Dr Christine Peters
@microlabdoc.bsky.social
2.3K followers 1.1K following 290 posts
Consultant Clinical Microbiologist Current interests: Bacteriophage therapy, AMR, hospital water and ventilation, Airborne pathogens, IAQ, Fresh Air in the NHS= ventilation + Culture change Lots of gardens and hills too
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microlabdoc.bsky.social
It’s clever because it gives you a sense of achievement to “change its mind” and a warm glow because it’s not that easy with humans. But to what effect ?
Reposted by Dr Christine Peters
mark-ungrin.bsky.social
There's probably some of that but the big driver seems to be a combination of ego, ignorance, and the authoritarian culture of replacing rigorous science with pseudoscientific "Evidence Based Medicine" heuristics. Arrogant plus hopelessly out of date is...bad.

COVID is the Dunning-Kruger pandemic.
mark-ungrin.bsky.social
Vol 3., Ch 8. To reiterate, this is basic knowledge from 2006. Every IPC and public health professional on the planet had free access.

Note IPC's made-up "3-foot rule", and the need for respirators (even with acceptance of the general ignorance of IPC professionals around airborne transmission).
Respiratory Protection: A Fundamental Worker Safety Issue The real problem during SARS was not the N95 respirator or fit testing but deep structural contradictions in worker safety in the health care system. This included both embedded resistance within the health care system to worker safety experts and to the Ministry of Labour and Ontario’s failure to recognize, as an aspect of health worker safety, the precautionary principle that reasonable action to reduce risk, such as the use of a fitted N95 respirator, need not await scientific certainty. There were two solitudes during SARS: infection control891 and worker safety. Infection control insisted that SARS was mostly spread by large droplets which do not travel far from an infectious person. Given that case, in their view, a surgical mask was sufficient to protect health workers in most situations. Worker safety experts said workers at risk should have the higher level of protection of an N95.They said not enough is known about how SARS is spread to rule out airborne transmission by much smaller particles, and besides, hospitals are dynamic places where unforeseen events and accidents can always happen. Infection control relied on its understanding of scientific research as it stood at the time. Worker safety experts relied on the precautionary principle that reasonable action to reduce risk should not await scientific certainty. One should be aware of the effects of droplet evaporation and the resultant diminution in size of ejected droplets. A 30 Ìm droplet dries to a 5 Ìm droplet within seconds under normal indoor air conditions. This means that a large droplet, as it evaporates, will not settle to the ground but become a free-floating entity.This has implications for the 3 foot rule, the basis for infection control precautionary measures, since it is commonly believed that large droplets ejected upon sneezing or coughing will follow Stoke’s Law and fall to ground within a 3 foot distance from the person’s face. It is evident that it is commonly believed that the 3 foot rule is a division between an unsafe and safe distance. There is no indication that the 3 foot rule takes into consideration the evaporation factor and the drift factor of airborne droplets, as discussed above. No scientific evidence is offered by WHO,DHHS-CDC,PCAH,or other medical authorities in explaining the rule. If large droplets quickly evaporate to free-floating small droplets, then the 3 foot rule applies only to droplets greater than about 50 – 100 Ìm in diameter for which there is insufficient time chance for evaporation to take effect before they fall to the ground from a height of 5–6 feet. Free floating small droplets readily go beyond the 3 foot radius. Therefore, if the majority of ejected droplets following a sneeze are evaporated to a size that is free-floating after only seconds in air, the 3 foot rule becomes illogical and not particularly helpful from a disease transmission perspective.
microlabdoc.bsky.social
You are the best - don’t let it put you off your stride. We are with you !
microlabdoc.bsky.social
When the word authentic is eroded by inauthentic over use, we are in a bad place.

Look to actions not words.

Be wise to the camouflage of policy speak and tickety box cultures
microlabdoc.bsky.social
Also leave the hypocrisy behind.

It has an odour that permeates despite the floral bonanza of policy speak.
microlabdoc.bsky.social
Top tip for encouraging speaking up - have the people fronting up your messaging be people who have not fronted up bullying and extremely bad speaking up practice in the past.

Staff ain’t dim.
microlabdoc.bsky.social
Top tip for encouraging speaking up - have the people fronting up your messaging be people who have not fronted up bullying and extremely bad speaking up practice in the past.

Staff ain’t dim.
microlabdoc.bsky.social
The true aim of infection control is never to get statistical significance. Success is invisible.

That’s why you need evidence base that is not just double blind randomised controlled trials.
microlabdoc.bsky.social
We may not want it, but denying something that exists is not a solution based approach.
Reposted by Dr Christine Peters
cathnoakes.bsky.social
Great to see this review on IEQ, health, wellbeing and performance in schools from UKHSA and Eurovent www.mdpi.com/2076-3298/12...
www.mdpi.com
microlabdoc.bsky.social
I have used every avenue available mentioned.

