Ken Lemon
@kenlemon.bsky.social
Virologist @ AFBI | influenza viruses | surveillance | vaccines | Belfast, Northern Ireland
Reposted by Ken Lemon
Serology for HPAI in carnivores in Ireland: 24.6% in foxes, 22.2% in mink, 1% in badgers. In foxes, 82.5% of positives H5. No antibodies against H7.
👉 link.springer.com/article/10.1...
👉 link.springer.com/article/10.1...
July 1, 2025 at 3:50 AM
Serology for HPAI in carnivores in Ireland: 24.6% in foxes, 22.2% in mink, 1% in badgers. In foxes, 82.5% of positives H5. No antibodies against H7.
👉 link.springer.com/article/10.1...
👉 link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Reposted by Ken Lemon
“This is one of the most exciting recent advances for influenza prevention." www.science.org/content/arti...
A single shot of a flu drug could outperform vaccines—and protect for an entire season
One injection of a long-lasting drug showed up to 76% efficacy in a large trial
www.science.org
June 24, 2025 at 8:44 PM
“This is one of the most exciting recent advances for influenza prevention." www.science.org/content/arti...
Reposted by Ken Lemon
Do adults who recieved seasonal flu vaccine have antibodies agaisnt HPAI? In 61 adults in the UK, H5 virus neutrilisation blunted or absent.
👉 wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/...
👉 wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/...
June 3, 2025 at 2:56 AM
Do adults who recieved seasonal flu vaccine have antibodies agaisnt HPAI? In 61 adults in the UK, H5 virus neutrilisation blunted or absent.
👉 wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/...
👉 wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/...
Reposted by Ken Lemon
Our new issue is out! It includes a paper describing four severe coxsackievirus-linked neonatal infections in Northern Ireland, one of which was fatal.
Read it here 🗞️ www.eurosurveillance.org/content/euro...
Read it here 🗞️ www.eurosurveillance.org/content/euro...
June 2, 2025 at 7:16 AM
Our new issue is out! It includes a paper describing four severe coxsackievirus-linked neonatal infections in Northern Ireland, one of which was fatal.
Read it here 🗞️ www.eurosurveillance.org/content/euro...
Read it here 🗞️ www.eurosurveillance.org/content/euro...
Reposted by Ken Lemon
This documentary covers the current bird flu situation. Clearly presented, realistic and where necessary with nuance. Interviews by Neil Cairns & team with @linekebegeman.bsky.social, Tom Frieden, @jw132.bsky.social, Jim Paulson and myself.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5XK...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5XK...
Bird flu - the next pandemic?
YouTube video by RAZOR Science Show
www.youtube.com
May 26, 2025 at 8:48 AM
This documentary covers the current bird flu situation. Clearly presented, realistic and where necessary with nuance. Interviews by Neil Cairns & team with @linekebegeman.bsky.social, Tom Frieden, @jw132.bsky.social, Jim Paulson and myself.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5XK...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5XK...
Reposted by Ken Lemon
AFD Blog `ANSES Reports A `New' Swine Flu Virus Has Taken Over Other Genotypes in France' #H1N2 afludiary.blogspot.com/2025/05/anse...
ANSES Reports A `New' Swine Flu Virus Has Taken Over Other Genotypes in France
#18,725 China's EA H1N1 `G4' swine influenza virus leads the CDC's IRAT list of riskiest zoonotic influenza viruses (see CDC Selected S...
afludiary.blogspot.com
May 20, 2025 at 12:39 PM
AFD Blog `ANSES Reports A `New' Swine Flu Virus Has Taken Over Other Genotypes in France' #H1N2 afludiary.blogspot.com/2025/05/anse...
Out now in EID, we report an unusually high prevalence of influenza D virus in pigs and identify candidate mutations in the HEF protein that may play a role in swine adaptation.
wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/...
wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/...
