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David Miles

@variolator.bsky.social
114 followers 62 following 229 posts

Once an immunologist who went to interesting places to do interesting things. Now an author who writes about people who went to interesting places to do interesting things. www.variolator.com

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David Miles @variolator.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Today's UKHSA report shows the sniffle season kicking in. The rhinoviruses uptick may be a blip or may not. More worrying is that covid and influenza have both been climbing for a couple of months and haven't peaked. Time to choose between the mask and the Lemsip. www.gov.uk/government/s...
Plot of percentage of tests positive for four common cold viruses over the last year. Rhinoviruses show a sharp uptick in the last 14d while influenza and SARS-CoV-2 have been risnin for several weeks. RSV prevalence remains very low.
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David Miles @variolator.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
1/2 Just finished a journey through the last 7 million years of humans relating to climate, guided by @peterfrankopan.bsky.social. 1e takeaway: bad things happen when the climate changes and people don't adapt. uk.bookshop.org/p/books/the-...
uk.bookshop.org
The Earth Transformed: An Untold History
THE TIMES BEST HISTORY BOOK OF 2023A BOOK OF THE YEAR PICK FOR THE TIMES, SUNDAY TIMES, BBC HISTORY MAGAZINE, GUARDIAN, INDEPENDENT AND FINANCIAL TIMESA BBC RADIO 4 BOOK OF THE WEEK | AN INSTANT SUNDA...
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David Miles @variolator.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
We are about three days away from finding out that 'Danny Tommo' designs lingerie in secret.
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Bedford Skeptics @bedfordskeptics.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Our talk on 17th Sept. with @variolator.bsky.social is just one of the many local events supported by the brilliant @bedfordindependent.co.uk -check out the guide below.
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David Miles @variolator.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
Just seen a beautifully simple evidence summary discussing the origins of COVID-19, showing how the balance is clearly in favour of natural origin and not lab leak. From the @angierasmussen.bsky.social substack: rasmussenretorts.substack.com/p/breaking-i...
Evidence for natural origin: 13 points for, one against.
Evidence for lab leak: one point for, eight against.
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David Miles @variolator.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
Bedford, here I come. In a couple of weeks. I'm trying to think ahead.
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David Miles @variolator.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
Here I am talking about what colds are and what we can do about them on on the Point of Inquiry podcast. As ever with me, clean the damn air we have to breathe is a topic that comes up. Thanks to @jamesunderdown.bsky.social for inviting me to talk about it. pointofinquiry.org/2026/07/snee...
pointofinquiry.org
Sneeze: The History and Science of the Common Cold with Immunologist David Miles | Point of Inquiry
The human race suffers from literally billions of colds every year. In this episode, Jim chats with Dr. David Miles about what a cold is, where it comes fro ...
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David Miles @variolator.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
Or to put it another way, trust the people who research vaccines and not a man who can't be trusted with a dead raccoon or his children's babysitter, let alone a national healthcare policy.
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David Miles @variolator.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
Here's why the US government's latest vaccine-related fever dream is a terrible idea. Increase the number of vaccination appointments = Decrease the number of children taken to all of them = Increase the number of children seriously ill with preventable diseases. Elizabeth puts it better:
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David Miles @variolator.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
This can't surprise anyone. Owen Lidwell showed schools are transmission hubs in the 1950s. Now I play a little game. When someone moans about the covid school closures, I wait for them to suggest better ventilation or filtration so schools don't make children ill. I wait and I wait and I wait...
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Steffen Rayburn-Maarup @rayburnmaarup.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
I don't think people are ready for this kind of joke yet.
A town sign seen through a train window.
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David Miles @variolator.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
I'll be in Cambridge this evening, talking about the strange history of whooping cough vaccines. And a little about the disease of whooping cough itself, which I suppose you could call a whopping great cough. Please wish me reliable trains.
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David Miles @variolator.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
Here I am jabbering about colds in the We Can Reason webinar series. Many thanks to @rmatheists.bsky.social for inviting me to speak and for hosting and posting.
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David Miles @variolator.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
1/5 Always encouraging to see air hygiene being taken seriously. Looks like Ontario is the latest place to realise it might be a good idea if shared indoor spaces are not hubs of infection. ospe.on.ca/advocacy/a-m...
ospe.on.ca
A Major Win for Indoor Air Quality: Toronto's Board of Health Moves to Adopt Stronger Ventilation Standards
The Ontario Society of Professional Engineers celebrates a major win for indoor air quality with stronger ventilation standards in Toronto.
