For your reading consideration: How focusing on "informed consent" in vaccination promotion could distort the public's understanding of, and appreciation for the protective powers of vaccines. www.statnews.com/2025/02/26/r...

Actually, a measles outbreak IS an unusual occurrence. Especially in a country like the US, which had eliminated the disease thanks to vaccination until recently. It's so unusual that most physicians in the U.S. have NEVER seen a case! www.nbcnews.com/now/video/-i...

#Erasure If you are silent I'm the face of this, it will not save or spare you. Whether we count them or not trans people have always existed and will always exist. www.statnews.com/2025/02/25/c...

Details are now available for the story about potential intra-household transmission involving cats and people that was accidentally released, then withdrawn a couple weeks ago. It's an interesting story that maybe raises more questions than answers. 1/n

truly amazing, @elisabethbik.bsky.social - thank you 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽

This year the U.S. is experiencing one of the most intense flu seasons in at least 15 years. Read my latest on what you need to know www.nyas.org/ideas-insigh...

1. #CDC was allowed to publish FluView. Hooray. 10 more kids died this season from #flu; the new deaths occurred between the end of Dec & the beginning of Feb. To date CDC has been alerted to 57 pediatric deaths in 2024-25. Historically most kids who die from flu weren't vaxed. chart=mine

A child in Washington State who had received some but not all the recommended #pertussis vaccinations has died from pertussis. It is the state's first pertussis death since 2011. srhd.org/news/srhd-re...

1. This time last year, the US had only ever recorded 1 human infection with #H5N1 #birdflu, in 2022. With the confirmation of an infection in a Nevada dairyworker, there've now been 69 confirmed cases in 11 states.

JPIDS has partnered w/Open Forum Infectious Diseases (OFID) to jointly publish "Healthcare Sustainability Through the Infectious Diseases Lens" article series. It highlights the interconnectedness of infectious diseases, climate change, and sustainability. #IDSky academic.oup.com/jpids/pages/...

Dr. Adam Ratner details the history of #measles, a virus that’s often a bellwether for public health disasters. “When we forget, measles thrives. The best and the worst thing about #vaccination is that it makes nothing happen.” www.latimes.com/science/stor...

Because of my expertise, I've mostly posted about the ways in which this administration is attacking the US science and technology ecosystem. We can't all focus on everything all the time—that's part of their plan—but be certain: I am sickened by this utter abuse of human rights and dignity.

January has felt like five years 🥲

From HiV to Ebola to Covid and mpox, inequities in access is a defining feature Grateful to @craigspencer.bsky.social for his advocacy www.nejm.org/doi/full/10....

I think the environmental burden and cost of the AI revolution is one of the most under-discussed topics currently. Normalizing its use for mundane daily tasks of a broad scale will have a toll we are wholly unprepared to fully confront or address.

San Fransisco Dept of Public Health reports finding an #H5N1 #birdflu case in a child with no clear link to exposure to the virus. The #CDC still must confirm the positive test. Child had mild illness, has recovered. www.sf.gov/news/presump...

Reading this made me cry. The magnitude of loss is so big and each of these individual stories are heartbreaking. #LAfires

We don’t have to scream from the rafters daily, but #idsky members will have to step up and educate as public health interventions are challenged. Sorry folks, we need to talk politics.

These extraordinary photos of the LA fires have been shared widely on social media, often without crediting the photographer. These are all the work of Ethan Swope, an LA-based photojournalist working for AP. You can follow his remarkable reporting here👇 www.instagram.com/ethanswopeph...

LA City is what's shown here, about 500 square miles. LA County is the second largest in the US and is a bit over 4000 square miles. It's a mind boggling large area, made even more so with fires in multiple parts 😔

1. A #flu & other respiratory bugs update: This year's flu season was pretty much exquisitely timed to coincide with the holidays, a great way to spread respiratory illness across the various age groups. Right now there's lots of flu, lots of #RSV & #Covid is on the rise again, per #CDC.

What a cool study and a powerful demonstration that Tuberculosis is largely a disease of poverty. In Brazil a large scale intervention which provided cash monthly to families living in poverty led to profound reductions in TB cases. Up to 50% among the poorest groups. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

This is a friendly reminder that norovirus infections are on an absolute tear out here right now. Hand sanitizer is not enough for this virus. Please wash your hands with soap and water frequently! You do not want the vomiting and diarrhea combo this virus serves.

