andrewpekosz.bsky.social - Profile | ThreadSky | a Reddit-style client for Bluesky

Great thread from @kgandersen.bsky.social about a new bill submitted to the US Senate that looks to ban some virology research. Its a nightmare read based on its vague description of "gain of function" and its application to live virus as well as other methods to study viral proteins.

submitted 1 day ago • 0 comments

The large clinical trial of a new Covid vaccine pill (not shot) was halted by RFK Jr www.aol.com/multimillion... The Covid nasal vaccines may be next up to be axed.

submitted 2 days ago • 409 comments

RFK Jr said today that measles outbreaks, like the one in Texas where a child died, are "not unusual" www.youtube.com/shorts/BKY5t...

submitted 2 days ago • 5 comments

The first measles virus death in the US since 2015 has occurred in Texas and is linked to the ongoing outbreak in Texas/New Mexico. This should not be happening in the US...or anywhere to be honest because we have safe, effective vaccines against it. www.cnn.com/2025/02/26/h...

submitted 2 days ago • 0 comments

The National Institutes of Health had to stop considering new grant applications, delaying funding for research into diseases ranging from heart disease and cancer to Alzheimer's and allergies.

submitted 6 days ago • 174 comments

Everyone who ever got funding through NIAID should be aware of this bill and start sending messages to their US legislators. The bill intends to dissolve NIAID. This is Project 2025 www.congress.gov/bill/119th-c...

submitted 6 days ago • 4 comments

I do love CDC's FluView. looks like influenza like illness is dropping for the second (and hopefully last) time this year. its been quit an influenza season...

submitted 7 days ago • 1 comment

yet another mammal that H5N1 can infect. would be great to know how deadly H5N1 is in these rats and if they can transmit the virus to other rats.

submitted 7 days ago • 0 comments

Time for a little break from politics and science to enjoy an old japanes kaiju movie on the big screen #godzilla #mothra

submitted 11 days ago • 0 comments

State AGs are looking for federal workers who have just been illegally fired to stand as litigants in a new lawsuit trying to freeze further action by DOGE. DM me if that’s you and you’re interested and you’re live in one of the following states: NM, AZ, CA, CT, MD, MI, MN, NV, OR, WA, RI, or VT.

submitted 12 days ago • 47 comments

A third spillover of H5N1 into dairy cows...this time in Arizona. Genotype D1.1 again. Enhanced milk surveillance picked this up like in Nevada. Enhanced surveillance finds more cases...

submitted 14 days ago • 0 comments

RFKJr. appointment signaled the next round of attacks on Public Health and Biomedical/Clinical research with a potential gutting of the federal workforce: www.statnews.com/2025/02/14/f...

submitted 14 days ago • 0 comments

Great group of virologists in the ASM American Academy of Microbiology Fellows Class of 2025. Congratulations to all! asm.org/Press-Releas...

submitted 14 days ago • 0 comments

Louisiana’s public health department said today it would no longer promote mass vaccination. Dr. Jennifer Avegno, director of New Orleans’ health department, said she didn’t think it was a coincidence the state made the announcement the day RFK Jr was confirmed as HHS sec www.cnn.com/2025/02/13/h...

submitted 15 days ago • 28 comments

An H5N1 serosurvey paper was released in MMWR Weekly today . Three of 150 vets had detectable neutralizing or HAI antibodies. www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes...

submitted 15 days ago • 0 comments

Study section and council meetings are still being cancelled and if a rescheduled date is not posted in the Federal Registry, the meeting won't happen. This is a strategy resulting in delays in getting grants reviewed and approved for funding even though funding is available to be distributed.

submitted 15 days ago • 0 comments

"How to Prevent a Bird Flu Pandemic"

submitted 19 days ago • 81 comments

Any Plymouth Argyle fans out here?

submitted 19 days ago • 0 comments

15%. In 2018, 10% was tried, but it was blocked by Congress. www.nytimes.com/2017/09/11/u... www.science.org/content/arti...

submitted 21 days ago • 9 comments

i don't read "lawyer speak" very well but there should be a lot of legal people from universities looking at this right now...and following up with quick actions.

submitted 19 days ago • 0 comments

Could not agree with this any more strongly. I'm tired of emails that say nothing but "we are monitoring the situation"

submitted 20 days ago • 0 comments

This is what amounts to an ILLEGAL & indiscriminate funding cut for research centers everywhere. It will mean shuttering labs across the country, layoffs in red & blue states, and derailing lifesaving research on everything from cancer to opioid addiction. We all need to speak out to save lives.

submitted 21 days ago • 84 comments

14 measles cases in Texas and apparently all in unvaccinated adults/children. This should not be happening in a country with great healthcare and access to an effective measles vaccine.

