Heather Ferguson
@drheatherferg.bsky.social
Prof of Medical #Entomology & Disease Ecology @uofgsbohvm.bsky.social & Visiting Scientist Ifakara Health Institute, Tanzania. #Malaria #Mosquito #NTDs #GlobalHealth #Equity
https://www.gla.ac.uk/schools/bohvm/staff/heatherferguson
https://www.gla.ac.uk/schools/bohvm/staff/heatherferguson
Reposted by Heather Ferguson
Brilliant, totally brilliant. And does it build on? Science. From the first description of cells to proteins, DNA, RNA to early efforts in gene therapy to the present day. Impactful science comes many pieces of a complex and not always predictable puzzle. But look at the progress.
November 24, 2025 at 8:21 AM
Brilliant, totally brilliant. And does it build on? Science. From the first description of cells to proteins, DNA, RNA to early efforts in gene therapy to the present day. Impactful science comes many pieces of a complex and not always predictable puzzle. But look at the progress.
Incredible story. Prof Simon Jones, co-leading the trial tells the BBC: "I've been waiting 20 years to see a boy like Ollie doing as well as he is, and it's just so exciting."
Hunter syndrome: Boy with rare condition amazes doctors after world-first gene therapy
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Hunter syndrome: Boy with rare condition amazes doctors after world-first gene therapy
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Hunter syndrome: Boy with rare condition amazes doctors after world-first gene therapy
Oliver has an inherited condition called Hunter syndrome, which causes progressive damage to the body and brain.
www.bbc.co.uk
November 24, 2025 at 7:08 AM
Incredible story. Prof Simon Jones, co-leading the trial tells the BBC: "I've been waiting 20 years to see a boy like Ollie doing as well as he is, and it's just so exciting."
Hunter syndrome: Boy with rare condition amazes doctors after world-first gene therapy
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Hunter syndrome: Boy with rare condition amazes doctors after world-first gene therapy
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Reposted by Heather Ferguson
Spent an enjoyable afternoon yesterday at Glasgow talking about my research.
Great to host Dr Sylvia Valentine @historylady2013.bsky.social who gave a timely, fascinating talk on her work uncovering the history of the anti-vax movement in Scotland -present since start of #smallpox vaccination. Read more here⏬
www.dundee.ac.uk/research-unc...
#Vaccineswork
@sbohvm.gla.ac.uk
www.dundee.ac.uk/research-unc...
#Vaccineswork
@sbohvm.gla.ac.uk
November 20, 2025 at 8:20 PM
Spent an enjoyable afternoon yesterday at Glasgow talking about my research.
Great to host Dr Sylvia Valentine @historylady2013.bsky.social who gave a timely, fascinating talk on her work uncovering the history of the anti-vax movement in Scotland -present since start of #smallpox vaccination. Read more here⏬
www.dundee.ac.uk/research-unc...
#Vaccineswork
@sbohvm.gla.ac.uk
www.dundee.ac.uk/research-unc...
#Vaccineswork
@sbohvm.gla.ac.uk
November 20, 2025 at 7:58 PM
Great to host Dr Sylvia Valentine @historylady2013.bsky.social who gave a timely, fascinating talk on her work uncovering the history of the anti-vax movement in Scotland -present since start of #smallpox vaccination. Read more here⏬
www.dundee.ac.uk/research-unc...
#Vaccineswork
@sbohvm.gla.ac.uk
www.dundee.ac.uk/research-unc...
#Vaccineswork
@sbohvm.gla.ac.uk
Reposted by Heather Ferguson
For the first time in my career, I can’t tell people to trust what the CDC website says. And that is an incredibly sad and devastating place for this country to be.
CDC has overhauled its website to assert that “the claim ‘vaccines do not cause autism’ is not an evidence-based claim”
November 20, 2025 at 4:22 AM
For the first time in my career, I can’t tell people to trust what the CDC website says. And that is an incredibly sad and devastating place for this country to be.
Reposted by Heather Ferguson
The CDC has updated its vaccine safety page to promote long-discredited claims about vaccines—namely that they cause autism.