So, you may ask, why do I get so angry about the new liberal spin on RFK Jr, as in, "he gets some things right, so let's collaborate on those" or "we have to work with him because he has a huge following we need to reach"? Because I've seen this movie before. 1/

Nasser Hospital's paediatric wing in Gaza’s Khan Younis is overcapacity, treating children with respiratory infections, dehydration, and critically ill premature newborns, warns MSF. 🔴 Follow our LIVE coverage: https://aje.io/2wp26h

have my first symptomatic respiratory infection in five years - had to bust out my rescue inhaler yesterday. i'm frustrated we don't have rapid flu + RSV tests available OTC in the US (I'm convinced I had the latter, due to whom I likely got it from & because I was negative x4 on COVID RAT).

learning how to fold fitted sheets - lots of YouTube videos, watch a few and rewatch the one that makes the most sense. It makes washing linens a joy. My linen closet is beautiful.

So the kid in BC with H5N1 was very sick to the point of needing ECMO. While the majority of human cases have not been severe, this virus has the potential to be as bad as other H5N1s. At population scale, even infrequently, this is millions of people. www.nejm.org/doi/full/10....

There's a huge tension building within public health over collaboration: can we work with the Trump Administration, at whatever few points of overlap in mission exist, to make people healthier? What this misses is the visibility and transparency of that play to the public, and its impact on trust

Worth celebrating.

‘Baby in a dumpster.’ A spate of abandoned newborns unsettles Texas. Critics say these cases are no coincidence in a state with one of the nation’s most restrictive abortion bans and near-bottom rankings on women’s health care.

my blood pressure shot up so quickly just from looking at this skeet 😅 #InfectionPreventionProblems

🧵An example of the shenanigans and junk science accepted in medical journals. In September 2023, JAMA Pediatrics published a ludicrously bad paper (quasi-retracted after much effort) claiming long COVID is "strikingly rare" in kids, supposedly vs the WHO definition. jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

if I can make a plug for the novavax COVID vaccine, here too. more durable, fewer systemic side effects than the mRNA vaccines. please please get vaccinated. I've been getting it since fall 2022 and it's truly wonderful.

⚠️ #MedSky public service announcement: if you/your family are among the ~60% of eligible Americans who haven’t yet had the 2024-25 flu shot, it’s time. Influenza A is 🚀 nationwide in wastewater (via @BiobotAnalytics). CDC recommends #FluShot for age 6 mos & up.

The illnesses & deaths in Panzi region, DRC, were caused by a combo of regular respiratory bugs + malaria, in people weakened by severe malnutrition. Not a new disease but definitely a local tragedy. www.who.int/emergencies/...

The #H5N1 #birdflu virus from a severe case in Louisiana shows it was developing mutations that could help it attach to cells in human respiratory tracts, including a mutation seen in a recent severe case in British Columbia, Canada, the #CDC reported today. www.statnews.com/2024/12/26/c...

Updated CDC technical report on the Louisiana case is out. There are low frequency mutations in HA that indicate adaptation in a human host—specifically this human host. But this doesn’t really change much in terms of estimating pandemic risk. www.cdc.gov/bird-flu/spo...

1. #Flu activity in the US is really starting to pick up — just in time for the multi-generational gatherings at Christmas, Hanukkah & over the new year. Map on the left shows activity for the week ending Dec. 7. Look at the change in the following week (right). www.cdc.gov/fluview/surv...

Well 80% of US counties have no infectious disease specialists. This is sadly the trend with cerebral specialties that don't do procedures, reimbursement is lower and thus attracts fewer trainees. Also few Drs want to work in rural counties for many reasons. www.the-hospitalist.org/hospitalist/...

Dr. Marc Yambayamba kindly shared the detailed sitrep epi report from the outbreak in panzi, DRC on LinkedIn. Here it is with highlights summarized: - 1010 cases, 52 deaths, 5.1% CFR - Active cases: 21 hospitalized, 20 under observation. - epi curve as of dec 20th below

AIDS denialism was devastating for South Africa in the past This exhibit @WitsUniversity was based on a speech written at the height of denial Today, South Africa has the world's largest antiretroviral therapy program Took great advocacy & activism

it was very cold here this morning

The #IDSky team is within striking distance of the podium! Donate to a food bank 11/28-12/3, screenshot your receipt, & record your donation for our team (#MEALioidosis) at hcwvshunger.org/how-to-donate/ before midnight on #GivingTuesday 12/3/24! cc @jabarocas.bsky.social

I don't have any official data, but anecdotally I'm seeing this more and more since the pandemic. Folks push "terrain theory"--idea being that as long as the body/"terrain" is healthy, germs can't hurt you. Bill Maher has pushed ideas like this re the flu vaccine. /1