Helen Branswell
Senior writer, infectious diseases & global health, @statnews. I block rude. #flu #Zika, #Ebola, #polio, #AMR. Neiman '11. 🇨🇦
Last synced from Twitter 2m ago
Russian operatives blasted 18,000 tweets ahead of a huge news day during the 2016 presidential campaign. Did they know what was coming?
The largest collection of Russian disinformation tweets reveals a strange surge on Oct. 6, the day before Wikileaks first released the emails stolen from Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta. This has fueled a mystery: What were the trolls up to?...
Helen Branswell
If you read one article this weekend, it should probably be this one.
6h
‘It’s the president we all want’: The melancholy world of liberals watching ‘The West Wing’ in 2018
“The West Wing Weekly” podcast, with its 1.3 million downloads a month, is helping some find escapism in the Trump era.
Who should be most alarmed about the decline of local news? Republicans.
If conservatives really want government as local as possible, they need local media to make it happen.
Helen Branswell
This is fascinating (and alarming): The effect on local government costs -- yeah, costs -- of the closure of small newspapers.
7h
Maggie Haberman: Why I Needed to Pull Back From Twitter
The viciousness, toxic partisan anger and intellectual dishonesty are at all-time highs.
Take a Round-Trip to the Moon on Apollo 11
On July 16, 1969, Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins blasted off from Kennedy Space Center. Armstrong and Aldrin landed on the moon four days later. The three returned safely to Earth on July 24, 1969.
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On a remote Pacific island, this doctor has revived a 60-year quest to eradicate a disfiguring disease
A cheap one-dose antibiotic treatment might wipe yaws, a forgotten disease, off the face of the planet
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Helen Branswell
Compiling a reading list for the weekend? Put this one at the top: @martinenserink's lovely take on a Catalan doctor far from home who has reignited interest in ridding the world of disfiguring #yaws.
27h
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Helen Branswell
If you're not starting your day with @meggophone's Morning Rounds newsletter, you're doing it wrong. Quick fix here
28h
In Vitro and In Vivo Activity of Amiodarone Against Ebola Virus | The Journal of Infectious Diseases | Oxford Academic
Abstract. At the onset of the 2013–2016 epidemic of Ebola virus disease (EVD), no vaccine or antiviral medication was approved for treatment. Therefore, consid
Helen Branswell
3. They didn't find a benefit of amiodarone when tested in #Ebola-infected guinea pigs. They note they cannot rule out that a different dose might have led to a different outcome.
49h
CDC's top disease detective is driven by passion for mystery
Sherif Zaki, the CDC's top pathologist, pores over slides of tissues, studying patterns of damage while hunting for the minuscule culprits that cause it.
Helen Branswell
TFW you're looking at a conference program & you realize your panel is scheduled at the same time as one featuring @CDC's Sherif Zaki & you realize you don't need to be nervous coz everyone will go hear him.
50h
Multidrug-resistant raw turkey Salmonella outbreak: 90 ill in 26 states
Officials warn the strain might be widespread in the industry.
Helen Branswell
Cook those turkey burgers properly! @CDC reports a large Salmonella outbreak linked to raw turkey products. Use proper food handling techniques!
50h
California’s ACA Rates To Rise 8.7% Next Year
The average increase in California is smaller than the double-digit hikes expected around the nation, due largely to a healthier mix of enrollees and more competition in its marketplace. Still, hea…
HHS opens door to possibility of importing some drugs in limited cases
It is one of the boldest ideas the administration has yet proposed as it has laid out a series of ways to bring down the cost of prescription drugs.
Alexander Fleming and the mould
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Helen Branswell
Penicillin, the Musical?
The Mold That Changed the World debuts in London.
thelancet.com/journals/lanin… pic.twitter.com/fnXUj3P2mc
57h
He thought white men were vanishing from TV. I disagreed. So we conducted an experiment.
How do you address beliefs that aren’t rooted in reality? Sometimes you just need a pen, a pad and a remote control.
Congo’s Ebola outbreak is all but over. Did an experimental vaccine help?
Traditional containment strategies potentially boosted by new tool, but it’s difficult to untangle why deadly virus stopped spreading
Medicine is changing its mind on chronic fatigue. Insurers should follow
The medical establishment is acknowledging that chronic fatigue syndrome is a real disease. Brian Vastag's case shows that insurers aren't doing that.
Scientist searching to cure her own prion disease reveals industry alliance
For years, Sonia Vallabh has been working to save her life. Now she shares word of an alliance with Ionis to find a treatment for her prion disease.
Lawmakers reject bids to incentivize development of new antibiotics
Opponents of one of the proposed incentives in the House argued that it would have actually harmed patients by driving up drug prices.
FDA’s Gottlieb slams drug makers for stalling release of biosimilars
Drug makers who manufacture pricey biologic medicines are using “unacceptable” anti-competitive tactics, the agency commissioner says.