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Immune SciComm

@immunescicomm.bsky.social
247 followers 290 following 140 posts

Sci Comm about infection and Immunity

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Immune SciComm @immunescicomm.bsky.social · 09/12/2025
Martin Steiger? @martinsteiger.ch I just ask you to show what is incorrect. Your response is very telling. There is nothing wrong, nothing you could find. You just do not want know the facts. That is why you block as a coward, and run away. @hwiesenmueller.bsky.social, @hanefeldmarc.bsky.social,
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Immune SciComm @immunescicomm.bsky.social · 04/11/2025
This is a publication that I have seen being explained online very badly. To be honest, the authors are not helping with their writing. Distinct characteristics of T cell receptor repertoire associated with the SARS-CoV-2 reinfection www.frontiersin.org/journals/imm...
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Immune SciComm @immunescicomm.bsky.social · 04/11/2025
This is a publication that I have seen being explained online very badly. To be honest, the authors are not helping with their writing. Distinct characteristics of T cell receptor repertoire associated with the SARS-CoV-2 reinfection www.frontiersin.org/journals/imm...
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Immune SciComm @immunescicomm.bsky.social · 28/10/2025
Did you read the paper? Do you know that T cells get activated upon an infection, but only those specific for the infection? That these rapidly proliferate? That is what you see in the PI group. Isn´t that how it should be?
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Immune SciComm @immunescicomm.bsky.social · 30/10/2025
The amount of bad actors on X was large. But after browsing around this platform for the past few days again, I have to admit, it is not much better here. There are many personal attacks on scientists, journalists and other personalities. I wonder why that is.
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Health Nerd @gidmk.bsky.social · 28/10/2025
The relentless levels of extreme abuse towards anyone who does not profess a specific set of beliefs about the prevalence, causes, and dangers of Long COVID drove many scientists away from the research field long before the funding dried up (and probably contributed to it tbh).
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Immune SciComm @immunescicomm.bsky.social · 28/10/2025
How is the situation on our Island, the UK? A large rapport was released earlier this year, the chief-medical-officer report. It has many details on disease, mortality, cancer, etc. t.co/exox2mGhba
t.co
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/health-trends-and-variation-in-england-2025-a-chief-medical-officer-report
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Immune SciComm @immunescicomm.bsky.social · 28/10/2025
I just looked for my own country: no excess at all. Here is also the link to the official government webpage. app.powerbi.com/view?r=eyJrI...
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Immune SciComm @immunescicomm.bsky.social · 24/10/2025
I am concerned, now I am back online, how the spreading of works that are not scientifically sound, or which are incorrectly interpreted, is continuing and even accelerating. This paper is a prime example. The authors are not experts in this field and the claims made are not supported.
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Immune SciComm @immunescicomm.bsky.social · 23/10/2025
This is a long accurate Substack. A new “review” connects COVID with “airborne AIDS.” That’s false. SARS-CoV-2 doesn’t cause immune deficiency. Temporary immune shifts during infection are normal and recover. This is science distortion, not discovery. marcveldhoen.substack.com/p/the-abuse-...
marcveldhoen.substack.com
The abuse of science: the anti-science movement using cherry-picking to pretend SARS-CoV-2 has similar effects to HIV
How the "World Health Network" and all associated have lost even the last bit of credibility
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Health Nerd @gidmk.bsky.social · 23/10/2025
When I saw that someone had published an absurd paper claiming that COVID-19 and HIV were comparable, I was going to do a deep dive. But it turns out @marcveld.bsky.social already did it: marcveldhoen.substack.com/p/the-abuse-...
marcveldhoen.substack.com
The abuse of science: the anti-science movement using cherry-picking to pretend SARS-CoV-2 has similar effects to HIV
How the "World Health Network" and all associated have lost even the last bit of credibility
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James Ball @jamesrball.com · 17/09/2025
Royal Society president Sir Adrian Smith: “I am sure that many of you will share my concern at the events of the last week and the growing tendency to resort to the language of violence…including, unfortunately, an address to the recent London rally from a Fellow of the Royal Society.”
thenewworld.co.uk
Royal Society to debate throwing out Elon Musk
One of the most prestigious scientific bodies in the world is considering expelling Musk after his appearance at Tommy Robinson’s extremist London rally
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Dr. Lucky Tran @luckytran.com · 28/08/2025
CDC scientists receive a heroes welcome after walking out today.
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Paul Hünermund @p-hunermund.com · 04/08/2025
Academia is basically a collection of people who got lucky early on and mistook it for genius. doi.org/10.1073/pnas...
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Edward Nirenberg @enirenberg.bsky.social · 30/06/2025
Moderna's flu vaccine (mRNA-1010) phase 3 data suggest it works better than the current standard dose inactivated vaccines in adults aged 50 and older. Still only a press release for now but it's encouraging to see. investors.modernatx.com/news/news-de...
investors.modernatx.com
Moderna Announces Positive Phase 3 Results for Seasonal Influenza Vaccine
mRNA-1010 demonstrated superior relative vaccine efficacy that was 26.6% (95% CI; 16.7%, 35.4%) higher than a licensed standard-dose seasonal influenza vaccine in adults aged 50 years and older CAMBRI...
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Health Nerd @gidmk.bsky.social · 26/05/2025
"People have lost trust in vaccines because you pushed them too hard!" ~ guy who has spent 5 years spreading fear and mistrust about vaccines.
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Edward Nirenberg @enirenberg.bsky.social · 02/05/2025
random pet peeve: conflating vaccine-enhanced disease (VAED) with antibody dependent enhancement (ADE) examples with clear clinical relevance (not just in vitro): VAED: - formalin-inactivated RSV vaccines - formalin-inactivated measles vaccines ADE: - dengue
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Ryan Marino, MD @ryanmarino.bsky.social · 02/05/2025
‘Kennedy told reporters that there were "many, many good ways to treat measles and doctors need to know that and to know those methods.’ One problem; there is no treatment for measles. Signed, a doctor who’s been forced to deal with measles because of this stupid fraud.
cbsnews.com
RFK Jr. asks CDC for new measles treatment guidance amid his unfounded claims
Kennedy claimed that drugs like budesonide and clarithromycin "have been shown very effective" for measles, but doctors say they don't fight the infection itself.
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Edward Nirenberg @enirenberg.bsky.social · 29/04/2025
I warned people that this would be the case. Makary isn't going to restrain RFK Jr's insanity- if anything, he will do all he can to reify it. www.statnews.com/2025/04/29/f...
In interviews after he was picked to run the FDA, colleagues described Makary as a committed scientist, and someone willing to defend against ideological pressure. Industry was broadly supportive. They thought Makary would protect the agency from Kennedy’s more controversial views. Instead, Makary and Kennedy’s vaccine agendas seem to be one and the same. 

Makary has echoed Kennedy’s mixed messaging on the Texas measles outbreak, saying he supports the MMR vaccine while at the same time downplaying the risk of the disease. He defended Kennedy’s decision to oust top vaccine regulator Peter Marks. He railed against “absolutism” in the vaccine schedule. And he hired a special assistant who shares his desire to more deeply scrutinize vaccines, sending her to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advisory meeting in place of a career vaccine scientist. 

“If there was a belief that FDA would be insulated from this larger climate of skepticism toward vaccines that the new administration and the secretary brings, those hopes were probably misplaced,” said Jason Schwartz, an associate professor of health policy at the Yale School of Public Health.

The FDA hasn’t pulled vaccines it had previously found to be safe and effective. Still, the changes under Makary’s watch represent a shift: The agency’s overarching message on vaccines is not that they are a lifesaving tool, but that they are therapies in need of more scrutiny. It’s a message that aligns with Makary’s persona as a public health contrarian, and his disdain for monolithic discourse in science. 

But there’s a question of whether the approach is responsible as fewer people opt to get their children vaccinated against deadly diseases. It’s difficult to combat vaccine hesitancy when the FDA commissioner and HHS secretary are hesitant to endorse vaccines themselves. Congress has not yet confirmed Trump’s picks for CDC director and U.S. surgeon general, key posts that have in the past served as boosters for vaccinations and other public health measures.

“The concerning thing is this sort of chilling effect, when it feels like all the leadership is very unenthusiastic and raising all kinds of concerns,” said Jesse Goodman, former top vaccine regulator at FDA. “Doubt is being sowed that then makes people less likely to hear the advice of even their physicians.”

An HHS spokesperson told STAT that Kennedy is not anti-vaccine, and that he supports safety, transparency, and accountability. “He believes Americans deserve radical transparency so they can make informed healthcare decisions,” the spokesperson said. “This leadership continues within the FDA.”A shift in messaging on vaccines 
It was a simple question from CNN’s Dana Bash. Should parents vaccinate their kids, as measles cases in the U.S. steadily rise, she asked Makary.

“I believe vaccines save lives, and any child who dies from a vaccine-preventable disease is a tragedy,” Makary replied. Bash asked him the yes-or-no question a second time. “I believe in the MMR shot,” was Makary’s final answer. 

Makary is following the lead of Kennedy, who has said the most effective way to prevent measles is vaccination but has repeatedly muddled that message, downplaying the threat of the disease and promoting unproven treatments. 

In an interview with Megyn Kelly, Makary did encourage parents to vaccinate their children against measles. But he also minimized measles’ risks, saying it has a low mortality rate and a tendency to afflict people with underlying conditions. The two children who died from measles were described by Texas officials as “previously healthy.” 

“I’m not suggesting that people can skip [the vaccine] if they’re healthy, but we have to be honest with the data to people,” Makary said. “That’s how we rebuild public trust.”

He attributed the public’s lack of trust in vaccines to “misinformation and absolutism” during the Covid-19 pandemic. Makary’s political profile grew during the pandemic when he criticized vaccine mandates and boosters.
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Marc Veldhoen @marcveld.bsky.social · 29/04/2025
Inflammation has characteristic stages and symptoms we are all familiar with. Yet, they can still be taken out of context and presented as specific or dangerous in a particular situation. Warmth, swelling, redness and even pain are due to on particular process: vasodilation. 1/7
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Norma @looftsabine.bsky.social · 05/04/2025
There's a very informative thread by Marc Veldhoen. Yes, that's exactly it, and I urge you to read it. Why? Well, you won't find better information. bsky.app/profile/marcveld.bsky.soci…
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LymeScience @lymescience.org · 20/02/2025
One of the authors of a dubious study is the subject of an anti-vax book and has two lawsuits pending. David Putrino and Amy Proal are long-time pseudoscientists and conspiracy theorists. Totally undisclosed COIs. 🚩🚩🚩
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Ian M. Mackay, PhD (he/him) 🦠🤧🧬📑🦟🧀 @mackayim.bsky.social · 24/02/2025
@virusesimmunity.bsky.social Sadly, this is how your recent paper is being interpreted and amplified. Unfortunately, it is left very open to this interpretation.
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Immune SciComm @immunescicomm.bsky.social · 20/02/2025
Immunological and Antigenic Signatures Associated with Chronic Illnesses after COVID-19 Vaccination A small preprint with a small subject group, no substantial differences found, yet it gets a press release and NYT coverage. This is not how science should work. www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1...
medrxiv.org
Immunological and Antigenic Signatures Associated with Chronic Illnesses after COVID-19 Vaccination
COVID-19 vaccines have prevented millions of COVID-19 deaths. Yet, a small fraction of the population reports a chronic debilitating condition after COVID-19 vaccination, often referred to as post-vac...
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Immune SciComm @immunescicomm.bsky.social · 13/02/2025
I have been reading a significant number of accounts on here. It is noticeable that some accounts are from people who have been hurt in their past or are ill and try to take this out on people, especially scientists. They place attacks and bad-mouth established and knowledgeable people.
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Eric Topol @erictopol.bsky.social · 12/02/2025
A tour de force review of the connections between between the nervous and immune systems www.nature.com/articles/s41...
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European Research Council (ERC) @erc.europa.eu · 07/02/2025
Hello, Bluesky! ☀️ We fund frontier research in Europe—bold ideas, unexpected discoveries and science that shapes the future. So it’s only fitting we’ve landed here. Sorry for being late. Follow us for updates on ERC funding, research policy, and our grantees' discoveries.
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Marc Veldhoen @marcveld.bsky.social · 10/02/2025
Be mindful of the account @pierretalbot.bsky.social It uses the identity, including a profile picture and bio, of a virologist who passed away in 2022 www.csv-scv.ca/en/tributes
.
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Adrian Liston @labliston.bsky.social · 01/02/2025
"Becoming a #Scientist: The Graphic Novel" goes through the stories of my amazing lab members. Every one has a unique pathway, overcoming personal challenges. They are an inspirational #team! www.thegreatbritishbookshop.co.uk/products/bec...
thegreatbritishbookshop.co.uk
Becoming a Scientist
"Science changes the world every day. Curing diseases, designing super-computers, building green technology, creating wearable nanotechnology... You may know what science can do, but what do you know ...
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WHO @who.int · 28/01/2025
We see you. WHO is grateful for the love 💙 and messages of support we received. We stand by you. #HealthForAll
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Chise @sailorrooscout.bsky.social · 20/01/2025
The study has been published in Science. YES, it is PEER-REVIEWED. • www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... The study was supported by funding from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases of the National Institute of Health.
SUMMARY
Elicitation of HIV broadly neutralizing antibodies (bAbs) by vaccination first requires the activation of diverse precursors, followed by successive boosts that guide these responses to enhanced breadth through the acquisition of somatic mutations. Because HIV bAbs contain mutations in their B-cell receptors (BCRs) that are rarely generated during conventional B-cell maturation, HIV vaccine immunogens must robustly engage and expand B-cells with BCRs that contain these improbable mutations. Here, scientists engineered an immunogen that activates diverse precursors of an HIV V3-glycan bnAb and promotes their acquisition of a functionally critical improbable mutation.

