Ursula Hofer
@hoferu.bsky.social
Desk-chair virologist, EiC of The Lancet Infectious Diseases, previously at different Nature journals, MD PhD. She/her/expert. Opinions my own.
Pinned
Ursula Hofer
@hoferu.bsky.social
· Feb 28
Should science be political?
At this point in time, with US President Trump's administration attacking institutions
such as the US CDC, NIH, USAID, WHO, and their people and functions, whether science
should be political seems li...
www.thelancet.com
This month's editorial:
Should science be political?
In my mind, there's only one response to this question...
And the more pressing question is, how can politics be more scientific?
www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
Should science be political?
In my mind, there's only one response to this question...
And the more pressing question is, how can politics be more scientific?
www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
Still some way to go for mpox RAT; sensitivity not quite there yet, in particular in children and early in the disease course.
New Research
Field evaluation of a rapid antigen test for mpox in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda: a multicentre, prospective, diagnostic accuracy study
www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
Field evaluation of a rapid antigen test for mpox in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda: a multicentre, prospective, diagnostic accuracy study
www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
Field evaluation of a rapid antigen test for mpox in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda: a multicentre, prospective, diagnostic accuracy study
Although performance of the NG-Test Monkeypox antigen RDT did not fully meet WHO Target
Product Profile benchmarks, driven mainly by lower sensitivity in DR Congo, results
in Uganda were more encourag...
www.thelancet.com
November 13, 2025 at 10:50 AM
Still some way to go for mpox RAT; sensitivity not quite there yet, in particular in children and early in the disease course.
Reposted by Ursula Hofer
Heading to @astmh.bsky.social tomorrow?
Join us at 11:30 am for our symposium, “Mpox Without Borders: Global Trends, Breakthroughs & Preparedness.”
Honored to co-chair with my colleague & friend Dr. Placide Mbala, with an all-star panel of experts.
You don’t want to miss this!
#ASTMH2025
Join us at 11:30 am for our symposium, “Mpox Without Borders: Global Trends, Breakthroughs & Preparedness.”
Honored to co-chair with my colleague & friend Dr. Placide Mbala, with an all-star panel of experts.
You don’t want to miss this!
#ASTMH2025
November 13, 2025 at 2:19 AM
Heading to @astmh.bsky.social tomorrow?
Join us at 11:30 am for our symposium, “Mpox Without Borders: Global Trends, Breakthroughs & Preparedness.”
Honored to co-chair with my colleague & friend Dr. Placide Mbala, with an all-star panel of experts.
You don’t want to miss this!
#ASTMH2025
Join us at 11:30 am for our symposium, “Mpox Without Borders: Global Trends, Breakthroughs & Preparedness.”
Honored to co-chair with my colleague & friend Dr. Placide Mbala, with an all-star panel of experts.
You don’t want to miss this!
#ASTMH2025
Reposted by Ursula Hofer
Partner notification is a key part of STI care but uptake in many LMIC settings is low.
Our RCT in Zimbabwe tried to improve uptake via financial incentives.
Results out in Lancet Global Health.
tl;dr Answer was no. Possibly as incentive only averted indirect costs of care & that wasn't enough.
Our RCT in Zimbabwe tried to improve uptake via financial incentives.
Results out in Lancet Global Health.
tl;dr Answer was no. Possibly as incentive only averted indirect costs of care & that wasn't enough.
Financial incentives to improve uptake of partner treatment for sexually transmitted infections in antenatal care: a cluster randomised trial in Zimbabwe
Financial incentives did not address barriers to index participants informing partners,
and ultimately did not improve partner attendance for STI treatment. Multifaceted
packages addressing barriers f...
www.thelancet.com
November 13, 2025 at 8:03 AM
Partner notification is a key part of STI care but uptake in many LMIC settings is low.
Our RCT in Zimbabwe tried to improve uptake via financial incentives.
Results out in Lancet Global Health.
tl;dr Answer was no. Possibly as incentive only averted indirect costs of care & that wasn't enough.
Our RCT in Zimbabwe tried to improve uptake via financial incentives.
Results out in Lancet Global Health.
tl;dr Answer was no. Possibly as incentive only averted indirect costs of care & that wasn't enough.
"The time has come to close the floodgates and require that authors demonstrate their commitment to quality science before we let them in the door."
Interesting discussion.
Interesting discussion.
Manuscript Submissions Are Up! That’s Good, Right? - The Scholarly Kitchen
Publishers have led themselves into a mess by focusing on rising submissions as a positive indicator of journal performance.
scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org
November 12, 2025 at 4:09 PM
"The time has come to close the floodgates and require that authors demonstrate their commitment to quality science before we let them in the door."
Interesting discussion.
