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Reposted by Heather McSharry, PhD

Kai Kupferschmidt @kakape.bsky.social · 20h

I am fascinated by how viruses evolve - and not just since #SARSCoV2 has shown us at the global stage how consequential virus evolution can be for us.
In my new story in @science.org I got to explore how researchers are probing deeper into the past with old RNA virus genome.
So a 🧪 thread…

On an Arctic archipelago, frozen soil may preserve a hidden history of viruses

Scientists are hunting for ancient RNA in Svalbard’s permafrost, hoping to shed light on the evolution of viral diseases

www.science.org

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Heather McSharry, PhD @pathogenscribe.bsky.social · 5h

CNN uncovered a recording from 2016 of what RFK thinks of trump and his followers. He's culling the herd with his antivax agenda...Listen for yourself. www.cnn.com/2024/11/21/p...

RFK Jr. compared Trump to Hitler and praised descriptions of his supporters as ‘Nazis’ | CNN Politics

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for secretary of Health and Human Services, has a long history of scathing critiques against Trump, labeling him a “threat to democracy,” a “...

www.cnn.com

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Reposted by Heather McSharry, PhD

Indivisible ❌👑 @indivisible.org · 7h

This is what democracy looks like. #NoKings

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Heather McSharry, PhD @pathogenscribe.bsky.social · 6h

This week’s episode, The R@VN, reimagines Poe’s The Raven as a requiem for antivaxxers — a poetic haunting of misinformation that just won’t die.
🕯️ “And the system, softly clicking, watched my pulse wane, slow and ticking,”
🎧 Listen (if you dare): www.infectiousdose.com/post/the-raven

The R@VN: A Requiem for Antivaxxers

The R@VN: Requiem for the Antivaxxers — a dark reimagining of Edgar Allan Poe’s The Raven, where a vaccine denier’s smart-home AI bears witness to his paralysis from polio. A gothic warning about sci...

www.infectiousdose.com

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Reposted by Heather McSharry, PhD

FeMaiden 👩🏻‍🔬🧪🥽💉 @fe-maiden.bsky.social · 3d

I cannot even imagine what it must be like to a physician in a rural, underserved area AND having to fight this off on a daily basis. Unbelievable.

Ian Weissman, DO @drianweissman.bsky.social · 3d

Many doctors say political attacks on science and medicine are affecting their long-standing relationships with patients, particularly in rural communities, where physician recruitment already poses a chronic challenge.
www.npr.org/sections/sho...

In rural America, scarce doctors battle misinformation as they practice medicine

Conspiracy theories about health fill a vacuum created by the lack of doctors in many rural communities. Meanwhile, doctors in these areas say patients have become increasingly distrustful and sometim...

www.npr.org

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Reposted by Heather McSharry, PhD

Jacki @ftd1969.bsky.social · 4d

I heard the initial story, but the story is advancing and getting quite interesting!

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Reposted by Heather McSharry, PhD

Julia Doubleday @juliadoubleday.bsky.social · 3d

People continue to call COVID advocates’ pleas for masking “unreasonable”.

Yet people who’ve already been disabled by COVID have no choice but to live with the “unreasonable” burdens of constant COVID safety.

My latest:
substack.com/home/post/p-...

Beyond all reason

Long COVID patients are constantly harangued about our requests for COVID safety. Yet what we're asking for is far less than what we're called on to do to survive.

substack.com

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Reposted by Heather McSharry, PhD

Heather McSharry, PhD @pathogenscribe.bsky.social · 3d

🎧 “The R@VN” is live:
My latest #MonthOfTheMacabre episode reimagines Poe’s “The Raven” for the age of antivax disinformation.

An antivaxxer succumbs to a virus as his smart-home AI, the Rational Autonomous Virtual Nexus (R@VN), bears witness.
#VaccinesWork
www.infectiousdose.com/post/the-rav...

The R@VN: A Requiem for Antivaxxers

The R@VN: Requiem for the Antivaxxers — a dark reimagining of Edgar Allan Poe’s The Raven, where a vaccine denier’s smart-home AI bears witness to his paralysis from polio. A gothic warning about sci...

www.infectiousdose.com

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Heather McSharry, PhD @pathogenscribe.bsky.social · 3d

🎧 “The R@VN” is live:
My latest #MonthOfTheMacabre episode reimagines Poe’s “The Raven” for the age of antivax disinformation.

An antivaxxer succumbs to a virus as his smart-home AI, the Rational Autonomous Virtual Nexus (R@VN), bears witness.
#VaccinesWork
www.infectiousdose.com/post/the-rav...

The R@VN: A Requiem for Antivaxxers

The R@VN: Requiem for the Antivaxxers — a dark reimagining of Edgar Allan Poe’s The Raven, where a vaccine denier’s smart-home AI bears witness to his paralysis from polio. A gothic warning about sci...

www.infectiousdose.com

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Reposted by Heather McSharry, PhD

John Pavlovitz @johnpavlovitz.bsky.social · 7d

ICE is the culmination of decades of straight white male indoctrination.

johnpavlovitz.substack.com/p/the-trump-...

The Trump Administration is Targeting Straight White Men

At first glance, it’s easy to focus on the Trump Administration’s attacks on historically marginalized minority communities: the incessant and increasingly violent war it is now raging on immigrants, ...

johnpavlovitz.substack.com

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Reposted by Heather McSharry, PhD

John Pavlovitz @johnpavlovitz.bsky.social · 7d

Good people need to start outing their ICE family members, neighbors, and community members.