Reality is so far removed from the sweet words of encouragement uttered by the upper echelons that I think “Speaking up” should come with a formal “this could seriously damage your health” warning.
microlabdoc.bsky.social
I would urge NHS staff to be very very careful when they speak up.

Process exists but its safety and efficacy to deliver what it should is very much in the lacking evidence domain.
Indeed we are awash with evidence that it’s a dangerous enterprise for the speaker upper.

We need better.
microlabdoc.bsky.social
I would urge NHS staff to be very very careful when they speak up.

Process exists but its safety and efficacy to deliver what it should is very much in the lacking evidence domain.
Indeed we are awash with evidence that it’s a dangerous enterprise for the speaker upper.

We need better.
microlabdoc.bsky.social
But still the stigmatisation and mocking undermining of staff who are struggling to carry on continues.

Mental ill health has causes - and weakness is not one of them.
returningdoctor.bsky.social
Every 3 weeks, a doctor in the NHS takes their own life

Every week, a nurse in the NHS takes their own life

This should be in the headlines and a national scandal each time it happens

But it isn't

Look after your NHS friends and family

#Shruti

@doctorsindistress.bsky.social
Reposted by Dr Christine Peters
poppendieck.bsky.social
Nice to see @isiaq.bsky.social, ASHRAE, and American Lung Association among those organizations.
luckytran.com
Yesterday, history happened at the UN: For the first time hundreds of orgs signed a global pledge declaring that healthy indoor air is a human right.

Healthy indoor air is a key tool for preventing pandemics, building climate resilience, and increasing health equity. We need it everywhere!
People signing the Global Pledge for Healthy Indoor Air at the UN
microlabdoc.bsky.social
Bumper crop this year ! A lot of stewing …
microlabdoc.bsky.social
Comparing apples with apples from my tree.

It’s an undervalued skill set.

Oranges don’t enter into it.
microlabdoc.bsky.social
It is still a global problem. Along with many infection threats to health.

We need peace, intelligent informed dialogue, open culture of disagreement not being construed as hate, factual integrity and genuine fairness.

These foundations are being eroded at scale and pace. Only the bugs win.
catinthehat.bsky.social
[27 Jun 2025] @DrTedros at WHO media briefing:

“We cannot talk about COVID-19 in the past tense. Although the crisis has passed, the virus remains.

It continues to evolve, it continues to kill, and millions of people continue to live with post COVID-19 condition or long COVID.”
microlabdoc.bsky.social
The UK National Action Plan for AMR highlights lPC in health care as a crucial strategy for tackling the threat of AMR.

This specifically includes the health care built environment.

Neglecting IPC will endanger AMR control.
Reposted by Dr Christine Peters
shaunlintern.bsky.social
One of the best things in the Hillsborough Law Bill is not the duty of candour on public officials, as welcome as that is, but news that bereaved families will have publicly funded legal representation at inquests. Finally an equality of arms that's been lacking for so long
microlabdoc.bsky.social
When you accept bad things as normal and irreducible, you fail to achieve brilliance.
celesteheadlee.bsky.social
The capital of Finland hasn't had a traffic death in a full year. Lower speed limits, plentiful speed cameras, 1,500+ km of bike lanes, infrastructure for pedestrians, and a new tram line.
When you prioritize people and not vehicles, you can save lives while protecting the environment.
Helsinki records zero traffic deaths for full year
Helsinki has completed 12 months without a single traffic fatality, a milestone credited to lower speed limits, safer infrastructure, and years of consistent planning, officials say.
www.helsinkitimes.fi
microlabdoc.bsky.social
I wonder how many polyclonal infections of many bacteria we miss ?

Single colony typing and purity plating narrows down our understanding of what’s going on in patients.
biorxiv-microbiol.bsky.social
Co-isolation of genetically distinct Burkholderia pseudomallei strains from a single patient in North Queensland https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.09.09.675021v1
Reposted by Dr Christine Peters
rspbscotland.bsky.social
📢Help save Coul Links!

Once again, this beautiful place is threatened by plans for a golf course which would do irreparable damage to rare habitats and wildlife. 🌱🦆🐦🦋🪰

Join us in sending a message to Scottish Ministers to stand up for nature. Add your voice: action.rspb.org.uk/page/166270/...
Aerial photo of Coul Links showing the sea, dunes, grass and pools behind the dunes in orange sunlight
Reposted by Dr Christine Peters
trishgreenhalgh.bsky.social
www.science.org/doi/full/10....

Mandating Indoor Air Quality in Public Buildings.

Our paper in Science.

🧪 #healthpolicy
www.science.org
Reposted by Dr Christine Peters
agawande.bsky.social
9 CDC Directors going back to 1977 speak out. What RFK Jr has done to our nation’s public health system "should alarm every American."

It "is unlike anything we have ever seen at the agency, and unlike anything our country has ever experienced." www.nytimes.com/2025/09/01/o...
Opinion | We Ran the C.D.C.: Kennedy Is Endangering Every American’s Health
www.nytimes.com