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Reposted by Dr. Casey Middleton

The Ferrari Lab @theferrarilab.bsky.social · 9d

Every fall, for the last 13 years, I have worked with CDC and WHO colleagues on a report in MMWR to update the estimates of the global burden of measles disease and mortality. This year we were already planning to publish in WER because of restrictions on communication between WHO and CDC.

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Reposted by Dr. Casey Middleton

Your Local Epidemiologist @ylepidemiologist.bsky.social · 11d

1/ Hey, do you need some #goodnews? I know I do. Between the noise and the chaos, it helps to stop and remember what progress actually looks like.

Here are four public health wins to give you some good news for the week 👇

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Dr. Casey Middleton @caseymiddleton.bsky.social · 19d

FWIW: I know there are bigger problems to solve in this world right now, but this one just seems so attainable!

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Dr. Casey Middleton @caseymiddleton.bsky.social · 19d

Why, in this incredible world of technological advancements, are published inline equations still blurry? 😵‍💫

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Dr. Casey Middleton @caseymiddleton.bsky.social · Sep 19

#Vaccines save babies! And they do it so well when we allocate resources to achieve high vaccination rates instead of meh vaccination rates 💉

The Ferrari Lab @theferrarilab.bsky.social · Sep 19

A story about how complicated something as simple as vaccination is, everywhere. In Fall of 2024, I was part of a team that argued to the WHO to recommend that rubella vaccination be added to the national schedule for all countries. That recommendation was approved, and we were elated. 1/

8 people standing in an open stairway smiling with their hands in the air, cheering.

Reposted by Dr. Casey Middleton

Your Local Epidemiologist @ylepidemiologist.bsky.social · Sep 18

1/ Today and tomorrow, #ACIP —the external body that sets vaccine policy—is holding a special session. One item on the agenda is the highly anticipated vote for the Covid vaccine. We’re expecting VAERS data to be misused to suggest 25 pediatric deaths were caused by the vaccine. Here are the facts👇

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Dr. Casey Middleton @caseymiddleton.bsky.social · Sep 18

There is an example of point #2 when comparing WT to omicron variants in my paper if you want to know more!
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Modeling the transmission mitigation impact of testing for infectious diseases

Testing effectiveness estimates the fraction by which testing and behavior can reduce transmission potential across pathogens.

www.science.org

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Dr. Casey Middleton @caseymiddleton.bsky.social · Sep 18

In general, yes! With two important caveats:
1. Tests may have different binding affinities for different variants, making them less sensitive for some
2. When you’re detectable by RDT depends on things like symptom timing and viral growth rate, which may also be different for different variants

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Dr. Casey Middleton @caseymiddleton.bsky.social · Sep 18

I wish I had done a PCR in hindsight. I just moved cities and jobs/insurance, so the idea of finding a new doc + figuring out my insurance while sick just felt daunting and potentially expensive 😅 But now I wish I tried!!

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Dr. Casey Middleton @caseymiddleton.bsky.social · Sep 18

Agreed! However, in America that still costs quite a lot of $$ depending on health insurance.

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Dr. Casey Middleton @caseymiddleton.bsky.social · Sep 17

I am pretty sure I had COVID-19 earlier this month, but I tested negative (by RDT) on days 1 & 3 of infection.

How do you satisfy your academic curiosities about what pathogen has infected you without spending tons of $$ on diagnostic tests?

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Dr. Casey Middleton @caseymiddleton.bsky.social · Aug 1

Reports of falling fertility rates intuitively lead to speculation of reduced fertility. However, falling fertility rates could also be due to changes in reproductive behaviors leading to lower birth rates.

Is it too late to find a new term to describe women’s birth rates?

Dr. Casey Middleton @caseymiddleton.bsky.social · Aug 1

Fertility = the ability to conceive children or young.

Fertility rate = the average number of children born to a woman over her lifetime.

Fertility is purely biological, while fertility rate depends on a combination of biological fertility and reproductive behaviors.

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Dr. Casey Middleton @caseymiddleton.bsky.social · Aug 1

I see news outlets reporting on falling ‘fertility rates,’ and I find this terminology non-intuitive… and potentially problematic.

Falling fertility rates tell us about reductions in women’s birth rates, not reductions in women’s fertility!

Let me explain:

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Dr. Casey Middleton @caseymiddleton.bsky.social · Jul 15

Reason #2,946 to keep funding science:
color mix undoification 🤯

Wonder of Science @wonderofscience.bsky.social · Jul 14

Colored droplets in corn syrup seemingly blended together can be returned to their original state by reversing the direction of mixing, a form of laminar flow called "Stokes flow".

Credit: UNM Physics & Astronomy

Reposted by Dr. Casey Middleton

Sarah Cobey @cobey.bsky.social · Jun 23

Sang Woo (Daniel) Park and I are excited to share a new preprint, "Susceptible host dynamics explain pathogen resilience to perturbations" [1/8]

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

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Dr. Casey Middleton @caseymiddleton.bsky.social · May 28

!!!! Wow. The word tipping does not cross my mind to describe that hand gesture. Thank you for this.

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Dr. Casey Middleton @caseymiddleton.bsky.social · May 28

I don’t see enough people talking about how hard it is to search for this emoji 💁‍♀️

WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO SEARCH FOR PLEASE TELL ME

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Reposted by Dr. Casey Middleton

Nathan Lo @nathanlo.bsky.social · Apr 24

🧵1/N New study published in @jama.com on re-emergence of vaccine-eliminated infectious diseases under declining vaccination in the US. We model long-term risk and conditions for return to endemicity for measles, rubella, polio, & diphtheria. Collab w/ @Mathewkiang.com jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

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Reposted by Dr. Casey Middleton

Adam Kucharski @adamjkucharski.bsky.social · Apr 10

Interesting new pre-print on test-negative designs and implications for estimating correlates of protection: www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1...

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Reposted by Dr. Casey Middleton

Marc Lipsitch @mlipsitch.bsky.social · Apr 9

New commentary on pandemic surveillance and the need to have it be repeatable/continuous for updating, out in @pnas.org with Freya Shearer of Uni Melbourne: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

The importance of playing the long game when it comes to pandemic surveillance | PNAS

The importance of playing the long game when it comes to pandemic surveillance

www.pnas.org

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Dr. Casey Middleton @caseymiddleton.bsky.social · Apr 9

A glimmer of good news amidst the chaos! On Monday, I successfully defended my PhD focused on infectious disease modeling. And yes, my thesis title is an acronym for my last name.

With gratitude to the incredible friends and mentors who got me here…
Dr. Casey Middleton, reporting for duty 🫡🦠

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Dr. Casey Middleton @caseymiddleton.bsky.social · Apr 4

The cycle of dissertation writing:

1. Don’t sleep well

2. Too busy for nap

3. Drink afternoon coffee

🔁 Repeat

Dr. Casey Middleton @caseymiddleton.bsky.social · Mar 14

Dad from Kentucky: “We finally started feeding our baby raw milk and he has grown like crazy!”

Me: “Oh. Aren’t you worried about bird flu?”

KY Dad: “Well I know the farmer and I’ve met his cows.”

Me: “….”

Someone hire this man with his 🪄 diagnostic capabilities. He can detect H5N1 just by sight!

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