The corrupted CDC website refers to a Danish study (Andersson et al) and "a statistically significant 67% increased risk of Asperger's syndrome per 1 mg increase in aluminum exposure among children born between 2007 and 2018 (Supplement Figure 4)." It's worth putting this into context. Short 🧵

🔦 Funding theme spotlight: Seeking diagnostics for typhoid fever for low-resource settings. There are 11–21M cases of typhoid fever globally each year, mostly among children and in LMICs. #IDSky 🧪 🔗 Learn about our targeted theme + updated eligibility criteria: bit.ly/4dTKvDj

Excited to share our new paper, led by UCLA med student Ursula Biba! Point-of-care #syphilis testing is important, but can be challenging in high-prevalence populations. We field-tested a dual treponemal/non-trep #POCT in a #HIV #PrEP program in Hanoi 🇻🇳 #STIsky 🔗 sti.bmj.com/content/earl...

Congratulations to Maldives on achieving #tripleelimination!!

Dr. Marrazzo is not only a role-model physician-scientist and tireless health advocate, but also a brave leader in these trying times. #IDSky

The proportion of Treponema pallidum PCR-positive primary syphilis infections which are seronegative for syphilis: a systematic review and meta-analysis ✅ Just Accepted #IDSky

Alrighty, post vacay and ready to talk about @stihiv2025.org Some amazing research and presentations: 1- Intense discussion about the need for screening for G/C in asymptomatic MSM. The evidence wasn't fully compelling but what it speaks to is the need for shared decision making in our field

Great talk by @ericpfchow.bsky.social about a ton of amazing work being done on #HPV #vaccination by he and many colleagues at MSHC in Australia. Happy to have him at @dgsomucla.bsky.social to inspire the next generation of #STI researchers!

At least 500 federal grants to #UCLA have been suspended so far. This is devastating to the scientific community here, but also threatens the science that fuels innovation, cures disease, and powers our economy. When #science is attacked like this, we all lose. chancellor.ucla.edu/messages/the...

Yet another blow to science and academic freedom. Cutting research funding - especially at institutions like UCLA - is a short sighted move that undermines innovation, public health, and progress. Feeling for all my colleagues in academia there 💔

This is terrible news for all of us at #UCLA. The attacks on #science continue.

Got to present the LIMIT Trial @stihiv2025.org looking at adding lidocaine to prefilled Bicillin shots to see if it could affect pain at 10 mins and 24hrs after injection vs control w/saline. 4 pt decline in pain at 10 mins, no difference at 24 hrs. This is prelim analysis but is promising #STISky

Got to present @stihiv2025.org on risk based messaging in sexual health settings, focusing on person centered language, removal of risk based questions, and overall trying to not make your patients feel awful for their sex lives

#stihiv2025 🧪 Closing plenary @drjeannem.bsky.social Great promise of long-acting HIV PrEP, if available, accessible, in a functioning health system All it takes is a disaster… Like withdrawal of PEPFAR - a humanitarian crisis 👇 @avac.org counter of preventable deaths

Always an inspiration Dr. Marrazzo - provides loads of hope, keep passionately advocating! We need honest conversations, work with our community partners and don’t lose ground - fantastic #STIHIV2025

“Silence equals death. We cannot go back there. We must resist erasure and rebuild trust with communities we’ve abandoned.” — Jeanne Marrazzo at the #STIHIV2025 closing, calling for renewed #STI & #HIV activism, diversified funding & unapologetic advocacy. @stihiv2025.org

Thank you @stihiv2025.org for a fantastic conference! Great to see so many colleagues. There were some amazing talks, it was so fun to learn from the best! Leaving feeling very inspired, even in these dark times. And #Montreal was a great host city! #STIHIV2025 Pic of the team from Vietnam 👋🏽

Really interesting talk on penA among commensal Neisseria by team at Maastricht. They looked at species distribution and penA mutations before/after treatment for #gonorrhea. They did not find a trend in ceftriaxone resistance mutations after treatment. #STIHIV2025 @stihiv2025.org #AMR

#stihiv2025 🧪 day 2 Publish and thrive Enthusiasm for writing to publish you science is vital Great to be here with editors of 📣 Sexually Transmitted Infections 📣 Sexually Transmitted Diseases 📣 Journal of the IAS 📣 Sexual Health Me @joetucker.bsky.social Jason Ong Kees Rietmeijer Kenneth Mayer

Prof Bobbie Van Der Pol discussing point-of-care tests We have made high demands, but don't really know what we want from #POCT She also discussed regulatory hurdles and challenges that limit availability. Takeways: better is better and we need #regulatoryreform #STIHIV2025 @stihiv2025.org

We are over detecting and over treating infections using NAATS - viability assays are the way forward #STIHIV2025

#stihiv2025 🧪 „What the hell do we do now?“ Special plenary on the sudden new reality of 📉 STI HIV and global health funding Redress donor dependence Donor funding needed, but needs to be smarter and done with governments Need and opportunity to strengthen primary care service @stihiv2025.org

Exciting talks in the Next-Generation #Diagnostics session. Prof Pingyu Zhou presented data about TMF7, a novel target for #syphilis diagnosis. Worked on the target from bench to bedside! And can potentially be a great tool for #neurosyphilis #STIHIV2025 #STIsky

Interesting talk about the evidence, or lack thereof, on #chlamydia #gonorrhea & #Mgen screening among men who have sex with men by Chris Kenyon. He presented a compelling case, that risks might outweigh benefits of screening. But this is complicated, I think more data are needed. #STIHIV2025

Beautiful prez on #stigma by #HIV journalist @picardonhealth.bsky.social @ #STIHIV2025: “That’s what stigma means. When an illness affects not only your body, but your soul, & your place in society.” ICYMI, our ED tells Devex that we must act now to prioritize equity, www.devex.com/news/why-int...

