PhD Virologist turned science writer. Fighting misinformation w/ fully sourced episodes on infectious diseases. Public health is inherently political.
Joined August 2014
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🎙️ NEW EPISODE:
This week's Infectious Dose is a full Outbreak Watch update: Screwworm, H5N1, mpox, Ebola, measles, cholera, and more.
What's changing, what surveillance is revealing, and what we're still trying to understand.
🔗 infectiousdose.com/post/outb…
The Infectious Dose Podcast retweeted
The United States, which has all the resources, infrastructure, and historical capacity to maintain measles elimination - is instead bracing to lose its status this coming week. This will be the first time since it gained elimination status 26 years ago.
There is an overwhelming sense that the U.S. will soon lose its hard-won measles elimination status, according to CDC staffers and public health groups at a meeting this week. nbcnews.com/health/health-ne…
The Infectious Dose Podcast retweeted
Hakeem Jeffries, @RepJeffries
There are 14 yr old girls pregnant in an ICE Facility that were NOT when they were detained. We want justice and prosecutions, not reaching across the aisle!
The Infectious Dose Podcast retweeted
The sheer horror of this.
Islamic State-linked militants raided a village in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, killing at least 33 civilians and forcing patients with confirmed and suspected Ebola infections to flee, authorities said on Friday. reuters.com/world/africa/isl…
There's a kernel of truth here, but it's missing important context. Oral polio vaccines can, under certain conditions, lead to vaccine-derived poliovirus outbreaks. That's well documented, not covered up. However...👇
...not all polio vaccines work the same way, and these claims are not true. I have an entire episode explaining the different vaccines, how vaccine-derived polio occurs, & why the risk of that is far less than wild polio.
infectiousdose.com/post/a-pl…
The Infectious Dose Podcast retweeted
Men after the Russell Brand trial: "So we have to get consent for *everything* now??"
Yes, mate. Yes you do.
That's how being a non rapist works.
The Infectious Dose Podcast retweeted
The awful consequences of measles infection versus the safety of the MMR vaccine
The Infectious Dose Podcast retweeted
We're reporting only a fraction of measles cases in the US; some estimates put it as low as 20% in states like PA. This outbreak is much larger than what's reported and is spilling into highly vulnerable communities like babies and pregnant women. We will lose our Measles elimination status this month, and it will take years of responsible public health management to get it back.
bloomberg.com/news/articles/…
The Infectious Dose Podcast retweeted
You are the swamp. How to eliminate chronic disease? Delete the Center at CDC responsible for measuring, preventing , and managing it.
Fact: The President’s budget proposals for FY 2026 and FY 2027 sought to eliminate the CDC's National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (NCCDPHP).
Its primary mission is to prevent chronic diseases, promote health, and manage complications from existing long-term health conditions across all stages of life.
Draining the swamp is a mandate, and we have an obligation to deliver. Entrenched interests have exercised power in Washington under both parties for decades. President Trump and I intend to keep fighting until the American people—not corporate influence—drive our health policies.
I stand firmly behind President Trump and the historic reforms we are advancing together.
In less than two years, this administration has rewritten federal dietary guidelines to emphasize real food, secured commitments from major food companies to remove petroleum-based synthetic dyes and other additives, launched systematic reviews of chemicals already in our food supply, and proposed requiring companies to notify the FDA before introducing ingredients they independently deem safe. These are concrete steps toward accountability that Americans demanded.
We have hundreds of other accomplishments but there's still more work to do. We must finish food-ingredient reform, advance our work on ultra-processed foods, and put children’s health at the center of federal policy. I will keep pressing those priorities across this administration and work with anyone in either party who will help deliver them.
The American people deserve a government that puts their health first. President Trump gave me a mandate to put prevention at the center of health care and end the chronic disease epidemic to Make America Health Again.
The Infectious Dose Podcast retweeted
In the prevaccine era congenital rubella syndrome was a tragic cause of hearing loss and other birth defects (microcephaly, intellectual disabilities, heart defects) in the U.S. Now due to declines in MMR vaccinations in America we should expect the return of not only measles but also rubella cases in pregnancy followed by congenital rubella
About 2 to 3 of every 1,000 children in the United States are born with detectable hearing loss. Research has shown that identifying hearing loss early, and beginning language and other interventions as soon as possible, can make a meaningful difference in a child’s development.
That is why advances in hearing research are so important. At NIH’s National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD), decades of scientific discovery have helped deepen our understanding of hearing and helped advance solutions across the continuum of care. Beyond early detection, NIDCD research has also helped advance technologies such as cochlear implants, which can provide access to sound for people with severe or profound hearing loss.
Continued investment in NIH hearing research can help drive the next generation of discoveries and technologies to improve the quality of life of babies born with hearing loss.
ALT NIH Director, Jay Bhattacharya in a laboratory with a research trainee. One is wearing a tie-dye lab coat and smiling, standing next to another who is in a suit. They are looking at petri dishes labeled "E. coli" on a workbench. The environment is filled with scientific equipment and supplies.
ALT A group of people, including NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya sitting around a conference table in a meeting room. A presentation is displayed on a large screen at the front of the room. The participants are engaged, with some taking notes and others listening intently. Laptops and documents are on the table.
ALT A group of people seated around a conference table in a formal meeting setting. NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya is speaking, and others are listening attentively. The room has a modern design with a large window in the background.
ALT NIH Director, Jay Bhattacharya in a laboratory with a research trainee. A person in a tie-dye lab coat is pointing at a computer screen, explaining something to another individual wearing a suit and tie. They are in a laboratory setting with scientific equipment and supplies in the background. Two other individuals are observing the interaction.
You're describing how science works. New evidence changes our understanding.
But I didn't give an opinion. I'm referring to decades of epidemiological data.
More measles infections mean more complications & death.
That's math, not opinion.
Infecting other people without their consent is not some inalienable right.
You don't want vaccines? Cool. Don't get them. But that means you don't get to participate in things where not being vaccinated risks other people.
This is common courtesy not some nefarious plot.
The Infectious Dose Podcast retweeted
Folks in northern Colorado, loads of measles exposures.
This child was super sick and in a lot of health care facilities.
The Infectious Dose Podcast retweeted
To those in Congress, it’s time to act.
Raise the minimum wage.
End the pointless war in Iran.
Provide universal healthcare and childcare.
Pass comprehensive immigration reform.
Implement sensible AI guardrails.
Codify abortion rights into law.
It’s a numbers game, people. The more measles we see, the more serious complications and deaths we will see.
It’s all preventable. Have we had enough?
@SecKennedy needs to be held accountable for the illness and deaths his antivax rhetoric has caused.
"It is with a heavy heart we are reporting the first death of an infant connected with a measles outbreak in Wisconsin in many years. My heart is broken for the family," Wisconsin Department of Health Secretary Kirsten Johnson. "Any death of a child is a tragedy and even more so when it is related to a vaccine-preventable disease. Measles can cause serious illness and death, and it is important for all Wisconsinites to evaluate their risk and take steps to protect themselves and their family."
abcnews.com/Health/wisconsin…
The Infectious Dose Podcast retweeted
BREAKING: An infant has died from measles in southwestern Wisconsin, the state’s first measles-related death since 1990, health officials say.
The Infectious Dose Podcast retweeted
Victoria Broderick just won in TN-4 without @RepJeffries ever knowing her name.
@AbdulElSayed won in Michigan and @SenSchumer did the opposite of help him.
The idea that those 2 take credit for this wave defies logic. Schumer & Jeffries are not the "leaders" 🇺🇸 just voted for.