High Prevalence of Influenza D Virus Infection in Swine, Northern Ireland
Influenza D Virus in Swine, Northern Ireland
wwwnc.cdc.gov
April 28, 2025 at 6:05 PM
Out now in EID, we report an unusually high prevalence of influenza D virus in pigs and identify candidate mutations in the HEF protein that may play a role in swine adaptation.
wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/...
wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/...
Reposted by Ken Lemon
Avian influenza HPAI H5N1 is catastrophic and will likely have negative consequences for Australian wildlife.
Great to write this one with Sara, Toby, Marcel.
👉 onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Great to write this one with Sara, Toby, Marcel.
👉 onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
April 28, 2025 at 12:20 AM
Avian influenza HPAI H5N1 is catastrophic and will likely have negative consequences for Australian wildlife.
Great to write this one with Sara, Toby, Marcel.
👉 onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Great to write this one with Sara, Toby, Marcel.
👉 onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Reposted by Ken Lemon
Checkout our review article at PLOS. Happy to see the thoughts of Stefano and myself on influenza virus RNA trafficking published in PLOS Pathogens a few days ago. A topic we are both greatly interested in. dx.plos.org/10.1371/jour...
Influenza A virus RNA localisation and the interceding trafficking pathways of the host cell
Viruses have evolved to efficiently navigate host cells to deliver, express, and replicate their genetic material. Understanding the mechanisms underlying viral RNA localisation is paramount to design...
dx.plos.org
April 27, 2025 at 9:21 AM
Checkout our review article at PLOS. Happy to see the thoughts of Stefano and myself on influenza virus RNA trafficking published in PLOS Pathogens a few days ago. A topic we are both greatly interested in. dx.plos.org/10.1371/jour...
Reposted by Ken Lemon
Emergence and interstate spread of highly pathogenic avian influenza A(H5N1) in dairy cattle in the United States. Peer-reviewed article now published in Science. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Emergence and interstate spread of highly pathogenic avian influenza A(H5N1) in dairy cattle in the United States
Highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) viruses cross species barriers and have the potential to cause pandemics. In North America, HPAI A(H5N1) viruses related to the goose/Guangdong 2.3.4.4b hemagg...
www.science.org
April 25, 2025 at 1:42 PM
Emergence and interstate spread of highly pathogenic avian influenza A(H5N1) in dairy cattle in the United States. Peer-reviewed article now published in Science. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Reposted by Ken Lemon
Oro-respiratory infection of pigs using bovine HPAI H5N1 B3.13 virus = productive replication in lower resp tract. BUT, contact pigs remained negative (no serconversion), so virus does not transmit between pigs.
👉 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
👉 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
March 6, 2025 at 10:14 PM
Oro-respiratory infection of pigs using bovine HPAI H5N1 B3.13 virus = productive replication in lower resp tract. BUT, contact pigs remained negative (no serconversion), so virus does not transmit between pigs.
👉 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
👉 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Ken Lemon
How well did/is the flu vaccine holding up against influenza in the UK and Europe? - interim estimates are in showing still protecting against disease but for some subtypes some hints of vaccine mismatch www.eurosurveillance.org/content/10.2...
Interim 2024/25 influenza vaccine effectiveness: eight European studies, September 2024 to January 2025
The 2024/25 influenza season in Europe is currently characterised by co-circulation of influenza A(H1N1)pdm09, A(H3N2) and B/Victoria viruses, with influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 predominating. Interim vaccin...
www.eurosurveillance.org
February 20, 2025 at 7:29 PM
How well did/is the flu vaccine holding up against influenza in the UK and Europe? - interim estimates are in showing still protecting against disease but for some subtypes some hints of vaccine mismatch www.eurosurveillance.org/content/10.2...
