Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

LymeScience @lymescience.org · 5h

An epidemic among reality TV personalities bsky.app/profile/lyme...

LymeScience @lymescience.org · 2d

Sigh: In the last week, 2 more former reality TV show personalities announced dubious Lyme disease diagnoses.

This is in addition to the quackery promoted by Bella Hadid, a victim of Medical Child Abuse at the hands of her mother Yolanda. Bella is sadly still in the chronic #Lyme cult.

1

LymeScience @lymescience.org · 7h

Marty Makary and Jay Bhattacharya are not letting facts get in the way

ysph.yale.edu/news-article...

Ancient History of Lyme Disease in North America Revealed with Bacterial Genomes

A team of researchers led by the Yale School of Public Health has found that the Lyme disease bacterium is ancient in North America, circulating silently in

ysph.yale.edu

1 1 2

LymeScience @lymescience.org · 7h

Both Marty Makary and Jay Bhattacharya have amplified this bonkers conspiracy theory:

Jonathan Howard @joho.bsky.social · 8h

Makary is now saying that Lyme came from a lab too.

youtu.be/bQovoQaaE4w?...

Silly Makary says COVID and Lyme came from labs.

YouTube video by Jonathan Howard

youtu.be

2 1 2

Reposted by LymeScience

Fired but Fighting (National Public Health Coalition) @firedbutfighting.bsky.social · 8h

Statement from NPHC and FBF:
Late in the evening of October 10th, hundreds of staff at CDC received RIF notices. Entire programs were eliminated, including those that track important health statistics, handle communications to the public, & even more leadership across the agency.
1/4 🧵

Continuing to dismantle the CDC puts American lives at risk. In the event of an emergency, America is no longer prepared to respond swiftly or effectively. Programs that keep Americans healthy, safe, and secure are being destoryed. Even if you don’t see it, public health is working in the background to protect all Americans. Public health is non-partisan, but it is being used to fight a political battle.
statement about Oct 10, 2025 RIFs by NPHC and FBF

7 45 87

Reposted by LymeScience

Dr. Jen Gunter @drjengunter.bsky.social · 22h

This is frightening -> "The staff of the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, the journal that reports on health trends and emerging infectious threats, was also laid off. "

Sheryl Gay Stolberg @sherylnyt.bsky.social · 22h

FULL STORY HERE: Emails began flooding CDC inboxes late Friday night announcing dozens of layoffs. HR people brought back from furlough to oversee the RIFs. Disease detectives, entire Washington office, global health, injury prevention, MMWR staff among those hit.
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/11/u...

Trump Administration Lays Off Dozens of C.D.C. Officials

www.nytimes.com

5 100 240

Reposted by LymeScience

Angie Rasmussen @angierasmussen.bsky.social · 11h

For more information about the Friday night massacre at CDC, I wrote up an analysis of who got terminated and what that means for public health.

Grateful to @saveamericamvmt.bsky.social for supporting and amplifying. We are in really terrible trouble.

rasmussenretorts.substack.com/p/the-death-...

14 270 460

Reposted by LymeScience

Apoorva Mandavilli @apoorvanyt.bsky.social · 13h

It was yet another rough night for CDC employees: Dozens — possibly hundreds, they are still self-surveying — were let go late at night, including those who worked on the prestigious MMWR reports

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/11/u...

Trump Administration Lays Off Dozens of C.D.C. Officials

www.nytimes.com

2 40 65

Reposted by LymeScience

Lena Sun @lenasun.bsky.social · 14h

NEW: @CDCgov hit hard by massive firings that several staff describe to me as a “bloodbath.”
Among those RIFd:
—leadership of the center for immunization and respiratory diseases;
—leadership of global health center
—leadership of the measles outbreak response; 1/4

68 1.1K 2.1K

Reposted by LymeScience

Alt CDC (they/them) @altcdc.altgov.info · 23h

Good night, friends.
Tonight was deeply painful.

We at CDC do this work because we care.
It’s long hours, often feeling overworked and not enough pay, but we do it because we want to make the world a better place.

73 280 1.8K

Reposted by LymeScience

Alt CDC (they/them) @altcdc.altgov.info · 23h

It’s been…. a night.

#CDCFridayNightMassacre

I’m exhausted - physically, emotionally.
To those divisions and branches that were RIFed and that we didn’t yet highlight here, apologies. We need to take a break for the night.

All of your - all of our - work matters.
We are in this together.

23 91 620

LymeScience @lymescience.org · 23h

Thank to Dr. Faust for the updates 👇

Jeremy Faust, MD @jeremyfaust.bsky.social · 1d

We have breaking news in Inside Medicine.

We had heard rumors of RIFs to CDC.

But this is the first visual confirmation that it has occurred tonight, and at high levels in the agency.

Here is what we know...and then some well-sourced rumors (but rumors, nonetheless, not confirmed) 🧵...

2

Reposted by LymeScience

Angie Rasmussen @angierasmussen.bsky.social · 1d

I don’t know who needs to hear this but the CDC is being eviscerated right now. America is not going to have any kind of outbreak response capacity after tonight. Americans’ health data is no longer secure. Say goodbye to federal public health in any capacity. It’s a disaster. We won’t recover.

510 6K 14K

Reposted by LymeScience

Alt CDC (they/them) @altcdc.altgov.info · 1d

RIFed: National Center for Immunization & Respiratory Diseases (NCIRD), Office of Director

OD sets tone for the rest of the center, determine priorities, review high profile science, etc

NCIRD focuses: Flu. Whooping cough. Polio. Covid. Meningitis.