Interesting discussion.
Reposted by Ursula Hofer
The creators of an influential list of highly cited researchers have shaken up their methodology this year, taking a swipe at scientists who associate with those linked to possible ethical breaches
go.nature.com/3LAThwX
go.nature.com/3LAThwX
Influential list of highly cited researchers now shuts out more scientists: here’s why
Rule change weeds out many who co-author papers with others linked to suspicious practices.
go.nature.com
November 12, 2025 at 10:05 AM
The creators of an influential list of highly cited researchers have shaken up their methodology this year, taking a swipe at scientists who associate with those linked to possible ethical breaches
go.nature.com/3LAThwX
go.nature.com/3LAThwX
Reposted by Ursula Hofer
New Review
British Society for Medical Mycology best practice recommendations for the diagnosis of serious fungal diseases: 2025 update
www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
British Society for Medical Mycology best practice recommendations for the diagnosis of serious fungal diseases: 2025 update
www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
British Society for Medical Mycology best practice recommendations for the diagnosis of serious fungal diseases: 2025 update
The fungal diagnostic landscape is evolving; whereas previously, traditional culture-based
methods dominated, most invasive fungal disease is now diagnosed with non-culture-based
tests, including dire...
www.thelancet.com
November 11, 2025 at 8:12 AM
New Review
British Society for Medical Mycology best practice recommendations for the diagnosis of serious fungal diseases: 2025 update
www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
British Society for Medical Mycology best practice recommendations for the diagnosis of serious fungal diseases: 2025 update
www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
Reposted by Ursula Hofer
Good morning all! Busy day so early start. Here's breakfast.
Egon Schiele - Still Life with Pastry
#art #food #breakfast
Egon Schiele - Still Life with Pastry
#art #food #breakfast
November 12, 2025 at 5:04 AM
Good morning all! Busy day so early start. Here's breakfast.
Egon Schiele - Still Life with Pastry
#art #food #breakfast
Egon Schiele - Still Life with Pastry
#art #food #breakfast
👀
Bug in Springer Nature metadata may be causing ‘significant, systemic’ citation inflation
Bug in Springer Nature metadata may be causing ‘significant, systemic’ citation inflation
Millions of researchers could be affected by a “dramatic distortion of citation counts” likely caused by flaws in how the academic publishing giant Springer Nature handles article metadata, accordi…
retractionwatch.com
November 11, 2025 at 5:59 PM
👀
Reposted by Ursula Hofer
📣 In a US cohort of >2500 #bacteremia patients, #Serratia marcescens was associated with persistent bacteremia and cardiac devices. Yet WGS showed genetic diversity of isolates: infections are not clonal.
#IDSky #clinmicro #MedSky @vancefowler.bsky.social
www.cmi-comms.org/article/S295...
#IDSky #clinmicro #MedSky @vancefowler.bsky.social
www.cmi-comms.org/article/S295...
Clinical and genomic characterization of Serratia bloodstream infections
Previously considered a rare opportunistic pathogen, Serratia is now an emerging cause
of bacteraemia. We compared the risk factors and outcomes of patients with Serratia
bacteraemia relative to other...
www.cmi-comms.org
November 10, 2025 at 12:53 PM
📣 In a US cohort of >2500 #bacteremia patients, #Serratia marcescens was associated with persistent bacteremia and cardiac devices. Yet WGS showed genetic diversity of isolates: infections are not clonal.
#IDSky #clinmicro #MedSky @vancefowler.bsky.social
www.cmi-comms.org/article/S295...
#IDSky #clinmicro #MedSky @vancefowler.bsky.social
www.cmi-comms.org/article/S295...
Reposted by Ursula Hofer
Reposted by Ursula Hofer
Our November issue is now online:
www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
Our journal is #OpenAccess, so you are free to explore all of our content. But these hashtags offer a flavour: #HTLV-1 #AMR #Lassa #Neisseria #gonorrhoea #tuberculosis #TB #influenza
#IDSky #ClinMicro #OA
www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
Our journal is #OpenAccess, so you are free to explore all of our content. But these hashtags offer a flavour: #HTLV-1 #AMR #Lassa #Neisseria #gonorrhoea #tuberculosis #TB #influenza
#IDSky #ClinMicro #OA
November 8, 2025 at 9:38 PM
Our November issue is now online:
www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
Our journal is #OpenAccess, so you are free to explore all of our content. But these hashtags offer a flavour: #HTLV-1 #AMR #Lassa #Neisseria #gonorrhoea #tuberculosis #TB #influenza
#IDSky #ClinMicro #OA
www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
Our journal is #OpenAccess, so you are free to explore all of our content. But these hashtags offer a flavour: #HTLV-1 #AMR #Lassa #Neisseria #gonorrhoea #tuberculosis #TB #influenza
#IDSky #ClinMicro #OA
Important comment
New Comment
Negative results in long COVID clinical trials: choosing outcome measures for a heterogeneous disease
www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
Negative results in long COVID clinical trials: choosing outcome measures for a heterogeneous disease
www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
Negative results in long COVID clinical trials: choosing outcome measures for a heterogeneous disease
Long COVID is an umbrella term for the heterogeneous long-term consequences of SARS-CoV-2
infection. It encompasses a wide spectrum of phenotypes (sometimes overlapping), and
its underlying mechanisms...
