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Natalie Linton

@nlintonepi.bsky.social
2.2K followers 252 following 36 posts

Infectious disease epidemiologist and modeler, AIxBio researcher.

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Reposted by Natalie Linton
Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics @bermaninstitute.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Pennsylvania Measles Outbreak Grows to Nearly 900 Cases. State health officials said 55 new cases had been reported since Wednesday. In all, 890 measles cases have been reported across 39 counties so far this year. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/27/u...
nytimes.com
Pennsylvania Measles Outbreak Grows to Nearly 900 Cases
State health officials said 55 new cases had been reported since Wednesday. In all, 890 measles cases have been reported across 39 counties so far this year.
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@doublewhammied @doublewhammied.bsky.social · 26/05/2026
"The best way to prevent the most common types of #HPV [& the #cancers it drives, incl #cervical, #head&neck, #anal, etc.] is thru the #HPV vax, w/2 doses rec'd 4 kids at age 11 or 12, or starting as early as 9 years & up to age 26 for those who missed it as ... 1/2 #CanSky #IDSky wapo.st/3PMXVKF
wapo.st
Column | Head and neck cancers are on the rise. Here’s how to reduce your risk.
A few major factors are driving new cases of head and neck cancers. Luckily, they are things you can control.
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Sam Abbott @seabbs.bsky.social · 22/05/2026
Estimating the current size of the 2026 DRC Bundibugyo virus outbreak: a joint Bayesian re-analysis of the McCabe et al. report w/ @kathsherratt.bsky.social Sam Brand and @sbfnk.bsky.social
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Casey Middleton, PhD @caseymiddleton.bsky.social · 19/05/2026
🚨 Disease modelers: Do you use empirical VE estimates interchangeably to inform vaccine effect parameters? Me too, and it’s distorting our predictions. VE estimates often do not align with model parameters. We discuss these pitfalls & solutions in our new preprint: arxiv.org/abs/2605.18571 🧵👇
arxiv.org
Incorporating vaccine effects into epidemiological models: common pitfalls and solutions
Incorporating vaccination into mathematical models appears deceptively simple: models integrate vaccine-derived protections, such as reduced susceptibility to infection, using parameters informed by e...
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Natalie Linton @nlintonepi.bsky.social · 14/05/2026
Seems like a good move to me.
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Reposted by Natalie Linton
CIDRAP @cidrap.bsky.social · 13/05/2026
Public Health Alert: Intramuscular immunoglobulin for measles postexposure prophylaxis This report details successful administration of intramuscular immunoglobulin as post-exposure prophylaxis to 11 babies exposed to measles in Utah last year. ow.ly/1ooZ50YZ5LO 📷:Quinn Daedal/Flickr cc
Baby with thigh bandaid from injection
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Adam Kucharski @adamjkucharski.bsky.social · 22/04/2026
This is a good primer on the test-negative study design if you want to know how this widely used method works: pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC... Main benefit is can get near real-time estimates (i.e. this vaccine against this strain), rather than low RCT (result = historical vaccine & strain)
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Reposted by Natalie Linton
Tom Peacock @peacockflu.bsky.social · 06/04/2026
Really excited to be able to share our latest preprint, describing how during its evolution in cattle, H5N1 has got better at using a type of alternative receptor that's abundant in cows, but not found in humans and birds. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Graph of receptor binding curves showing an ancestral and recent H5N1. The ancestral virus does not bind NeuGc receptor well, whereas the recent virus birds NeuGc and NeuAc containing receptors equally.
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Reposted by Natalie Linton
Adam Kucharski @adamjkucharski.bsky.social · 26/02/2026
Introducing CAPphrase (Comparative and Absolute Probability phrase dataset), an open access dataset containing over 150,000 probability-based language judgements: adamkucharski.github.io/CAPphrase/
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Joshua Weitz @joshuasweitz.bsky.social · 24/02/2026
Mark your calendars... maybe. March 18-19, next scheduled ACIP meeting, not yet open for public comments: www.cdc.gov/acip/meeting...