They need to be made into pariahs in the places decent Americans gather.

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Reposted by Heather McSharry, PhD

Caitlin Rivers @cmyeaton.bsky.social · 7d

I can't get over how the CDC layoffs are coming less than two months after the attempted mass shooting. The agency is being taken apart brick by brick. The public servants there do not deserve this.

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Reposted by Heather McSharry, PhD

David Gorski, MD, PhD @gorskon.bsky.social · 7d

Sigh. Looks like I’m going to have to write an SBM post to educate people who these antivax cranks are, as I’ve been writing about Christopher Shaw and Christopher Exley for many years.

Jonathan Howard @joho.bsky.social · 8d

Jay Bhattacharya funding antivaxx cranks @gorskon.bsky.social taught me about 10 years ago.

www.etpnews.com/breaking-ken...

Breaking: Kennedy brings the “Aluminum Family” back as an “Aluminum Working Group”

NEW YORK - Secretary Kennedy brought back members of the “aluminum family” as an “aluminum working group“ which is being led by Lyn Redwood, according to a member of the group who spoke on the conditi...

www.etpnews.com

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Reposted by Heather McSharry, PhD

Christopher Webb @cwebbonline.com · 7d

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Heather McSharry, PhD @pathogenscribe.bsky.social · 7d

5️⃣ Shift the blame later.
When outbreaks spread, they’ll say, “See? The CDC failed.”
It’s self-fulfilling. They broke the system, then point to the wreckage as proof it never worked.
👉 This is about control — of information, perception, and power.
end

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Heather McSharry, PhD @pathogenscribe.bsky.social · 7d

4️⃣ Create space for privatization.
When public systems collapse, private companies step in. Testing, data tracking, even “health freedom” groups can profit from the chaos.
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Heather McSharry, PhD @pathogenscribe.bsky.social · 7d

3️⃣ Feed the ‘deep state’ narrative.
By gutting trusted institutions like the CDC, they can claim they’re “draining the swamp.” It’s political theater — and it sets the stage to rebuild those agencies with loyalists instead of scientists.

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Heather McSharry, PhD @pathogenscribe.bsky.social · 7d

2️⃣ Remove the watchdogs.
The 70+ Epidemic Intelligence Service officers are the “disease detectives” who investigate outbreaks and make findings public. Getting rid of them stops the people who could contradict political messaging.
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Heather McSharry, PhD @pathogenscribe.bsky.social · 7d

Why gut the CDC? A thread.
There’s strategy here:
1️⃣ Silence the data.
Firing the CDC’s Morbidity & Mortality Weekly Report team means no one’s left to publish national outbreak data. No data = no accountability. That lets leaders say whatever they want about “what’s really happening.”
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Heather McSharry, PhD @pathogenscribe.bsky.social · 7d

🚨 CALL TO ACTION!
CDC outbreak teams & the MMWR staff are gone.
States must step up.
📞 Call your governor:
“With CDC gutted, our state must strengthen outbreak tracking, protect vaccines & share real data.”
👉 Find your governor’s contact info: usa.gov/state-governor

usa.gov

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Heather McSharry, PhD @pathogenscribe.bsky.social · 7d

Weekend watchlist 🔮👆👆
for #MonthOfTheMacabre week three coming up!
The films above aren’t just horror — they’re warnings.
Watch with me if you like your chills poetic, your science real, and your denial fatal.

#SickFlicks #TheRaven #InfectiousDose

Heather McSharry, PhD @pathogenscribe.bsky.social · 7d

🎞️ Vertigo (1958) — obsession that spirals into madness.
👻 The Others (2001) — denial so deep it becomes the afterlife.
Each mirrors Poe’s truth: grief, fixation, and the horror of what we refuse to see.
#SickFlicks #MonthOfTheMacabre #InfectiousDose
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ElOU...

Vertigo

YouTube video by YouTube Movies

www.youtube.com

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Heather McSharry, PhD @pathogenscribe.bsky.social · 7d

🦠 The Fly (1986) — science denied becomes flesh undone.
Hubris, infection, transformation — a slow horror you can’t reason away.
Available here:
archive.org/details/the-...
#SickFlick #TheFly #MonthOfTheMacabre #InfectiousDose

The Fly : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

The Fly

archive.org

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Heather McSharry, PhD @pathogenscribe.bsky.social · 7d

🪶 Next week on #InfectiousDose:
A man mocks vaccines — until his smart home starts to whisper.
This week’s #SickFlick lineup: obsession, decay, and the long fall into madness 👇
#MonthOfTheMacabre #TheRaven

A dark gothic image of a raven perched on a glowing smart-home orb against a cracked black background. The text reads: “The Raven, reimagined for the age of science denial."

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Heather McSharry, PhD @pathogenscribe.bsky.social · 7d

Can't live on US trauma alone.
It's time for a #PathogenPoll!
If fear is infectious, what's its R₀?
(R₀ = how many one “infected” person infects.)
🧍‍♂️ One R₀ < 1
🧑‍🤝‍🧑 Whole village R₀ ≈ 3–5
🌍 Global R₀ ≈ 10+
🕯️ Infinite R₀ = ∞
🎧 infectiousdose.com/post/salem-1...
#MonthOfTheMacabre #InfectiousDose