Ebola may have been spreading for months in the DRC before anyone recognized it. A new reconstruction suggests the outbreak was already widespread in the gold-mining town of Mongbwalu by January. It wasn’t officially declared until 15 May. Why did no-one raise the alarm? My story for @science.org 🧪

EXCLUSIVE: Congo’s Ebola epidemic started at least 4 months before it was detected

A remote mining town gripped by fear saw hundreds of suspected cases before the government declared an outbreak, report says

science.org

Trump Administration to Send Americans Exposed to Ebola to Kenya www.nytimes.com/2026/05/26/u...

Trump Administration to Send Americans Exposed to Ebola to Kenya

nytimes.com

Health Experts ‘Stunned’ by Trump Officials’ Strict Quarantine Measures www.nytimes.com/2026/05/21/u...

Health Experts ‘Stunned’ by Trump Officials’ Strict Quarantine Measures

nytimes.com

I Survived Ebola. This Is What Scares Me Most About This Outbreak. www.nytimes.com/2026/05/21/o... @craigspencer.bsky.social

Opinion | I Survived Ebola. This Is What Scares Me Most About This Outbreak.

nytimes.com

This is excellent (And, yes, it’s remarkable how many people are writing OpEds/Substacks giving hantavirus advice even though they literally have zero training or expertise in hanatavirus & no public health training/expertise & have never played any role at all in managing a hantavirus outbreak 🤦‍♂️)

Kristian G. Andersen@kgandersen.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Just as a service to all the armchair experts out there fighting the good fight, I slightly updated your todo list so you don't have to bother with such menial tasks. You're welcome*.

The WHO Director-General has just declared Ebola Bundibugyo outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. This is the first time a PHEIC has been declared without an Emergency Committee first. Very surprising procedurally but makes sense for public health given size, spread & WHA

WHO@who.int · 3mo ago

Under the IHR (2005), @drtedros.who.int, the Director General of WHO, having consulted the States Parties where the event is occurring, has determined that the Ebola disease caused by Bundibugyo virus in DRC & Uganda constitutes a public health emergency of international concern bit.ly/3P4ZDac

Syria has announced the arrest of former Major General Wajih Ali al-Abdullah, who served as director of the military affairs office for Assad from 2005-2018. This office was part of the Syrian CW chain of command. levant24.com/news/2026/05...

Syria Intensifies Ongoing Arrests of Assad-Era Officials

Syrian authorities continue to intensify the campaign to arrest former military and intelligence officials tied to the former Assad regime, announcing

levant24.com

"Most importantly, I have to say, we recommend a strict quarantine for all asymptomatic passengers for six weeks, which means until June 21 or June 22 depending on when they left the ship", says @ecdc.europa.eu director Pamela Rendi-Wagner at presser on #hantavirus outbreak.

“If talks stall again or collapse entirely it will have consequences beyond global health… Avoiding a reckoning with that history [of vaccine injustice] suggests that the global north learned little from the Covid years, and has no serious plan for the future.” www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

The Guardian view on the WHO pandemic treaty: the west’s fantasy negotiations have put the world at risk | Editorial

Editorial: After five years of deliberation the global south has forced the question that defined the Covid crisis: who will get the vaccines?

theguardian.com

Forever loving the reminder that these are close quarter environments. Eloquent “no shit, Sherlock” statements are the best

NIH & CDC Director’s response to hantavirus: Um, ah, um, dunno, will need to look that up UK Health Security Agency Response: Specialist army team & medics parachute onto Tristan da Cunha to deliver crucial medical support since a British national on the island was suspected of being infected 1/2

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 3mo ago

NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya is stammering his way through a CNN hit about the hantavirus

Reminder folks - hantavirus human-to-human transmission is less common but can and does happen circumstantially. Transmission between partners? Not surprising. Exposure from rodent sources in shared living environments? Frustrating but not surprising. (1/2)

Helen Branswell 🇨🇦@helenbranswell.bsky.social · 3mo ago

As an outbreak, #hantavirus on a cruise ship is more interesting than alarming. But it should serve as a warning sign to the US, which by withdrawing from #WHO has cut itself off from WHO's outbreak intelligence network, writes @krutikakuppalli.bsky.social. www.statnews.com/2026/05/05/h...

Three passengers dead after suspected hantavirus outbreak on cruise ship - The Guardian apple.news/A76A7gzrYQb6...

Three passengers dead after suspected hantavirus outbreak on cruise ship — Guardian US

Further three people taken ill, including 69-year-old Briton reported to be in intensive care in South Africa

apple.news

Almost half of traded wildlife carries disease-causing pathogens www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Almost half of traded wildlife carries disease-causing pathogens

More than 40% of traded mammalian species share at least one pathogen with humans, compared with only 6% of non-traded mammals.

nature.com

Excited (and deeply honored) to moderate this panel today at #ESCMIDGlobal2026 on the intersection of AMR and conflict - a polycrisis that demands our attention well before infections occur - from innovation to IPC, One Health, and stewardship, we’ll be touching on it all.

