Dr. Rowan Durrant

‘Unbelievably dangerous’: experts sound alarm after ChatGPT Health fails to recognise medical emergencies Study finds ChatGPT Health did not recommend a hospital visit when medically necessary in more than half of cases

Study finds ChatGPT Health did not recommend a hospital visit when medically necessary in more than half of cases. www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

Can safely way this is the craziest and coolest study I have led. We chart the evolution of sheeppox virus, finding it in the Eurasian steppe ~3700 years ago, and also in a LOT of parchment from medieval Europe (made from a range of animals skins!) #aDNA

The conch was blown at 5:00am. The 2026 Barkley Marathons begins in one hour. #BM100

Differences in codon usage between host-species-specific rabies virus clades are driven by UpA and purine content https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.01.12.699068v1

CpG content is higher in carnivore-associated rabies clades than in bat-associated clades. (A) Ratio of observed-to-expected CpG content, where a value of 1 indicates no bias, >1 indicates overrepresentation of CpG, and <1 indicates underrepresentation. (B) Ratio of observed-to-expected UpA content. (C) Number of CpG dinucleotides by clade. (D) Number of UpA dinucleotides by clade.

N gene sequences from all bat-associated clades except Bat LC on average contain more ZAP suboptimal binding motifs than optimal motifs, whereas some carnivore clades contain more optimal binding motifs. (A) Ratio between the number of optimal and suboptimal ZAP binding motifs by species-specific RABV clade. Note that the y-axis is log scaled. (B) Locations of CpG dinucleotides (grey), ZAP optimal motifs (pink) and ZAP suboptimal motifs (blue) on the N gene show that the acquired CpG dinucleotides in carnivore-associated clades occur both within and outside of ZAP-optimal motifs. Point size represents the proportion of sequences within each clade where each motif is present at each locus.

The most interesting finding for me was the increase in CpG content and ZAP-optimal binding motifs in carnivore-associated clades compared to bat-associated clades. Are carnivore clades less exposed to ZAP? Does carnivore ZAP work differently to bat ZAP?

Codon usage between species-specific clades is different, and shaped by purine and UpA content. (A) Principal component analysis of raw codon usage values. (B) Purine content at the third position is correlated with PC1. (C) Obs/exp UpA content is negatively correlated with PC2. The point colour represents the RABV clade. Point shape represents whether the host species is a bat (round) or a carnivore (triangle). CFB = Chinese ferret badger.

One of our findings was that the differences in codon usage between these clades appears to be associated with UpA dinucleotide content, which together with CpG are targeted by the host immune protein ZAP, and purine content, which could be involved in modulating transcription

Differences in codon usage between host-species-specific rabies virus clades are driven by UpA and purine content Viral genes sometimes use certain codons more than others due to their nucleotide content, translational efficiency, and selection pressure from the host immune system. The rabies virus (RABV) is a ne...

New preprint! We had a look at the codon and dinucleotide usage of rabies clades that circulate in specific host species, and found some interesting differences, particularly between carnivore- and bat-associated clades 👀

Coauthors on bluesky: @jdushoff.bsky.social @matt-arnold-bio.bsky.social

Check out our new print that combines dense sequencing and phylodynamics to uncover a bunch of 😎 things about an understudied virus.

- Doesn't evolve for 10 months a year ✅
- Uses some mossies for maintenance, others for spread ✅
- Established in Northeast for ~300 years ✅

Two ancient humans, including famed ‘Iceman,’ had cancer-causing virus Findings from ancient DNA may shed light on HPV’s history in our species

Ötzi and a 45,000-year-old Siberian were both infected with a cancer-causing strain of HPV.
This is fascinating, and a reminder that we have a vaccine that *prevents cancer* and everyone eligible should get it.

Drones detect deadly virus in Arctic whales' breath Whale breath collected by drones is giving clues to the health of wild humpbacks and other whales.

BBC News - Drones detect deadly virus in Arctic whales' breath
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article... (it is, in case you're wondering, cetacean morbillivirus)

McMaster research team digitizes more than 100 years of Canadian infectious disease data The new, publicly accessible database contains more than a million infectious disease incidence counts dating back to 1903.

This is a really cool project, I was lucky to have the opportunity to participate.

news.mcmaster.ca/mcmaster-res...

Inter-Clade Recombinant Mpox Virus Detected in England in a Traveller Recently Returned from Asia Inter-Clade Recombinant Mpox Virus Detected in England in a Traveller Recently Returned from Asia Authors: Steven T. Pullan1, Isobel Everall1, Rebecca Doherty1, Lucy Crossman1, Emma Wise1, Hassan Ha...

Amazing novel mpox recombination between epidemic clade 1 and 2 in returning traveller detected in UK: virological.org/t/inter-clad...

Kidney Recipient Dies After Transplant From Organ Donor Who Had Rabies

This is extremely rare and extremely awful. “The report said that organ donations are not routinely tested for rabies “because of its rarity in humans in the United States and the complexity of diagnostic testing.” @jackiantonovich.bsky.social

PhyloWeaver – Interactive phylogenetic tree editor Edit and visualize phylogenetic trees directly in your browser. PhyloWeaver lets you interactively rearrange tree topologies and export high-quality figures for publications and presentations.

