Scientists debate whether or not to engineer a solution. Learn more at patientzeropodcast.com

An ambiguous case with no easy answers. Another growing epidemic, and an ethics question that might help explain Lymeworld. To get access to bonus episodes as well as early access to our regular episodes, clickhere.

In the late 90s you could get vaccinated against Lyme. Now you can't. What gives? To get access to other bonus episodes, as well as early access to our regular episodes, click here.

When it feels like doctors have closed the door to establishment medicine, another set of doors open. These doors lead to dubious providers, and untested treatments. To get access to bonus episodes, as well as early access to our regular episodes, click here.

Lyme disease has been called the Great Imitator. And the Lyme disease tests have a fraught history. Click hereto donate $20 and get early, ad-free episodes of Patient Zero and bonus content.

A perfect carrier of disease. A race underneath your skin. The part we know, before we get to the parts we don't. Click hereto donate $20 and get ad-free episodes of Patient Zero a week early and bonus content.

A meditation on the pace of science. An investigation in fits and starts. The beginning of a controversy. Click hereto donate $20 and get ad-free episodes of Patient Zero a week early and bonus content.

A mysterious illness plagues a Connecticut town. A brief introduction into “Lymeworld”. A lesson on the epidemiological triangle. Click hereto donate $20 and get ad-free episodes of Patient Zero a week early and bonus content.

A first look at Patient Zero, a new podcast from New Hampshire Public Radio. Hosted by Taylor Quimby. Theme by Ty Gibbons. First episode drops mid-August. Find more at patientzeropodcast.com