Delthia Ricks

Weekly US Influenza Surveillance Report: Key Updates for Week 4, ending January 31, 2026 Seasonal influenza activity remains elevated nationally.

8 more children died from influenza complications last week, according to CDC's FluView report, bringing the total to 60 pediatric deaths so far this season. The agency keeps tabs on childhood deaths caused by the flu, but doesn't recommend flu shots as a way to prevent infection👇

NCI Studying Ivermectin's 'Ability to Kill Cancer Cells' No new evidence cited that might have prompted this move

The once respected Nat'l Cancer Institute, the research agency charged w/ leading the war on cancer, is studying ivermectin as a cancer treatment.

Now in the hands of RFK's righwing loonies, NCI is testing the anti-parasitic on cancer cells. No actual data suggest the horse de-wormer treats cancer👇

🤞fingers crossed!

The Trump regime has destabilized the U.S. healthcare system, slashing $1 trillion from Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act while hospitals, clinics & other essential services were closing their doors, according to a U.S. Senate Finance Committee report www.finance.senate.gov/ranking-memb...

Jeffrey Epstein Treated for Low Testosterone, Gonorrhea He also had whipworm and another parasite

New Epstein details: The accused child sex trafficker was treated for multiple infectious diseases. Info reveals he had gonorrhea, whipworm & another parasite. Whipworm is a parasitic roundworm infecting the large intestine. Outside of infections, he also had low testosterone & had frozen his sperm👇

Epstein files reveal deeper ties to scientists than previously known Latest batch of documents show researchers consulting the financier and sex offender on publications, visas and more.

The fact that Epstein had ties to the scientific community is not news, but the enormous cache of documents released by the DOJ last week was still startling. It showed just how deeply Epstein was involved—how many were in his orbit, and how deeply involved he was with some research.

My reporting:

Drawings of farm workers at work with the words: AS ICE TERRORIZES OUR COMMUNITIES, FARM WORKERS ARE STILL FEEDING YOU. CALL YOUR SENATOR NOW!

We're living in a terrifying new reality. Trump's DHS mob are killing US citizens, kidnapping kids and terrorizing hard working immigrants - including the farm workers who feed us.

Call your Senators TODAY! Tell them don't fund ICEs terror campaign!

act.seiu.org/a/do_not-fun... #ICEout

This framing that less than 14% abducted by ICE had violent records suggests there is some acceptable threshold above which it’s Ok for ICE to do what it is doing. It is not Ok what ICE is doing or has been doing regardless of someone’s record. There is no threshold. Don’t fall into the trap.

A group of Buddhist monks has finally reached Washington, D.C., on foot, completing a 15-week trek for peace from Texas apnews.com/article/budd...

Trump Administration to Cut $600 Million in Health Funding From Four States

“These grants are being terminated because they do not reflect agency priorities,” a spokesman for the Department of Health and Human Services said.

About two dozen of the grants were aimed at curbing H.I.V. and other sexually transmitted infections."

RFK Jr’s War on the World’s Children RFK Jr. has just withdrawn any future U.S. support from a program that has saved more than 20 million lives in resource-poor countries

open.substack.com/pub/pauloffi...
RFK Jr.s' latest attack on the world's children.

Ryan Grim has the occasional good take about various issues so it's important to consciously remember that he is, overall, absurdly credulous.

There is no possibility covid started in summer 2019, under *either* the wet market *or* lab leak theories, a truly idiotic argument.

This is true, and even if we get rid of Trump, we still have to reckon with the fact that a substantial proportion of US economic and political elites were *eager* to jump on the fascism train. They will still be the same people when Trump is gone.

It's not a threat. It is a change.
nytimes.com/2026/02/09/h...

First proof-of-concept for engineered T cells as a potential treatment for Alzheimer's disease
pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

The high proportion of US scientists among those recruited by France shows that “enthusiasm and morale for doing science is low” in the US, says Sharon Milgram, who led early-career researcher programs at NIH for nearly 20 years, until she retired in December.

By @lizziegibney.bsky.social and me

Weekly US Influenza Surveillance Report: Key Updates for Week 4, ending January 31, 2026 Seasonal influenza activity remains elevated nationally.