The page links to a number of studies, including one by anti-vax allies of Robert Kennedy Jr.
www.importantcontext.news/p/cdc-change...
The page links to a number of studies, including one by anti-vax allies of Robert Kennedy Jr.
www.importantcontext.news/p/cdc-change...
CDC Changes Vaccine Safety Page to Promote Vaccine Misinformation
It is the latest move by Robert Kennedy Jr.’s Department of Health and Human Services to attack vaccines.
www.importantcontext.news
November 20, 2025 at 4:57 AM
The CDC has updated its vaccine safety page to promote long-discredited claims about vaccines—namely that they cause autism.
The page links to a number of studies, including one by anti-vax allies of Robert Kennedy Jr.
www.importantcontext.news/p/cdc-change...
The page links to a number of studies, including one by anti-vax allies of Robert Kennedy Jr.
www.importantcontext.news/p/cdc-change...
"Actually I also get really nervous about whether my team will qualify for the World Cup.."
😬😬
C'mon Scotland!
It's the hope that kills...
#Domesticscenes
#SCODEN
😬😬
C'mon Scotland!
It's the hope that kills...
#Domesticscenes
#SCODEN
November 18, 2025 at 6:42 PM
"Actually I also get really nervous about whether my team will qualify for the World Cup.."
😬😬
C'mon Scotland!
It's the hope that kills...
#Domesticscenes
#SCODEN
😬😬
C'mon Scotland!
It's the hope that kills...
#Domesticscenes
#SCODEN
Pleasure to participate in 1st in-person meeting of the Scottish Health Protection Network's committee on #Vector-borne diseases last week.
Great to meet with colleagues to brainstorm what the future of #vector-borne disease surveillance in Scotland should look like.
#Ticks
#Midges
#Mosquitoes
Great to meet with colleagues to brainstorm what the future of #vector-borne disease surveillance in Scotland should look like.
#Ticks
#Midges
#Mosquitoes
November 16, 2025 at 9:29 AM
Pleasure to participate in 1st in-person meeting of the Scottish Health Protection Network's committee on #Vector-borne diseases last week.
Great to meet with colleagues to brainstorm what the future of #vector-borne disease surveillance in Scotland should look like.
#Ticks
#Midges
#Mosquitoes
Great to meet with colleagues to brainstorm what the future of #vector-borne disease surveillance in Scotland should look like.
#Ticks
#Midges
#Mosquitoes
Reposted by Heather Ferguson
If I'm doing the math correctly, Musk's big pay packet yesterday could have made each of these now-dead people millionaires instead.
He is among the sickest men the world has ever produced.
He is among the sickest men the world has ever produced.
One analytical model shows that, as of November 5th, the dismantling of U.S.A.I.D. has already caused the deaths of 600,000 people, two-thirds of them children. https://newyorkermag.visitlink.me/jUzNSc
The Shutdown of U.S.A.I.D. Has Already Killed Hundreds of Thousands
The short documentary “Rovina’s Choice” tells the story of what goes when aid goes.
newyorkermag.visitlink.me
November 7, 2025 at 2:52 PM
If I'm doing the math correctly, Musk's big pay packet yesterday could have made each of these now-dead people millionaires instead.
He is among the sickest men the world has ever produced.
He is among the sickest men the world has ever produced.
Folks in the UK -please consider writing to your MP to urge them to maintain full support for the #GlobalFund. It has never been more needed following massive international aid cuts this year- and a total own goal to let infectious diseases that could affect all surge & become resistant to treatment
If this is true and U.K. Government really is planning to cut its contribution to the Global Fund, at a time when Trump’s action will cause deaths on a massive scale, it is moral bankruptcy.
@friendseurope.bsky.social
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
@friendseurope.bsky.social
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
Cutting aid for disease fund would be moral failure, Labour MPs tell Starmer
UK expected to reduce contribution to Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria by 20%
www.theguardian.com
November 8, 2025 at 12:49 PM
Folks in the UK -please consider writing to your MP to urge them to maintain full support for the #GlobalFund. It has never been more needed following massive international aid cuts this year- and a total own goal to let infectious diseases that could affect all surge & become resistant to treatment
In response to the @theguardian.com editorial on the uptick in malaria due to #globalhealth funding cuts, I write how this also foreshadwos what’s ahead for a lower-profile but similarly devastating group of pathogens – the neglected tropical diseases.
www.theguardian.com/global-devel...
www.theguardian.com/global-devel...
