Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Charlene Rodrigues

Steven Pergam, MD, MPH @pergamic.bsky.social · 8d

Don’t become numb to these events

Mississippi Free Press @mississippifreepress.org · 8d

A baby in Mississippi has died of whooping cough for the first time since 2012.

The infant was less than two months old and was not old enough to receive the pertussis vaccine.

buff.ly/8epl2QS

Mississippi Baby Dies of Whooping Cough Amid Rising Cases

A baby in Mississippi has died of whooping cough for the first time since 2012. The baby was less than two months old—too young for vaccination.

www.mississippifreepress.org

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Reposted by Charlene Rodrigues

Eva Heinz @evaheinz7.bsky.social · 12d

Come for the Klebs resistance data, stay for the DataViz! Massive congratulations to @karatsang.bsky.social on juggling such a huge meta-analysis; Ciprofloxacin resistance in Klebsiella pneumoniae: phenotype, genotype, global resistance patterns #MicroSky 💻🧬 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Ciprofloxacin resistance in Klebsiella pneumoniae: phenotype prediction from genotype and global distribution of resistance determinants

BACKGROUND Ciprofloxacin resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae is common or emerging in many geographies, and knowledge of local resistance rates is important for empirical therapy. Whilst there are known K...

www.biorxiv.org

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Reposted by Charlene Rodrigues

Amy Maxmen, PhD @amymaxmen.bsky.social · 20d

MMR vaccines do not cause autism (see my 🧵 of studies)

At the same time, one potential cause of autism is rubella, which is *prevented* by MMR vaccines.

Which means...vaccines may actually help prevent autism.

🧵

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21592401/

Congenital rubella syndrome and autism spectrum disorder prevented by rubella vaccination--United States, 2001-2010 - PubMed

We estimate that rubella vaccination prevented substantial numbers of CRS and ASD cases in the United States from 2001 through 2010. These findings provide additional incentive to maintain high measle...

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

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Reposted by Charlene Rodrigues

Liz Szabo @lizszabo.bsky.social · 20d

The CDC presents the benefits/risks of administering the hepatitis B vaccine and the risk/dangers of revoking the recommendation. Serious side effects like life-threatening allergic reactions occur only one in 1 million doses.
#ACIP

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Reposted by Charlene Rodrigues

Jake Scott, MD @jakescottmd.bsky.social · 21d

I just saw a patient with liver cancer from hepatitis B that was acquired at birth. Vaccination would’ve prevented it.

There’s been a 99% reduction in annual childhood hep B infections since 1991 thanks to universal birth dose vaccination. We can’t afford to roll back that progress.

BK. Titanji @boghuma.bsky.social · 21d

We have 2 vaccines that prevent cancer, the HBV vaccine that prevents hepatitis B related liver cancer and the HPV vaccine that prevents cervical cancer and other HPV associated cancers.
On Thursday, RFK.JR's ACIP will attack one of these vaccines (HBV) and restrict access to it.
Let that sink in!

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Reposted by Charlene Rodrigues

Marit Hetland @genomarit.bsky.social · 22d

Thrilled to share this preprint on Klebsiella pneumoniae plasmids in a One Health setting 🦠 Fantastic work by @twinkler.bsky.social! 🎉 @irenlohr.bsky.social @margaretlam.bsky.social

bioRxiv Microbiology @biorxiv-microbiol.bsky.social · 23d

A One Health study of Klebsiella pneumoniae species complex plasmids shows a highly diverse and ecologically adaptable plasmidome https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.09.14.676155v1

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Reposted by Charlene Rodrigues

Amesh Adalja @ameshaa.bsky.social · 29d

“Non-imported cases of Chagas disease have been identified in at least eight U.S. states so far: California, Arizona, Texas, Tennessee, Louisiana, Missouri, Mississippi and Arkansas.” www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/...

‘Kissing bug’ disease is now endemic in the U.S., CDC says. What is it?

The U.S. is seeing a rise in Chagas disease, a life-threatening illness transmitted through “kissing bugs” known to bite human faces. Pets can be carriers.

www.washingtonpost.com

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Reposted by Charlene Rodrigues

Liz Szabo @lizszabo.bsky.social · 29d

Vaccinating babies at birth has reduced hepatitis B infections by 99 percent. Is RFK’s new CDC committee about to stop recommending it?
share.google/9e3BTpcrGKSY...

Newborn hepatitis B vaccine under fire as RFK Jr. and GOP Senators question immunization

The CDC's vaccine advisory panel is set to discuss and possibly vote on the vaccine at a meeting next week.

share.google

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Reposted by Charlene Rodrigues

BK. Titanji @boghuma.bsky.social · Aug 28

Do NOT allow them to rewrite history with disinformation. #COVID vaccines worked remarkably well and allowed us to come out of a global pandemic. A picture is worth a thousand words.