Reposted by Ken Lemon
New comment:
Europe needs a sustainably funded influenza research and response network
www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
Europe needs a sustainably funded influenza research and response network
www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
Europe needs a sustainably funded influenza research and response network
Influenza viruses have caused four pandemics during the last century.1 The 1918 H1N1
pandemic claimed 20–50 million lives, the 1957 H2N2 pandemic and the 1968 H3N2 pandemic
claimed 1–4 million lives e...
www.thelancet.com
February 18, 2025 at 9:57 AM
New comment:
Europe needs a sustainably funded influenza research and response network
www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
Europe needs a sustainably funded influenza research and response network
www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
Reposted by Ken Lemon
Our lab's 2nd preprint is now on bioRxiv! Led by Jordan Ort, we made H5 datasets that enable rapid clade assignment with Nextclade. We released these builds in the spring (due to cow flu) & finally wrote the paper! TLDR: it's fast, easy, accurate, and we hope, useful www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Development of avian influenza A(H5) virus datasets for Nextclade enables rapid and accurate clade assignment
The ongoing panzootic of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) A(H5) viruses is the largest in history, with unprecedented transmission to multiple mammalian species. Avian influenza A viruses of t...
www.biorxiv.org
January 10, 2025 at 10:21 PM
Our lab's 2nd preprint is now on bioRxiv! Led by Jordan Ort, we made H5 datasets that enable rapid clade assignment with Nextclade. We released these builds in the spring (due to cow flu) & finally wrote the paper! TLDR: it's fast, easy, accurate, and we hope, useful www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Ken Lemon
Amazing work by the NZ MPI team - the full genome from the HPAI H7N6 detection is now available on GISAID.
Further information on the impacts and control actions can be found here:
bit.ly/4iy3O8n
Further information on the impacts and control actions can be found here:
bit.ly/4iy3O8n
Situation update H7N6 bird flu detection Otago – 4 December 2024 | NZ Government
Biosecurity New Zealand is taking further action today to stamp out a high pathogenic strain of avian influenza, H7N6, detected on a commercial egg farm in rural Otago. "Work started this morning to h...
bit.ly
December 4, 2024 at 6:08 AM
Amazing work by the NZ MPI team - the full genome from the HPAI H7N6 detection is now available on GISAID.
Further information on the impacts and control actions can be found here:
bit.ly/4iy3O8n
Further information on the impacts and control actions can be found here:
bit.ly/4iy3O8n
Reposted by Ken Lemon
Comprehensive review of HPAI in mammals, with mutations, phenotypes, clinical consequences, spill over assessments. Super useful.
👉https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/zph.13194
👉https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/zph.13194
December 2, 2024 at 3:35 AM
Comprehensive review of HPAI in mammals, with mutations, phenotypes, clinical consequences, spill over assessments. Super useful.
👉https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/zph.13194
👉https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/zph.13194
Reposted by Ken Lemon
Our paper quantifying fecal contamination of Dublin Bay beaches by birds, dogs and urban streams polluted by sewage is out!
Dog and sewage fouling are the main contributors to fecal indicator bacteria loading.
🧪🦠
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti....
Dog and sewage fouling are the main contributors to fecal indicator bacteria loading.
🧪🦠
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti....
Quantitative source apportionment of faecal indicator bacteria from anthropogenic and zoogenic sources of faecal contamination
Recreational bathing waters are complex systems with diverse inputs from multiple anthropogenic and zoogenic sources of faecal contamination. Faecal c…
www.sciencedirect.com
December 2, 2024 at 7:37 AM
Our paper quantifying fecal contamination of Dublin Bay beaches by birds, dogs and urban streams polluted by sewage is out!
Dog and sewage fouling are the main contributors to fecal indicator bacteria loading.
🧪🦠
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti....
Dog and sewage fouling are the main contributors to fecal indicator bacteria loading.
🧪🦠
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti....
Reposted by Ken Lemon
The beautiful thing of science is that it’s always exciting..
What we thought what was impossible, even unknowable, years ago, is now a reality..
Exploring new frontiers using new technologies and novel insights..
What we can do now in 2023 was pure science fiction just a few decades ago..