Aid cuts could set back fragile gains in eliminating neglected tropical diseases | Letter
Letter: In response to an editorial on the uptick in malaria, Prof Heather Ferguson writes that progress against dengue, leprosy, rabies and other conditions could unravel
www.theguardian.com
November 2, 2025 at 9:18 PM
In response to the @theguardian.com editorial on the uptick in malaria due to #globalhealth funding cuts, I write how this also foreshadwos what’s ahead for a lower-profile but similarly devastating group of pathogens – the neglected tropical diseases.
www.theguardian.com/global-devel...
www.theguardian.com/global-devel...
Is #climatechange increasing the risk of vector-borne diseases in the UK?
My comments #BMJ
⬇️
www.bmj.com/content/391/...
Short answer - yes! But rather than focussing just on tropical pathogens & vectors moving north, most imminent risk may be increased transmission capacity in native vectors
My comments #BMJ
⬇️
www.bmj.com/content/391/...
Short answer - yes! But rather than focussing just on tropical pathogens & vectors moving north, most imminent risk may be increased transmission capacity in native vectors
November 2, 2025 at 9:12 PM
Is #climatechange increasing the risk of vector-borne diseases in the UK?
My comments #BMJ
⬇️
www.bmj.com/content/391/...
Short answer - yes! But rather than focussing just on tropical pathogens & vectors moving north, most imminent risk may be increased transmission capacity in native vectors
My comments #BMJ
⬇️
www.bmj.com/content/391/...
Short answer - yes! But rather than focussing just on tropical pathogens & vectors moving north, most imminent risk may be increased transmission capacity in native vectors
Thinking of all my friends and colleagues in beautiful #Tanzania. Wishing for peace, safety & security now and in the future.
BBC News - Samia wins Tanzania election with 98% of votes, as hundreds feared dead in unrest
www.bbc.com/news/article...
BBC News - Samia wins Tanzania election with 98% of votes, as hundreds feared dead in unrest
www.bbc.com/news/article...
Tanzania election: Samia Suluhu Hassan wins 98% of vote, as hundreds feared dead in unrest
Demonstrations continued on Friday as young protesters denounced the election as unfair.
www.bbc.com
November 1, 2025 at 8:28 AM
Thinking of all my friends and colleagues in beautiful #Tanzania. Wishing for peace, safety & security now and in the future.
BBC News - Samia wins Tanzania election with 98% of votes, as hundreds feared dead in unrest
www.bbc.com/news/article...
BBC News - Samia wins Tanzania election with 98% of votes, as hundreds feared dead in unrest
www.bbc.com/news/article...
Very sad piece of local history from my home town. Glad they are planning a memorial for those women
BBC News - The witches of Dumbarton - tortured, executed and falsely accused
www.bbc.com/news/article...
BBC News - The witches of Dumbarton - tortured, executed and falsely accused
www.bbc.com/news/article...
Witches of Dumbarton - tortured, executed and falsely accused
More than two dozen people in the town were accused and tortured in the belief that they were doing Satan's bidding.
www.bbc.com
October 30, 2025 at 7:11 PM
Very sad piece of local history from my home town. Glad they are planning a memorial for those women
BBC News - The witches of Dumbarton - tortured, executed and falsely accused
www.bbc.com/news/article...
BBC News - The witches of Dumbarton - tortured, executed and falsely accused
www.bbc.com/news/article...
Reposted by Heather Ferguson
Clatters, demon children, & ghost cats
Is Glasgow’s Subway haunted? Opened in 1896, it’s the world’s 3rd-oldest underground metro system, & human remains – possibly from plague pits – were dug through during its construction…
#WyrdWednesday
www.glasgowlive.co.uk/news/glasgow...
