Richard Pizzi
@richpizzi.bsky.social
Monitoring medical news, climate change, political economy, etc.
“The reality is none of us knows whether this is next week, next year, or never. I don’t think it’s never.”
How the Bird Flu Could Quickly Turn Into a Pandemic
More than a year after bird flu jumped to cattle, scientists are focused on two big questions: Could bird flu become a pandemic? And how can we stop that from happening?
www.webmd.com
May 7, 2025 at 9:46 PM
“The reality is none of us knows whether this is next week, next year, or never. I don’t think it’s never.”
CDC and state responses to the measles outbreaks have become more difficult "since the federal government canceled some $11 billion in COVID-19-related grants to states to help track and control infectious diseases"
Widening Measles Outbreaks Stretch Resources
Texas said it now has logged 561 cases, and 25 states have at least one case.
www.medscape.com
April 30, 2025 at 9:07 PM
CDC and state responses to the measles outbreaks have become more difficult "since the federal government canceled some $11 billion in COVID-19-related grants to states to help track and control infectious diseases"
“With the lab now dismantled, an outbreak situation cannot be properly investigated or contained, which means that infections can go unchecked and continue to spread. This has the potential to significantly impact the general population”
Hepatitis Testing, Guidance, on Hold as Labs Close
Shutdown strands clinicians managing outbreaks and patients with chronic conditions.
www.medscape.com
April 23, 2025 at 3:10 PM
“With the lab now dismantled, an outbreak situation cannot be properly investigated or contained, which means that infections can go unchecked and continue to spread. This has the potential to significantly impact the general population”
I suppose we need a re-release of Upton Sinclair's 'The Jungle'
Everyone paying attention here, folks? Safety inspections of milk doesn't sounds like waste or fat to me. WTF?
April 22, 2025 at 4:49 PM
I suppose we need a re-release of Upton Sinclair's 'The Jungle'
"Public ignorance and apathy towards bird flu...could pose a serious obstacle to containing the virus"
Americans don’t think bird flu is a threat, study suggests - CUNY Graduate School of Public Health & Health Policy
New York, NY | April 17, 2025 – In an editorial in the American Journal of Public Health, a team led by researchers from the CUNY Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy (CUNY...
sph.cuny.edu
April 22, 2025 at 3:13 PM
"Public ignorance and apathy towards bird flu...could pose a serious obstacle to containing the virus"
“It would not take much for polio to get established again. Polio is still circulating in different parts of the world. That’s the one that honestly worries me the most.”
The Other Vaccine-Preventable Diseases Worrying Doctors Now
As the measles outbreak in the U.S. spreads, experts fear that other preventable diseases, including polio, rubella, and mumps, could return. Here’s what you can do to stay safe.
www.webmd.com
April 17, 2025 at 2:06 PM
“It would not take much for polio to get established again. Polio is still circulating in different parts of the world. That’s the one that honestly worries me the most.”
Interesting study of Italian far-right populism, viewing "race as the glue that makes disparate political actors ‘stick’ together against the common enemy – gender"
Understanding populist far-right anti-immigration and anti-gender stances beyond the paradigm of gender as ‘a symbolic glue’: Giorgia Meloni’s modern motherhood, neo-Catholicism, and reproductive raci...
Building on theoretical framings in critical race and queer studies, this article focuses on the first female prime minister of Italy, Giorgia Meloni, as an ent...
journals.sagepub.com
April 11, 2025 at 3:27 PM
Interesting study of Italian far-right populism, viewing "race as the glue that makes disparate political actors ‘stick’ together against the common enemy – gender"
"A denial and distortion of the reality of gender is unfolding in the USA that will have huge consequences for health globally."
Standing up for gender justice
A denial and distortion of the reality of gender is unfolding in the USA that will
have huge consequences for health globally. President Donald Trump's actions include
erasing the term gender from all...
www.thelancet.com
April 11, 2025 at 3:06 PM
"A denial and distortion of the reality of gender is unfolding in the USA that will have huge consequences for health globally."
“For consumers with insurance, that likely means higher premiums and potentially higher out-of-pocket copays.”
