#TB
As I keep saying- we r not far away from the day when TB will lose it’s status of being the disease of socioeconomic vulnerable alone
It is airborne & all of us share that space @organicbotanic.bsky.social
#TB
As I keep saying- we r not far away from the day when TB will lose it’s status of being the disease of socioeconomic vulnerable alone
It is airborne & all of us share that space @organicbotanic.bsky.social
rimum non nocere.
First, do no harm.
Are we applying this principle to TB preventive therapy in the era of primary drug resistance? A question the global TB community can no longer defer. #TB #GlobalHealth #MedEthics @organicbotanic.bsky.social @microlabdoc.bsky.social
So much for the hype
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
#AI
What worries me most is that the whole of us living through current times are actually unaware of its large scale impact
What I ask- Is the human good actually irrevocably linked to development of AI OR Is AI, the new nuclear-An elitist choice @organicbotanic.bsky.social
#TB
Current TB control programs, particularly in high-burden regions like India, often rely on risk-based screening that may overlook a significant number of cases outside defined high-risk categories, potentially hindering elimination efforts
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Most corrosive is the normalization:
Victims treated as collateral
Truth delayed until it’s politically or reputationally safe
Outrage that flares briefly, then fades
It isn’t just committing harm—it’s looking away, explaining it away, or waiting for someone else to act @organicbotanic.bsky.social
It isn’t just criminality at the margins—it’s how power, money & prestige can hollow out moral guardrails
When abuse is hidden in plain sight, enabled by silence, NDAs, institutions & social clubs, it tells us something uncomfortable: accountability weakens as influence grows @elhopkins.bsky.social
#Rabies
#NeglectedTropicalDisease
youtu.be/Sadmx_nTVY8
The honest takeaway:
Historically, "reactivation" was assumed without proof. Molecular tools revealed this was often wrong.
The deeper insight? For patients: treat early. For populations: tailor strategy to local transmission dynamics.
One size fits all = ineffective TB control.
Drug resistance changes everything:
Old view: Resistance = poor adherence New evidence: Drug-resistant strains are TRANSMITTED
In some settings, 78% of drug-resistant TB comes from transmission of already-resistant strains. Recent transmission drives the MDR-TB epidemic.
For TB control, timing is CRITICAL:
Recent transmission (0-2 yrs)
Active transmission chains to interrupt
High immediate risk to contacts
44-78% of drug-resistant TB is transmitted, not acquired
Reactivation (>2 yrs):
Isolated events from latent reservoir
No active chain to trace
For individual patients, timing is irrelevant:
Same clinical presentation
Same treatment outcomes
Same treatment duration
Host immunity (not timing) determines disease severity
What matters? Early diagnosis. 16.8 weeks to treatment = transmission. 8.5 weeks = no transmission.
#TB
#PostAcute
#Reactivation
The TB paradigm was wrong in 2 ways
We overestimated reactivation (molecular tools showed 30-80% is recent transmission in endemic areas)
We assumed the distinction mattered clinically (it doesn't)
But timing DOES matter epidemiologically. Here's ?
#Nipah
The condition of two nurses, who tested positive for the Nipah virus in Kolkata, remain critical
The confirmed cases of Nipah virus include two nurses, a doctor, & a health staff member.
100 quarantined @organicbotanic.bsky.social
#TBRiskFraming
How it is said matters
“Given current 2nd-line drug availability & costs, expected MDR-TB mortality is 40% "
Reality: 2nd-line drug cost $1,000-5,000 for 18 month t/t while generic would cost $100-500
40% mortality is pharmaceutical profit prioritization, not biological inevitability
#Nipah
History of NVD in West Bengal
Siliguri in 2001 with reports of person-to-person transmission in hospital settings (nosocomial transmission)
Nadia in 2007, reporting five cases & five deaths; 100% mortality @organicbotanic.bsky.social @elhopkins.bsky.social
#Nipah
India rushes to contain deadly Nipah virus outbreak after five cases confirmed
West Bengal & Kerala in India have had a history with Nipah Virus Disease as cases have been found in past as well
@organicbotanic.bsky.social @brownecfm.bsky.social
The study claims that “findings highlight the need for further research to identify potential protective factors that may have promoted resilience among children exposed to the COVID-19 pandemic”
Is this biologically plausible @njbbari3.bsky.social @drinfosec.bsky.social @microlabdoc.bsky.social
#CovidInKids
Covid as Protective factor?
Resilience?
I thought resilience was a socio-cultural construct
Precisely why I have reservations with evidence alone science, evidence constructed through statistical power
@organicbotanic.bsky.social @elhopkins.bsky.social
jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...
#Tuberculosis
Malnutrition-known to be a risk factor for making TB symptomatic.
But our recent experience using a case-control design saw that this & other known risk factors may actually be over exaggerated @organicbotanic.bsky.social @elhopkins.bsky.social @microlabdoc.bsky.social
#CovidInKid
#CleanAirInSchools
The mis-information that it doesn’t impact kids has been busted many times over, yet our effort to correct that is very limited or restricted
@organicbotanic.bsky.social @elhopkins.bsky.social @drinfosec.bsky.social
www.dimsumdaily.hk/hong-kong-re...
#CARCON
#NeglectedTropicalDiseases
#DogBite
#OtherAnimalBite
Come & join us as we explore the socio-cultural contextualisation of animal bite & the solutions there to
@organicbotanic.bsky.social @elhopkins.bsky.social
#ClimateChange
Is India witnessing it’s worst floods in the current century
If we go by the situation in North & Northeast India, it may well be
@organicbotanic.bsky.social
#Floods
While climate science is the earliest to recognise “Outliers/extreme weather conditions” as critical, is it too late to prevent the impact of these?
Have we moved so far ahead that preventing devastation is impossible? @elhopkins.bsky.social @organicbotanic.bsky.social
#Floods
It continues to rain, it continues to flood
www.youtube.com/live/iO356o9...
#Vaccination
Show this to the those who say “vaccines are harmful”
@organicbotanic.bsky.social @elhopkins.bsky.social @drinfosec.bsky.social
www.bbc.com/news/article...
Covid-19 cases are rising nationwide in US fuelled by the Stratus variant, The CDC states that the national test +vty rate hit 9.9 % in the past week up 1.4 percent from last week.
www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/u...
#Science
It was never about “I”
Unfortunately that is being challenged now @organicbotanic.bsky.social @brownecfm.bsky.social @drinfosec.bsky.social @microlabdoc.bsky.social
#ClimateChange
India, the country that houses the most humans on this planet is expected to face twice as many heatwave days, 43% rise in extreme rainfall by 2030 @organicbotanic.bsky.social @elhopkins.bsky.social
