John Ross
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johnrossmd.bsky.social
John Ross
@johnrossmd.bsky.social
Canadian in Boston. Hospitalist. FIDSA. #M4A #RaisetheWage #BLM #IDSky #GoHabsGo http://bit.ly/4mtlvaN
Reposted by John Ross
Sen. Bernie Sanders: "Abdul El-Sayed. He is a medical doctor. He wrote a book. It’s called Medicare for All, so he knows a little bit about the subject, and those are the kinds of folks that we need in the US Senate."
November 13, 2025 at 6:29 PM
Reposted by John Ross
Based on Maggie O’Farrell’s best-selling novel "Hamnet" and starring Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal, this moving film screens on 11/30 at 4 PM, followed by a conversation moderated by CSC’s Associate Artistic Director Bryn Boice.
🎟️: coolidge.org/events/shakespeare-reimagined-hamnet
November 10, 2025 at 7:42 PM
Wild-type polio detected in German sewage—this is *actual* polio, not vaccine-derived virus. This will probably be a one-off event, but it shows the real potential for polio reintroduction into under-vaccinated communities.
www.reuters.com
November 13, 2025 at 2:01 PM
A man presents to your clinic with anxiety and depression related to his stressful job and "terrible" boss. You recommend:
A. Buspirone
B. Mirtazapine
C. Sertraline and lorazepam x 4 weeks
D. Sertraline and lorazepam x 6 months
E. The workers seize control of the means of production
November 12, 2025 at 9:43 PM
Reposted by John Ross
This interview by @aliroginpbs.bsky.social with FDA Commissioner Marty Makary is a masterclass. It should be taught in j-schools and she should receive a medal for it.

Here are just a few of the things she does while making it all look easy:

www.pbs.org/newshour/sho...
FDA head explains decision to drop 'black box' warnings from menopause hormone treatment
The FDA announced it would begin asking drug companies to remove so-called “black box” warnings for hormones prescribed to treat symptoms of menopause. The FDA says the warning has dissuaded generatio...
www.pbs.org
November 11, 2025 at 4:40 AM
I privately fought not to eat all the leftover Halloween candy
November 10, 2025 at 11:04 PM
Canada has officially lost measles elimination status. The ongoing outbreak seems to have been primarily driven by Mennonite/Anabaptist communities and undervaccinated recent immigrants
Canada loses measles elimination status | CBC
www.cbc.ca
November 10, 2025 at 3:06 PM
Have a friend who knows an old-school Republican and asked him, aren’t you appalled about the damage the budget will do to health care? Buddy shrugged and said, the Dems will bail us out
November 10, 2025 at 4:08 AM
Get your kicks on Route LXVI
November 7, 2025 at 1:18 PM
Reposted by John Ross
The man who ended USAID is the world's first trillionaire
November 7, 2025 at 2:14 AM
Reposted by John Ross
Confused about when to give steroids in severe pneumonia, if ever? Turns out they are only useful in patients with high CRP (≥205 mg/L). From a great talk today by Mike Klompas #IDSky
November 5, 2025 at 9:46 PM
Arrests made in the Harvard Med explosion. According to the press conference, they got to the roof by scaffolding and set off a firework in a locker. Sounds like it could have been impromptu, as opposed to a premeditated political act
2 Massachusetts men arrested after explosion at Harvard Medical School, FBI says
The blast occurred early Saturday on the fourth floor of Harvard Medical School. No one was injured. The building houses labs and offices associated with the medical school’s neurobiology department.
www.pbs.org
November 4, 2025 at 6:42 PM
Literal insanity that a company that made a product that saved millions of lives just a few years ago could go out of business www.statnews.com/2025/10/30/m...
November 4, 2025 at 4:49 PM
Legionella cases are the inevitable result when immunocompromised patients are treated in underfunded hospitals with aging infrastructure. Maintaining old plumbing to prevent Legionella biofilms is expensive.
Christ Hospital identifies 2 cases of Legionnaires' disease, working to determine source
The Christ Hospital says they have identified two individual cases of Legionella pneumonia over the past six weeks.
www.wlwt.com
November 4, 2025 at 1:13 PM
Reposted by John Ross
when I worked in community services in the US, I helped fill out SNAP applications for people who'd once had successful careers as lawyers, healthcare professionals, bankers. The jaws of poverty can snap shut on anyone.
October 31, 2025 at 2:01 AM
Reposted by John Ross
Wastewater data for October 29 is now available:
• Citywide COVID-19 level: Very Low
• Citywide COVID-19 trend (compared to 2 weeks ago): Stable

