Nsikan Akpan

Since 2005, the number of wild and domesticated birds H5N1 has killed is greater than the combined human populations of the U.S. and Russia. On this week's episode, why this version of avian influenza won’t go away. bigpicturescience.org/episodes/flu...

First global H5N5 death confirmed in Washington

Washington resident dies from H5N5 bird flu case--the first global death due to this strain. State officials released this news on Friday, and as of early Monday afternoon, the CDC has NOT held a briefing or shared a press memo about it.

- Christine Clarridge/Axios
www.axios.com/local/seattl...

The Ultrarich Are Spending a Fortune to Live in Extreme Privacy In Miami and elsewhere, the wealthy are moving in increasingly private spheres, shelling out big money to bypass the indignities of public life.

Whoa: “The acquisitive power of the very rich is soaring. The net worth held by the top 0.1% of households in the U.S. reached $23.3 trillion in the second quarter this year, from $10.7 trillion a decade earlier, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.”
www.wsj.com/lifestyle/tr...

Getting ready for the upcoming ACIP meeting, I see. If your kids haven’t had their first MMR dose, get it as soon as you can.

NYT: No take is too far; no hate click too bold

Highly pathogenic H5N5 avian flu has mostly been detected in wild birds and transmitted from Europe to N. America by pelagic seabirds. Mammals (seals, walrus, cats) have been infected, but this is the 1st documented human case. Some have a PB2-E627K mutation known to facilitate mammalian adaptation.

WA confirms first bird flu case in a resident this year A Grays Harbor County resident has tested preliminarily positive for bird flu in the first human case recorded in WA this year.

Bird flu case in Washington state resident - Elise Takahama / Seattle Times www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news...

😅

Edit: Olivia Nuzzi Did It All for the Nookie

(an opportunity missed)

New Jersey man is first known death from meat allergy triggered by tick bites | CNN In the summer of 2024, a previously healthy 47-year-old father collapsed and died in the bathroom of his New Jersey home. An autopsy provided no answers. Everything looked normal, and his death was ru...

After eating burger, New Jersey man becomes first known death from meat allergy triggered by tick bites -- Brenda Goodman / CNN www.cnn.com/2025/11/13/h...

Exclusive: UK suspends some intelligence sharing with US over boat strike concerns in major break | CNN Politics The United Kingdom is no longer sharing intelligence with the US about suspected drug trafficking vessels in the Caribbean because it does not want to be complicit in US military strikes and believes ...

UK suspends some intelligence sharing with US over boat strike concerns in major break 👀 - Natasha Bertrand
www.cnn.com/2025/11/11/p...

Statement from the Public Health Agency of Canada about Canada losing its measles elimination status

www.canada.ca/en/public-he...

Canada has lost its measles elimination status, says Ottawa Canada has lost its measles elimination status after nearly three decades, the country’s public health agency said in a statement on Monday.

Breaking: Canada has lost its measles elimination status - CTV
www.ctvnews.ca/health/artic...

My successful public service loan forgiveness earlier this year feels more and more like it was the last helicopter out of Saigon.

Public workers could be denied loan forgiveness if cities defy Trump, lawsuit alleges A new lawsuit argues the latest changes to Public Service Loan Forgiveness could exclude public servants whose organizations have resisted President Trump's policies.

BFD: The U.S. Ed Department is seeking to block public service loan forgiveness for people in cities/counties that resist the administration's immigration actions or its anti-DEI policies.

✍️: Cory Turner / NPR

www.npr.org/2025/11/03/n...

CBS News kills its climate unit David Ellison, the new pro-Trump chief executive of Paramount Skydance, has dismantled the best climate change reporting team in cable news.

A scoop that I’m not happy to report:

CBS News has gutted its climate change reporting team, one of the best in the business, and one of the only ones on cable news that consistently called out fossil fuels as the main source of climate pollution.

heated.world/p/cbs-news-k...

Screenshot of a Politico article titled “RFK Jr.’s top vaccine adviser says he answers to no one.” The subheadline reads, “In an interview with POLITICO, Martin Kulldorff said the health secretary has asked him to impartially follow the science.” Below, a photo shows Martin Kulldorff seated at a conference table, wearing glasses and a light blue jacket, listening attentively during a meeting. The caption notes that he was seen during a CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices meeting on Sept. 18, 2025, in Chamblee, Georgia.

Screenshot of a Politico article excerpt of an interview with Martin Kulldorff. The text discusses vaccine safety trials, quoting Kulldorff saying randomized, placebo-controlled trials should be done for vaccines and suggesting that for the HPV vaccine, half of participants could receive it at age 9 and half at age 14 to compare timing.

I’d like to meet the parents who’d agree to, “Ok, my kid can blame me if they develop cervical cancer.”

www.politico.com/news/2025/10...