Is Glasgow’s Subway haunted? Opened in 1896, it’s the world’s 3rd-oldest underground metro system, & human remains – possibly from plague pits – were dug through during its construction…
#WyrdWednesday
www.glasgowlive.co.uk/news/glasgow...
Is the Subway haunted? Seven spooky ghost stories from Glasgow's underground
Are you sure the stranger shoogling along next to you is really there? It seems the underground is rife with ghost stories
www.glasgowlive.co.uk
October 29, 2025 at 1:05 PM
Clatters, demon children, & ghost cats
Is Glasgow’s Subway haunted? Opened in 1896, it’s the world’s 3rd-oldest underground metro system, & human remains – possibly from plague pits – were dug through during its construction…
#WyrdWednesday
www.glasgowlive.co.uk/news/glasgow...
Is Glasgow’s Subway haunted? Opened in 1896, it’s the world’s 3rd-oldest underground metro system, & human remains – possibly from plague pits – were dug through during its construction…
#WyrdWednesday
www.glasgowlive.co.uk/news/glasgow...
Can interventions both reduce malaria and destabilize vector populations? Study by Tristan Dennis & Mafalda Viana explored this using pyrethroid-pyriproxifen nets. While these nets ⬇️ malaria in Burkina Faso, they had no impact on gene flow in vector population
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
October 28, 2025 at 7:34 PM
Can interventions both reduce malaria and destabilize vector populations? Study by Tristan Dennis & Mafalda Viana explored this using pyrethroid-pyriproxifen nets. While these nets ⬇️ malaria in Burkina Faso, they had no impact on gene flow in vector population
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Reposted by Heather Ferguson
Climate change will be more expensive and harmful than carbon reduction would be
Water is coming for the Seaport; the whole city will be poorer for it. apps.bostonglobe.com/2025/10/metr...
A rising flood zone risk is affecting the Seaport, 10 percent of Boston's tax base
Buildings in the Seaport fund one-tenth of Boston’s property-tax base. Flood waters and sea level rise will soon put that at risk.
apps.bostonglobe.com
October 28, 2025 at 1:00 PM
Climate change will be more expensive and harmful than carbon reduction would be
Reposted by Heather Ferguson
#Cholera is an ancient disease we know how to prevent, yet it still devastates the poorest countries.
Vaccination is vital to control outbreaks, and investing in WASH is key to preventing them.
President Hichilema and I urge leaders to help us expand vaccine production and end cholera for good.
Vaccination is vital to control outbreaks, and investing in WASH is key to preventing them.
President Hichilema and I urge leaders to help us expand vaccine production and end cholera for good.
Cholera is spreading fast, yet it can be stopped. Why haven’t we consigned it to history? | Hakainde Hichilema and Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus
Cholera is spreading fast, yet it can be stopped. Why haven’t we consigned it to history? | Hakainde Hichilema and Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus
Vaccine production must be expanded to combat this ancient disease, especially in Africa, but a lack of political will is holding us back
www.theguardian.com
October 26, 2025 at 7:20 PM
#Cholera is an ancient disease we know how to prevent, yet it still devastates the poorest countries.
Vaccination is vital to control outbreaks, and investing in WASH is key to preventing them.
President Hichilema and I urge leaders to help us expand vaccine production and end cholera for good.
Vaccination is vital to control outbreaks, and investing in WASH is key to preventing them.
President Hichilema and I urge leaders to help us expand vaccine production and end cholera for good.
“ Even 1 attack can break health systems down for years,” says Haar, pointing to pivotal Kunduz Hospital attack in Afghanistan. “They never rebuilt that hospital. They rebuilt a clinic, a smaller clinic, there years later. But there’s no trauma hospital on that site now” share.google/VfpE3mgXjC3M...
How attacking healthcare has become a strategy of war
Gaza, Ukraine, and Sudan have put a spotlight on attacks on healthcare facilities and staff in conflict zones. The BMJ looks at the data, which seem to show a new strategy of war: removing civilians’ ...
share.google
October 26, 2025 at 8:21 AM
“ Even 1 attack can break health systems down for years,” says Haar, pointing to pivotal Kunduz Hospital attack in Afghanistan. “They never rebuilt that hospital. They rebuilt a clinic, a smaller clinic, there years later. But there’s no trauma hospital on that site now” share.google/VfpE3mgXjC3M...