This immunogen was validated biochemically, structurally, and in three different humanized immunoglobulin mouse models that were designed to test HIV immunogens. These results provide a blueprint for rationally designing priming immunogens that explicitly target the elicitation of antibodies with functional yet improbable mutations.
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Immune SciComm @immunescicomm.bsky.social · 19/01/2025
Interesting, but letting senescent cells bypass their proliferation block, likely imposed due to 'issues' such as damage, seems risky. Senescence exists to prevent damaged cells from dividing. Overriding this could lead to unintended consequences, such as promoting cancer or tissue dysfunction.
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Marc Veldhoen @marcveld.bsky.social · 19/01/2025
How to trick the immune system into attacking tumours Lab-grown viruses make cancer cells resemble pig tissue, provoking an organ-rejection response. #MedSky #ImmuneSky www.nature.com/artic... 1/9
nature.com
How to trick the immune system into attacking tumours
Nature - Lab-grown viruses make cancer cells resemble pig tissue, provoking an organ-rejection response.
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Edward Nirenberg @enirenberg.bsky.social · 16/01/2025
A pair of really interesting studies highlighting a new strategy for vaccine design: PROTAR vaccines. www.nature.com/articles/s41... www.nature.com/articles/s41... In this method, vaccine viruses are technically replication competent, but have their proteins with sequences...
nature.com
Proteolysis-targeting influenza vaccine strains induce broad-spectrum immunity and in vivo protection - Nature Microbiology
Diverse cellular E3 ubiquitin ligase–degron pairs are used to generate live attenuated influenza vaccines. Attenuation and humoral, mucosal and cellular immune responses were characterized in mouse an...
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Edward Nirenberg @enirenberg.bsky.social · 16/01/2025
Also another really important new paper about infection with H5N1 clade 2.3.4.4b genotype B3.13 from cows in macaques: www.nature.com/articles/s41... While not a perfect fit, the physiology of macaques and humans are similar so this helps to understand what the probable effects are 🧵
nature.com
Pathogenesis of bovine H5N1 clade 2.3.4.4b infection in Macaques - Nature
Nature - Pathogenesis of bovine H5N1 clade 2.3.4.4b infection in Macaques
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Prof. Michael Fuhrer @michaelsfuhrer.bsky.social · 13/01/2025
Hats off to @mikehoney.bsky.social for continuing to publish his 6 month infections estimate. He corrected it downwards by over a factor of 3 after I showed he'd made an error. Highlights how infrequent covid infections have become: 3.2M/6 mo = 1 infection per person every 4.2 years 1/
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Adrian Liston @labliston.bsky.social · 14/01/2025
Our paper on nurturing a #PositiveResearchCulture within your #research #team published by @wellcometrust.bsky.social gives useful tips for your lab. As well as making you a good team leader, nurturing culture pays off in building your science: 1/11 wellcomeopenresearch.org/articles/9-3...
wellcomeopenresearch.org
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Infectious Disease Tracker @hmpxvt.bsky.social · 14/01/2025
China reports two human new cases of H9N2 bird flu and one new case of H10N3 bird flu, according to the Hong Kong Centre for Health Protection. This is the 4th human H10N3 bird flu case ever reported.
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Helen Branswell 🇨🇦 @helenbranswell.bsky.social · 08/01/2025
California Dept of Food & Ag reports that 100 herds in CA have been released from quarantine, having cleared #H5N1 #birdflu infections. Had to go 60 days, have clinical signs gone, then have 3 negative tests 7 days apart. 603 herds still in quarantine. www.cdfa.ca.gov/AHFSS/Animal...
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Eric Topol @erictopol.bsky.social · 04/01/2025
The scientist who is responsible for driving GLP-1 drugs for the treatment of obesity and testing them for prevention of Alzheimer's disease—Lotte Bjerre Knudsen— tells her story in a remarkable conversation. Full transcript, or video, all free, no ads. erictopol.substack.com/p/lotte-bjer...
erictopol.substack.com
Lotte Bjerre Knudsen: The Scientist Who Drove GLP-1 Drugs For Obesity and Alzheimer's
Facts, data, and analytics about biomedical matters.
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Prof Gavin Yamey MD MPH @gavinyamey.bsky.social · 04/01/2025