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Reposted by Natalie Linton
Kathleen Bachynski @bachynski.bsky.social · 13/02/2026
This is a vivid, horribly relevant read. “She does not sleep well. And as you lift up her pajama top to check her rash one morning, you see that her breathing is labored, shadows pooling between her ribs when she sucks in air. You suffer an icy moment of realization: This is a medical crisis.”
theatlantic.com
This Is How a Child Dies of Measles
When your family becomes a data point in an outbreak
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Natalie Linton @nlintonepi.bsky.social · 10/02/2026
List of targeted grants here: grant-witness.us/posts/2026-0...
grant-witness.us
$600M in CDC grants to CA, MN, CO, and IL targeted for termination: Full list – Grant Witness
Grant Witness is publishing the list of CDC grants the Trump administration has ordered to be terminated in California, Minnesota, Colorado, and Illinois.
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Reposted by Natalie Linton
Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists @thebulletin.org · 13/01/2026
Discover the seven stories Kim Stanley Robinson selected as the winners of the Bulletin's Write Before Midnight contest in our January magazine issue. Start reading: buff.ly/mNO6mTQ
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Reposted by Natalie Linton
California Department of Public Health @capublichealth.bsky.social · 06/01/2026
Do you need a prescription to get a COVID vaccine? Answer: Nope. You don’t need a prescription to get a COVID vaccine in California. 📲 Talk to your pharmacist, doctor, or visit MyTurn.ca.gov to schedule your vaccine appointment.
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Verena @viralemergence.org · 05/01/2026
Exciting news to start 2026: for the first time ever, the PHAROS repository for wildlife disease surveillance is a journal-recommended home for your archived data! Thanks to Integrative and Comparative Biology for taking the leap with us 🦠🔢➡️🌎💻💫 academic.oup.com/icb/pages/Ge...
academic.oup.com
General_Instructions
Instructions for Authors Authors who publish their papers under our open access model or who are NIH-funded will have their paper automatically depos
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Natalie Linton @nlintonepi.bsky.social · 19/12/2025
Interested in AIxBio? I’m compiling a Bluesky starter pack! Please send suggestions for individuals/orgs to add. go.bsky.app/Jt18Ltq
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California Department of Public Health @capublichealth.bsky.social · 15/12/2025
California announced the launch of the Public Health Network Innovation Exchange (PHNIX), a state-led initiative designed to modernize public health infrastructure and strengthen trust in science-based decision-making. Read the news release: www.gov.ca.gov/2025/12/15/g... [1/4]
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Dr Emma Hodcroft @firefoxx66.bsky.social · 07/11/2025
I want to spell this out in case the implications aren't clear: This means all public tools/webapps of GISAID data (all the ones you've been used to seeing thru the pandemic, as far as we can tell) are prohibited. The file allowed this. Cut that - cut off all tools the public & others were using.
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Dr. Jeff Masters @drjeffmasters.bsky.social · 18/11/2025
Concerning: for a high emissions scenario, the model found a 37% increase in daily extreme precipitation over land by 2100. “Much of the increase was driven by shifts in wind patterns that created chains of severe thunderstorms hundreds of kilometers long that traditional models fail to capture.”
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Silvia Pineda-Munoz, PhD - Climate Ages @climateages.bsky.social · 18/11/2025
My last research project showed that many mammals now live in climates different from the ones they occupied for thousands of years. Publishing it made me realize how often important science stays inaccessible and why I now focus on sharing it clearly. Full story ↓ 🧪 #SciComm buff.ly/WMgl3kB
climateages.com
The Climate Study That Changed My Life Forever
How research showing mammals in the wrong climates made me leave the lab for storytelling The last scientific research that I led made me quit...