Great presentation on ST8123 clade b - which is associated with ceftriaxone resistance originated in China traveled to UK and USA #STIHIV2025

Kicking off @stihiv2025.org with a great session on building international #STI & #HIV research capacity in low- and middle-income countries. Mentor and #ECR speakers from Africa, Latin America, and Asia. Nice to see my colleagues from Vietnam in the group! #STIHIV2025

I usually focus on new HIV prevention, treatment & cure research at these conferences, but this year at #IAS2025, the global impact of the Trump administration's funding cuts was the top concern. www.ebar.com/story/155876/

Tell me your health care system is broken without telling me your health care system is broken.

Very interesting preprint! Modeling introduction of 2 new drugs for #gonorrhea, the authors found that equal allocation (introducing at the same time) was better than sequential (introducing after resistance to prior agent) for #AMR Counter to what we normally assume in #ABstewardship. #STIsky

If you don't think the #NIH cuts affect you, you're wrong. No matter where you live--red or blue, urban or rural--these cuts affect you. A beautifully written piece by the inimitable Carey Candrian in @coloradonewsline.com coloradonewsline.com/2025/06/13/t...

Today, my NIH colleagues and I did something scary but really important. We spoke up about egregious harms we are seeing happen to research participants and public health through thoughtless and politicized policies at NIH. 🧵1/3 apnews.com/article/nih-...

Courage. Now more than ever. These NIH staffers just stood up to Trump, RFK Jr., Bhattacharya. We need to have their backs. The administration will come for each of them, one and all now. apnews.com/article/nih-...

Drug-resistant #gonorrhea is a major public health issue. It's not a matter of if, but when, treatment failures will happen in the US I worry about ceftriaxone-resistant cases that might go undetected due to this lab closure. #AMR #MedSky @gohealio.bsky.social www.healio.com/news/infecti...

I really enjoyed reading this study. the study details Europe’s largest diphtheria outbreak in 70 yearsdriven by toxigenic Corynebacterium diphtheriae infections among migrants. From Jan–Nov 2022, 362 cases were reported across 10 countries. www.nejm.org/doi/full/10....

Very cool!

🚨 Extensively drug-resistant #Shigella is increasing in #LosAngeles. PLWH and GBMSM are disproportionately affected. We have seen several of these, very difficult to treat. Antibiogram shows 📈 resistance, susceptibility testing is 🔑. #IDsky #Medsky #EMSky #AMR #XDR 🔗: t.e2ma.net/webview/3apx...

This is big news! #LEN for #HIV #PrEP can be a game changer. Given all the cuts to HIV and #globalhealth, we risk losing this important tool in the areas that need it the most. Of course, more details are needed, but welcome news! #IDsky #HIVsky

Astounding and devastating visualization of N.I.H. grants that have been terminated www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

"Relatively little attention is given to critical LMIC issues, such as reducing infection burden, antibiotic overuse in livestock farming, prescribing practices among primary care providers, and developing affordable, rapid diagnostic tests for detecting #AMR" www.cell.com/trends/micro...

Commensal Neisseria can be an early warning sign for antibiotic consumption & #AntimicrobialResistance. Especially important for #gonorrhea. This paper in #IJID looked at #AMR variability in commensals across four countries. 🔗: www.ijidonline.com/article/S120... @isid.org #openaccess

How bad will it be? Catastrophic. Proposed cuts to #NSF, #NIH, and #NASA will set the US R&D landscape back 25 yrs+, cause economic and job loss now, and undermine innovations to come. But, this is the WH's *proposed* budget. Speak up now before it is too late. (inflation adjusted $-s below)

Musk should be asked about this in every interview he does now and forever. To ignore it is a dereliction of duty. www.nytimes.com/2025/05/30/o...

Thank you to @michellegoldberg.bsky.social for just telling the truth about #ElonMusk. The rest of the media should hang their heads in shame with the fawning, irrelevant pieces they ran yesterday. www.nytimes.com/2025/05/30/o...

Canada has seen a surge of American doctors seeking to move north in the months since President Donald Trump returned to the White House.

"ChatGPT- write a 72-page report on making America healthy, include references, hundreds of them. Assume no one will fact check." The #HHS secretary, and whoever worked on this #MAHA report, are unfit to serve the American people.

It's shocking to me how not shocking this all is. I wish they took their jobs and the health of the American people seriously.

Sharing our paper on routine testing for #STIs in an #HIV #PrEP program in Hanoi 🇻🇳 📍29% w/ #chlamydia or #gonorrhea 📍High prevalence of rectal CT (15%) & oral NG (12%) 📍Most were asymptomatic Multi-site testing is important! More👇🏽 journals.lww.com/aidsonline/a... @aidsjournal.bsky.social #IDSky

New @plosglobalpublichealth.org essay on how "soft money funding structures can maintain the inequalities of Global Health and how it is beyond the financial interests of elite global North actors under this funding model to advocate for real structural change" journals.plos.org/globalpublic...

This is a terrific resource by Joshua Weitz and colleagues. scienceimpacts.org