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Angie Rasmussen @angierasmussen.bsky.social · 29d

Really incredible effort by the indefatigable @nurseteria.bsky.social to raise awareness of what we are going to bring back by stripping access to vaccination 👇🏻

Rachel Maddow @maddow.msnbc.com · Sep 8

"The group brings together hundreds of grandparents nationwide who lived through diseases such as polio, tuberculosis and measles — illnesses once thought eliminated in the United States..."

www.kgw.com/article/news...

Grandparents for Vaccines launches to share stories of life before immunizations

New volunteer group aims to educate parents about vaccine importance by sharing personal experiences with preventable diseases.

www.kgw.com

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Reposted by Charlene Rodrigues

🎃nisillos @onisillos.bsky.social · Sep 5

“The decision to close the Fleming Fund was not accompanied by an official statement or press release.”

www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...

UK Government dismantles the Fleming Fund

On July 15, 2025, the UK Government confirmed that it planned to dismantle the country’s flagship international programme for tackling antimicrobial resistance (AMR). The Fleming Fund is overseen by t...

www.thelancet.com

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Reposted by Charlene Rodrigues

Ian Weissman, DO @drianweissman.bsky.social · Sep 1

The rabies virus invades the central nervous system and is almost always fatal once symptoms start. Early symptoms, which can begin about a week or up to a year after exposure, may resemble the flu with symptoms progressing quickly followed by death within weeks.
www.nbcnews.com/health/healt...

'They would never have known:' New warnings about rabies outbreaks as cases rise in the U.S.

The CDC's rabies team says it's tracking 15 different likely outbreaks from New York to Oregon.

www.nbcnews.com

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Reposted by Charlene Rodrigues

Arghavan Salles, MD, PhD @arghavansallesmd.medsky.social · Sep 1

If you’ve ever compared unvaccinated kids to vaccinated kids, you’ve seen the former are more likely to die.

Figures showing deaths from smallpox and polio and cases of measles before and after vaccines were introduced for each respective disease. All three figures show declining rates after vaccine introduction

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Reposted by Charlene Rodrigues

Victor de Lorenzo (CNB, Madrid) @vdlorenzo.bsky.social · Aug 12

Spain is on fire. Italy, Greece, Portugal — all burning. We have had summer fires before, but never like this. This is climate breakdown in real time. It is killing people, animals, and our future. DAMN the climate deniers. DAMN those who know and could do but do NOTHING www.bbc.com/news/article...

Wildfires rage across southern Europe as temperatures pass 40C

The heatwave has led to red alerts being issued in parts of Italy, France, Spain, Portugal and the Balkans.

www.bbc.com

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Reposted by Charlene Rodrigues

🎃nisillos @onisillos.bsky.social · Jul 16

"It’s easy to assume microbiology matters only for infectious disease specialists, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Every field of medicine — from surgery to oncology to cardiology — relies on microbiological knowledge."

🎯

www.statnews.com/2025/07/16/m...

Medical school prerequisites should include microbiology

Medical schools must make microbiology a prerequisite — to prepare students not just for school but for practicing medicine.

www.statnews.com

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Reposted by Charlene Rodrigues

Infectious Diseases @infectiousdz.bsky.social · Feb 26

Almost 4,000 babies were born with syphilis in the U.S. in 2023—a 740% rise in the last decade.

What prevents congenital syphilis? Prenatal care + penicillin.

Who pays for those most at risk? Medicaid.

www.cdc.gov/media/releas...
www.nga.org/publications...
publications.aap.org/aapnews/news...

CDC Newsroom

Press releases, advisories, telebriefings, transcripts and archives.

www.cdc.gov

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Reposted by Charlene Rodrigues

Kat Holt @katholt.bsky.social · Jul 1

I'm super happy to share this preprint on ‘Distribution of capsule and O types in #Klebsiella pneumoniae causing neonatal sepsis in Africa and South Asia: meta-analysis of genome-predicted serotype prevalence and potential vaccine coverage’
doi.org/10.1101/2025...

Distribution of capsule and O types in Klebsiella pneumoniae causing neonatal sepsis in Africa and South Asia: meta-analysis of genome-predicted serotype prevalence and potential vaccine coverage

Background: Klebsiella pneumoniae causes ~20% of sepsis in neonates, with ~40% crude mortality. A vaccine administered to pregnant women, protecting against 70% of K. pneumoniae infections, could aver...

doi.org

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Reposted by Charlene Rodrigues

Institute of Microbiology and Infection @imibirmingham.bsky.social · May 23

An exciting new Doctoral Training Programme in Microbial Genomics for Health Protection, in collaboration with the UK Health Security Agency @ukhsa.bsky.social, has just launched, funded by @nihr.bsky.social there are 9 PhD projects available (UK students only) www.birmingham.ac.uk/research/cen...