Reposted by Heather Ferguson
Non academic (Bilthoven / Utrecht, the Netherlands)
Senior infectious disease modeller to lead and coordinate complex modelling projects
with Jacco Wallinga
at RIVM
More details: http://iddjobs.org/jobs/2380
Senior infectious disease modeller to lead and coordinate complex modelling projects
with Jacco Wallinga
at RIVM
More details: http://iddjobs.org/jobs/2380
October 25, 2025 at 6:49 AM
Non academic (Bilthoven / Utrecht, the Netherlands)
Senior infectious disease modeller to lead and coordinate complex modelling projects
with Jacco Wallinga
at RIVM
More details: http://iddjobs.org/jobs/2380
Senior infectious disease modeller to lead and coordinate complex modelling projects
with Jacco Wallinga
at RIVM
More details: http://iddjobs.org/jobs/2380
Reposted by Heather Ferguson
Israeli strikes killed at least two in Gaza yesterday despite ceasefire, aid flows remain far below needed levels.
UN says 1.5M in Gaza need ’emergency assistance’ as Israel blocks crossings
Israeli strikes killed at least two in Gaza yesterday despite ceasefire, aid flows remain far below needed levels.
bit.ly
October 25, 2025 at 7:00 AM
Israeli strikes killed at least two in Gaza yesterday despite ceasefire, aid flows remain far below needed levels.
Reposted by Heather Ferguson
Yet again, we can't afford to let LLMs become a source of epistemic grounding for society.
Largest study of its kind shows AI assistants misrepresent news content 45% of the time – regardless of language or territory
An intensive international study was coordinated by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and led by the BBC
www.bbc.co.uk
October 24, 2025 at 5:21 AM
Yet again, we can't afford to let LLMs become a source of epistemic grounding for society.
Reposted by Heather Ferguson
Ending polio isn’t just a goal, it’s a promise to children everywhere. With support from global partners, governments, and health workers, we won’t stop until the job is done. #EndPolio #WorldPolioDay
@unicef.org @who.int @gatesfoundation.bsky.social
@unicef.org @who.int @gatesfoundation.bsky.social
October 24, 2025 at 6:01 AM
Ending polio isn’t just a goal, it’s a promise to children everywhere. With support from global partners, governments, and health workers, we won’t stop until the job is done. #EndPolio #WorldPolioDay
@unicef.org @who.int @gatesfoundation.bsky.social
@unicef.org @who.int @gatesfoundation.bsky.social
Thx to Al Jazeera for discussion of new report by #AfricanLeadersMalariaAlliance & @malarianomore.org on expected impacts of #globalhealth funding cuts on #malaria with
Dr Joy Phumaphi
Dr Tanja Haj-Hassan
Report ⬇️
economy.zeromalaria.org
Video ⬇️
youtu.be/PBMQEAsk8_M?...
@sbohvm.gla.ac.uk
Dr Joy Phumaphi
Dr Tanja Haj-Hassan
Report ⬇️
economy.zeromalaria.org
Video ⬇️
youtu.be/PBMQEAsk8_M?...
@sbohvm.gla.ac.uk
October 22, 2025 at 9:48 PM
Thx to Al Jazeera for discussion of new report by #AfricanLeadersMalariaAlliance & @malarianomore.org on expected impacts of #globalhealth funding cuts on #malaria with
Dr Joy Phumaphi
Dr Tanja Haj-Hassan
Report ⬇️
economy.zeromalaria.org
Video ⬇️
youtu.be/PBMQEAsk8_M?...
@sbohvm.gla.ac.uk
Dr Joy Phumaphi
Dr Tanja Haj-Hassan
Report ⬇️
economy.zeromalaria.org
Video ⬇️
youtu.be/PBMQEAsk8_M?...
@sbohvm.gla.ac.uk