Heather Ferguson

If I'm doing the math correctly, Musk's big pay packet yesterday could have made each of these now-dead people millionaires instead.
He is among the sickest men the world has ever produced.

Folks in the UK -please consider writing to your MP to urge them to maintain full support for the #GlobalFund. It has never been more needed following massive international aid cuts this year- and a total own goal to let infectious diseases that could affect all surge & become resistant to treatment

Aid cuts could set back fragile gains in eliminating neglected tropical diseases | Letter Letter: In response to an editorial on the uptick in malaria, Prof Heather Ferguson writes that progress against dengue, leprosy, rabies and other conditions could unravel

In response to the @theguardian.com editorial on the uptick in malaria due to #globalhealth funding cuts, I write how this also foreshadwos what’s ahead for a lower-profile but similarly devastating group of pathogens – the neglected tropical diseases.

www.theguardian.com/global-devel...

Screen shot of the 2nd page of news article in British Medical Journal, Oct 31st 2025, with title "Are deadly mosquitoes, pathogen laden ticks, and waterborne infections being brought to the UK by climate change?" Article has interview with Heather Ferguson and other scientists discussing risk of vector-borne disease in the UK under climate change.

Second page of article

Screen shot of the 1st page of news article in British Medical Journal, Oct 31st 2025, with title "Are deadly mosquitoes, pathogen laden ticks, and waterborne infections being brought to the UK by climate change?" Article has interview with Heather Ferguson and other scientists discussing risk of vector-borne disease in the UK under climate change.

Is #climatechange increasing the risk of vector-borne diseases in the UK?
My comments #BMJ
⬇️
www.bmj.com/content/391/...

Short answer - yes! But rather than focussing just on tropical pathogens & vectors moving north, most imminent risk may be increased transmission capacity in native vectors

Tanzania election: Samia Suluhu Hassan wins 98% of vote, as hundreds feared dead in unrest Demonstrations continued on Friday as young protesters denounced the election as unfair.

Thinking of all my friends and colleagues in beautiful #Tanzania. Wishing for peace, safety & security now and in the future.
BBC News - Samia wins Tanzania election with 98% of votes, as hundreds feared dead in unrest
www.bbc.com/news/article...

Witches of Dumbarton - tortured, executed and falsely accused More than two dozen people in the town were accused and tortured in the belief that they were doing Satan's bidding.

Very sad piece of local history from my home town. Glad they are planning a memorial for those women

BBC News - The witches of Dumbarton - tortured, executed and falsely accused
www.bbc.com/news/article...

Is the Subway haunted? Seven spooky ghost stories from Glasgow's underground Are you sure the stranger shoogling along next to you is really there? It seems the underground is rife with ghost stories

Clatters, demon children, & ghost cats

Is Glasgow’s Subway haunted? Opened in 1896, it’s the world’s 3rd-oldest underground metro system, & human remains – possibly from plague pits – were dug through during its construction…
#WyrdWednesday
www.glasgowlive.co.uk/news/glasgow...

Picture shows Figure 2 from new paper by Dennis et al in Evolutionary Applications (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/eva.70173). The Figure has 4 panels - A, B, C and D. Each figures has dots of 2 different colours - the yellow indicates data from mosquitoes collected in clusters with the pyrethroid-pyriproxifen nets, and blue dots are data from clusters with the standard pyrethroid-only net. Analysis of spatial population structure and diversity. (A) Principal component analysis of An. gambiae samples, with variance explained by each PC in brackets. Panels B, C and D indicate between-cluster: Timepoint FST, within cluster: Timepoint π, and per-individual FIS by treatment and year, respectively. Yellow and blue points indicate control (0) and treated (1) sites and individuals, respectively.

Can interventions both reduce malaria and destabilize vector populations? Study by Tristan Dennis & Mafalda Viana explored this using pyrethroid-pyriproxifen nets. While these nets ⬇️ malaria in Burkina Faso, they had no impact on gene flow in vector population
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Climate change will be more expensive and harmful than carbon reduction would be

The Guardian view on global aid cuts: a malaria resurgence could be the canary in the coalmine | Editorial Editorial: The consequences of Donald Trump’s decision to scrap USAID, and other countries’ decisions to reduce funding, are playing out in deadly fashion

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

#Cholera is an ancient disease we know how to prevent, yet it still devastates the poorest countries.

Vaccination is vital to control outbreaks, and investing in WASH is key to preventing them.

President Hichilema and I urge leaders to help us expand vaccine production and end cholera for good.

How attacking healthcare has become a strategy of war Gaza, Ukraine, and Sudan have put a spotlight on attacks on healthcare facilities and staff in conflict zones. The BMJ looks at the data, which seem to show a new strategy of war: removing civilians’ ...

“ Even 1 attack can break health systems down for years,” says Haar, pointing to pivotal Kunduz Hospital attack in Afghanistan. “They never rebuilt that hospital. They rebuilt a clinic, a smaller clinic, there years later. But there’s no trauma hospital on that site now” share.google/VfpE3mgXjC3M...

Non academic (Bilthoven / Utrecht, the Netherlands)
Senior infectious disease modeller to lead and coordinate complex modelling projects
with Jacco Wallinga
at RIVM
More details: http://iddjobs.org/jobs/2380

UN says 1.5M in Gaza need ’emergency assistance’ as Israel blocks crossings Israeli strikes killed at least two in Gaza yesterday despite ceasefire, aid flows remain far below needed levels.

Israeli strikes killed at least two in Gaza yesterday despite ceasefire, aid flows remain far below needed levels.

Largest study of its kind shows AI assistants misrepresent news content 45% of the time – regardless of language or territory An intensive international study was coordinated by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and led by the BBC

Yet again, we can't afford to let LLMs become a source of epistemic grounding for society.

Ending polio isn’t just a goal, it’s a promise to children everywhere. With support from global partners, governments, and health workers, we won’t stop until the job is done. #EndPolio #WorldPolioDay

@unicef.org @who.int @gatesfoundation.bsky.social

Screenshot from panel discussion from the Al Jazeera Inside Story, Oct 22/2025. Shows images of 3 guests joining the panel by video link from Pretoria, Amman and Glasgow Left to Right - Dr Joy Phumphi, African Leaders Malaria Alliance, Dr Tanja Haj-Hassan, Paediatric intensive care and humanitarian doctor & Co-founder of @GazaMedicVoices, Prof Heather Ferguson, University of Glasgow

Thx to Al Jazeera for discussion of new report by #AfricanLeadersMalariaAlliance & @malarianomore.org on expected impacts of #globalhealth funding cuts on #malaria with

Dr Joy Phumaphi
Dr Tanja Haj-Hassan

Report ⬇️

economy.zeromalaria.org

Video ⬇️

youtu.be/PBMQEAsk8_M?...

@sbohvm.gla.ac.uk

Banner advertising the talk by Professor Steven Spoel, FRSE, from the University of Edinburgh, that will take place at the University of Glasgow on Monday Oct 27th, 2025. Shows his talk title of: Breaking boundaries in Plant Sciences: Reflections on leading research and Championing Black Scientists. On the right side there is a picture of Prof Spoel. He is wearing a grey shirt, and glasses.

On behalf of the @sbohvm.gla.ac.uk #Diversity & #Inclusion committee, we are honoured to host Prof Steven Spoel FRSE from the University of Edinburgh, to give our #BlackHistoryMonth talk next week.

We are really looking forward to hearing about his inspiring work.

Gaza health crisis will last for 'generations', WHO chief warns Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus tells the BBC far more aid is needed to start tackling mounting problems in Gaza.

BBC News - Gaza health crisis will last for 'generations', WHO chief warns
www.bbc.com/news/article...

Mosquitoes arrive in Iceland - RÚV.is Three mosquitoes were found in Kjós in recent days. This has been confirmed by the Icelandic Institute of Natural History. It is the first time that mosquitoes have been discovered on Icelandic soil.

🦟 #Mosquitoes arrive in #Iceland 🇮🇸
"Three Culiseta annulata mosquitoes were found in Kjós in recent days. This has been confirmed by the Icelandic Institute of Natural History. It is the first time that mosquitoes have been discovered on Icelandic soil."

www.ruv.is/english/2025...

Life-changing eye implant helps blind patients read again The results are astounding and a major advance, say surgeons involved in international research using the pioneering technology.

"Sheila Irvine, 70, who is registered blind, told the BBC it was "out of this world" to be able to read and do crosswords again. "It's beautiful, wonderful. It gives me such pleasure."

BBC News - Life-changing eye implant helps blind patients read again - BBC News
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

The article is grim reading - perilous times for sustaining HIV elimination progress

Fiji becomes the 26th country to eliminate trachoma as a public health problem

Fiji makes history!
In a landmark public health achievement, Fiji has been validated by WHO for eliminating trachoma as a public health problem.

✅ Trachoma — a neglected tropical disease (NTD) and the world’s leading infectious cause of blindness — is the first NTD to be eliminated in Fiji.

UNAids is set to close in 2026 – four years early. Are experts right to be alarmed? The move to shut the agency comes as aid budgets are being slashed, leading to fears that global progress on HIV may be reversed

"The HIV epidemic will go under the surface..Some countries could completely cut their HIV response within 1-2 yrs, we won’t know what is happening, & then in 5 yrs’), we will start to see wider breakouts with HIV detected in [kids], women & medical facilities.”
www.theguardian.com/global-devel...

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Kemi Badenoch wants to end ‘rip-off degrees’ – but I wouldn’t have created Horrid Henry without mine | Francesca Simon I studied Old and Middle English. Although I didn’t know it, I couldn’t have chosen a better subject to train me to become a children’s author, says author Francesca Simon

"Any “soft” arts subject such as history, English, theology, foreign languages, teaches how to think critically, research effectively, and deepens your understanding of the world: vital skills in our time of disinformation, cults and AI."

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Great article on #globalhealth funding crisis
"The call for developing countries to increase domestic health spending confronts a debt crisis that makes such investments nearly impossible for many governments. > 60 countries worldwide now spend more on debt service than on their health systems."

👀👀🤩

Almost 55,000 children in Gaza acutely malnourished, Lancet study estimates Study shows clear link between Israeli restrictions on aid entering Gaza and levels of malnutrition among children

The study found two years of war had led to “enormous nutritional consequences” for tens of thousands of children across Gaza
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/o...