EpidemioLakshmy
@epidemiolakshmy.bsky.social
🦠🦟#epidemiologist • #InfectionPreventionPosse • knitter, yogi, dog lover, nap enthusiast • alum: Emory RSPH (MPH in global health & ID epi), TB Elimination at CDC • #IDSky #EpiSky • she/her • xennial • views my own • 🩷💜💙
📍: SFBA
📍: SFBA
Reposted by EpidemioLakshmy
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...
RFK Jr.'s dangerous misuse of 'informed consent' on vaccines
Giving people an uncontextualized list of possible vaccine side effects is not the kind of "informed consent" worth promoting.
www.statnews.com
February 27, 2025 at 3:44 AM
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...
Reposted by EpidemioLakshmy
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...
It's so unusual that most physicians in the U.S. have NEVER seen a case!
www.nbcnews.com/now/video/-i...
'It's not unusual': RFK Jr. comments on growing Texas measles outbreak
When questioned about a growing measles outbreak in West Texas that has claimed at least one life, Health & Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told reporters "we have measles outbreaks eve...
www.nbcnews.com
February 26, 2025 at 7:18 PM
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...
It's so unusual that most physicians in the U.S. have NEVER seen a case!
www.nbcnews.com/now/video/-i...
Reposted by EpidemioLakshmy
#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...
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...
CDC will no longer process transgender data
The agency's decision will likely affect a number of federal health surveillance systems that serve as critical resources for researchers.
www.statnews.com
February 27, 2025 at 12:28 AM
#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...
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...
Reposted by EpidemioLakshmy
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
It's an interesting story that maybe raises more questions than answers.
1/n
February 21, 2025 at 1:54 PM
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
It's an interesting story that maybe raises more questions than answers.
1/n
truly amazing, @elisabethbik.bsky.social - thank you 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽
Many #researchintegrity sleuths are volunteers with little financial support for their often-daunting work to uncover #scientificfraud. One of the most prominent, Elisabeth Bik, has now provided money to change that. @elisabethbik.bsky.social @science.org www.science.org/content/arti...
Renowned scientific integrity investigator endows fund to support fellow sleuths
Microbiologist Elisabeth Bik donates $200,000 to support training, travel
www.science.org
February 14, 2025 at 1:23 AM
truly amazing, @elisabethbik.bsky.social - thank you 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽
Reposted by EpidemioLakshmy
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...
Seasonal Influenza: What You Need to Know
This year the U.S. is experiencing one of the most intense flu seasons in at least 15 years.
www.nyas.org
February 12, 2025 at 4:41 AM
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...
Reposted by EpidemioLakshmy
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
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
February 7, 2025 at 6:23 PM
Reposted by EpidemioLakshmy
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...
SRHD Reports Pertussis Death in Spokane County
The Spokane Regional Health District (SRHD) announces the first confirmed death from pertussis (whooping cough) in Washington since 2011.
srhd.org
February 8, 2025 at 10:39 PM
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...
Reposted by EpidemioLakshmy
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/...
Healthcare Sustainability Through the Infectious Diseases Lens
The Journal of the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society (JPIDS) and Open Forum Infectious Diseases (OFID) have partnered to jointly publish the article series,
academic.oup.com
February 6, 2025 at 8:43 PM
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/...
Reposted by EpidemioLakshmy
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...
“When we forget, measles thrives. The best and the worst thing about #vaccination is that it makes nothing happen.”
www.latimes.com/science/stor...
A leading pediatrician was already worried about the future of vaccines. Then RFK Jr. came along
In a new book, pediatric infectious disease specialist Dr. Adam Ratner details the history of measles, a virus that’s often a bellwether for public health disasters.
www.latimes.com
February 11, 2025 at 1:55 AM
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...
“When we forget, measles thrives. The best and the worst thing about #vaccination is that it makes nothing happen.”
www.latimes.com/science/stor...
Reposted by EpidemioLakshmy
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.
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.
Protecting Children from Chemical and Surgical Mutilation – The White House
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered: Section 1. Policy and
www.whitehouse.gov
January 30, 2025 at 1:08 AM
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.
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 🥲
January 30, 2025 at 2:39 AM
January has felt like five years 🥲
Reposted by EpidemioLakshmy
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....
