"Fighting Against COVID-19 Requires Wearing a Face Mask by Not Some but All" is available at the Transportation Research Interdisciplinary Perspectives. doi.org/10.1016/j.trip.2024...
Crucial paper published Friday that deserves much more attention in the #LongCOVID world: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
TLDR: 13/15 immunocompromised patients who had chronic COVID infections (>200 days) cleared the virus in under 2 weeks when given combo antivirals/monoclonals
1/
Such treachery. Doesn’t our govt understand pandemic threats? Our vulnerability to zoonotic flu, next SARS-3 coronavirus; arboviruses and tick borne illness from climate change here on the Gulf Coast; bioweapons from our enemies: Russia, DPRK, Iran, what’s going on?
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
In case anyone is wondering about that Noah Wyle clip from Jimmy Kimmel's show—sphenopalatine ganglioneuralgia is the fancy medical term for brain freeze/ice cream headache.
📺 OMG—who made this?! Noah Wyle has a message for all you—vaccine skeptics…
Share with a friend who needs to hear it.
Do you have a link to the paper please? The link you posted is to the home page only
Persistent neurological disease after COVID-19 is a major problem, yet the underlying mechanism is unclear. Using mouse-adapted SARS-CoV-2, we show that infection confined to the respiratory tract triggers long-lasting loss of dopaminergic neurons in the olfactory bulb and substantia nigra,
The takeaway: H5 #avianflu isn’t slowing down. It’s accelerating. And each new clade is a reminder that surveillance, sequencing, and real cross-sector coordination aren’t optional, they’re the only way to keep up. 🦠🥼😷🔬🐓🧪
#H5N1 #influenza #avianinfluenza #birdflu
In our recent @nature.com Communications study, we compared traditional #poultry swabs with environmental #metagenomics, sampling #air, cage surfaces, carcass wash water, and drinking water in two Cambodian live bird markets. 🦠😷🔬🧪🐓🥼
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Correctly using practice and practise.
BA.3.2 emerged in Nov 2024 after ~3 years of intrahost evolution with >50 new spike AA muts, but since then, it's changed very little.
Could the mutagenic drug molnupiravir (MOV) galvanize BA.3.2 into pursuing new evolutionary paths? A new 89-mut BA.3.2 sequence hints that it could. 1/11
No complicated formulas are needed to solve these puzzles – just your imagination and a bit of patience.
So long as the ChatGPT calendar doesn't 🤣
The date mentioned was 30th Feb...
Like saying 31 September
Sounds outdoorsy... Do you have any bridge climbs there? (Eg like Sydney Harbour Bridge climb) Or an abseil/rock climb session? White water rafting? More sedate: Concert/theatre tickets to something a bit unusual? (Maybe not AC/DC if into classical tho!) Escape room?
Should you wear a mask if you've got symptomatic flu? YES. If you wear it at home *from the onset of your symptoms*, your family members are much less likely to catch flu from you (but you must avoid unmasked co-sleeping and eating around same table - have your meals alone). 1/
What Steve said. There has never been a study in which high-quality, well-fitting masks were actually WORN that did not show a significant impact on disease transmission. Many mask studies failed to take account of post-allocation confounders (non-adherence + non-mask people choosing to mask).
My first lead author paper is out with Ben Kerr and @alisonfeder.bsky.social! We found that making an antiviral too strong can sometimes make resistance easier to evolve. This has implications for how we design drugs, choose doses, and think about viral evolution in the face of treatment. (1/n)
I’m from the generation that remembers when these diseases ran rampant. Perhaps we need to be reminded with a dose of repeated history
If you are interested in more detailed background information about the emergence and worldwide spread of highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1, here is an open access video of a lecture I gave for the University of Sydney. m.youtube.com/watch?v=ImFD...
"this national cohort study of 28 million individuals, the results found no increased risk of 4-year all-cause mortality in individuals aged 18 to 59 years vaccinated against COVID-19, further supporting the safety of the mRNA vaccines that are widely used worldwide."
jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...
