Jess Meisner, MD MS MSHP (she/her)

The CDC Has Been Gutted Thousands of CDC employees who worked on things like preventing HIV and lead poisoning have been told they were subject to a reduction in force. Experts say people will die.

NEW: Thousands of CDC employees who worked on things like preventing HIV and lead poisoning have been told they were subject to a reduction in force. Experts say people will die.

Opinion | As physicians, we're pleading with you to get a little angrier Anger is usually looked down upon, even pathologized, but we're living in a moment where getting angry is necessary.

Brilliant opinion piece by a brilliant friend and colleague @jabarocas.bsky.social about why we need your help in fighting for healthcare!!

www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnb...

Fantastic article by Courtenay Harris Bond of @phillyvoice.com about PPP's Sana Clinic, which provides personalized, wraparound care for people living with HIV. Special thanks to Dr. @jessmeisner.bsky.social + patient Mark Knox for sharing their knowledge and experience for the piece.

The abrupt terminations of more than 1,000 employees, including new Epidemic Intelligence Officers, across CDC are deeply disturbing. For more than 70 years, EIS officers have served on America’s front line as its disease detectives, ready at a moment’s notice to respond to emerging outbreaks.

To come out of a pandemic where public health workers saved millions of lives and then decide to decimate the public health infrastructure rather than invest and expand it is literal lunacy.

…aaaannnnd

never was I EVER so happy to see some websites about STIs working!!!

Cc: @jabarocas.bsky.social and @drjrmarcelin.bsky.social and @paulsaxmd.bsky.social and @mgh-id.bsky.social

www.cdc.gov/std/treatmen...

Imagine if university presidents instead of cowering, called up their faculty too speak in a round-the-clock marathon across the nation about how their research serves every American who has ever faced illness and disease.

Unfortunately and unsurprisingly, the administration continues to charge ahead, running roughshod over norms, laws, and the dignity of and most basic protections for the people most vulnerable to infections. Many of the changes are summarized here, up to date as of Feb 4. Who will speak up, or better still, ACT UP for these individuals? The National Science Foundation has reportedly shared with program officers a list of forbidden "DEI"-related words that will result in grants being flagged. These include routinely used terms like "female", "biased", "systemic", "inclusion" and "exclusion" along with other words that specifically target vulnerable populations. While few clinical researchers rely on NSF grants, it can be reasonably expected that similar censorship with grants from NIH, CDC, etc is inevitable. USAID funding remains frozen, and in fact there are reports of efforts underway to eliminate the entire agency. The effects have already been devastating for programs dedicated to controlling TB, malaria, and HIV, among others. Despite claims that these would be exempt, distribution of antiretrovirals remains frozen. The Senate Finance committee advanced RFK Jr for confirmation as HHS Secretary. Kennedy's disdain for evidence-based medicine is no secret. He is a conspiracy theorist who engages in dangerous race-based pseudoscience. The IDSA has fallen short of other professional societies (e.g. the American Public Health Association, which represents 25,000 public health professionals) in calling for the outright rejection of RFK Jr's nomination. The CDC and NIH remain muzzled, unable to communicate with interstate or international agencies or the public. They have been instructed to recall submitted or accepted manuscripts to scrub objectionable language. They remain barred from traveling until at least the end of April. How will these actions affect our ability to detect and respond to infectious disease outbreaks?

Meanwhile, our members are experiencing significant moral injury, and some have expressed levels of morale that rival the nadirs felt during the worst of COVID19. Every day it is a new insult, the cumulative effect being the disassembly of public health protections and further marginalization of the most vulnerable in society. Reticence to call attention to ourselves, potentially putting our work in the administration's cross hairs, is entirely understandable. After all, we don't want to imperil existing and ongoing advocacy efforts, including those related to bolstering the ID workforce. A sober analysis would concede that the likelihood of any potential actions moving the needle on any of these issues is low. I would argue, however, that standing up for what is right is the most important thing we can do to reinforce our commitment to social justice and to our members and the patients in our care. What we can do and how we can do it is up for debate; some bold ideas have already been presented in the IDea exchange forum and I welcome further input from colleagues. What is certain is that as rank-and-file individuals, our voices can easily be dismissed, but as a trusted, bipartisan professional organization that represents >13,000 infectious diseases experts, we cannot be ignored, and we must not allow ourselves to cower in silence. The reality is that things are going to get worse, and standing up to the assault on public health will only get more difficult as the administration becomes further emboldened and the actions set in motion gather steam. In the words of John Lewis, "If not us, then who? If not now, then when?"

I am deeply disappointed by the subdued response of the Infectious Diseases Society of America (@idsainfo.bsky.social) to the dismantling of public health structures, both in the US & globally

Here's what I wrote in the closed listserv (response: 🦗) in hopes of stimulating discussion here #IDSky

Congratulations to Dr. Arianne Morrison on receipt of a CFAR pilot grant for her project entitled, "Barriers and Facilitators of PrEP Uptake and PrEP Coverage among US People Assigned Female at Birth!” This study will increase knowledge that will help advance public health and PrEP access!

🧵 When Medicine and Science Ignores Diversity, People Die.
1/ Ignoring diversity in medicine and science is deadly. From unethical experiments to life-threatening misdiagnoses, history is replete with examples of how neglecting race, gender, and identity costs lives. A thread of concrete examples.

