Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

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Lauren @laur705.bsky.social · 1h

The NHANES team is along those who've been RIFed over the weekend 🛟🩺 @episky

STAT @statnews.com · 4h

Protecting the nation’s public health demands data, whether it be new measles cases, a surge in ER visits, or shifting patterns in obesity. The most recent job cuts at the CDC threaten the mostly unseen foundation of that research enterprise.
www.statnews.com/2025/10/14/c...

CDC team running top survey on health and nutrition is laid off

NHANES has collected data on eating patterns, diabetes and other common diseases for decades. The CDC team that runs it has been fired.

www.statnews.com

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Scientific American @sciam.bsky.social · 1d

Trees’ inner heartwood harbors methane-producing microbes adapted to oxygen-poor swamps and cow guts

Scientists Map Microbiome Hidden Deep inside Tree Trunks

Trees’ inner heartwood harbors methane-producing microbes adapted to oxygen-poor swamps and cow guts

www.scientificamerican.com

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Julia Raifman, ScD @juliaraifman.bsky.social · 15h

One of the ways we know the perinatal dose of Hepatitis B vaccine makes a difference? NHANES & the people who powered it

ACIP recommended the birth dose in 1991. The prevalence of Hepatitis B among children 6–19 years old declined 68% from 1988–1994 to 1999-2006.

academic.oup.com/jid/article-...

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C&EN (Chemical & Engineering News) @cenmag.bsky.social · 1d

Carlos A. Martinez used nature’s catalysts to make Paxlovid a reality

This process chemist helped scale up production of a key component of the COVID-19 antiviral.

#HispanicHeritageMonth cen.acs.org/pharmaceutic...

Carlos A. Martinez used nature’s catalysts to make Paxlovid a reality

This process chemist helped scale up production of a key component of the COVID-19 antiviral

cen.acs.org

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Dorit Reiss @doritreiss.bsky.social · 21h

"Nearly two months after a deadly, massive measles outbreak in Texas was declared over, the highly contagious disease continues to spread across the country. ...""
www.npr.org/2025/10/12/n...

U.S. measles cases continue to climb, with outbreaks across the country

In South Carolina, more than 150 unvaccinated schoolkids are under quarantine after being exposed to measles. Across the U.S., total case counts could be even higher than the official number.

www.npr.org

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Grist @grist.org · 1d

In Arizona, a fight against a deadly fungus is under threat from Trump’s health policies.

What one doctor’s quest to stop valley fever says about America’s preparedness for climate-driven disease.

grist.org/health/valle...

#PublicHealth #Health #Fever #AZ #Arizona

In Arizona, a fight against a deadly fungus is under threat from Trump’s health policies

What one Arizona doctor’s quest to stop valley fever says about America’s preparedness for climate-driven disease.

grist.org

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Angie Rasmussen @angierasmussen.bsky.social · 1d

The newsletter from agricultural producer news site WATT Poultry is now a primary source of my anxiety. H5N1 is exploding in North American poultry. Every day, a headline like this.

But no human cases. Either there aren't any or there's no testing. Given CDC's dismantling, I can guess.

Headline: "Avian flu invades flock of nearly 2 million Washington hens"

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Saskia Popescu @saskiapopescu.bsky.social · 1d

Maldives becomes the first country to achieve ‘triple elimination’ of mother-to-child transmission of HIV, syphilis and hepatitis B

hq_who_departmentofcommunications.cmail19.com/t/d-e-gwgjl-...

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Don Vinh @donvinh.bsky.social · 1d

Pregnancy doubles the risk of severe COVID-19.
Infants < 6 months old have approx = risk of severe disease as those 65-74 yrs old.

➡️ Pregnancy = priority for COVID 💉

Modeling the Health Impact of Discontinuing COVID-19 Vaccination During Pregnancy in the US : jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

Modeling the Health Impact of Discontinuing COVID-19 Vaccination During Pregnancy in the US

This decision analytical model study estimates the number of avertable COVID-19 hospitalizations in US infants younger than 6 months and pregnant persons with vaccinations during pregnancy.

jamanetwork.com

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The New York Times @nytimes.com · 1d

Fifty miles off the Tuscan coast, in a sparkling blue expanse, ancient creatures are roosting beneath the waves. They spend their days feasting on an unlikely source of nourishment: methane, a potent greenhouse gas that leaks out of cracks in the seafloor. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/06/c...

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Greg Folkers @gregfolkers.bsky.social · 1d

NYT: They Fought Outbreaks Worldwide. Now They’re Fighting for New Lives.

by @apoorvanyt.bsky.social

nyti.ms/4hazsrZ

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Wagatwe Wanjuki @wagatwe.com · 1d

my biggest beef with bluesky is that I get way more updates on what Curtis Yarvin or Peter Thiel than anything on the African continent

Musa Okwonga @okwonga.bsky.social · 1d

What the Twitter takeover did so effectively was fracture the way we get our news. If, for example, I want to get in-depth updates on Sudan I still check in with Twitter as that's where a lot of the biggest accounts are. There's no one-stop shop anymore.

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🎃nisillos @onisillos.bsky.social · 1d

"Too often #AMR is framed as an immense although conceptually simple challenge: delay resistance to current drugs and produce new drugs. But we need to go beyond this, we need to pull every lever at our disposal to minimise infection even before we turn to drugs."

www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...