Grateful to @craigspencer.bsky.social for his advocacy
www.nejm.org/doi/full/10....
Ebola and a Decade of Disparities — Forging a Future for Global Health Equity | NEJM
Since the 2014–2016 West African Ebola outbreak, there have been numerous proposals
and promises to reform global health infrastructure. Yet inequity remains deeply entrenched.
www.nejm.org
January 18, 2025 at 11:30 PM
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....
Grateful to @craigspencer.bsky.social for his advocacy
www.nejm.org/doi/full/10....
Reposted by EpidemioLakshmy
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.
“In order to shoot off one email per week for a year, ChatGPT would use up 27 liters of water, or about one-and-a-half jugs… that means if one in 10 U.S. residents—16 million people—asked ChatGPT to write an email a week, it’d cost more than 435 million liters of water.”
AI doesn’t just require tons of electric power. It also guzzles enormous sums of water.
It also guzzles enormous sums of water.
fortune.com
January 10, 2025 at 9:28 PM
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.
Reposted by EpidemioLakshmy
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...
Child had mild illness, has recovered. www.sf.gov/news/presump...
Presumptive Bird Flu Case Identified In San Francisco Resident | San Francisco
www.sf.gov
January 11, 2025 at 2:29 AM
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...
Child had mild illness, has recovered. www.sf.gov/news/presump...
Reposted by EpidemioLakshmy
Reading this made me cry. The magnitude of loss is so big and each of these individual stories are heartbreaking. #LAfires
A man holding a garden hose and a father at his son's bedside are among the LA wildfire victims
At least 11 people have been killed and thousands of structures have burned in wildfires raging in the Los Angeles area.
apnews.com
January 11, 2025 at 12:57 AM
Reading this made me cry. The magnitude of loss is so big and each of these individual stories are heartbreaking. #LAfires
Reposted by EpidemioLakshmy
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.
Our Editor-in-Chief @jgpharmd.bsky.social discusses the need for clinicians to be health advocates to dispel misconceptions, highlight the importance of federal health institutions, and emphasize their role in safeguarding public health and advancing medical progress. #IDsky #Medsky
I’m Sorry, but It’s Time We Talk About Politics
As politics increasingly intersects with science, infectious disease clinicians are called to take on advocacy roles. By engaging with their communities, clinicians can dispel misconceptions, highligh...
www.contagionlive.com
January 11, 2025 at 12:29 AM
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.
Reposted by EpidemioLakshmy
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...
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...
January 9, 2025 at 12:44 PM
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...
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 😔
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 😔
Been getting a lot of people asking about LA geography concerned that the images they see means the entire county is on fire. That's understandable.
But LA is a big place. So, to give an idea of scale it's time to cart this out again. It's a map of LA with other cities superimposed on it.
But LA is a big place. So, to give an idea of scale it's time to cart this out again. It's a map of LA with other cities superimposed on it.
January 10, 2025 at 4:46 AM
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 😔
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 😔
Reposted by EpidemioLakshmy
On top of this extremely true fact, so many folks working in entertainment were already in the midst of a couple of increasingly rough years of trying to find consistent employment.
There is a persistent myth that if you work in entertainment - if you've done something people have absolutely heard of or enjoyed - that you must be rich. Actors, writers, producers: rich.
The sad truth is most of Hollywood is working class. So when you see a Go Fund Me, there's a reason it exists
The sad truth is most of Hollywood is working class. So when you see a Go Fund Me, there's a reason it exists
January 9, 2025 at 10:19 PM
On top of this extremely true fact, so many folks working in entertainment were already in the midst of a couple of increasingly rough years of trying to find consistent employment.
Reposted by EpidemioLakshmy
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.
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.
January 3, 2025 at 8:55 PM
Reposted by EpidemioLakshmy
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...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Effects of conditional cash transfers on tuberculosis incidence and mortality according to race, ethnicity and socioeconomic factors in the 100 Million Brazilian Cohort - Nature Medicine
Participation in Brazil’s Bolsa Familia Program, one of the largest conditional cash transfer programs in the world, was associated with large reductions in tuberculosis incidence and mortality among ...
www.nature.com
January 3, 2025 at 8:36 PM
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...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...