Charlene Rodrigues

Glad to see the cricket bat made it with Bray!

The value of public R&D

Government has published one of those quiet but important documents that might get overlooked as it is not 'newsy'. The headline finding is that £1 of public R&D investment generates £8 in net economic benefits for the UK over the long term
www.gov.uk/government/p...

Meningitis and septicaemia are rare but serious. Protect children with the MenB vaccine and ensure teens get MenACWY at school when offered.

Know the key symptoms and keep a close watch on those who suddenly get sick.

Read the full news story: https://bit.ly/3X606ZQ

#WHO report shows rising #antibiotic resistance in common bacteria

@katholt.bsky.social & @josebengoechea.bsky.social explain resistance worryingly high in #Klebsiella & E.coli as 1 in 6 lab-confirmed #bacterial infections in 2023 shown resistant to antibiotics.

www.lshtm.ac.uk/newsevents/n...

🌍🧼 Today on #CleanHospitalDay we shine a spotlight on what’s often unseen: hospital cleanliness and the unsung heroes who keep it safe.

👉Surfaces matter.
💁‍♂️Cleaners matter.
🤝Patient safety matters.

Let’s make the invisible visible👍

Read more 👉 bit.ly/3L3ILhn

Asked lots about this piece on Chronic Lyme disease, and disappointed in the @guardian (a publication I both subscribe and contribute to) for running it. Short thread explaining the multitude of problems with it, and why I consider it irresponsible to run as is..🧵

Pathogen distribution and antimicrobial resistance among neonatal bloodstream infections in Southeast Asia: results from NeoSEAP, a multicentre retrospective study Neonatal sepsis in tertiary hospitals in Southeast Asia is predominantly caused by gram-negative bacteria, with high rates of non-susceptibility to commonly prescribed antibiotics.

Across Southeast Asia most newborn infections are now caused #AMR bugs, making standard treatments for neonatal sepsis ineffective. Without updated, locally informed treatment guidelines and new antibiotic development, infant mortality rates will rise.

www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...

🤗 Out now @naturemedicine.bsky.social results of our genomic NBS study BabyScreen+ 👶🧬

👉 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

1,000 babies
WGS using existing cards
600+ conditions
13 day TAT
16 diagnoses (vs 1 in std NBS)
High clinical impact
High parental acceptability

CDC has been a global leader in public health & played a key role in smallpox eradication. Health depts in red states & blue states rely on CDC expertise & support. The CDC EIS program trains the next generation of public health leaders & disease detectives.

They are burning it to the ground.

RIFs at CDC.

Destroying the Epidemic Intelligence Service, NCIRD, NCIPC & a dozen other areas/divisions/branches will cause enormous harm and suffering to America, and indeed to the whole world.

Call your Reps about it.

Then call them again.

For more information about the Friday night massacre at CDC, I wrote up an analysis of who got terminated and what that means for public health.

Grateful to @saveamericamvmt.bsky.social for supporting and amplifying. We are in really terrible trouble.

rasmussenretorts.substack.com/p/the-death-...

Don’t become numb to these events

Ciprofloxacin resistance in Klebsiella pneumoniae: phenotype prediction from genotype and global distribution of resistance determinants BACKGROUND Ciprofloxacin resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae is common or emerging in many geographies, and knowledge of local resistance rates is important for empirical therapy. Whilst there are known K...

Come for the Klebs resistance data, stay for the DataViz! Massive congratulations to @karatsang.bsky.social on juggling such a huge meta-analysis; Ciprofloxacin resistance in Klebsiella pneumoniae: phenotype, genotype, global resistance patterns #MicroSky 💻🧬 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Congenital rubella syndrome and autism spectrum disorder prevented by rubella vaccination--United States, 2001-2010 - PubMed We estimate that rubella vaccination prevented substantial numbers of CRS and ASD cases in the United States from 2001 through 2010. These findings provide additional incentive to maintain high measle...

MMR vaccines do not cause autism (see my 🧵 of studies)

At the same time, one potential cause of autism is rubella, which is *prevented* by MMR vaccines.

Which means...vaccines may actually help prevent autism.

🧵

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21592401/

The CDC presents the benefits/risks of administering the hepatitis B vaccine and the risk/dangers of revoking the recommendation. Serious side effects like life-threatening allergic reactions occur only one in 1 million doses.
#ACIP

I just saw a patient with liver cancer from hepatitis B that was acquired at birth. Vaccination would’ve prevented it.

There’s been a 99% reduction in annual childhood hep B infections since 1991 thanks to universal birth dose vaccination. We can’t afford to roll back that progress.