www.thelancet.com
November 10, 2025 at 9:24 AM
Important comment
Reposted by Ursula Hofer
A fascinating new Lancet ID paper offers the strongest comparative evidence yet between infection-induced and vaccine-induced immunity against mpox. The study followed people for up to 2 years after infection with monkeypox virus or vaccination with MVA-BN. #IDsky
www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
Long-term consequences of monkeypox virus infection or modified vaccinia virus Ankara vaccination in Belgium (MPX-COHORT and POQS-FU-PLUS): a 24-month prospective and retrospective cohort study
Individuals previously infected with MPXV show strong and durable immunological memory
lasting up to 2 years after infection, in contrast to the less robust and shorter-lived
response observed after M...
www.thelancet.com
November 9, 2025 at 1:15 PM
A fascinating new Lancet ID paper offers the strongest comparative evidence yet between infection-induced and vaccine-induced immunity against mpox. The study followed people for up to 2 years after infection with monkeypox virus or vaccination with MVA-BN. #IDsky
www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
Reposted by Ursula Hofer
🏠 New data published in the 2025 Global Report of the Lancet Countdown reveals global losses reached US$318 billion in 2024 due to extreme weather.
💻 Visit lancetcountdown.org to learn more.
#LancetClimate25
💻 Visit lancetcountdown.org to learn more.
#LancetClimate25
November 9, 2025 at 8:00 AM
🏠 New data published in the 2025 Global Report of the Lancet Countdown reveals global losses reached US$318 billion in 2024 due to extreme weather.
💻 Visit lancetcountdown.org to learn more.
#LancetClimate25
💻 Visit lancetcountdown.org to learn more.
#LancetClimate25
Ridiculous charts is my love language 🧡
AI could end scarcity, end humanity - or boost trend growth by 0.2 percentage points
November 7, 2025 at 4:24 PM
Ridiculous charts is my love language 🧡
Reposted by Ursula Hofer
Our third issue (November 2025) is now live!
❓Did you know that our first three issues, as well as a lot of current online content, are completely free to access? Take a look now!
🖱️ www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
#medsky #obgynsky #womenshealthsky
❓Did you know that our first three issues, as well as a lot of current online content, are completely free to access? Take a look now!
🖱️ www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
#medsky #obgynsky #womenshealthsky
November 6, 2025 at 9:43 AM
Our third issue (November 2025) is now live!
❓Did you know that our first three issues, as well as a lot of current online content, are completely free to access? Take a look now!
🖱️ www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
#medsky #obgynsky #womenshealthsky
❓Did you know that our first three issues, as well as a lot of current online content, are completely free to access? Take a look now!
🖱️ www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
#medsky #obgynsky #womenshealthsky
Urgent reminder, dinner time is only 58 mins away. Are you listening? Helloo? 57 mins. Tiktok.
November 6, 2025 at 5:08 PM
Urgent reminder, dinner time is only 58 mins away. Are you listening? Helloo? 57 mins. Tiktok.
Reposted by Ursula Hofer
War is pushing us to a drug resistance tipping point.
In his latest piece for @financialtimes.com, GARDP’s Manica Balasegaram highlights how the failure to prevent the rise and spread of infections in conflict zones imperils health security everywhere.
Read more 👇
www.ft.com/content/978b...
In his latest piece for @financialtimes.com, GARDP’s Manica Balasegaram highlights how the failure to prevent the rise and spread of infections in conflict zones imperils health security everywhere.
Read more 👇
www.ft.com/content/978b...
War is pushing us to a drug resistance tipping point
Failure to prevent the rise and spread of infections in conflict zones imperils health security everywhere
www.ft.com
November 6, 2025 at 4:34 PM
War is pushing us to a drug resistance tipping point.
In his latest piece for @financialtimes.com, GARDP’s Manica Balasegaram highlights how the failure to prevent the rise and spread of infections in conflict zones imperils health security everywhere.
Read more 👇
www.ft.com/content/978b...
In his latest piece for @financialtimes.com, GARDP’s Manica Balasegaram highlights how the failure to prevent the rise and spread of infections in conflict zones imperils health security everywhere.