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Robin Chase @rmchase.bsky.social · 07/11/2025
The fact that China's green economy has outpaced our fossil fuel one was totally predictable 10 years ago. And US companies and economic policies continue to put their head in the sand. Even as we wrangle against facism, the physical effects of our CO2 emissions continue inexorably. Science.
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Jess Piper @piperformissouri.bsky.social · 22/10/2025
I lived with my dad when I was very young and he didn’t apply for food stamps or free school lunches, though we qualified. So, I went hungry. It was awful. I begged neighbors for saltine crackers. I can say it was the worst time of my life. Children shouldn’t go hungry. Restore SNAP benefits.
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Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health @hsph.harvard.edu · 17/10/2025
Rita Hamad, professor of social epidemiology and public policy, explains why losing the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System puts the health of mothers and infants at risk, and how she hopes to help keep its data accessible. “Without data, we can’t fix problems,” says @ritahamad.bsky.social
hsph.harvard.edu
With federal maternal health database in limbo, a risk to mother and infant health | Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
Rita Hamad explains why losing PRAMS puts the health of mothers and infants at risk, and how she hopes to help keep its data accessible.
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Angie Rasmussen @angierasmussen.bsky.social · 10/10/2025
If the ostriches are not culled, Canada will violate its trade agreements for managing avian flu outbreaks. This could cause our trading partners to ban Canadian poultry imports and cut off the entire $2B poultry export market. Three countries have already restricted Canadian imports on this basis.
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Kate Starbird @katestarbird.bsky.social · 07/10/2025
Recently published work from colleagues Morgan Wack (postdoc at University of Zurich) & Joey Schafer (UW PhD candidate) showing how state election policies that delayed vote counting fueled rumoring and conspiracy theorizing around the 2020 election: blogs.lse.ac.uk/usappblog/20...
blogs.lse.ac.uk
The 2020 US election shows how state election policies can fuel conspiracy theories about voting | USAPP
States that allowed pre-Election Day processing saw a reduction of over a third in expected misinformation compared to states with restrictive rules.
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The Intercept @theintercept.com · 03/10/2025
With deportation continuing apace amid the federal government shutdown, advocates speculated that the latest scheme to pay off immigrant children was deliberately timed by ICE and its parent agency, the Department of Homeland Security, to minimize public attention.
interc.pt
ICE Targets Unaccompanied Immigrant Children, Offering Payment for Deportation
ICE confirmed its plan to pay unaccompanied immigrant children in exchange for their agreement to be deported.
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Steve Rattner @steverattner.bsky.social · 01/10/2025
In my latest for @nytopinion.nytimes.com, I break down the health care provisions Democrats are fighting for in this government shutdown. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/30/o...
nytimes.com
Opinion | These 6 Charts Explain Why the Government Shut Down
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Apoorva Mandavilli @apoorvanyt.bsky.social · 24/09/2025
A drug that provides near-perfect protection against HIV with shots just twice a year will be made available at $40 per patient annually in low- and middle-income countries, offering new hope for ending the HIV epidemic. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/24/h...
nytimes.com
Philanthropies Strike a Promising Deal to Turn Back H.I.V.
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The Ferrari Lab @theferrarilab.bsky.social · 24/09/2025
There is only one major company in the world that makes monovalent measles vaccine: Serum Institute of India. The only reason it continues to do so is that, until recently, 19 countries in the world had not yet introduced rubella vaccination to their national schedules 1/
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Eric Topol @erictopol.bsky.social · 23/09/2025
To be clear, there are no data that provide a link between short-term use of Tylenol during pregnancy and autism. In fact, one of the best prospective studies w/ sibling controls, if anything, pointed to a protective effect for use less than 7 days acamh.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
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Ryan Marino, MD @ryanmarino.bsky.social · 16/09/2025
When the vaccine first came out, the US actually only vaccinated “high-risk” individuals and children born to Hepatitis-B-positive parents. And it didn’t work out well. Disease rates only declined - by ~99% - after making the vaccine a universal recommendation on Day1 www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcn...