Disappointed to see Senator Bill Cassidy, a fellow physician, vote to confirm RFK Jr.

This isn’t about politics. It’s about public trust in science, medicine, and the people we entrust with leadership. We need representatives who stand up for facts, not conspiracy theories.

This is the front page of a fraudulent research article that purported to show a link between vaccines and autism. The word "RETRACTED" is written across it in large red letters. Wikipedia: On 28th February 1998, a fraudulent research paper by physician Andrew Wakefield and twelve coauthors, titled "Ileal-Lymphoid-Nodular Hyperplasia, Non-Specific Colitis, and Pervasive Developmental Disorder in Children", was published in the British medical journal The Lancet.[1] The paper falsely claimed causative links between the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine and colitis and between colitis and autism. The fraud involved data selection, data manipulation, and two undisclosed conflicts of interest.

Today is Retraction Day, when we observe the anniversary of the retraction (Feb. 2, 2010) of the fraudulent paper that purported to show a link between vaccines and autism. 🧪#medsky

PLEASE SHARE WIDELY #medsky #IDsky #obgynsky #pedsky
CDC STI treatment guidelines have been taken down. They are archived here 👇
web.archive.org/web/20250131...

Downloaded CDC Data And Where To Find It Journalists and scientists are downloading a bunch of public health data they suspect might be at risk of deletion. Instead of all of us privately reinventing the wheel over and over, what if we share...

If you're a journalist downloading CDC data today, please consider filling out this form so we have a centralized guide to who has what. docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

The removal of #HIV- and #LGBTQ-related resources from the websites of CDC and other health agencies is deeply concerning.

Access to this information is crucial for ID and HIV health care professionals.

Our full statement: https://buff.ly/42AO8LI

Holy shit, did the CDC take down the 2021 STI Treatment guideline?! #IDSky

‼️ CDC STI guidelines, Doxypep, PrEP guidelines all seem to be GONE ‼️

I have the STI, HIV, and ACIP ones. Working on seeing if @pidsociety.bsky.social or @idsainfo.bsky.social can host copies of things.

Does anybody have the cdc doxy pep guidelines downloaded on their computer?

#idsky #pedsidsky

@idsainfo.bsky.social needs to take action and help guide us. This is unacceptable and horrifying

Treating and preventing infections impact EVERONE’s health. And yet… the current administration has removed pages from the CDC website. Almost everything related to HIV and STDs is now gone. This is unacceptable and should terrify everyone on whats to come.

Trump Administration Halts H.I.V. Drug Distribution in Poor Countries (Gift Article) PEPFAR’s computer systems also are being taken offline, a sign that the program may not return, as Republican critics had hoped.

This will kill people. The party that’s “pro life” is showing their hand for which lives they truly care about: their own. #IDSky

CDC ordered to stop working with WHO immediately, upending expectations of an extended withdrawal U.S. public health officials have been told to stop working with the World Health Organization, effective immediately. The surprise decision is focused on the U.S.

The CDC ordered to stop working with WHO immediately.

The policy applied to all CDC staff engaging with WHO “through technical working groups, coordinating centers, advisory boards, cooperative agreements or other means — in person or virtual.” What’s the end game here??

#BlueSky  #MedSky 🧪

Just notified that the 2025 Presidential Advisory Council on Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria (PACCARB) meeting was cancelled as a result of this.

Valuable meeting on antimicrobial resistance & such a disappointment this is cancelled.

#IDSky #EpiSky

PACCARB: www.hhs.gov/ash/advisory...

Does anyone know why the GERM grant from @idsainfo.bsky.social was suddenly put on pause? Especially in the middle of the application cycle? Feels like a bad way to continue to attract young minds to ID 🤷‍♀️ #idsky

Congratulations and welcome to our 2025 incoming fellowship class! We are so excited to welcome these amazing future ID physicians to the program!

Injectable medicine is life saving.
#idsky #harmreductionsky

Looking back on 2024 with ID Consults Wrapped 😂 💊🦠💉 #IDSky #TIDSky @ucla-id-fellowship.bsky.social @ricardolahozmd.bsky.social @aussiedocwolfe.bsky.social @kottonnelson.bsky.social @idbugbowl.bsky.social

Philly’s zoning board voted to bar a Kensington addiction nonprofit from hosting multiple medical providers A zoning decision to limit medical providers working at the nonprofit health center could delay medical care.

This decision will negatively impact not only the health of the patients but the entire community. Limiting medical care is hateful. www.inquirer.com/health/opioi...

Mobile Services: Addressing the “Invisible Obstacles” of Substance Use Disorder | Prevention Point By: Theo Fountain

Mobile services save lives.
“I know I’d have never started Suboxone, a medication I still rely on, had it not been offered on that Prevention Point bus.”
ppponline.org/blog/mobile-...

Hi everyone! Make sure you follow @preventionpointphl.bsky.social! Especially those in #harmreduction or #idsky

Recognizing how how amazing our patients are. At the time of this writing, 15 patients were using our HIV primary care clinic for 2 years w/out missing a dose of long-acting medication. Now, 30 patients haven't missed a dose in 2.5+ years. @jessmeisner.bsky.social academic.oup.com/ofid/article...