Coming to America

A late night flight from Guayaquil delivered me to Atlanta early on wednesday morning. Waiting around til lunctime for the onward 3.5 hr flight to Tucson, Arizona was pretty tiring, especially considering my lack of sleep on the flight out of Guayaquil. The US customs were also unsure of my new haircut, stating that I looked different to that on my passport. They did however eventually let me though were questioning about reasons for wanting to spend time in South America. It seems that global travel security is getting much tighter, especially when entering the US.

Anyway, the weather in Tucson is great. In the mid 80's and clear sunny days at this time of year (apparently the summer here is pretty unbearable with searing desert heat and temperatures regularly over the 100f mark).

I was collected from my hotel on friday morning by Prof Don Lightner, a shrimp pathologist and a central figure in the field of crustacean pathology. He and his team are responsible for a large amount of literature on the subject over the last few decades. Don heads the aquatic pathology unit in the Department of Veterinary Science at the University of Arizona, the OIE reference laboratory for most of the diseases affecting the global shrimp industry. Those that have read previous entries will understand how important disease is to the industry (it is estimated that the White Spot Virus alone has caused over $10bn is losses since the late 1990's). The laboratory here carries out a range of research projects for existing and emerging pathogens and also provides a service to the industry in terms of disease diagnostics and advice. Over the next week or so I will be speaking to the pathologists and molecular diagnosticians at the laboratory.