Hepatitis B infection case totals by year showing when risk-based vaccination was implemented, followed by vaccination to babies of positive parents, followed by universal vaccination showing almost all of the decline occurred after universal vaccination recommendation
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Rishika Pardikar @rishpardikar.bsky.social · 05/09/2025
Hyperlocal forecasting that provides real time, practical information for people to use when navigating extreme weather events is perhaps one of the first steps in climate adaptation today. An institute in Mumbai, in partnership with the local met department, is on it www.science.org/content/arti...
science.org
New ‘hyperlocal’ forecasts aim to give Indian cities early warning of monsoon floods
In Mumbai, new tools provided up to 3 days notice of dangerous downpours
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Seth Trueger @mdaware.org · 26/08/2025
it’s hard to overstate: -how beneficial vaccines are -how massively overwhelming the evidence is showing no link between vaccines and autism -how impossible it is that RFK will somehow “find the cause” (at all, let alone in his first year) -how much RFKjr want to get rid of childhood vaccines
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Saira Butt, MD @sairabt.bsky.social · 27/08/2025
Must read for all teams consulting infectious diseases #idsky #idmeded #meded #stewardship #voicesofID @cidjournal.bsky.social academic.oup.com/cid/advance-...
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Crawford Kilian @crof.bsky.social · 21/08/2025
www.cidrap.umn.edu/covid-19/vac...
cidrap.umn.edu
Vaccination may reduce elevated risk of airway diseases in COVID survivors
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Annie Waldman @anniewaldman.bsky.social · 21/08/2025
The Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, or CBER, was one of the hardest hit divisions. It ensures the safety and quality of biological products for human use, like red blood cells, immunotherapy, and vaccines. Since January, the center has lost about 500 people, or 26% of its workforce.
The Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, or CBER, was one of the hardest hit divisions.

It ensures the safety and quality of biological products for human use, like red blood cells, immunotherapy, and vaccines.

Since January, the center has lost about 500 people, or 26% of its workforce.
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Eric Topol @erictopol.bsky.social · 13/08/2025
A natural experiment provides evidence for promoting moderate-vigorous physical activity: the importance of walkable cities www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
Countrywide natural experiment links built environment to physical activity - Nature
By analysing the smartphone data of 2,112,288 participants, in particular observing and comparing the activity of the same individual in two different environments, we find that increases in the walka...
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UW Infectious Disease Fellowship Program @uwidfellowship.bsky.social · 07/08/2025
Concern for airborne H5N1 on US dairy farm…(🎁 article) #IDSky Not yet peer reviewed 👉 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... www.nytimes.com/2025/08/04/h...
nytimes.com
Bird Flu May Be Airborne on Dairy Farms, Scientists Report
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Jenn Dowd @drjenndowd.bsky.social · 04/08/2025
A fascinating new paper in @nature.com found that infection w/ influenza or SARS-CoV-2 caused dormant breast cancer cells in the lungs to “awaken” & grow...*IN MICE*. The data for people was *suggestive* but not super compelling IMO. #episky #medsky #idsky jenndowd.substack.com/p/can-covid-...
jenndowd.substack.com
Can COVID rekindle cancer?
Yes...in mice. And *maybe* in people too.
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Kate Starbird @katestarbird.bsky.social · 04/08/2025
Advice for academics on finding their public voice: www.insidehighered.com/opinion/colu...
insidehighered.com
Don’t Wait for Permission to Write for the Public
You don’t need a public engagement grant or media team to begin. Here’s how—and why—to share your expertise now.