The Dems who are allegedly open to confirming RFK Jr—a man who pushes grotesque, dangerous lies about HPV & Covid vaccines, & who says he’ll support Trump’s anti-abortion agenda—should be deeply ashamed of themselves
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Ivan Zanoni @lozanzi.bsky.social · 03/01/2025
#FriendsOrFoes?! Lee, Naora &co show @cp-cancercell.bsky.social that neutrophils produce NETs in peritoneal fat during ovarian cancer favoring metastasis formation. NETs displace CD22 from SHP1 in innate-like B cells driving IL10 production, Treg differentiation, & metastasis formation!
dlvr.it
Neutrophil extracellular traps promote pre-metastatic niche formation in the omentum by expanding innate-like B cells that express IL-10
Lee et al. show that neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) establish the pre-metastatic niche in the omentum by recruiting innate-like B cells and eliciting IL-10 production in these cells through inactivating SHP-1 and generating reactive oxygen species, thereby expanding Tregs. These findings underscore the potential of inhibiting NETs for metastasis prevention.
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Waggoner Lab @labwaggoner.bsky.social · 02/01/2025
MHC-related protein 1–restricted recognition of cancer via a semi-invariant TCR-α chain @jclinical-invest.bsky.social www.jci.org/articles/vie...
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Thelonevirologist @thelonevirologist.bsky.social · 03/01/2025
Blood DNA virome associates with autoimmune diseases and COVID-19 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
Blood DNA virome associates with autoimmune diseases and COVID-19 - Nature Genetics
Analysis of the blood DNA virome in patients with COVID-19 and autoimmune disease associates endogenous HHV-6 (eHHV-6) and high anellovirus load with increased disease risk, most notably for systemic ...
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Thelonevirologist @thelonevirologist.bsky.social · 02/01/2025
Vaccination with different group 2 influenza subtypes alters epitope targeting and breadth of hemagglutinin stem–specific human B cells www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
science.org
Vaccination with different group 2 influenza subtypes alters epitope targeting and breadth of hemagglutinin stem–specific human B cells
Vaccination with different group 2 influenza subtypes alters the balance of the human B cell response toward two supersites on the influenza stem.
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Waggoner Lab @labwaggoner.bsky.social · 02/01/2025
System vaccinology analysis of predictors and mechanisms of antibody response durability to multiple vaccines in humans #Pulendran Hagan @cincyresearch.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/s41... www.nature.com/articles/s41... commentary by @petterbrodin.bsky.social
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Eric Topol @erictopol.bsky.social · 03/01/2025
There is an increased risk of autoimmune diseases after Covid, and 2 constituents of the virome (anellovirus and HHV-6) may help to explain this link nature.com/articles/s41... a study of 5 different autoimmune diseases in over 6,300 Japanese individuals
nature.com
Blood DNA virome associates with autoimmune diseases and COVID-19 - Nature Genetics
Analysis of the blood DNA virome in patients with COVID-19 and autoimmune disease associates endogenous HHV-6 (eHHV-6) and high anellovirus load with increased disease risk, most notably for systemic ...
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Thelonevirologist @thelonevirologist.bsky.social · 31/12/2024
USPS stamp from 1999 honouring Jonas Salk and commemorating the development of the Salk Polio vaccine.
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Dr Susan Oliver (PhD) @drsusanoliver.bsky.social · 15/12/2024
John Campbell is running out of Covid vaccine misinformation, so he has had to move on to other conspiracies. His latest is that the Shroud of Turin – a well-known medieval hoax – is not fake. youtu.be/WKbfWozI3zg
youtu.be
Has John Campbell revealed the TRUTH about the Shroud of Turin?
YouTube video by Back to the Science
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Edward Nirenberg @enirenberg.bsky.social · 15/12/2024
I'm seeing some (entirely justified) concern about the possibility of the US no longer having a polio vaccination program given the threat posed by the incoming administration and I feel like this is a really good opportunity to explain some things about polio to clarify what the risks are 🧵
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