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Prof François Balloux

@proffballoux.bsky.social

1.3K followers 100 following 40 posts

Scientist, gym bro, sometimes annoying

Posts Replies Media

Prof François Balloux @proffballoux.bsky.social · 24/10/2023

It remains unclear to me where BA.2.86* is headed next. I'm not convinced it will ever become the dominant SC2 lineage in circulation.

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Prof François Balloux @proffballoux.bsky.social · 18/10/2023

True, but flu (influenza A and B) doesn't fully disappear in summer either, and outbreaks outside winter are not uncommon. See eg. surveillance data from China 2014-2018 below. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

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Prof François Balloux @proffballoux.bsky.social · 17/10/2023

"Covid turning into another flu" was the 'bad' scenario we considered in a review we wrote in 2022. My low confidence prediction is that the 'good' (fifth endemic HCoVs) scenario or something in between 'good' and 'bad' is more likely. 1/ academic.oup.com/ooim/article...

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Prof François Balloux @proffballoux.bsky.social · 29/09/2023

I'm really not too sure what to make of the BA.2.86 variant. It's still going up in frequency globally, but soooo slowly. At the current rate it will still take a few weeks for it to reach a 1% relative prevalence. Note: UK outbreak downsampled to one observation in the plot below

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Prof François Balloux @proffballoux.bsky.social · 21/09/2023

I've just come across that interesting fungus, basket stinkhorn (Clathrus ruber), I presume. It's the first time I saw one in Switzerland. It's weird and smelly, but still cool.

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