Exclusive: British newspaper spoke to the wrong de Blasio, not an ‘imposter’ How a Long Island vintner, with the help of ChatGPT, prompted a transatlantic journalistic debacle.

To Brendan Ruberry and @maxtani.bsky.social:

No notes, standing ovation

www.semafor.com/article/10/2...

Photos: Hurricane Melissa blasts through Jamaica The Category 5 hurricane tore a path of destruction across the island, causing major flooding and power cuts. Prime Minister Andrew Holness declared the country a "disaster area."

Photos: Hurricane Melissa blasts through Jamaica

-- Maansi Srivastava / NPR

www.npr.org/sections/the...

Watch #Melissa meander on a path right through arguably the hottest (deep) waters on the planet, powering one of the strongest hurricanes ever, then leave a cool wake behind as it turns hot water into power to charge its rain and wind... 1/

I know it's a different database, but I can't help but question why I signed up for TSA pre-check

Vaccine-Preventable Disease: A Global Tracker | Think Global Health This map is updated weekly and visualizes outbreaks of nine childhood diseases in collaboration with the International Society for Infectious Diseases

I'd love to say lots of nice things about this invaluable preventable disease tracker from @monscience.bsky.social and team at Think Global Health. It's an incredible resource.

But I can't get over my anger & sadness that this resource is even needed.
www.thinkglobalhealth.org/article/vacc...

I've had to update the plot of the strongest tropical cyclones by ocean basin all too often in recent years, since climate change increases the number of high-end storms. Melissa has joined the club, tied with Dorian (2019) as strongest Atlantic hurricane recorded outside the Gulf of Mexico.

Howard County unveils COVID-19 pandemic memorial After losing 544 residents to COVID-19, Howard County on Monday unveiled a memorial to the victims of the pandemic in Meadowbrook Park.

Howard County has lost 544 residents to COVID-19. A new memorial honors them.

Threat to US vaccines as CDC staff supporting key advisory panel laid off Critics say scientists ‘held hostage’ by RFK Jr as changes mean vaccine development and guidance in peril

NEW: The entire staff supporting ACIP was laid off, and most working groups haven't met in months.

That means the US may not make routine vaccine recommendations for more than half of children in 2026, and it could halt new vaccines in the pipeline. My latest:
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Graphic with a bold quote in black text reading, “We don’t even have a human equivalent of that,” attributed to Carol Cardona, a professor and the Pomeroy Endowed Chair in Avian Health at the University of Minnesota. The design includes an orange horizontal bar above the quote on a white background.

For egg-layers, the r-naught was 13—comparable with human measles.

For broiler chickens, it was 6.

For the turkeys, the r-naught estimate was 25. 🤯
www.thinkglobalhealth.org/article/bird...

Screenshot of a PLOS ONE research article titled “Estimating the time of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza virus introduction into United States poultry flocks during the 2022/24 epizootic.” The paper lists multiple authors including Amos Ssematimba and Carol J. Cardona, with affiliations to the University of Minnesota, Gulu University in Uganda, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

A December 2024 study, published in PLOS One, estimated what H5N1's r-naught was during the first year of the U.S. outbreak. The researchers examined three types of commercial poultry: egg-laying hens, broiler chickens for meat production, and turkey farms.

journals.plos.org/plosone/arti...

A screenshot of a Lancet Infectious Diseases review titled “The basic reproduction number (R₀) of measles: a systematic review.” The abstract defines R₀ as the average number of secondary infections caused by one case and summarizes findings from 18 studies estimating R₀ values typically between 12 and 18. Authors include Fiona Guerra and colleagues from Public Health Ontario and the University of Toronto.

Measles, one of the most contagious diseases in history, has an r-naught of 12 to 18. If a measles-infected person steps into a crowded train car on which everyone else lacks immunity, the virus could infect 12 to 18 people.

www.thelancet.com/action/showP...

a woman is writing on a white board that says flu-1 smallpox-3 pollo ALT: a woman is writing on a white board that says flu-1 smallpox-3 pollo

Turkeys are more vulnerable to bird flu than chickens. Fans of the movie Contagion should recall a metric called r-naught, or R0. It predicts how many unimmune people (or birds) among an average group will catch a virus after an infected person (or bird) shows up.

Bird Flu Roars Back: What It Means for Thanksgiving | Think Global Health Since September, turkey and egg farms have lost millions of birds, renewing pressure on food prices and biosecurity

Since Sept. 1, bird flu outbreaks have wiped out 1.2 million turkeys from farms supplying meat for dinner tables—or 20 times more than at the start of last year's flu season. Egg-laying hens face a similar uptick.

I wrote about what this could mean for Thanksgiving, egg prices, and biosecurity. 🧵