My adorable and super friendly King Arthur has been diagnosed with lymphoma of the gut. No blockage, but it’s a large mass. Now the dilemma of whether we try chemo which will mean regular trips to Bristol from Cardiff. #SadTimes

We’re getting close to 2,000 signatures! Please sign and share Wales for Europe’s petition to get Wales back into the Erasmus scheme👇🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🇪🇺 www.walesforeurope.org/this_is_eras...

I’m in Thessaloniki airport, I think this sparrow has Avian keratin disorder?? Very long curved beak.

Because I’m a terrible photographer, here’s just a few pictures of my lab team talking about their posters. One more of Anastasia to add. @escvirology.bsky.social #ESCV2025

Another great @escvirology.bsky.social meeting underway in Thessaloniki. If you’re there, please do come and ask Ester anything about the society.

1/ Over 2 MILLION non-native birds released every year into the Welsh countryside, without proper controls or oversight, causing harm to the natural environment.  Time is running out – call on the Welsh Government to licence these releases now!

🚨 Last Call to Register! 🚨 The ESCV 2025 is happening next week in Thessaloniki, Greece – 17–20 September 2025! 🌍✨ 📅 Don’t miss out – secure your spot before it’s too late! 👉 escv2025.org/registration... See you there! #ESCV2025 #ClinicalVirology #Virology

ESCMID is currently seeking candidates willing to serve on the panels that will develop the next seven clinical practice guidelines in 2026-2027. You can learn more about the projects on our website and apply to join a panel before 10 October 2025. www.escmid.org/guide... #IDSky #clinmicro

The countdown has begun to what is the best Clinical Virology conference in Europe starting the 17th September in Thessaloniki. I’ll be there with the team who work on virological surveillance and R&D for viral disease for public health in Wales @escvirology.bsky.social #WSVC #PublicHealthWales

Yesterday I learned that Pokémon was a shortened form of Pocket Monster. I did fact check this with my internal Pokémon expert @molassive.bsky.social before posting. She also told me the company earns more than Disney, Pokémon being the largest grossing franchise globally. #FridayFacts #Pokemon

Twice a year I upload all of the influenza characterisation data from Wales in time for the vaccine composition consultation meeting. Today it only took me 6 attempts and I didn’t have to email the help-desk to confess my utter ineptitude. I’m calling that a win. #HappyFriday

Bess on her throne #ElizabethTudorCat #CatsofBlueSky

Most evenings I take a walk in my garden in the dark, so I can find #hedgehogs. Here’s one from this evening.

We had a living roof (sedum) installed when we had our extension built during the pandemic. (Yes it was difficult with supplies, timing etc) This year, it’s finally looking exactly as I imagined, flowering and full of pollinators. #HelpingNature

My work account was #hacked about a month ago. Currently ‘migrating’ 15 years of emails and files to a whole new work persona. I can assure you, it is a bit of a faff. Might have been easier to have taken early retirement 🤔

Measles PCR ready, mumps PCR ready..how long to hold out before bringing in a rubella PCR? #ReturnofthePreventableInfections #VaccinesWork

I can’t quite believe we’ve come to this. #SupportfortheWHO

Sunday vibes with #HenryPlantagenetCat #CatsofBluesky

I’ve got a ‘working from home’ helper today. He’s looking forward to appearing on Teams and helping with a grant review. As a chronic carrier of calicivirus he’s an expert in virology. #KingArthurCat

Spurs!!! (Well that wasn’t stressful at all)

@stevebraysodem.bsky.social Nice flags 🇪🇺🇪🇺 #Channel4News

King Arthur is turning white in his old age. All of his undercoat is white, and so is his under carriage! 😂 #SeniorCatsofBlueSky

As tighter immigration policies are announced today, scientists continue to stress the importance of attracting international talent. Our director Paul Nurse spoke to the Observer about how this affects science in the UK: observer.co.uk/news/politic...

Get the latest updates on the #Chikungunya outbreak in the Indian Ocean region: 🦟 Understand how the virus is spreading 🔬 Learn about recent developments in chikungunya vaccine research Register to join the WHO EPI-WIN Webinar on 7 May, 13:00–14:00 CEST: bit.ly/4lTZP7w

Interesting cat bed chosen by Bess

Henry would rather he was dressed like Luke Skywalker today, instead he’s still being made to wear his ruff. #MaytheFourth

On this May 4th the Garth Cuckoo made its presence known. @bto-gbw.bsky.social

This is up there with the ‘migrants in tents instead of hotels’ comment from Andrea Jenkyns. All quite grim.