I’ve released a tool to sketch and edit phylogenetic trees!
yawak.jp/PhyloWeaver/

Load a Newick file and intuitively add/remove/resize branches.
Useful for quick conceptual trees, extracting subtrees, or turning ideas into Newick.

for real though how long until someone uses this to make a completely unreproducible systematic review or something

screenshot of google scholar's new "scholar labs" page. "An AI-powered Scholar search; understands detailed questions, finds papers, and explains their relevance, all within a conversational search session"

is nothing safe from AI

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on X: "#Ethiopia has confirmed the outbreak that has infected at least 9 people in the south of the country is of #Marburg virus disease. I commend Ethiopia’s @FMoHealth for its rapid and transparent response to the outbreak, and the work of the Ethiopia Public Health Institute and" / X #Ethiopia has confirmed the outbreak that has infected at least 9 people in the south of the country is of #Marburg virus disease. I commend Ethiopia’s @FMoHealth for its rapid and transparent response to the outbreak, and the work of the Ethiopia Public Health Institute and

The outbreak in Ethiopia is #Marburg virus, the first such outbreak for this country. 9 cases so far, including some health workers. x.com/drtedros/sta...

Update on the wild #polio discovery in Germany: The virus was found in wastewater in Hamburg. @rki.de, the German public health agency, says the virus sequence is very similar to some isolated in Afghanistan, so the likely source was an infected human. (page 10 here: www.rki.de/DE/Aktuelles...)

My 1st first-author paper is out as a preprint! Excited to share the fascinating story of marine-feeding vampire bats 🌊🦇 We found that marine-diet bats were exposed to #H5#AvianFlu 🦠 from marine wildlife and could potentially spread it to livestock via blood feed🩸
doi.org/10.1101/2025.11.09.686930

Regardless of fox’s actual rabies status.

This is your reminder vaccinate for rabies. Always. Even if indoor only.

The ONLY way to test for rabies is euthanize the animal and remove brain tissue. There is no live test for rabies and your state/local health department will not play

Statement from the Public Health Agency of Canada on Canada’s Measles Elimination Status Following over 12 months of transmission across the country, PAHO confirms Canada's loss of measles elimination status. We are coordinating efforts with provinces and territories to restore the status...

BREAKING: "The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) has notified the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) that Canada no longer holds measles elimination status."

To Finish the Pandemic Agreement, WHO Needs a Trustworthy Viral Database | Think Global Health Online platforms for sharing virus sequences are in disarray. The World Health Organization has a chance to build something new

🚨 NEW: The majority holder of the world's genetic sequence data is a bad actor who can cut off access to critics and competing services. We've tolerated this for years, and now it threatens the pandemic treaty. Time for WHO to step in. With @ctrlalttim.com: www.thinkglobalhealth.org/article/to-f...

Sarawak rabies update

Sadly rabies continues there 😢 Now 80 deaths since 2017

“no record of any animal bite or scratch,“ but “handled the carcass of his pet dog in June”

(CW: angry dog photo)
51-year-old man is Sarawak’s sixth rabies fatality for 2025
www.theborneopost.com/2025/10/28/5...

Vaccine Skepticism Comes for Pet Owners, Too

Oh heck no. Anti-vaccine disinformation is now making some owners refuse to vaccinate their pets against rabies.

Evidence of latency reshapes our understanding of Ebola virus reservoir dynamics Ebola virus (EBOV) has caused severe outbreaks of haemorrhagic fever in Central and West Africa since the first observed zoonotic epidemic in the late 1970s. While recent outbreaks have revealed much ...

Our paper on the phenomenon of persistence and latency in Ebola virus in an unobserved reservoir is finally out in preprint: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

On an Arctic archipelago, frozen soil may preserve a hidden history of viruses Scientists are hunting for ancient RNA in Svalbard’s permafrost, hoping to shed light on the evolution of viral diseases

www.science.org/content/arti...

The fact that the 6 L (leucine) codons come together to form an L should be interpreted as a sign that this is a good way to visualize the aa table. 🙂

8/8

A blackboard with a drawing in several colors of chalk showing 16 squares, some subdivided, with one-letter abbreviations for amino acids and other annotations. Above is a small white square divided in four, showing ATCG (clockwise from upper left). More description provided in the thread.

Working with @rowandurrant.bsky.social on ways to visualize the amino-acid table and better understand viral evolution.

We started with a two-by scheme for nucleotides (small square), where bond partners are horizontally adjacent and transition-connected nts are vertically adjacent.

1/8

The 16th Ebola Virus Disease Outbreak in Bulape Health Zone, Kasai, Democratic Republic of the Congo: A new spillover event from an unknown reservoir host Background The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is currently facing concurrent outbreaks including mpox, cholera and malaria (1-4). The Ministry of Public Health, DRC has declared the 16th Ebola...

Sequence data from the new Ebola outbreak in DRC suggests it is indeed a new spillover.

And just incredible to see the virus sequenced and the data publicly shared less than 24 hours after confirmation of the outbreak.
#IDsky 🧪

virological.org/t/the-16th-e...

'They would never have known:' New warnings about rabies outbreaks as cases rise in the U.S. The CDC's rabies team says it's tracking 15 different likely outbreaks from New York to Oregon.

Six deaths from rabies have been reported over the last 12 months in the U.S., the highest number in years, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.