Global Wildlife Trade Fuels Spread of Disease From Animals to People www.nytimes.com/2026/04/14/s...

Global Wildlife Trade Fuels Spread of Disease From Animals to People

nytimes.com

Breaking News: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth fired the Army’s top general, reflecting his ongoing grievances with the Army, officials said.

Hegseth Fires Army Chief Amid Battle With Its Leaders

Senior Army officers reacted with anger and frustration to news of Gen. Randy George’s dismissal, characterizing it as the latest blow to the service.

nyti.ms

US Scientists Sequence 1,000 Genomes From Measles, a Disease Long Eliminated With Vaccines @amymaxmen.bsky.social

Shoutout to my amazing UMSOM Epi colleagues for their work in CIDJournal - antimicrobial stewardship-guided interpretation of lab tests can safely cut unnecessary antibiotic use in hospitalized patients by over 4 days - a major win for combating AMR. academic.oup.com/cid/advance-...

Using Probability of Community-Acquired Pneumonia to Tailor Antimicrobials Among Inpatients: A Pragmatic, Randomized Trial

In this pragmatic, randomized trial including 107 adults with suspected respiratory infection, an intervention guiding clinicians to interpret low procalci

academic.oup.com

I fell in love with this film - quirky, visually stunning, elegantly written, and carrying a profound and unflinching truth about the female experience. #thebridemovie

a woman with black paint on her face is sitting in a car

ALT: a woman with black paint on her face is sitting in a car

media.tenor.com

Vinay Prasad has been an a noxious influence on public health and drug regulation. Good riddance. UCSF should not take him back. He should wander in the wilderness forever. www.cnn.com/2026/03/06/h...

FDA’s controversial vaccine chief will exit agency next month | CNN

The US Food and Drug Administration’s head of vaccines and biologic medicines will leave the agency at the end of April, a spokesperson confirmed to CNN on Friday.

cnn.com

There's a common misconception that zoonotic viruses require significant adaptation to jump from animals to cause human epidemics. Not so 👇. Further, we see clear signs of 1977 flu experiencing cell passage, prior to epidemic. SARS-CoV-2? Business as usual. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Dynamics of natural selection preceding human viral epidemics and pandemics

Using a phylogenetic framework to characterize natural selection, we investigate the hypothesis that zoonotic viruses require adaptation prior to zoon…

sciencedirect.com

14 active measles cases at the center on the Fort Bliss Army base and 112 people are being isolated www.the-independent.com/news/world/a...

ICE detention center under quarantine after measles outbreak could shut permanently

Camp East Montana was opened by the Trump administration in Texas last summer but has faced accusations of poor conditions and a number of deaths

the-independent.com

“The researchers found that orders of the painkiller initially dipped by 16% before leveling off at a 10% decrease in the twelve weeks after U.S. health officials cautioned against use of the drug. There was no statistically significant drop in the medication’s use among non-pregnant women.”

Across ERs, Tylenol orders for pregnant people dropped after health officials linked drug to autism

Immediately after U.S. health officials linked Tylenol to autism, the drug's use in pregnant women visiting ERs dropped, new study shows.

statnews.com

To any Arizona LDS folks…. two missionary dudes flying back from DCA right now - beyond loud, gross political jokes, one just said “yeah I’m positive about that. Like HIV positive” as a joke. Come collect your boys. 🤮

Absolute must-read 👇🏻

The Atlantic@theatlantic.com · 5mo ago

The CDC is reporting 982 cases of measles; a tracker run by researchers at Johns Hopkins University has ticked past 1,000 already. By the numbers alone, the year's first measles death seems inevitable. @katherinejwu.com reports:

COVID’s origins: what we do and don’t know www.nature.com/articles/d41...

COVID’s origins: what we do and don’t know

Researchers summarize key insights from the world’s first comprehensive investigation into how a pandemic started.

nature.com

This is gross - making fun of death and a global emergency is truly a bad take. www.politico.com/news/2026/02...

RFK Jr.’s billionaire running mate is making a comedy about the pandemic

Nicole Shanahan has recruited a top screenwriter and enlisted Covid contrarian Jay Bhattacharya.

politico.com

Truly, I cannot express how short-sighted this is. You can do both - these are not mutually exclusive lanes of effort.

Kai Kupferschmidt@kakape.bsky.social · 6mo ago

“Staff members at the United States’s premier infectious-disease research institute have been instructed to remove the words “biodefense” and “pandemic preparedness” from the institute’s web pages, according to e-mails Nature has obtained.” www.nature.com/articles/d41...

100% this @jessicamalaty.bsky.social I legit just saw a spike of flu in Australia (outside of flu season) & am seeing it around in Thailand now….so when I see influencers telling people “it doesn’t make much sense to get a flu shot now ”, I’m disappointed by their myopic approach to public health.

Jessica Malaty Rivera, MS@jessicamalaty.bsky.social · 6mo ago

Quick reminder that it’s NOT too late to get your flu shot. Influenza B cases are rising—which is typical around this time of respiratory virus season. Cases will likely continue to climb for a few more weeks.