Read more 👇
www.ft.com/content/978b...
Reposted by Ursula Hofer
What we see isn't always all there is.
Not all H5N1 infections show symptoms — 18 asymptomatic human cases found through enhanced surveillance and contact tracing. Stronger, more systematic data collection needed.
jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...
Not all H5N1 infections show symptoms — 18 asymptomatic human cases found through enhanced surveillance and contact tracing. Stronger, more systematic data collection needed.
jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...
Asymptomatic Human Infections With Avian Influenza A(H5N1) Virus
This scoping review uses published reports through January 31, 2025, to identify and characterize reported cases of asymptomatic avian influenza A(H5N1) virus infection among humans with confirmation ...
jamanetwork.com
November 6, 2025 at 4:17 PM
What we see isn't always all there is.
Not all H5N1 infections show symptoms — 18 asymptomatic human cases found through enhanced surveillance and contact tracing. Stronger, more systematic data collection needed.
jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...
Not all H5N1 infections show symptoms — 18 asymptomatic human cases found through enhanced surveillance and contact tracing. Stronger, more systematic data collection needed.
jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...
They need a more experienced editor, happy to offer my expertise 📝
Did exploitative capitalists ruin the workplace?
Ta.
Did exploitative capitalists ruin the workplace?
Ta.
November 6, 2025 at 3:54 PM
They need a more experienced editor, happy to offer my expertise 📝
Did exploitative capitalists ruin the workplace?
Ta.
Did exploitative capitalists ruin the workplace?
Ta.
"One Kenyan writer told me he applied for a job at a US Ivy League university knowing he wouldn’t get it, and he didn’t. But when the rejection came through, he wrote back to say thank you, and then added: Just so you know, I’ve written all these papers for your institution."
Sociologist Patricia Kingori is helping to expose contract cheating by scholars in high-income countries
go.nature.com/485uRU7
go.nature.com/485uRU7
Shadow scholars: inside Kenya’s multibillion-dollar fake-essay industry
Sociologist Patricia Kingori is helping to expose contract cheating by scholars in high-income countries.
go.nature.com
November 6, 2025 at 1:12 PM
"One Kenyan writer told me he applied for a job at a US Ivy League university knowing he wouldn’t get it, and he didn’t. But when the rejection came through, he wrote back to say thank you, and then added: Just so you know, I’ve written all these papers for your institution."
Hypothetically speaking, if there was leftover tiramisu, but not enough for everyone, the lone WFH parent should eat it at lunchtime and quietly dispose of all evidence. Yes?
November 6, 2025 at 12:59 PM
Hypothetically speaking, if there was leftover tiramisu, but not enough for everyone, the lone WFH parent should eat it at lunchtime and quietly dispose of all evidence. Yes?
Reposted by Ursula Hofer
A new NEJM study reports results from a phase 1 trial of a Lassa virus vaccine, a recombinant vesicular stomatitis virus vector engineered to express the Lassa glycoprotein (the same platform as the approved Ebola vaccine, ERVEBO). It was safe and immunogenic.
www.nejm.org/doi/full/10....
www.nejm.org/doi/full/10....
Safety and Immunogenicity of an rVSV Lassa Fever Vaccine Candidate | NEJM
No vaccine is currently available for Lassa fever, a viral hemorrhagic disease that
is estimated to cause thousands of deaths each year in western Africa. A replication-competent
recombinant vesicu...
www.nejm.org
November 6, 2025 at 12:12 PM
A new NEJM study reports results from a phase 1 trial of a Lassa virus vaccine, a recombinant vesicular stomatitis virus vector engineered to express the Lassa glycoprotein (the same platform as the approved Ebola vaccine, ERVEBO). It was safe and immunogenic.
www.nejm.org/doi/full/10....
www.nejm.org/doi/full/10....
Your chance to say ciao to our Deputy Editor, Marco, at #ASTMH 👋
He loves tropical diseases and is always up for a chat!
He loves tropical diseases and is always up for a chat!
📅 Marco De Ambrogi will be attending ASTMH 2025, #TropMed25, November 9-13, 2025 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada on behalf of The Lancet Infectious Diseases!
📧Feel free to reach out with enquiries. Explore our scope, reach & impact, commitment to publishing excellence, & more: hubs.li/Q03BL6Th0
📧Feel free to reach out with enquiries. Explore our scope, reach & impact, commitment to publishing excellence, & more: hubs.li/Q03BL6Th0
November 5, 2025 at 7:08 PM
Your chance to say ciao to our Deputy Editor, Marco, at #ASTMH 👋
He loves tropical diseases and is always up for a chat!
He loves tropical diseases and is always up for a chat!
Reposted by Ursula Hofer