Trump drug tariffs would drive up prices, worsen shortages before any boost to US manufacturing, experts warn | CNN
“Major” tariffs on pharmaceutical imports are coming soon, President Donald Trump says, pledging that they’d help bring drug manufacturing back to the US while lamenting that other countries pay much ...
www.cnn.com
April 10, 2025 at 3:25 PM
“For consumers with insurance, that likely means higher premiums and potentially higher out-of-pocket copays.”
"much of the department tasked with monitoring and improving maternal and child health at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was placed on leave"
U.S. maternal mortality rate increased 27% over five years, NIH study finds
The U.S. maternal mortality rate increased 27% between 2018 and 2022, a new NIH study finds.
www.statnews.com
April 10, 2025 at 3:17 PM
"much of the department tasked with monitoring and improving maternal and child health at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was placed on leave"
"It is impossible to understand the ‘normal’ functioning of contemporary society, as of past societies, without flattery. Flattery in such instances is not an exception but part of the norm."
Flattery, Truth-telling, and Social Theory - Bülent Diken, 2025
This article deals with the ‘problem’ of flattery (kolakeia) as a specific form of activity, contrasted to parrhesia. Who is the flatterer? In which ethical-pol...
journals.sagepub.com
April 9, 2025 at 9:08 PM
"It is impossible to understand the ‘normal’ functioning of contemporary society, as of past societies, without flattery. Flattery in such instances is not an exception but part of the norm."
"The 6-year-old girl who died from the measles in Gaines County was healthy before she contracted the measles, so recommending a healthy diet in lieu of vaccination is both misleading and dangerous"
Experts Push Back on RFK Jr’s Infection Comments
The new Secretary of Health and Human Services has made claims about measles and other communicable diseases that could lead to sickness, and even death, his critics claim.
www.medscape.com
April 9, 2025 at 9:00 PM
"The 6-year-old girl who died from the measles in Gaines County was healthy before she contracted the measles, so recommending a healthy diet in lieu of vaccination is both misleading and dangerous"
changes in US policy "causing waves of disruption and long-term damage to both scientific and political climate efforts"
Data under duress - Nature Climate Change
Climate change and climate action are socially and politically divisive topics in many countries. In addition to contributing to political disparity, climate research is also affected by political con...
www.nature.com
April 9, 2025 at 3:52 AM
changes in US policy "causing waves of disruption and long-term damage to both scientific and political climate efforts"
Program "would have been critical to ensure confidence in the laboratory methods for food safety and animal health"
FDA Suspends Program to Improve Bird Flu Testing Due to Staff Cuts
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is suspending efforts to improve its bird flu testing of milk, cheese and pet food due to massive staff cuts at the agency, according...
www.medscape.com
April 4, 2025 at 3:13 PM
Program "would have been critical to ensure confidence in the laboratory methods for food safety and animal health"
"I see in him outrageous strength, with an inscrutable malice sinewing it. That inscrutable thing is chiefly what I hate; and be the white whale agent, or be the white whale principal, I will wreak that hate upon him." - Melville, from Moby Dick, c. 36
April 3, 2025 at 6:49 PM
"I see in him outrageous strength, with an inscrutable malice sinewing it. That inscrutable thing is chiefly what I hate; and be the white whale agent, or be the white whale principal, I will wreak that hate upon him." - Melville, from Moby Dick, c. 36
"the cuts may result in dramatically reduced state and local capacity to address healthcare-associated infections and antimicrobial resistance through testing and laboratory detection"
State and Local Funding Cuts Hit ID Hard
Wide-ranging challenges include staffing, technology upgrades, community outreach.
www.medscape.com
April 3, 2025 at 6:42 PM
"the cuts may result in dramatically reduced state and local capacity to address healthcare-associated infections and antimicrobial resistance through testing and laboratory detection"
"The slashing was so wide and deep that it can be hard to get a handle on just how much public health expertise was lost"
The Expert Who Kept Eye Drops From Blinding You Was Fired Yesterday
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the so-called Department of Government Efficiency terminated thousands of experienced public health professionals in an April Fools’ Day massacre. We’re all about to pay the ...
www.vanityfair.com
April 3, 2025 at 6:21 PM
"The slashing was so wide and deep that it can be hard to get a handle on just how much public health expertise was lost"