🧪
What we thought what was impossible, even unknowable, years ago, is now a reality..
Exploring new frontiers using new technologies and novel insights..
What we can do now in 2023 was pure science fiction just a few decades ago..
🧪
December 16, 2023 at 9:00 PM
The beautiful thing of science is that it’s always exciting..
What we thought what was impossible, even unknowable, years ago, is now a reality..
Exploring new frontiers using new technologies and novel insights..
What we can do now in 2023 was pure science fiction just a few decades ago..
🧪
What we thought what was impossible, even unknowable, years ago, is now a reality..
Exploring new frontiers using new technologies and novel insights..
What we can do now in 2023 was pure science fiction just a few decades ago..
🧪
Reposted by Ken Lemon
Anyone who is anti-vax is pro-death. Period. The science and data do not lie. And they don’t care about your podcast.
November 24, 2024 at 10:52 PM
Anyone who is anti-vax is pro-death. Period. The science and data do not lie. And they don’t care about your podcast.
Reposted by Ken Lemon
Highly pathogenic avian influenza not gone from Europe. Experts have provided clear advice (see for example three-monthly EFSA reports: www.efsa.europa.eu/en/topics/to...), but governments and poultry sector seem slow to follow up. www.poultryworld.net/health-nutri...
Avian influenza rears its head all over Europe - Poultry World
For this winter season in many European countries, the first cases of avian influenza in commercial poultry flocks have already been discovered.
www.poultryworld.net
November 19, 2024 at 9:24 PM
Highly pathogenic avian influenza not gone from Europe. Experts have provided clear advice (see for example three-monthly EFSA reports: www.efsa.europa.eu/en/topics/to...), but governments and poultry sector seem slow to follow up. www.poultryworld.net/health-nutri...
Reposted by Ken Lemon
1. California's Dept of Public Health reports a #birdflu case in a child with no known contact with infected animals. They're looking into possible wild bird exposure.
Oddly, the press release doesn't say which type of bird flu (there are many). I'm assuming #H5N1. Specimen being sent to #CDC.
Oddly, the press release doesn't say which type of bird flu (there are many). I'm assuming #H5N1. Specimen being sent to #CDC.
November 19, 2024 at 5:21 PM
Reposted by Ken Lemon
Highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1 has been confirmed in commercial poultry at a premises near Rosudgeon, St. Ives, Cornwall, United Kingdom. www.gov.uk/government/n...
Bird flu (avian influenza): latest situation in England
Find out about the latest bird flu situation in England and guidance for bird keepers and the public.
www.gov.uk
November 17, 2024 at 10:12 PM
Highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1 has been confirmed in commercial poultry at a premises near Rosudgeon, St. Ives, Cornwall, United Kingdom. www.gov.uk/government/n...
Reposted by Ken Lemon
5 November 2024: highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N5 confirmed in a commercial poultry unit near Hornsea, East Riding of Yorkshire, United Kingdom. www.gov.uk/animal-disea...
Bird flu: near Hornsea, East Riding of Yorkshire, Yorkshire (AIV 2024/02)
Highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N5 was confirmed in commercial poultry on 5 November 2024.
www.gov.uk
November 17, 2024 at 10:19 PM
5 November 2024: highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N5 confirmed in a commercial poultry unit near Hornsea, East Riding of Yorkshire, United Kingdom. www.gov.uk/animal-disea...
Reposted by Ken Lemon
Last week, a teenager in British Columbia contracted H5N1, the first human case acquired in Canada. The BC CDC and and Canadian Food Inspection Agency have released sequences from this infected person and domestic and wild birds sampled in BC, which we've just added to Nextstrain. A thread:
auspice
nextstrain.org
November 17, 2024 at 7:59 PM
Last week, a teenager in British Columbia contracted H5N1, the first human case acquired in Canada. The BC CDC and and Canadian Food Inspection Agency have released sequences from this infected person and domestic and wild birds sampled in BC, which we've just added to Nextstrain. A thread: