Simon Pollett
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simonpollett.bsky.social
Simon Pollett
@simonpollett.bsky.social
Clinician-scientist with a focus on respiratory and mosquito-borne epidemic & pandemic viruses. Associate Professor @ USUHS. Posts are my own.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=Pollett+s+&sort=date
Reposted by Simon Pollett
H3N2 preprint: there are concerns of a severe incoming influenza season due to the drifted H3N2 K clade. We at @psioxford.bsky.social analysed epi data and ran scenario models to see what we could discern about K clade transmission dynamics: zenodo.org/records/1770....

(1/18)
Evaluation of the epidemiological outlook of the influenza A/H3N2 clade K in England during the 2025-26 season
Key findings England is currently experiencing a high growth rate of infections caused by the influenza A/H3N2 K clade. Antigenic change from the previously dominant clade, a rapid selective sweep evi...
zenodo.org
November 25, 2025 at 1:51 PM
Reposted by Simon Pollett
Are influenza B viruses really “human only”? New review synthesises evidence from serology & metagenomics for #IBV / IBV-like viruses in animals and aquatic hosts. One Health gaps remain. With @marioskoutsakos.viralvaxlab.com @duckswabber.bsky.social www.mdpi.com/1999-4915/17...
November 25, 2025 at 4:46 AM
Reposted by Simon Pollett
This is an interesting case of a patient from Chad infected with a novel arenavirus species/variant/strain, presenting with meningoencephalitis.

IMO, could be classified as a highly divergent Lassa virus strain in a new country (similar to what Togo has observed).

www.nejm.org/doi/10.1056/...
A Mammarenavirus Close to Lassa Virus in a Patient with Meningoencephalitis | NEJM
A 37-year-old man in Chad presented with a fever and a headache. An extensive evaluation identified a mammarenavirus, close to Lassa virus, in samples of cerebrospinal fluid.
www.nejm.org
November 17, 2025 at 4:47 PM
Reposted by Simon Pollett
AFD Blog `Washington State DOH: #H5N5 Avian influenza confirmed in Grays Harbor County resident' afludiary.blogspot.com/2025/11/wash...
Washington State DOH: H5N5 Avian influenza confirmed in Grays Harbor County resident
#18,846 In a `the  plot thickens ' moment, this afternoon the Washington State Department of Health has announced their presumptive H5 cas...
afludiary.blogspot.com
November 14, 2025 at 9:07 PM
Reposted by Simon Pollett
Interesting and perhaps under appreciated need in the biotech space.
PRISM-G: an interpretable privacy scoring method for assessing risk in synthetic human genome data https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.10.17.682995v1
October 17, 2025 at 11:54 PM
Reposted by Simon Pollett
Working w @huddlej.bsky.social & Trevor Bedford, we mapped neutralization titers on interactive Nextstrain trees to visualize neutralization across subclades and natural mutations.

See:

nextstrain.org/groups/blab/...

nextstrain.org/groups/blab/...
auspice
nextstrain.org
September 8, 2025 at 9:52 PM
Reposted by Simon Pollett
Most viruses that spill over into new species burn out, but some persist. 🦠

A Penn State study led by David Kennedy and Clara Shaw found that infection prevalence and viral shedding were strong predictors, while severity and intensity were not.

science.psu.edu/news/what-tr...
What traits matter when predicting disease emergence in new populations? | Eberly College of Science
science.psu.edu
September 2, 2025 at 6:27 PM
Reposted by Simon Pollett
First Case of Neuroinvasive Oropouche Virus in Wisconsin: A Case Report

✅ Just Accepted
#IDSky
First Case of Neuroinvasive Oropouche Virus in Wisconsin: A Case Report
Oropouche virus (OROV) is a re-emerging arbovirus that poses a yet undetermined degree of threat to the United States (US), with outbreaks reported in the Caribbean and South America, including new areas of spread, since the end of 2023.
doi.org
July 20, 2025 at 9:11 PM
Reposted by Simon Pollett
The Animal Health in Australia Annual Report 2024 is now available. Highlights include:
-Wildlife Health Surveillance
-National Avian Influenza Wild Bird Surveillance Program
-H5 HPAI preparedness
-HPAI H7 outbreaks in poultry
👉 animalhealthaustralia.com.au/wp-content/u...
July 1, 2025 at 5:03 AM
Reposted by Simon Pollett
It is impossible for me to stress to you, as one of the authors of the widest-cited paper projecting Aedes aegypti-borne virus risk under climate change, the degree to which we do not need to be worrying about yellow fever epidemics in the United States right now compared to other real things
June 23, 2025 at 4:24 PM
Reposted by Simon Pollett
New research article

Diagnostic and phylogenetic perspectives of the 2023 Murray Valley #encephalitis virus outbreak in Australia: an observational study

www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...

#IDSky #ClinMicro #ViroSky #flavivirus #OpenAccess #OA
June 20, 2025 at 8:42 PM
Reposted by Simon Pollett
BREAKING: The FDA has approved a twice-yearly injection that provided a near-perfect shield against H.I.V. infection in clinical trials. But the Trump administration has gutted the programs that might have paid for it in low-income countries
(Gift article)

www.nytimes.com/2025/06/18/h...
Regulators Approve a Twice-Yearly Shot to Prevent H.I.V. Infection
www.nytimes.com
June 18, 2025 at 6:35 PM
Reposted by Simon Pollett
“FluRisk” integrates genomic data w AI - predict human adaptation, mammalian virulence, antiviral resistance, human receptor-binding potential. Webserve integrates molecular marker atlas + predictive tools for phenotyping
👉 www.computationalbiology.cn/FluRisk/#/.
👉 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
June 17, 2025 at 1:50 AM
Reposted by Simon Pollett
Presented without comment
June 10, 2025 at 9:36 PM
Reposted by Simon Pollett
🦟" #France grapples with surging tropical diseases (eg #dengue, #chikungunya) amid spread of tiger #mosquitoes ( #Aedes albopictus)" via @politico.eu
www.politico.eu/article/fran...
France grapples with surging tropical diseases amid spread of tiger mosquitoes
The insects can spread the virus from biting infected people.
www.politico.eu
May 23, 2025 at 9:53 PM
Reposted by Simon Pollett
Glycemic control among people with Type 2 diabetes linked to modestly reduced cognitive performance
jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...
Glucose-Lowering Medications, Glycemia, and Cognitive Outcomes
This randomized clinical trial examines the relative effect of 4 classes of glucose-lowering medications that were randomly added to metformin on cognitive performance in persons with type 2 diabetes ...
jamanetwork.com
May 19, 2025 at 10:36 PM
Reposted by Simon Pollett
The FDA on Friday quietly approved the Novavax Covid vaccine, but only for older adults and for others over age 12 who have at least one medical condition that puts them at high risk from Covid.

www.nytimes.com/2025/05/17/s...
F.D.A. Approves Novavax Covid Vaccine With Stricter New Conditions
www.nytimes.com
May 17, 2025 at 11:50 PM
Reposted by Simon Pollett
May 16, 2025 at 10:01 PM
Reposted by Simon Pollett
More evidence against 🦟 Oropouche transmission. “If you bypass the midgut infection & escape barrier, it COULD be competent” – and if my grandmother had wheels she’d be a bicycle. Given the strength of the midgut barrier + other tx nuances, it’s hard for viruses to evolve incrementally around it.
🦟" #Oropouche orthobunyavirus in Urban #Mosquitoes: #Vector Competence, Coinfection, and Immune System Activation in #Aedes aegypti" by Silvana F. de Mendonça et al. www.mdpi.com/1999-4915/17...
www.mdpi.com
May 8, 2025 at 2:36 PM
Reposted by Simon Pollett
If you were unable to join our launch celebration symposium last week, or would like to revisit any of the conversations, a full event recording is now available here: http://spr.ly/633272akAf
Advances in Global Disease Surveillance: An Introduction to BEACON
On April 24, 2025 CEID celebrated the launch of its new program, BEACON, which is operated in partnership with the Hariri Institute for Computing and Data Sciences at Boston University and HealthMap at Boston Children’s Hospital. This symposium brought together global and local health experts to share their insights on the timeliness and impact of this innovative new platform. 0:00 Introduction by Dr. Nahid Bhadelia, CEID Founding Director and BEACON Director 6:07 Opening remarks by Dr. Robert A. Brown, Boston University President Emeritus 12:32 Address by Sir Jeremy Farrar, Chief Scientist, WHO 24:14 Demonstration of BEACON website and technology by Dr. Yannis Paschalidis, BEACON Co-director and Hariri Institute Director; and Dr. Nahid Bhadelia, CEID Founding Director and BEACON Director 59:34 Featured Speaker: Yvonne Hao, Former MA Secretary of Economic Development 1:26:00 Panel discussion on global health concerns and the role of AI in healthcare and disease surveillance. Featuring Dr. Wilmot James, Senior Advisor to the Brown Pandemic Center; Dr. Barbara Mahon, Deputy Director of Surveillance and Epidemiology, Gates Foundation; & Dr. Nicole Lurie, Executive Director Preparedness and Response and US Director, CEPI. Moderated by Dr. John Brownstein, BEACON Co-director and Chief Innovation Officer at Boston Children’s Hospital 2:29:38 Keynote address by Dr. Robbie Goldstein, Commissioner, MA Dept. of Public Health
spr.ly
April 30, 2025 at 10:17 PM
Reposted by Simon Pollett
Turns out, that's only seven studies between 1961 and 2024. Still, a fair bit of work to extract the data, summarize it, make sense of methodological differences, and come to a conclusion about public health risks. Our open data initiatives can save us some time on #1 and #2 before outbreaks start.
April 30, 2025 at 6:03 PM
Reposted by Simon Pollett
🔗 The updated maps support risk assessment and help inform decisions around vaccination and awareness campaigns.

Learn more and explore the interactive TBE maps here ➡️ bit.ly/42p8XJT

#TBE #TickBorneEncephalitis #IDsky #EpiSky #PublicHealth #ECDC4PublicHealth #TickBorne
Tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) in Europe: new maps published
New maps published by ECDC show that hotspots for tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) in the EU are mainly concentrated in Central, Eastern, and Northern Europe, based on 2023 notification rates of locally-...
bit.ly
April 15, 2025 at 5:09 PM
Reposted by Simon Pollett
OUT NOW! 👉 A broadly protective human antibody for GI genogroup noroviruses

There are no effective countermeasures against the GI genogroup of noroviruses. The authors characterize a protective human antibody that broadly recognizes this genogroup
#MicroSky 🦠

www.nature.com/articles/s41...
A broadly protective human antibody for GI genogroup noroviruses - Nature Microbiology
At present, there are no countermeasures against the GI genogroup of noroviruses. The authors characterize a protective human antibody that broadly recognizes this genogroup.
www.nature.com
April 10, 2025 at 10:49 AM