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David Miles @variolator.bsky.social · 26/07/2026
1/3 There's a great big COVID-19 shaped hole in this article. Sure, the increase in shingles started before 2020 and increasing stress is probably involved, but can we please acknowledge the elephant in the room?
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David Miles @variolator.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
Another weekend to prep for another talk. Heading to Cambridge on Tue, to talk about how Pearl Kendrick mobilised depression era Grand Rapids against whooping cough, and how that led to people who should have known better kickstarting the modern antivax movement. www.tickettailor.com/events/cambr...
tickettailor.com
Buy Tickets – Whooping Cough Vaccines: A Century of Good Science and Bad with Dr David Miles – The Blue Moon
Whooping Cough Vaccines: A Century of Good Science and Bad with Dr David Miles – The Blue Moon, Tue 28 Jul 2026 - A hundred years ago, whooping cough killed more than one in every hundred children bor...
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David Miles @variolator.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
Very much looking forward to this talk. Phil's been working on deaths at the hands of the police for decades and this is a rare chance to learn from his experience.
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David Miles @variolator.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
Another day of gearing up for another talk. Tue evening will find me at @cornerstonearts.bsky.social in Didcot, talking about what we know about influenza and how we know it - and how a terrible poet gave us a really useful vaccine. didcotfirst.org/events/#:~:t...
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David Miles @variolator.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
Strange way to frame it. Research tells us we need better access to primary and dental care, availability of decent food, air hygiene, etc. Research can't provide these things. That's up to policymakers. So why headline it as a research failing? news.sky.com/story/world-...
news.sky.com
World-class UK medical research not delivering enough benefits for British people
The country's life sciences industry generated £146.9bn in turnover in 2023/24, but UK life expectancy has fallen, a new study has found.
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David Miles @variolator.bsky.social · 08/07/2026
Online again next Wednesday for another blather about colds. Many thanks to RMA for inviting me to talk their ears off. Anyone out there feel like joining?
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David Miles @variolator.bsky.social · 18/06/2026
1/4 The BBC article reporting no cervical cancer deaths in UK women under 24 has been getting some traction. This is fantastic news and a ringing endorsement of the HPV vaccine, pioneered by Ian Fraser and the late Jian Zhou. Some interesting context... www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
HPV vaccine means young women now have 'close to zero' risk of cervical cancer death
A new study finds that hundreds of lives have been saved since school-age girls were offered the HPV jab in 2008.
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David Miles @variolator.bsky.social · 17/06/2026
Looks like the LLMs have gulped down Accelerando by @cstross.bsky.social and this is what they brought back up. 'About the only people who're doing well right now are the uploaded lobsters – and the crusties aren't even remotely human.'
antipope.org
Accelerando
A novel by Charles Stross
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David Miles @variolator.bsky.social · 01/06/2026
This is going to be fun. I really enjoyed the last time I spoke to Greenwich SitP.
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David Miles @variolator.bsky.social · 27/05/2026
Anyone interested in hearing me blathering on about the common cold tomorrow? The online skeptics kindly invited me to do just that, so I'll be talking about colds from prehistory to present and at least trying to answer any questions asked of me. sitp.online/show/the-com...
sitp.online
The Common Cold: 30,000 years of the sniffles - David Miles - Skeptics in the Pub Online
Everybody knows what a cold feels like: miserable. The first cold virus was detected in a milk tooth shed over 30,000 years ago and ever since, the common cold has been a bane. Yet while sore throats ...
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David Miles @variolator.bsky.social · 22/05/2026
I'd better start rehearsing!
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Aris Katzourakis @ariskatzourakis.bsky.social · 20/05/2026
Made some comments on the initial phylogenetic analysis of Bundibugyo viral sequences for SMC: www.sciencemediacentre.org/expert-react... The analysis is here: virological.org/t/initial-ge...
virological.org
Initial genomes from May 2026 Bundibugyo Virus Disease Outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda
Initial genomes from May 2026 Bundibugyo Virus Disease Outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda, reveal a new spillover event Context On 15 May 2026, the Ministry of Public Health, ...