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Helen Branswell 🇨🇦 @helenbranswell.bsky.social · 31/07/2025
Unsettling case: A UK baby develops #botulism after eating peanut butter. Father is peanut allergic; parents were trying to lower baby's risk of peanut allergy by gradually introducing peanut to its diet, per medical guidance. Baby was very ill but recovered. www.eurosurveillance.org/content/10.2...
eurosurveillance.org
Peanut butter confirmed as the source in a case of infant botulism, United Kingdom, 2024
A 6-month-old infant was hospitalised with suspected infant botulism after being given peanut butter to reduce their risk of developing peanut allergy. Clostridium botulinum type A was detected in the...
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Ian M. Mackay, PhD (he/him) 🦠🤧🧬📑🦟🧀 @mackayim.bsky.social · 30/07/2025
Thanks for this useful thread. What about changing of the focus from immunity, the outcome of NPIs or other changes to pathogen circulation, to *infection*, the actual thing that is causing an impact. So... "Infection pause" works best here I think. 1/2
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Thomas Kesteman🦠🧫🔬🌏 @tomk.eurosky.social · 24/07/2025
📃Follow-up of UCSF's DoxyPEP trial published. TL;DR ✅std care STI ↘️when started PEP -of course!🤷‍♂ ✅no difference between arms for doxy R in N. gono 🥳 ✅no change in S. aureus/MRSA carriage😅 ❌doxy R in S. aureus ↗️ in doxy arm 😬 #AMR #AntimicrobialResistance #IDSky www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
thelancet.com
Doxycycline to prevent bacterial sexually transmitted infections in the USA: final results from the DoxyPEP multicentre, open-label, randomised controlled trial and open-label extension
Doxy-PEP was effective in reducing bacterial STIs in this population of men who have sex with men and transgender women, including during an open-label extension when doxy-PEP efficacy was known. Doxy...
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Carolyn Barber, MD @cbarbermd.bsky.social · 24/07/2025
“Their small bodies are shutting down — they can’t breathe, their immune systems are collapsing.” Children are dying from starvation. Nearly 1 in 3 people are going days without food. This is preventable. They need food, water, care — urgently. #BlueSky #MedSku #NewsSky #PedsSky #NurseSky
washingtonpost.com
Mass starvation stalks Gaza as deaths from hunger rise
Aid agencies warned for months that Israel’s harsh limits on food aid would bring acute malnutrition and widespread suffering to Gaza’s 2.1 million people.
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Adam Kucharski @adamjkucharski.bsky.social · 10/07/2025
Interesting randomised controlled trial that found use of AI tools (i.e. Cursor) made developers about 20% slower on time-to-completion. Included a nice accompanying visualisation of possible reasons for discrepancies between RCT and other findings... metr.org/blog/2025-07...
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Natalie Linton @nlintonepi.bsky.social · 07/07/2025
Neat to see this idea for how AI can be used to help with package learning!
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Julianne McShane @juliannemcshane.bsky.social · 05/06/2025
105 years ago today, the Women's Bureau—a DOL office dedicated to promoting American women in the workforce—was born. Today, Trump is calling for its elimination for the first time ever. Spoke to 9 current & former staffers about its work for @motherjones.com: www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
motherjones.com
Trump wants to eliminate a 105-year-old office that supports women
Staffers see the proposal as part of an effort to fundamentally reshape America's workforce.
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Marc Lipsitch @mlipsitch.bsky.social · 27/05/2025
The Department of Health and Human Services has a process for making and updating recommendations like this, using expert scientists and clinicians. RFK is deliberately putting Americans' health at risk and sidestepping good science for political reasons.
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Ian M. Mackay, PhD (he/him) 🦠🤧🧬📑🦟🧀 @mackayim.bsky.social · 21/05/2025
Weekly COVID-19 hospital visits surge 88 percent Among 330 severe COVID-19 cases reported this year "74.2 percent were people aged 65 or older, 84 percent had underlying health conditions and 90 percent did not get the JN.1-adapted vaccine" www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/...
taipeitimes.com
Weekly COVID-19 hospital visits surge 88 percent - Taipei Times
Bringing Taiwan to the World and the World to Taiwan
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