Yeah, you want this center to fully function 🤯

www.cdc.gov

8 130 300

Reposted by LymeScience

Jonathan Howard @joho.bsky.social · 1d

Thank you for the kind, thoughtful review @karambales.bsky.social 🙏

counterdisinformationproject.substack.com/p/everyone-e...

Everyone Else is Lying to You

Jonathan Howard MD's sequal to We Want Them Infected is out now

counterdisinformationproject.substack.com

1 10 20

Reposted by LymeScience

Greg Folkers @gregfolkers.bsky.social · 2d

CIDRAP Op-Ed: Why the CDC director is wrong about the MMR vaccine

by Jake Scott, MD
@jakescottmd.bsky.social
@cidrap.bsky.social

bit.ly/4nJzwkU

1 3

LymeScience @lymescience.org · 2d

Sigh: In the last week, 2 more former reality TV show personalities announced dubious Lyme disease diagnoses.

This is in addition to the quackery promoted by Bella Hadid, a victim of Medical Child Abuse at the hands of her mother Yolanda. Bella is sadly still in the chronic #Lyme cult.

1

Reposted by LymeScience

Lauren Weber @laurenweberhp.bsky.social · 2d

She left the medical mainstream and rose to be RFK Jr.'s surgeon general pick

Read my and @rachelroubein.bsky.social @washingtonpost.com deep dive on Casey Means

www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/...

She left the medical mainstream and rose to be RFK Jr.'s surgeon general pick

Casey Means, the surgeon general nominee, has criticized the medical establishment. She could be put in position to change it.

www.washingtonpost.com

5 10 16

Reposted by LymeScience

Sabina Vohra-Miller @sabivm.bsky.social · 5d

I am half way through reading @joho.bsky.social ‘s new book and it should be included as historical evidence in national science libraries & archives. I really hope down the road we read this and find ways to ensure none of what we saw during the pandemic is ever repeated. Riveting read.

Jonathan Howard @joho.bsky.social · 8d

The sequel to We Want Them Infected is done!

COVID killed 1.2 million Americans while vaccines saved millions.

Yet, disinformation superspreaders were empowered, where they are taking a wrecking ball to science & medicine.

How did that happen?🧵

sciencebasedmedicine.org/everyone-els...

Everyone Else is Lying to You: My Book is Done!

The pandemic’s biggest disinformation superspreaders are now in charge. How did this happen?

sciencebasedmedicine.org

11 32

Reposted by LymeScience

jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 3d

i desperately want everyone involved in the destruction of USAID to have to, st the very least, answer to the american people for the suffering and misery they have caused apnews.com/article/myan...

Starving children screaming for food as US aid cuts unleash devastation and death across Myanmar

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has repeatedly said “no one has died" because of his government’s decision to gut its foreign aid program.

apnews.com

280 5.2K 14K

LymeScience @lymescience.org · 4d

It's now up to 75.7k and increasing 1000-2000/day.

And more details about the unethical experimentation conducted by autism quack Richard Frye are coming to light, thanks to reporting by @thetransmitter.bsky.social

Richard Frye has been in the anti-vax "autism biomed" movement for many years.

LymeScience @lymescience.org · 8d

New: The FDA put autism quack Richard Frye's trial of folinic acid/Leucovorin on full clinical hold for "Unreasonable and significant risk of illness or injury to human subjects"

This was an experiment on vulnerable autistic children.

h/t @thetransmitter.bsky.social

LizW @cave-malum.bsky.social · 8d

Well we called that pretty close.
pp.4-5. "The study you proposed may not be initiated ..."
This dates to some time after 18 June, 2015. Recruitment began June, 2012 & the trial was suspended June, 2015. Quarreling with study monitors is fatal. Lawsuit's a bitch. Impeccable record indeed.

1

Reposted by LymeScience

Katie Drummond @katie-drummond.bsky.social · 4d

There are now a shocking *60,000* people in a Facebook group dedicated to an unproven autism treatment being pushed by the Trump administration.

That's just one of many disturbing details in this must-read from @davidgilbert.bsky.social

Chaos, Confusion, and Conspiracies: Inside a Facebook Group for RFK Jr.’s Autism ‘Cure’

A Facebook group set up to share information about leucovorin has been spammed by affiliate links and supplement companies trying to shame parents of autistic kids.

www.wired.com

6 39 76

Reposted by LymeScience

BK. Titanji @boghuma.bsky.social · 4d

🧵 #MythBustingTuesday
The CDC reportedly floated separating the MMR into individual shots without any published evidence that doing so improves safety.
Let’s unpack why this myth persists, what the data show, and why countries like Senegal are moving in the opposite direction.

4 36 77

Reposted by LymeScience

Robert Califf @robcaliff.bsky.social · 4d

Serious perspective.

www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...

Opinion | Six surgeons general: It’s our duty to warn the nation about RFK Jr.

We took an oath to declare dangers when we found them. We’re doing that again today.

www.washingtonpost.com

1 3

Reposted by LymeScience

Angie Rasmussen @angierasmussen.bsky.social · 4d

I wrote a thing about how this split the MMR up into monovalents is bullshit that Andrew Wakefield cooked up. It will be used to strip access to the MMR.

The MAHA movement continues to destroy public health.

open.substack.com/pub/rasmusse...

The Monovalent Mirage

A pretend alternative to the MMR exists, just ask Andrew Wakefield

open.substack.com

7 74 210

Reposted by LymeScience

Paul Offit @pauloffit.bsky.social · 4d

open.substack.com/pub/pauloffi...
In the midst of a measles epidemic that killed 3 people, RFK Jr. reminds us that vaccines don't save lives.

RFK Jr.: “Vaccines Don’t Save Lives”

In a recent post on X, RFK Jr. said that vaccines are overrated.

open.substack.com

10 34 79