8 more children died from influenza complications last week, according to CDC's FluView report, bringing the total to 60 pediatric deaths so far this season. The agency keeps tabs on childhood deaths caused by the flu, but doesn't recommend flu shots as a way to prevent infection👇

Jeffrey Epstein Treated for Low Testosterone, Gonorrhea He also had whipworm and another parasite

New Epstein details: The accused child sex trafficker was treated for multiple infectious diseases. Info reveals he had gonorrhea, whipworm & another parasite. Whipworm is a parasitic roundworm infecting the large intestine. Outside of infections, he also had low testosterone & had frozen his sperm👇

NCI Studying Ivermectin's 'Ability to Kill Cancer Cells' No new evidence cited that might have prompted this move

The once respected Nat'l Cancer Institute, the research agency charged w/ leading the war on cancer, is studying ivermectin as a cancer treatment.

Now in the hands of RFK's righwing loonies, NCI is testing the anti-parasitic on cancer cells. No actual data suggest the horse de-wormer treats cancer👇

AMA joins effort to launch vaccine science review amid CDC turmoil The American Medical Association and a partner group are taking on a new role in reviewing vaccine safety and effectiveness as the CDC’s review process faces criticism.

NEW: The AMA and a leading public health research group focused on vaccines are teaming up to create a parallel system to review vaccine safety and effectiveness. 
The CDC’s vaccine review process has “effectively collapsed” under RFKJr. My story.
www.washingtonpost.com/health/2026/...

Measles outbreak prompts health alert in World Cup host Jalisco, Mexico The Mexican state of Jalisco has issued a health alert and mandated face masks in schools due to a measles outbreak in the state capital.

Mexico's state of Jalisco has issued a health alert & is mandating face masks in schools in the midst of a major measles outbreak in Jalisco, a key host site for FIFA World Cup Soccer. Mexico's outbreak began last year after a Mennonite child returned home from visiting a measles hotzone in Texas👇

Evidence Review on Hep B Shot at Odds With Controversial CDC Decision Universal dose at birth is safe, effective, and protective for public health, researchers say

Hepatitis B vaccination at birth is safe, effective & protects individuals & public health. No evidence supports watering down the recommendation, a study found. RFK's CDC vax panel changed the recommendation. The Center for Infectious Disease Research & Policy says the old guidance makes sense👇

Air pollution deaths attributable to fossil fuels: observational and modelling study Objectives To estimate all cause and cause specific deaths that are attributable to fossil fuel related air pollution and to assess potential health benefits from policies that replace fossil fuels wi...

Air pollution from burning fossil fuels causes 100,000 to 200,000 avoidable American deaths per year. At the EPA's statistical value of life of $10 million, these deaths cost America $1 to $2 trillion per year, every year. These costs far outweigh the costs of transitioning off of fossil fuels.

As AI enters the operating room, reports arise of botched surgeries and misidentified body parts Medical device makers have been rushing to add AI to their products. While proponents say the new technology will revolutionize medicine, regulators are receiving a rising number of claims of patient ...

“Researchers from Johns Hopkins, Georgetown and Yale universities recently found that 60 FDA-authorized medical devices using AI were linked to 182 product recalls, according to a research letter published in the JAMA Health Forum in August.”

A metaphor for the Trump Administration & RFK Jr.’s HHS. Except Congress & the Supreme Court are the bypass pump, and they are not working under Republican control.
Our country is not well.

Fifth Circuit panel authorizes mass incarcerations February 9, 2026

A 5th Circuit panel just "endorsed Trump’s dystopian contention that any immigrant subject to deportation must be held without bond until final disposition of their case." roberthubbell.substack.com/p/fifth-circ...

Less than 14% of those arrested by ICE in Trump's 1st year back in office had violent criminal records, document shows The official DHS statistics, which had not been previously reported, provide the most detailed look yet into who ICE has arrested during the Trump administration's crackdown.

Less than 14% of those arrested by ICE in Trump's 1st year back in office had violent criminal records, document shows - Camilo Montoya-Galvez www.cbsnews.com/news/ice-arr...

A new discovery from Jeremy Nigri, a postdoc in CSHL’s Tuveson lab, shows state-of-the-art imaging from deep inside the pancreas. Read the story to find out more! @jeremynigri.bsky.social www.cshl.edu/lets-get-on-...

Trump’s name is mentioned in the Epstein files 38,000 times👇