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David Miles @variolator.bsky.social · 18/05/2026
Really important point that 'close contact' transmission and airborne transmission are not mutually exclusive. It's bizarre how this resistance to airborne transmission comes up over and over again.
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David Miles @variolator.bsky.social · 22/04/2026
I really admire the dedication needed to watch the ongoing skip fire that is American medial and public health so I don't have to. Here are three such courageous souls somehow managing to make it entertaining for an hour.
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David Miles @variolator.bsky.social · 09/04/2026
1/3 New report from the OECD says long covid costs $135bn/yr across the OECD. I furrowed my brow at how they came up with such a low figure - yes, that did sound low compared to other reports I've read - and found it was based on their 'most conservative' scenario. www.oecd.org/en/publicati...
oecd.org
Addressing the Costs and Care for Long COVID
Long COVID is a post-acute infection syndrome characterised by the persistence of symptoms following a COVID-19 illness. This novel and complex condition has a debilitating and often disabling impact on patients and remains a challenge for healthcare professionals and health systems to adapt to. This report estimates the economic impact of long COVID across OECD countries from both direct healthcare costs and more significantly indirect costs related to reduced productivity and workforce exit. The report summarises national initiatives and priorities for defining, recognising and managing long COVID. The policies required to provide integrated care for long COVID contribute to building resilient and people-centered health systems for any future health threats.
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Chris French @profchrisfrench.bsky.social · 08/04/2026
Next up at @GreenwichSitP: Wendy Grossman (aka @wendyg), "What we talk about when we talk about AI" at 7:30pm on 13/4/26 at the Plume of Greenwich pub, 19 Park Vista, Greenwich, London SE10 9LZ. Free, open to all, no need to book. greenwichskeptics.org
greenwichskeptics.org
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David Miles @variolator.bsky.social · 06/04/2026
I got interviewed by The Skeptic Zone podcast! Here's me having a natter with the magnificent Adrienne Hill @alhill.bsky.social about the common cold and that time Coleman Watts @thinkthisthrough.bsky.social got us to make fun of that arch-humbug, Del Bigtree. skepticzone.libsyn.com/site/the-ske...
skepticzone.libsyn.com
The Skeptic Zone: The Skeptic Zone #913 - 5.April.2026
Facts about the Common Cold - Skeptics in the Pub - Iridology     00:00:00 Introduction Richard Saunders     00:07:00 You Can Count on Adrienne. With Adrienne Hill Adrien...
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David Miles @variolator.bsky.social · 27/03/2026
The COVID-19 inquiry in superb summary. And yes, it makes me angry. It makes me angry that bad decisions by unserious politicians led to thousands of deaths and thousands of people left permanently impaired. 1/2
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David Miles @variolator.bsky.social · 22/03/2026
1/5 Mixed feelings about the response to the Kent miningococcus outbreak. The good news: rapid response to contain the outbreak including antibiotics, ring vaccination and by the look of it, sensible precautions from students. The bad news... www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
Meningitis cases fall amid outbreak in Kent
Number of confirmed cases drops, says UKHSA, as suspected case linked to another Kent college.
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David Miles @variolator.bsky.social · 17/03/2026
Meninigo is particularly dangerous to mid to late teens. British children have been vaccinated against group B since 2015 so we can hope this is among the last university outbreaks in Britain. Horrible situation for the students who just missed being protected. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
theguardian.com
Meningitis is back – and here is why | Devi Sridhar
After two deaths, it’s right to be concerned and to discuss investment in public health. But our system is good and it’s working, says Devi Sridhar, chair of global public health at the University of ...
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David Miles @variolator.bsky.social · 05/03/2026
If you're looking for something to read in the park, now that the weather's improving, a book on the peculiar science of the common cold might by what you need. One out of one cats that we consulted endorses this message.
A woman reading 'Sneeze' in a park with a cat by her feet.
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David Miles @variolator.bsky.social · 05/03/2026
What's as wide as half a minute's fingernail growth, makes you miserable and costs you hundreds of quid every year? It's a cold virus. I wrote a book about what what we know about the little so-and-sos and how we know it. Would you like to read it? www.augustbooks.co/books/sneeze...
augustbooks.co
Sneeze by David Miles | August Books
Hardcover, Paperback and Ebook
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David Miles @variolator.bsky.social · 29/01/2026
Really looking forward to this. Understanding why we find it so easy to believe things that aren't true is fundamental to so many things and @profchrisfrench.bsky.social is an expert on why we believe them.