AMR is more complicated than a lack of drugs

Later this month (Nov 18–24) is World AMR Awareness Week (WAAW), the annual reminder of this long smouldering crisis in modern health care. This is the first year with the new name as it was formerly ...

www.thelancet.com

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Max Barnhart @maxhenrybarnhart.bsky.social · 3d

Once you get dengue fever, you're at a much greater risk of severe disease if you ever get it again due to something called antibody dependent enhancement.

So why did I choose to purposely be infected with dengue?

Read my latest for @cenmag.bsky.social to find out. I'm quite proud of this one.

I was injected with dengue virus to learn about clinical trials

I became a test subject in a clinical trial for a new dengue treatment. Here’s what I discovered

cen.acs.org

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Ricardo Levins Morales Art Studio @rlmartstudio.bsky.social · 2d

This week in 1988: 1,000+ ACT UP demonstrators shut down the FDA headquarters, demanding (and eventually winning) action on developing HIV/AIDS treatments. ACT UP's militant and creative actions always included powerful visual artwork, and paved the way for movements in the decades to come.

A photograph from the 1988 ACT UP demonstration outside the FDA. Many people are participating in a die-in on the front steps, holding mock tombstones with messages like "RIP - killed by the FDA" and "Dead from lack of drugs." A line of police officers (some with classic 80s mustaches) wearing riot helmets stands between them and the building; one cop wearing white gloves is walking through the demonstrators. Affixed to the 2nd story windows of the building is a series of posters and a large blank banner reading Silence = Death.

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Nick Bednar @nicholasbednar.bsky.social · 2d

"One source told me that some of the reversals came after the Trump administration realized that they had accidentally terminated critically important staffers working on current measles and Ebola outbreaks."

Scott L Greer @scottlgreer.bsky.social · 2d

…really?

Breaking News: RIFs in reverse. Some CDC workers have been brought back, in latest whiplash.

This is breaking news.

insidemedicine.substack.com

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Infectious Diseases @infectiousdz.bsky.social · 2d

Unusually early flu waves in Asia this year. Japan declared a nationwide flu epidemic in early Oct with school closures, weeks ahead of its usual season; cases are also up in Singapore, Thailand, and India. Changing climate perhaps is playing a role here
time.com/7324877/flu-...

As the Flu Surges in Asia, Could Getting Sick Year-Round Be the New Normal?

Here’s what medical experts say could be behind the recent rise of influenza cases in Japan, India, Singapore, Thailand, and more.

time.com

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Infectious Diseases @infectiousdz.bsky.social · 2d

Marcus Zervos is an ID physician and professor, with a network of colleagues in the ID world. This is a real surprise that he would be associated with this.

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Sheryl Gay Stolberg @sherylnyt.bsky.social · 2d

OOOPS! UPDATE: Two HHS officials tell me that disease detectives, measles response officers, global health officials and the MMWR staff were laid off by mistake and will be reinstated. But Washington office is still RIFed

Sheryl Gay Stolberg @sherylnyt.bsky.social · 3d

BREAKING: Friday night massacre underway at CDC. Doznes of "disease detectives," high-level scientists, entire Washington staff and editors of the MMWR (Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report) have all been RIFed and received the following notice:

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Joshua Weitz @joshuasweitz.bsky.social · 2d

New reporting: many apparently fired at CDC in 'error'. This is a failure by design given that the admin does not care about fulfilling agency missions. This is the kind of error that should have political consequences.

Unserious people cause real-world harm.

🎁
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/11/h...

Trump Administration Will Rehire Scores of Experts Fired in Error

www.nytimes.com

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Infectious Diseases @infectiousdz.bsky.social · 2d

The senior author is an infectious disease doctor and professor. He has an established career and large network. This is so odd.

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Lena Sun @lenasun.bsky.social · 3d

The CDC official who was leading the measles response and was RIFd has more than 28 yrs experience as the senior USG official leading outbreaks on Ebola, Marburg virus, and mpox. 2/4

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Catherine Rampell @crampell.bsky.social · 2d

Per CDC source: At internal leadership meeting this afternoon, it was shared that 1,257 people were RIF'd at CDC. Number may not be final. Apparently, chief of staff was unaware that RIFs were going to occur so not clear who is making decisions. (Short 🧵)

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Apoorva Mandavilli @apoorvanyt.bsky.social · 3d

The mass layoffs of federal workers on Friday night swept up the top two leaders of the federal measles response team, those working on Ebola and dozens of other infectious disease experts
(Gift article)

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/11/h...

C.D.C. Layoffs Included 2 Top Measles Experts Amid Rising Cases

www.nytimes.com

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Dimitri Drekonja, MD, MS @dimitridrekonja.bsky.social · 3d

The people getting laid off are some of the highest-trained and most specialized people in healthcare. They don’t just get replaced by hiring some new people when a sane administration takes over. This is a huge loss for America.

Sheryl Gay Stolberg @sherylnyt.bsky.social · 3d

BREAKING: Friday night massacre underway at CDC. Doznes of "disease detectives," high-level scientists, entire Washington staff and editors of the MMWR (Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report) have all been RIFed and received the following notice:

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