Brian Labus

Request as Media Expert

Assistant Professor, School of Public Health

Master's of Public Health Internship Program Coordinator

Expertise: Infectious Disease, Disease Surveillance, Outbreak Investigation, COVID-19

Biography

Brian Labus is an expert on communicable disease surveillance, disease epidemiology, outbreak investigation, and the use of social media to detect and investigate health problems in the community.

Labus is an assistant professor of epidemiology and biostatistics within UNLV's School of Public Health. Prior to joining UNLV, he spent 15 years as a senior investigator for the Southern Nevada Health District conducting outbreak investigations and disease surveillance, and implementing public health informatics systems. Has was the lead public health investigator for the largest outbreak of healthcare-acquired Hepatitis C in U.S. history.

In March 2020, Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak selected Labus to serve on a five-member statewide task force to help advise on the scientific aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

His research and expertise have been featured in numerous news outlets such as the New York Times, CNN, LA Times, NPR, and more. His work has also been featured in academic and professional publications including the Twenty-Eighth Annual Conference on Innovative Applications of Artificial Intelligence, Nevada Journal of Public Health, Epidemiology and Infection, Clinical Infectious Diseases, and Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

Education

Ph.D. in Public Health, UNLV
M.P.H. in Infectious Diseases, University of California-Berkeley
B.S. in Biology, Purdue University

Search For Other Experts On

health & medicine

Brian Labus In The News

Wastewater monitoring raises possibility of summer COVID-19 surge in Clark County

It’s in the air, and now in the water. Samples from Southern Nevada’s wastewater have shown an increase of the COVID-19 virus in areas of the valley, indicating a possible summer surge of the illness that has spread across the country.

Minimizing mosquito activity this summer as health district detects West Nile virus in Clark County

The Southern Nevada Health District is encouraging the community to “fight the bite” this summer, as the Southern Nevada Health District announced in May the detection of the first West Nile virus-positive mosquitoes in Clark County of the 2024 season.

COVID's surprising role in the surge of food recalls

MDLinx

Earlier this month, an assortment of Planters peanuts and mixed nuts were recalled over concerns they contained Listeria. Similarly, a variety of chocolate-covered pretzels and cookies were recalled due to fears the snacks were riddled with Salmonella. Recently, over 16,000 pounds of raw ground beef sold at Walmart were pulled from the shelves due potentially being contaminated with E. coli.

TikTok’s Raw Milk Influencers Are Going to Give Us All Bird Flu

If you go on TikTok or Instagram, you’ll see legions of wellness influencers promoting the benefits of unpasteurized “raw” milk, which hasn’t been heated to kill off illness-causing microorganisms. Raw milk is risky business at the best of times, and despite what some influencers claim, there are no nutritional benefits to drinking it, according to the CDC. But it’s now also a vector for H5N1, the new bird flu spreading through cows.