Helen Branswell
Sr writer, infectious diseases & global health for . I block rude. Nieman ‘11. #flu #Ebola, #Marburg #polio, #AMR #measles. 🇨🇦
Last synced from Twitter 9m ago
Revamped Senate drug pricing package is a little better for seniors
Nicholas Florko - STAT 11h 2 tweets
The bipartisan duo behind the revamped Senate drug pricing package has a plan to build support: it helps offset costs of other health priorities.
Families reeling after FDA rejects therapy for kids without a thymus
Eric Boodman - STAT 19h 6 tweets
Left untreated, the condition is always fatal. A Duke University team has treated 101 kids since 1993 with the experimental implant, and 73 are still alive.
Helen Branswell "Look at this face, how can you not approve something that is his only chance at life?" — Parents of babies born with rare condition shocked when FDA rules against a promising therapy. 16h
Gates Foundation CEO Susan Desmond-Hellmann to step down
Helen Branswell - STAT 36h 4 tweets
Desmond-Hellmann, who cited health and family reasons for the move, will be replaced by Mark Suzman, the foundation’s chief strategy officer.
Helen Branswell . relinquishes the top job at the , saying she no longer meet its demand while caring for her own health & the needs of her family. will take over Feb. 1. 36h
More than 140,000 die from measles as cases surge worldwide
Who.int 37h 12 tweets
Worldwide more than 140,000 people died from measles in 2018, according to new estimates from WHO and CDC. These deaths occurred as measles cases surged globally, amidst devastating outbreaks in all regions. Most deaths were among children under 5...
Helen Branswell When I was a kid, everybody had #measles. It was awful & dangerous. Later it became unnecessary. With numbers like these — 140K measles deaths in 2018 — it feels like (some segment of) society is actively choosing to roll back time. Terrible idea. 37h
Tufts will scour Sackler name from its medical campus
Andrew Joseph - STAT 37h 8 tweets
An independent review found evidence that Purdue was “successful in exercising influence, whether directly or indirectly,” in a few instances at Tufts.
Helen Branswell Some buildings I pass daily are going to bear new names. No more Sackler at Tufts, reports. 37h
FDA authorizes marketing of diagnostic test that uses novel technology to detect MRSA bacteria
U.S. Food and Drug Administration 38h 1 tweets
FDA authorized a new diagnostic test to detect MRSA bacterial colonization, a widespread cause of hospital-acquired infections.
Helen Branswell Infection control tweeps, what think you of this? approved a new test to detect #MRSA-colonized patients within 5 hours. Don't know if that includes time from bed to lab, results input, etc. But faster than existing options, yes? #IPC 38h
Eurosurveillance | Two cases of airport-associated falciparum malaria in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, October 2019
Eurosurveillance.org 39h 1 tweets
Two cases of presumably airport-acquired falciparum malaria were diagnosed in Frankfurt in October 2019. They were associated with occupation at the airport, and Plasmodium falciparum parasites from their blood showed genetically identical...
Helen Branswell Forget snakes on planes, what about #mosquitoes? 2 Frankfurt airport workers contracted #malaria. Neither had traveled to malaria-endemic areas & the conclusion is they were infected at work; testing suggests the cases were linked. #airportmalaria 39h
Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) – The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
World Health Organization 39h 1 tweets
Helen Branswell When #MERS emerged in 2012 virologists worried that if animal-2-human transmission continue the coronavirus would learn to spread more easily among people. 7 years later, it continues to infect, mostly in countries on the Arabian Peninsula. >850 have died. 39h
The Gavi coalition boosts the global stockpile of Ebola vaccines
Helen Branswell - STAT 39h 3 tweets
The global emergency stockpile of Ebola vaccines will grow to 500,000 doses following a decision Thursday by the board of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance.
