Griffin J Bell

Guinea-Bissau officials stop CDC-funded hepatitis B vaccine trial The country's foreign minister told Reuters the controversial trial is "not going to happen."

BREAKING NEWS: Unethical, CDC Infant Hep B Vaccination Study Cancelled!

The study was cancelled after Stand Up for Science held a closed door briefing with Congress last week, with an investigator on the ground in Guinea Bissau.
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www.cidrap.umn.edu/hepatitis/gu...

Geospatial and phylogenetic clustering of acute and recent HIV infections in Lilongwe, Malawi HIV transmission during early HIV infection impedes efforts to end HIV as a public health threat, as diagnosis typically occurs after this period of elevated transmission risk. To guide diagnosis and ...

Published today in @plosglobalpublichealth.org!

HIV transmission during acute and early infection impedes efforts to end the epidemic.

To guide diagnosis and prevention strategies, we evaluated the geospatial and phylogenetic clustering of acute and recent HIV infections in Lilongwe, Malawi.

Gilead to provide HIV prevention drug to 2 million people in lower-income countries at cost Gilead announced a deal to get its groundbreaking HIV prevention drug to lower income countries. Notably, the deal does not include PEPFAR.

Gilead announced a deal to get its groundbreaking HIV prevention drug to lower income countries. Notably, the deal does not include PEPFAR.
www.statnews.com/pharmalot/20...

This makes me so happy because it's so deserved! Congrats @epidbydesign.bsky.social

N.I.H. Workers Denounce Trump’s ‘Harmful’ Health Policies

One of the greatest tragedies of the gutting of the federal government is the loss of dedicated scientists who chose to work in public service for the benefit of the American people.

This letter is both incredibly brave and a testament to their integrity.
www.nytimes.com/2025/06/09/h...

It was a pleasure to share our findings on the influence of redlining on breast cancer today with Spectrum News 1. Article and interview below
spectrumlocalnews.com/nys/central-...

Time Sensitive: Public comment on Schedule F (removing civil service protections for many federal employees INCLUDING THOSE WITH AUTHORITY OVER GRANTS) ends tomorrow. Notice is here: www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/... . Comment here (green button) www.federalregister.gov/documents/20... .

Quantifying prevalence and risk factors of HIV multiple infection in Uganda from population-based deep-sequence data Author summary HIV exists as a population of genetically distinct viral variants among people living with HIV. People living with HIV can be infected with genetically distinct variants. Identification...

Interested in identifying mixed #virus populations from #NGS data & then using for #epi analyses? See our lates @plos.org paper using #HIV as an example. Big congrats to Mike Martin and Olli Ratmann! Thanks @gatesfoundation.bsky.social for funding.

journals.plos.org/plospathogen...

[BREAKING] Trump ends SA’s HIV and TB research grants - Bhekisisa Cancellation letters, which end millions of rands of South African universities’ US-government funded HIV and TB research grants with immediate effect, started to roll in over the weekend. Fears are r...

BREAKING: Message from the Trump administration ending SA’s HIV + TB research grants: “Diversity, equity, and inclusion studies … harms the health of Americans. Therefore, it is the policy of NIH not to prioritise such research programmes.” bhekisisa.org/health-news-...

BREAKING: #USAID has also terminated UNAIDS’ funding.

A 90 day pause in #PEPFAR will to lead to ~100,000 #HIV related deaths in one year. This is not considering any extension of the pause or future disruptions which we know is likely. For reference, this is DOUBLE as many people that have died in #Gaza.

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10....

BREAKING: Trump orders USAID-funded HIV organisations in SA to shut down - Bhekisisa In today’s newsletter, Mia Malan explains how US President Donald Trump ordered USAID-funded HIV organisations in SA to shut down. Sign up for our newsletter today. THIS IS A BREAKING, DEVELOPING STOR...

BREAKING: It's the end. #Trump2025 has ordered #HIV projects in SA funded through #USAID to shut down —immediately and permanently. They woke up to the letters. We'll be updating the story throughout the day. bhekisisa.org/health-news-...

What's happening with the anti-HIV program PEPFAR? It depends whom you ask The President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief has been the subject of a series of presidential orders and memos that have left uncertainty about how it operates.

"What's happening with the anti-HIV program #PEPFAR? It depends whom you ask" via @npr.org

Lifesaving Aid Remains Halted Worldwide Despite Rubio’s Promise A new directive puts further exemptions on hold. Aid workers also say the U.S. government has made it impossible to pay partners around the world.

😔😡

www.nytimes.com/2025/02/12/u...

Stopping #PEPFAR is anything but America 1st and here’s why (from a US perspective). Over the last 20 years working in Africa, I’ve watched China make massive gains here while PEPFAR has saved millions of lives and kept America influential. Cutting it now is a grave mistake.

Attention to all prospective fellows and ambitious scientists in Africa! Exciting news awaits tomorrow as we unveil and launch one of the biggest and most prestigious fellowship programs on the continent. We extend a warm invitation for all to join us either online or in person. - t.ly/U9NuB

Hi, please add me if possible. Thank you!

Curating a health #geography and #spatial epidemiology starter park

go.bsky.app/RPmVXKK

We offer several risk score algorithms based on the level of data availability, for both male and female patients. I created an R shiny application to aid the use of our risk score algorithms in practice:

griffinjbell.shinyapps.io/ahi_risk_sco...

Updated Risk Score Algorithms for Acute HIV Infection... : JAIDS Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes ifying persons at highest risk of AHI for prioritized RNA/antigen testing, but prior algorithms have not considered geospatial information, potential differences by sex, or current antibody testing pa...

Acute HIV infection (AHI) detection is challenging in most populations due to low prevalence. However, we show in our new paper in JAIDS that using risk score algorithms in STI clinics in Malawi can greatly improve the efficiency of AHI detection.

doi.org/10.1097/QAI.0000000000003519