The #measles vaccine has saved more lives than any other vaccine in the past 50 years. 2 doses = 97% protection against the highly contagious disease. #VaccinesWork #WorldImmunizationWeek

I’ve seen 2 cases of SSPE in my career. One case acquired at a time when MMR was not yet universal in the UK, the 2nd due to acquisition when measles should have been eliminated. Diagnosis classically is by imaging and evidence of antibody in the CSF (intrathecal antibody) with comparison to blood

Two cushions for the perfect King Arthur bed. He plans to watch a film later. He’s hoping for the Cat from Outer Space, but will make do with Alien. #CatsofBlueSky

Stop taking my photograph and get me some food human serf. #ElizabethTudorCat #CatsofBlueSky

Join our new Wales Applied Virology Unit as a Lecturer in Infectious Disease Epidemiology / Behavioural Science! See the advert here: krb-sjobs.brassring.com/TGnewUI/Search… And contact WAVU co-director David Gillespie for informal enquiries. #NewPI #Lecturer #GroupLeader #Job #Opportunity

I actually spoke to the same person* twice on different days without planning and multiple WhatsApp messages at #ESCMIDGlobal. That’s quite the feat. (*delegate and not someone in an exhibition booth)

I had 17K followers on Twitter and made many lifelong connections. Today I reached 1K on #BlueSky which feels reasonable for someone who posts mostly about her cats, and virology that mostly involves humans.

Subjects discussed during the Year in Public Health Session #ESCMIDGlobal included emerging infections, displaced populations, AI, and AMR. A clear message was that genomic surveillance for AMR in LMIC countries is vital. I wonder if wastewater might help improve cover? (The question I didn’t ask)

If you haven’t been able to get to Vienna for #EscmidGlobal and virology is your thing, please join us in Thessaloniki in September for all things viruses.

Join the ESCMID Global 2025 conversation on our new platforms. Follow us on Threads and BlueSky and use the official congress hashtag #ESCMIDGlobal to enter to win amazing prizes everyday at 12 noon CEST! #IDSky #clinmicro

I went to look at the posters from my lab @ESCMIDGlobal today. I failed to take pictures of the presenters with their posters - sorry guys 😣

I’ve arranged to meet people at #ESCMID2025. Let’s face it, unless you know you’re going to be in the same session at the same time, networking ESCMID is about randomly bumping into people you know. I also failed to factor in the time difference when planning and I don’t know my left from my right.

The plumber is back moving a radiator for us. He’s finding other small problems and I’m standing there wondering if I caused them and how much I can blame on lockdown home repairs (even though I was mostly working throughout lockdown)

#caturday in this house (Henry’s head is on the mend)

The power of the Welsh SAIL database in action. Evidence for zostervax in reducing the risk of dementia. The paper gives a link to how to access SAIL for research purposes. (I’m somewhere in it as a person resident in Wales and registered with a GP) www.nature.com/articles/s41...

My week off in summary: thought I’d successfully changed old sink taps in the bathroom, had problems with a leak, thought I’d fixed said leak. Spent the next weekend pulling up all of the carpet in the bedroom that soaked up the water from the not fixed leak. Called a plumber. #VirologistNotAPlumber

With #escmidglobal starting next week. I’m sorting out the jobs in the garden before my head is filled with science. Unfortunately, Henry pictured in the potting shed has a head full of pus, so will be visiting the vet later (Bess getting her own back by kicking him repeatedly in the head)

King Arthur was 14 this week, his monthly checkup at the vets revealed all his blood markers are back to normal (his ALT when he was ill was >1000!!) here he is pictured with Stu earlier today.

Excited to see my first little owl ever at the RSPB Newport wetlands. I took a picture as proof. I’ve also added a picture of a curlew #TerriblePhotosofBirds

The sign of a Gen X woman, the generation that lined up in school to receive the rubella vaccine. I had to explain that happened to the virology reg this week, speaking from experience 😬 It was also why rubella outbreaks occurred in young men prior to the introduction of MMR in 1988 #VaccinesWork

#ElizabethTudorCat ever the optimist #CatchingSquirrels

Today I looked at the cost of a season ticket for commuting to London for 1 year by train from Cardiff..£17222 and some pennies (with underground zones 1-6) Stu thought I must have meant £1722, because that is a sum that nobody can comprehend, especially when standing will inevitably be involved.