Vaccines save lives: "There were no cervical cancer cases diagnosed in women aged <25 years in 2021 – the first time that this has occurred in data going back to 1982. This remarkable achievement is almost certainly due to the impact of HPV vaccination" Australia
report.cervicalcancercontrol.org.au
A page from the Victorian Respiratory Surveillance Report dated 28 November 2025 titled “Laboratory surveillance.” It explains that COVID-19, influenza, and RSV cases confirmed through lab testing are only part of the total infections in the community, and results may be influenced by testing changes. A summary states: In the past week, COVID-19 notifications increased by 9%, influenza notifications increased by 26%, and RSV notifications decreased by 11%. Three info boxes follow: COVID-19: 9% increase with an orange upward trend arrow Influenza: 26% increase with a purple upward arrow RSV: 11% decrease with a blue downward arrow
A page from the Victorian Respiratory Surveillance Report dated 28 November 2025, focusing on COVID-19. A bar chart titled “COVID-19 notified cases by week, Victoria, 24 November 2024 to 22 November 2025” shows weekly case counts. Cases were high around December 2024 and peaked again mid-2025, then declined into spring before slightly rising again in November. Below the chart are three information boxes: 472 notified COVID-19 cases two weeks ago (9–15 Nov 2025) 515 notified COVID-19 cases last week (16–22 Nov 2025) 9% increase with an upward orange trend arrow
A page from the Victorian Respiratory Surveillance Report dated 28 November 2025, focused on Influenza. A bar chart titled “Influenza notified cases by week, Victoria, 24 November 2024 to 22 November 2025” shows weekly infections separated by Influenza A, Influenza B, and combined categories. Cases are low over summer, peak strongly around mid-2025 near 5,000 weekly cases, then decline but rise again in November. Below the chart are data panels: Influenza A: • 1,808 cases two weeks ago (9–15 Nov 2025) • 2,283 cases last week (16–22 Nov 2025) • 26% increase with a purple arrow trending up Influenza B: • 33 cases two weeks ago • 41 cases last week • 24% increase with a purple upward arrow
A page from the Victorian Respiratory Surveillance Report dated 28 November 2025 focusing on Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV). A weekly bar chart titled “RSV notified cases by week, Victoria, 24 November 2024 to 22 November 2025” shows low case levels through summer, followed by a steep increase in winter peaking around July 2025 at roughly 2,000 cases per week, then falling toward late 2025. Below the chart are three data boxes: 193 notified RSV cases two weeks ago (9–15 Nov 2025) 171 notified RSV cases last week (16–22 Nov 2025) 11% decrease with a blue downward arrow
Victorian Weekly Respiratory Surveillance Report: 28 Nov 2025
From 16 Nov – 22 Nov 2025
🔸COVID positivity rate: 3.2% (+0.8%)
🔹COVID: 515 (+9%)
🔹Influenza A: 2,283 (+26%)
🔹Influenza B: 41 (+24%)
🔹RSV: 171 (-11%)
Source: health.vic.gov.au/infectious-d...
A dark-themed table titled “AUSTRALIA Weekly COVID Update – 28 November 2025.” It lists States and Territories with icons indicating trend direction, percentage change, and reporting notes. VIC: UP +9% — Fortnightly reporting / Weekly update, positivity 3.2% NSW: UP +5.3% — Weekly update, positivity 2.7% (Line break separating NSW from WA) WA: DOWN -34.0% — Weekly update, average 17 per day in hospital, positivity 1.8% QLD: DOWN -11.3% — Weekly update, 34 in hospital, hospitalisations +17.2% SA: DOWN -5.5% — Weekly update TAS: No current trend data — Monthly reporting, next update 12 Dec ACT: No current data — Reporting paused until autumn/winter 2026 NT: No current data — NT COVID reporting discontinued on health website Aged care: DOWN -20.9% — Weekly update, no resident deaths reported The table headers read: State/Territory, Trend, % Change, Reporting Notes. Blue arrow icons point up or down to show changes.
AUSTRALIA Weekly COVID Update: 28 November 2025
VIC: Up (+9.0%)
NSW: Up (+5.3%)
WA: Down (-34.0%) Avg 17/day in hospital
QLD: Down (-11.3%) 34 in hospital (+17.2%)
SA: Down (-5.5%)
TAS: Next update: 12 Dec
ACT: Paused reporting for 2025
Aged-care: Down (-20.9%) No deaths reported
Fascinating article! Thanks for sharing @catanita.bsky.social
Phew - 88% of Australians know that antibiotics don't work against viruses.
“On February 1, 2022, while facing the Omicron variant and with the older adult newly boosted, Denmark became the first country to drop all NPIs. A few months later, 70% of the population had been infected with the Omicron variant, showing the SARS-CoV-2 transmission potential when unmitigated.”
Image taken from NSW respiratory report. Two graphs. Small increase in both influenza and COVID 19 from a low baseline.
Oooo
That tiny uptick in flu I saw a few weeks ago… it hasn’t gone down.
It’s grown.
This is Australia. We aren’t expecting our next flu wave for months.
Cause?
because bluesky is not well served by news or govt agencies - here is a map of just some of the 150 plus bushfires and other incidents in NSW right now
last update: 550pm
For the first time in my career, I can’t tell people to trust what the CDC website says. And that is an incredibly sad and devastating place for this country to be.