PhD Microbial Genomics for Health Protection, Biosciences - University of Birmingham

PhD in Microbial Genomics, exciting new Doctoral Training Programme in Microbial Genomics for Health Protection in collaboration with the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) launches

www.birmingham.ac.uk

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Reposted by Charlene Rodrigues

Jessica Blair @jessicamablair.bsky.social · May 23

**NEW Doctoral Training Programme just launched!!** This exciting programme on Microbial Genomics for Health Protection is joint between @imibirmingham.bsky.social and UKHSA @ukhsa.bsky.social. 9 brilliant projects available!!

Institute of Microbiology and Infection @imibirmingham.bsky.social · May 23

An exciting new Doctoral Training Programme in Microbial Genomics for Health Protection, in collaboration with the UK Health Security Agency @ukhsa.bsky.social, has just launched, funded by @nihr.bsky.social there are 9 PhD projects available (UK students only) www.birmingham.ac.uk/research/cen...

PhD Microbial Genomics for Health Protection, Biosciences - University of Birmingham

PhD in Microbial Genomics, exciting new Doctoral Training Programme in Microbial Genomics for Health Protection in collaboration with the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) launches

www.birmingham.ac.uk

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Reposted by Charlene Rodrigues

KlebNET-GSP @klebnet.bsky.social · May 21

We are pleased to launch the KlebNET Genomic Epidemiology Consortium!

We aim to build a public metadata repository; systematic risk framework for global genomic surveillance; and genomic epi reviews for high-impact #Klebsiella clones.

Join us here:
klebnet.org/klebnet-gsp-...

#ABPHM25

KlebNET-GSP

klebnet.org

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Charlene Rodrigues @cmcrodrigues.bsky.social · May 23

Excited to share 9 fully funded PhD projects with NIHR HPRU Public Health genomics at UKHSA and University of Birmingham. Deadline 31 July www.birmingham.ac.uk/research/cen...
Ranging from methods development, microbiome, metagenomics and species specific (TB, Strep pneumo, measles) projects

PhD Microbial Genomics for Health Protection, Biosciences - University of Birmingham

PhD in Microbial Genomics, exciting new Doctoral Training Programme in Microbial Genomics for Health Protection in collaboration with the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) launches

www.birmingham.ac.uk

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Reposted by Charlene Rodrigues

Marit Hetland @genomarit.bsky.social · May 22

Happy to share this resource of 568 closed Klebsiella pneumoniae species complex hybrid assemblies, including 1416 plasmids! ⭕️🦠

We hope this will be useful
- short reads, long reads, hybrid assembly or all combined - for your own tools/validations 🥳 #Microsky

journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...

Complete genomes of 568 diverse Klebsiella pneumoniae species complex isolates from humans, animals, and marine sources in Norway from 2001 to 2020 | Microbiology Resource Announcements

Klebsiella pneumoniae species complex are opportunistic pathogens that can transmit between humans, animals, and the environment (1). Here, we report hybrid genome assemblies of 578 (568 complete) gen...

journals.asm.org

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Reposted by Charlene Rodrigues

Conor (Conchúr) Meehan @conmeehan.bsky.social · May 22

Myself and @yekwah.bsky.social are running our bacterial AMR databases and genotype prediction course again with @eventswcs.bsky.social. Completely free and study at your own pace.
Check out the course objectives below and sign up before June 9th to join us!
www.futurelearn.com/courses/anti...

Antimicrobial Databases and Genotype Prediction - Online Course - FutureLearn

Transform your understanding of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and elevate your research or clinical practice with Wellcome Connecting Science.

www.futurelearn.com

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Reposted by Charlene Rodrigues

Kat Holt @katholt.bsky.social · May 22

Excited to share the first beta release of AMRrules at #ABPHM! (Poster 42 tonight)
interpretamr.github.io/AMRrules

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Reposted by Charlene Rodrigues

ARTIC Network @articnetwork.bsky.social · Mar 31

edzz.fa.em3.oraclecloud.com/hcmUI/Candid...

Research Fellow - Department of Microbes, Infection and Microbiomes - 105518 - Grade 7

You will primarily be working in Theme 2: Applying Novel Omics Methods to Public Health Microbiology, which aims to demonstrate potential utility of new sequencing technologies such as single cell gen...

edzz.fa.em3.oraclecloud.com

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