Helen Branswell The proposed size of the global stockpile of #Ebola vaccine was revised upwards today to 500K doses from 300K — a decision made by 's board today. In addition to the emergency supply, Gavi will support some preventive vaxxing of front line workers. 39h
Measles vaccination drive launched, North Kivu targets 2.2 million children
WHO | Regional Office for Africa 45h 6 tweets
Around 2.2 million children are to be vaccinated against measles in North Kivu, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), where efforts are underway to curb the world’s second-worst Ebola outbreak amid persistent insecurity.
Helen Branswell . announces that 2.2M children in North Kivu, DRC, will be vaccinated against #measles, which has rampaged through all of DRC this year. It's estimated the country has had 250,000 cases & 5,000 deaths. 40h
Opinion: Trudeau’s mockery of Trump could be Canada’s burden to bear
The Globe and Mail 51h 2 tweets
With the U.S. President, world leaders need to be the adult in the room. The Prime Minister was caught on video looking like a teenaged boy
Savannah girl diagnosed with EEE
WTOC 11 - https://www.wtoc.com 3d 1 tweets
A mystery illness left a little girl in the hospital for a month. Now, the family has answers, but no cure. Doctors pinpointed it to a mosquito borne virus.
Helen Branswell 1. A little girl in Savannah, Ga., appears to be the 38th human #EEE case in the U.S. this year. Extraordinary number for a disease that most years causes fewer than 10 human cases. h/t 3d
Monkeypox case confirmed in England
GOV.UK 3d 2 tweets
Public Health England (PHE) confirm an individual has been diagnosed with monkeypox in England.
Helen Branswell Monkeypox appears again in the UK - in a traveler believed to have been infected in Nigeria. There were 3 similar cases in the fall of 2018, I think. 3d
We won’t achieve zero Ebola cases in Congo until we get language right
The New Humanitarian 3d 2 tweets
Efforts to control the spread of Ebola will be more effective if responders use a language residents can fully understand.
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Helen Branswell This is a very interesting piece: How the language of #Ebola has fueled community resistance to the outbreak response. 3d
Trump administration will provide HIV prevention drug for free to uninsured
Helen Branswell - STAT 4d 4 tweets
The rollout of the program, to be known as "Ready, Set, PrEP," is part of the Trump administration's effort to end the nation’s HIV epidemic by 2030.
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Helen Branswell PrEP is highly effective at preventing #HIV infection but too few people who should be on it use it. The administration is aiming to change that: It's going to pay for the price of drugs for people without prescription drug coverage. 4d
Samoan Government To Close Its Offices Amid Measles Crisis That Has Left 53 Dead
NPR.org 4d 2 tweets
Forty-eight of the fatalities were children under 4 years old. The number of immunizations plummeted last year after improperly prepared vaccines led to the deaths of two infants.
The history of OxyContin, told through Purdue Pharma documents
Shraddha Chakradhar - STAT 4d 7 tweets
STAT’s multiyear legal battle to unseal Purdue files has produced dozens of documents that lay bare new details about its OxyContin marketing campaign.
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Helen Branswell The history of OxyContin, told through Purdue court documents fought to have unsealed. 4d
The Class of 2000 ‘Could Have Been Anything.’ Until Opioids Hit.
Dan Levin - Nytimes.com 5d 41 tweets
The high school yearbook is a staple of American teenage life. But for some, it also is a reminder of failed dreams, lost opportunities and the sheer toll of the opioid crisis.
Helen Branswell Holy crap. This story. 4d
Richard Sackler proposed plan to play down OxyContin risks
Casey Ross - STAT 4d 12 tweets
More than 1,000 pages of court records, unsealed after STAT's legal fight, offer the most complete picture of Sackler’s commanding presence inside Purdue.
Helen Branswell Richard Sackler proposed plan to downplay OxyContin risks, reveal court documents unsealed after a 4-year court battle by ⁦⁩. 4d
Young people encouraged to connect with land issues
Samoa Observer 101d 22 tweets
Young people often feel disconnected from the cases their families take to the Land and Titles Court. But Youth Educator and Activist, Maluseu Doris Tulifau, wants that to change.Maluseu is researching the way in which land issues affect women in...