You can find COVID-19 neighborhood data, data on flu and RSV, and more at boston.gov/bphc-wastewater.
Boston Wastewater Monitoring
Wastewater is a new tool to help warn communities about the presence of viruses like flu,
boston.gov
October 30, 2025 at 10:53 PM
While infections generally have higher death rates in Black Americans, C difficile is more likely to kill Whites. “C. diff’s prevalence in health care settings flips the usual dynamics of privilege: those who can afford more access to health care are more likely to die from infection”
New Analysis Reveals Racial and Other Demographic Differences in C. diff Deaths Over 25 Years
www.idsociety.org
October 28, 2025 at 4:58 PM
Reposted by John Ross
The ocean under #Melissa is not only extremely warm, but that warm water extends very deep, resulting in huge values of ocean heat content. The storm could sit stationary for days and still not upwell cooler water. This is a powder keg that's able to deliver endless fuel to a hurricane.
October 23, 2025 at 4:26 PM
Flu vaccine this year shows average to above-average effectiveness #IDSky
October 23, 2025 at 12:33 PM
Hmm, wondering if there might be unintended consequences from ending mandatory childhood vaccinations in the state with the highest percentage of senior citizens in the country
October 22, 2025 at 5:04 PM
Reposted by John Ross
Continuing the spooky theme, the Morrigan triple goddess - and the crows they are heavily associated with - is Irish mythology's foreteller of death or victory in battle ⚔️

Prints on sale at the moment here: www.ciaraioch.com/artprints/p/...
October 22, 2025 at 11:26 AM
New study showed an association between shingles (herpes zoster) and osteoporotic fractures. Cause-effect relationship not clear; does shingles make your bones weaker, or are frailer people at higher shingles risk? In any case, another reason to get the shingles vaccine
Association Between Herpes Zoster and Risk of Incident Fragility Fractures in US Veterans: A Matched Cohort Study
Association between herpes zoster and risk of incident fragility fractures in US veterans: a matched cohort study.
agsjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
October 21, 2025 at 6:28 PM
Getting an mRNA COVID vaccine seems to prime the immune system to attack cancer cells in patients on immune checkpoint therapy. Patients who got COVID vaccines were TWICE as likely to be alive at three years as those who didn't
ESMO 2025: mRNA-based COVID vaccines generate improved responses to immunotherapy
Patients with cancer who received mRNA-based COVID vaccines within 100 days of starting immune checkpoint therapy were twice as likely to be alive three years after beginning treatment, according to a...
www.mdanderson.org
October 21, 2025 at 1:28 AM
Pertussis (whooping cough) cases have exploded in the US in the past 2 years. Get your Tdap if you’re due (every 10 years for adults)

BTW, as of this morning, it looks like all the case counts for 2024-25 have been scrubbed from the CDC website 🫠
October 20, 2025 at 10:50 AM
Reposted by John Ross
RFK is undoing human subjects protections so he can conduct placebo trials of vaccines. That means infecting people knowingly. I wonder who will “volunteer” for these trials? If history is any guide, a lot of incarcerated and other powerless people.
Dismantling the Institutional Review Board (IRB), that oversees all human subjects research, is bad. Really bad.
The entire HR department at the CDC is gone. Everyone at the IRB, which makes sure studies are conducted ethically and rigorously, and the ethics office, which oversee conflicts of interest for CDC leaders and advisory committee members, were also let go.
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
October 19, 2025 at 4:12 PM