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David Miles @variolator.bsky.social · 23/01/2026
“I don’t like established science…science is what I observe…there is an emotion when people use the word proven.” Time to invest in iron lungs because poliomyelitis will leave some children needing a machine to do their breathing for the rest of their lives. www.statnews.com/2026/01/22/v...
statnews.com
Top CDC vaccine adviser questions need for polio shot, other longstanding recommendations
The chair of a federal vaccine advisory panel charted a new course for the committee in a podcast released Thursday, questioning longstanding recommendations.
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David Miles @variolator.bsky.social · 02/01/2026
Good news for British children, not to mention parents who don't like seeing their children being ill. The chickenpox vaccine's been in use for three decades in the USA so it's got a very solid record for being safe and effective. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
Chickenpox vaccines for children on NHS starts across UK
For the first time, children will be offered vaccination on the NHS against the common infection which, in rare cases, can be very serious.
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David Miles @variolator.bsky.social · 01/01/2026
Here's one to look forward to. Always good to be reminded why seeing really shouldn't be believing.
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David Miles @variolator.bsky.social · 30/12/2025
"If you want to imagine the platonic business under capitalism, it's a business that pays nothing to its workers and its suppliers and charges its customers infinity, right? There are some businesses that can do that. They're called academic publishers." One nail among many that got hit on the head
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Martin McKee @martinmckee.bsky.social · 16/12/2025
🧵1/ Flu is surging again, & patterns look uncomfortably familiar. The lesson from covid remains unchanged: individual responsibility isn’t enough. We need systemic measures that make protective behaviours easy. @profstevegriffin.bsky.social Stephen Reicher & I offer some thoughts @bmj.com
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Steve Griffin @profstevegriffin.bsky.social · 12/12/2025
So, to those who say "masks don't work", cite the flawed Cochrane report, insist upon an unfeasible RCT, accuse folks of panic, and undermine public health on social and mainstream media during a flu/RSV epidemic... 1. Seasonal viruses may be "normal", but they do immense harm.
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David Miles @variolator.bsky.social · 09/12/2025
Or we could wear FFP2 masks, available from any pharmacy, and not get the flu in the first place. www.theguardian.com/society/2025...
theguardian.com
People urged to wear masks when they are ill as UK faces ‘tidal wave’ of flu
NHS Providers boss says those who are ‘coughing and sneezing’ should wear face coverings on public transport
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David Miles @variolator.bsky.social · 08/12/2025
So RSV, influenza and COVID-19 vaccines all cut hospitalisation risk by between half and two thirds. That's very impressive for viruses as slippery as those three. More importantly, it's a lot of people being a lot less ill.
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David Miles @variolator.bsky.social · 27/11/2025
Now we've got RSV joining the party that influenza started a month ago. Looks like the winter virus season is starting early this year. Let's hope it finishes early too.
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David Miles @variolator.bsky.social · 23/11/2025
Another exercise in critical evaluation of statistics from Adam. Short version: when a study looks at a lot of related outcomes and finds one pointing in the opposite direction to all the others, there's a good chance it's a statistical phantom.
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David Miles @variolator.bsky.social · 16/11/2025
Here's one of many reasons not to listen to charlatans who still bang on about how Sweden protected people from COVID-19 by ignoring it. If they wanted to push for the Swedish approach to healthcare or paid sick leave, they might be worth listening to. But that's never what they mean.
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David Miles @variolator.bsky.social · 13/11/2025
Still thinking about this. There was a study in Milan that showed installing air filtration improved attendence for less than 11 euros per day of pupil absence prevented. I wonder how much they've paid consultants for coming up with these edicts. www.theguardian.com/education/20...
theguardian.com
All schools in England to be given AI-generated pupil attendance targets
Unions decry move, saying it will put more pressure on headteachers without tackling absence from classrooms
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David Miles @variolator.bsky.social · 08/11/2025
Thanks to this article, we know that Watson & Crick didn't steal Franklin's data, although Watson boasted that he did. Long past time to stop amplifyng his boast. And to remember that Franklin's article was published alongside Watson's and Crick's.
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