“NIH is in crisis, grants are being terminated, labs are closing….but they found $1.6 million for an unsolicited proposal to study whether we should delay a vaccine we’ve been safely giving for 40 years, in a country where infants are at high risk of infection”
www.cidrap.umn.edu/childhood-va...
Posts by Libbie Goult
Measles cases have been surging over the short term despite massive declines in deaths over the long term. Even over the short term, the resurgence in cases has disproportionately been in countries with better access to care, so deaths have not increased as sharply.
We've joined forces with The Marine Biological Association, the University of Plymouth and partners in a new project to investigate the unusual surge in #CommonOctopus (#OctopusVulgaris) numbers reported in the waters off the south coast of #Devon and #Cornwall this year. We want to understand the history and potential environmental causes of such blooms, the effects they are having on the #FishingIndustry, and the potential for such blooms to happen again in the future. It's the last chance to take part in the survey and share your experiences - closing this Sunday 21 September 2025. Thank you to all those who take part! This work is funded by Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Plymouth City Council and Devon Council.
👀 Spotted an #octopus off the #SouthWest coast? #Fishermen & #divers, we want to hear from you! 🐙
Take part in this survey (closing Sun 21 Sept) & help us study this year’s unusual #CommonOctopus bloom:
🎣 Fishers: survey.alchemer.eu/s3/90884550/...
🤿 Divers: survey.alchemer.eu/s3/90886025/...
Bloody love this. Rory has a great way of putting things upside down.
Measles is horrible. It has already impacted thousands of young kids. This will only grow as vaccines become less accessible.
And when measles is joined by epidemics of rubella, mumps, and polio, we will see children suffer and die at national scale.
www.nbcnews.com/health/healt...
Congratulations Laura! I’m so proud of you!! 🥳
The Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) Program was central in improving the evidence base for health policies and interventions, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa and Central & Southern Asia - figure by @aasli.bsky.social.
Our preprint on the termination of the DHS Program: osf.io/preprints/so...
First confirmation of #WestNileVirus in mosquitoes in the UK, in an Aedes species. Risk to public still very low, but highlights huge importance of having robust mosquito surveillance and response programmes in place.
@mosquitoscotland.bsky.social
submit.forms.service.gov.uk/form/3652/re...
A tricky thing about modern society is that no one has any idea when they don’t die.
Like, the number of lives saved by controlling air pollution in America is probably over 200,000 per year, but the number of people who think their life was saved by controlling air pollution is zero.
Ontario is now reporting 440 measles cases in 2025 so far, compared to 64 in 2024, and 101 between 2013 and 2023.
The vast majority of infections are in unvaccinated individuals.
The measles vaccine is free, widely available, highly effective and backed by decades of safety data.
And measles is really dangerous.
It can kill directly through encephalitis or pneumonia. And it can still kill years later through SSPE, a terrible death. "If people ever saw that up close, and I've seen about five cases in my life, they would get a measles vaccine", @pauloffit.bsky.social told me.
Consider applying to 2nd ESPIDAM summer program on infectious disease modelling, 23-27 June, in beautiful Stockholm! Covering many exciting topics (AI & ID, now/forecasting, networks, within-host models, data analysis...). So much to learn and great scientific discussions!
www.math.su.se/espidam
Genial simulación de un caso de #sarampión llegando a varias comunidades con diferentes coberturas de vacunación.
Ilustra la inmunidad vacunal directa e indirecta (inmunidad de rebaño).
www.theguardian.com/society/ng-i...
Check out this new paper by my friend and colleague (who isn't on Bluesky yet...) Laura Barrero Guevara on #causalinference!! 🥳💃
"Mysterious" outbreaks can be one of three scenarios. I write on how to think like an epidemiologist about unexplained outbreaks in the news. caitlinrivers.substack.com/p/understand...
Thrilled to find out that my paper on the optimal measles vaccination ages has been selected as a featured article in the @natureportfolio.bsky.social #NatureComms editor's highlights page of 50 best papers recently published in #publichealth: www.nature.com/ncomms/edito...! 🥳🎉
Thrilled to share my PhD research on #measles vaccine schedules, out now in @natureportfolio.bsky.social! 🥳