I’m in Upstate SC working directly on the measles outbreak. What’s helping reduce cases lately isn’t writing parents off. It’s clear, credible communication that addresses confusion and misinformation. Many families just need trustworthy information from leaders they trust.
I think this will be useful not just for mpox but for other emerging diseases as well. I began working on this before the Clade Ib started in DRC, but then couldn’t publish early because of other priorities, then left CDC, and had to wait because of spending freeze.
It took a while but our manuscript is finally published. Here, we look at how ring vaccination fares for mpox under varying transmissibility and imperfect contact tracing, and show that even a low to moderate contact tracing can have big impact on overall outbreak dynamics.
doi.org/10.1016/j.mr...
UD: Thank you for informing me. I will seriously consider vaccinating my children.
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I am so happy we had the conversation!!! And I hope he really does vaccinate his kids.
UD: I thought it was a thing of the past. I didn’t know there was measles in the US. I homeschool my children. Should I be worried?
Me: Goes on explaining the current measles outbreak and explain why it’s important to vaccinate kids.
UD: I am not anti-vax. But I did not know it was going on…
Conversation with my uber driver…
UD: So do you live here or are you visiting?
Me: Oh we had a meeting about infectious disease modeling in the city.
UD: Do you guys still talk about covid?
Me: All the time…. But there’re new threats emerging. Measles is spreading…
On some personal news, I have just moved on from my CDC position to a new role in academia as a research assistant professor. It was a great experience working at CDC, including being part of an emergency response. I look forward continue working on outbreak analytics and disease ecology.
Throughout #PandemicAgreement #INB negotiations, some have questioned WHO's mandate on tech transfer and IP.
In the 1950s, WHO dreamed big, embarking on a bold initiative establishing a network of non-profit public drug manufacturers committed to open science.💊🌐 1/
journals.plos.org/globalpublic...
Could I be added? Thanks!
🙋♂️ can you add me please?
I’m an infectious disease modeler at a cool public health gov agency, but this is a strictly personal account. I study IDD in human and wildlife populations focusing on prevention and control strategies. Have worked on mpox, bovine TB, and other environmental pathogens.
Thanks for the link. I will take a closer look this weekend. I’m sure it will be helpful to me since I am also working on a DRC model, but mainly focusing on vaccination.
Thanks for sharing this. It looks really interesting.
The two phrases that really irritate me:
1. Data/code available upon reasonable request
2. Salary: Competitive and dependent on qualifications.
Take 2: Thrilled to see this preprint posted from a large collaborative team looking at mpox epi trends in DRC
Mpox in the Democratic Republic of Congo: Analysis of National Epidemiological and Laboratory Surveillance Data, 2010 - 2013
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
Can I tag myself for it? Thanks!
It seems the short memories of funding agencies is not a new phenomenon. Below is a story from 1964. Source: The Coming Plague by Laurie Garret
Thank you!
Is there a link for the news in English? Thanks!
The ecoevo job list for 2024-2025 is out. This is for those who are looking for a faculty position or postdoc in ecology, evolutionary biology, etc
docs.google.com/spreadsheets...
From being late to exams or missing exams in my dreams to being late to a job talk in a dream, I think I have grown a little.
Not sure if DRC has prairie dogs (12th paragraph).
Awesome Quanta article from @carlzimmer.bsky.social on 'Sociovirology' that quotes and profiles some of my favorite and inspiring colleagues.
www.quantamagazine.org/viruses-fina...
Even Taylor published The Manuscript. So much pressure!
"Citizenship privilege is an asset experienced by citizens of the global north, simply because of the country they were born in [...] This inequity affects many researchers. It’s time that academics take action to rebalance the scales."
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
37/250 is Wildlife vaccination strategies for eliminating bovine tuberculosis in white-tailed deer populations
Perfect use of modeling. Assuming, of course, that BCG is blocking infection and not just symptoms - if the latter, very different results.
Thank you!
scholar.google.com/citations?hl...