Thrilled to share this preprint on Klebsiella pneumoniae plasmids in a One Health setting 🦠 Fantastic work by @twinkler.bsky.social! 🎉 @irenlohr.bsky.social @margaretlam.bsky.social

‘Kissing bug’ disease is now endemic in the U.S., CDC says. What is it? The U.S. is seeing a rise in Chagas disease, a life-threatening illness transmitted through “kissing bugs” known to bite human faces. Pets can be carriers.

“Non-imported cases of Chagas disease have been identified in at least eight U.S. states so far: California, Arizona, Texas, Tennessee, Louisiana, Missouri, Mississippi and Arkansas.” www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/...

Newborn hepatitis B vaccine under fire as RFK Jr. and GOP Senators question immunization The CDC's vaccine advisory panel is set to discuss and possibly vote on the vaccine at a meeting next week.

Vaccinating babies at birth has reduced hepatitis B infections by 99 percent. Is RFK’s new CDC committee about to stop recommending it?
share.google/9e3BTpcrGKSY...

Do NOT allow them to rewrite history with disinformation. #COVID vaccines worked remarkably well and allowed us to come out of a global pandemic. A picture is worth a thousand words.

Really incredible effort by the indefatigable @nurseteria.bsky.social to raise awareness of what we are going to bring back by stripping access to vaccination 👇🏻

UK Government dismantles the Fleming Fund On July 15, 2025, the UK Government confirmed that it planned to dismantle the country’s flagship international programme for tackling antimicrobial resistance (AMR). The Fleming Fund is overseen by t...

“The decision to close the Fleming Fund was not accompanied by an official statement or press release.”

www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...

'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.

The rabies virus invades the central nervous system and is almost always fatal once symptoms start. Early symptoms, which can begin about a week or up to a year after exposure, may resemble the flu with symptoms progressing quickly followed by death within weeks.
www.nbcnews.com/health/healt...

If you’ve ever compared unvaccinated kids to vaccinated kids, you’ve seen the former are more likely to die.

Wildfires rage across southern Europe as temperatures pass 40C The heatwave has led to red alerts being issued in parts of Italy, France, Spain, Portugal and the Balkans.

Spain is on fire. Italy, Greece, Portugal — all burning. We have had summer fires before, but never like this. This is climate breakdown in real time. It is killing people, animals, and our future. DAMN the climate deniers. DAMN those who know and could do but do NOTHING www.bbc.com/news/article...

Medical school prerequisites should include microbiology Medical schools must make microbiology a prerequisite — to prepare students not just for school but for practicing medicine.

"It’s easy to assume microbiology matters only for infectious disease specialists, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Every field of medicine — from surgery to oncology to cardiology — relies on microbiological knowledge."

🎯

www.statnews.com/2025/07/16/m...

CDC Newsroom Press releases, advisories, telebriefings, transcripts and archives.

Almost 4,000 babies were born with syphilis in the U.S. in 2023—a 740% rise in the last decade.

What prevents congenital syphilis? Prenatal care + penicillin.

Who pays for those most at risk? Medicaid.

www.cdc.gov/media/releas...
www.nga.org/publications...
publications.aap.org/aapnews/news...

Distribution of capsule and O types in Klebsiella pneumoniae causing neonatal sepsis in Africa and South Asia: meta-analysis of genome-predicted serotype prevalence and potential vaccine coverage Background: Klebsiella pneumoniae causes ~20% of sepsis in neonates, with ~40% crude mortality. A vaccine administered to pregnant women, protecting against 70% of K. pneumoniae infections, could aver...

I'm super happy to share this preprint on ‘Distribution of capsule and O types in #Klebsiella pneumoniae causing neonatal sepsis in Africa and South Asia: meta-analysis of genome-predicted serotype prevalence and potential vaccine coverage’
doi.org/10.1101/2025...

PhD Microbial Genomics for Health Protection, Biosciences - University of Birmingham PhD in Microbial Genomics, exciting new Doctoral Training Programme in Microbial Genomics for Health Protection in collaboration with the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) launches

An exciting new Doctoral Training Programme in Microbial Genomics for Health Protection, in collaboration with the UK Health Security Agency @ukhsa.bsky.social, has just launched, funded by @nihr.bsky.social there are 9 PhD projects available (UK students only) www.birmingham.ac.uk/research/cen...

**NEW Doctoral Training Programme just launched!!** This exciting programme on Microbial Genomics for Health Protection is joint between @imibirmingham.bsky.social and UKHSA @ukhsa.bsky.social. 9 brilliant projects available!!