submitted 20 days ago • 0 comments

Breaking News: New York State officials ordered the temporary closure of all live bird markets in New York City and nearby counties to curb the spread of bird flu.

submitted 21 days ago • 116 comments

“The standards for vaccine safety are higher than drug safety.” Dan Salmon, director of the Institute for Vaccine Safety, explains how vaccines are evaluated, including how experts determine whether an adverse effect is causal or coincidental. podcast.publichealth.jhu.edu/846-vaccines...

submitted 21 days ago • 1 comment

SCOOP: Cats that became infected with bird flu might have spread the virus to humans in the same household and vice versa, according to data that briefly appeared online in a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention but then abruptly vanished. www.nytimes.com/2025/02/06/h...

submitted 22 days ago • 164 comments

Was just informed that a study section scheduled to meet at the end of this month was pushed back to April. As if the grant review process weren't long enough...

submitted 22 days ago • 0 comments

On a lighter, my lab decided to do a journal club focused on a paper from my PhD thesis since its my birthday. We discussed "data not shown" and a lack of stats in some figures 🫢. Today, we ask similar questions with other viruses which was an interesting contrast pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8553534/

submitted 22 days ago • 1 comment

Amplifying this. It's absurd to prevent a proposal from being reviewed for scientific merit.

submitted 23 days ago • 1 comment

Dairy cows in Nevada are infected with the D1.1 genotype of H5N1 indicating a second introduction of the virus into dairy cows. We still don't know how the initial outbreak started, but this indicates cows continue to be at risk of exposure to H5N1 www.aphis.usda.gov/news/program...

submitted 23 days ago • 1 comment

🐄 Pasteurisation inactivates H5N1 influenza viruses in cows milk, rendering it safe to consume. Now published in @naturecomms.bsky.social, researchers highlight the risks of raw milk in affected areas. More: tinyurl.com/3ceudpme Paper: rdcu.be/d8xR9

submitted 25 days ago • 1 comment

The study sections i am serving on later this month were not disrupted by these "pauses" but it certainly showed how disruptive these types of directives can be...rescheduling study sections is not an easy thing to do given the number of participants involved.

submitted 23 days ago • 0 comments

@annamerlan.bsky.social asked me to go over the science around some of the claims about raw milk that Mark McAfee, Raw Farm owner and unpasteurized milk evangelist, has made & this shit is wild. Buckle up for H5N1 denialism, anti-vax, magical milk antivirals... www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

submitted 31 days ago • 12 comments

H5N1 is a promiscuous reassorter (did I just make a new word?) and replacing N1 with N9 probably eliminates some preexisting human population immunity, potentially increasing it's pandemic threat. Surveillance is critical to see how well this virus does.

submitted 32 days ago • 0 comments

Please repost! We’re trying hard to sort out rumors from truth + would like to hear from anyone affected by the new federal orders + NIH pause. Patients, scientists, health equity researchers: please contact us below. We won’t share anything without your permission. www.statnews.com/2025/01/25/t...

submitted 33 days ago • 20 comments

Gotta find time to relax and #cocktails is one way to get the ball rolling...a Last Word... equal parts gin, chartreuse, maraschino liqueur and lime juice.

submitted 33 days ago • 0 comments

CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) has provided real-time data and analysis about disease outbreaks and emerging health threats without a break every week since 1960. Until today.

submitted 36 days ago • 146 comments

The Mayor of Newark says ICE detained citizens and a military veteran in a warrantless raid there today. www.newarknj.gov/news/mayor-r...

submitted 36 days ago • 483 comments

#USDA has confirmed another California dairy herd has been infected with #H5N1 #birdflu, the state's 712th; 143 of those herds have cleared the infection & come out of quarantine, per CA's Dept of Food & Ag. Cumulative national total: 929 herds in 16 states. www.aphis.usda.gov/livestock-po...

submitted 39 days ago • 1 comment

Always a pleasure to chat with @publichealthpod.bsky.social and Meghan Davis about this important issue.

submitted 42 days ago • 0 comments

H5N1 infection in a San Francisco child with no obvious exposures. Conjunctivitis and mild symptoms. abc7news.com/post/bird-fl...

submitted 48 days ago • 1 comment

Bird flu found in Caroline County marks first case in Maryland chickens since 2023 marylandmatters.org/2025/01/10/b...

submitted 48 days ago • 0 comments

H5N1 detected in commercial farms in Maryland. Also see a detection on a farm in nearby Delaware. Perhaps not surprising but yet another sign of how much of a danger this virus is. news.maryland.gov/mda/press-re...

submitted 48 days ago • 0 comments