Prof Sheena Cruickshank

Sleeping cat with paw tucked over eyes

We have all felt like this #Caterday

Yup in my thread

For whatever reason people are influenced though by voices in power so please please do consider getting independent and proper medical or scientific advice because they are the ones who spent decades of their lives studying this stuff- not Trump and not RFKjr

RFK Jr tells Congress ‘people shouldn’t take medical advice from me’ Health secretary demurs on questions about vaccine stance and defends Republican plans to cut healthcare

I am not saying that avoiding Tylenol or using a folate carries the same risk but the point is that neither Trump nor RFKjr are medically qualified. Indeed RFKjr said ‘people shouldn’t take medical advice from me’

Mortality outcomes with hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine in COVID-19 from an international collaborative meta-analysis of randomized trials - Nature Communications Hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine have been investigated as a potential treatment for Covid-19 in several clinical trials. Here the authors report a meta-analysis of published and unpublished trials,...

But his statements about the drug hydroxychloroquine as a covid treatment which was based on shaky research that was subsequently retracted as fraudulent. Use of this drug has been linked with thousands of deaths.

YouTube video by NBC New York President Trump Suggests ‘Injecting’ Disinfectant as Coronavirus Cure | NBC New York

Now cast your mind back to Trump when he was doing regular press conferences about covid… And no not the one where he displayed his *profound scientific skills * by suggesting we inject ourselves with bleach to tackle the virus causing covid….

Changes in paracetamol and leucovorin use after a White House briefing Changes in federal prescribing recommendations follow deliberate and transparent processes involving US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) scientists, which normally include input from stakeholders an...

FDA labels on the drug were then updated stating its potential for cerebral folate deficiency treatment. And guess what …… for these have increased

What is leucovorin, the drug the FDA approved to treat autism? This week the FDA approved the generic drug as a treatment for autism – a move that shocked health experts

RFKjr and Trump have also promoted leucovorin - vitamin b9 derivative- as a therapy that will benefit children with autism despite a lack of clear research linking folate deficiency in autism and therefore any benefits of supplementation!

What the current disinformation and discussions on vaccines, Tylenol (Paracetamol), autism could mean for us all. Disinformation and Disarray in American Health Policy Making

To be clear there is NO such risk of Tylenol use with pregnancy or in children and large studies have refuted these baseless claims finding no link between Tylenol and autism (summary below)

Babies with COVID-19 develop more serious disease than those with RSV, US data reveal

Last year both RFKJr and Trump made unfounded claims in a White House briefing & social media that Tylenol (paracetamol) use in pregnancy was linked to the infant developing autism. Now early data suggests that there is a reduction in Tylenol use in pregnant women #HealthPolicy 🧵

Babies with COVID-19 develop more serious disease than those with RSV, US data reveal

More data on the risks of covid (and RSV) on infants for severe disease and hospitalisation . Covid Vaccine in pregnancy can reduce this risk - however UK doesn’t offer this now nor does it offer infant vaccines unless they have a weakened immune system. I do hope this recommendation will change.

The State of US Vaccine Policy — Mar 5, 2026

Excellent round up of what is happening re vaccines in the states and how you can make your feelings known about the nomination of a surgeon general who is evasive about supporting vaccines

Expert meeting on US measles elimination status delayed to November A meeting of an international panel of experts that was set to review the United States' ​measles elimination status next month has been postponed until November, the Pan American ‌Health Organization...

The US was set to lose its measles free status but an intervention by HHS has delayed the discussion until AFTER midterms and action on this as they claim they need more time to look at data

Meanwhile the new nomination for surgeon general couldn’t bring herself to recommend measles vaccines or acknowledge no links between the vaccine and autism…

South Carolina measles outbreak: How much is it costing taxpayers to bring it under control? State health officials have tallied the cost of combatting the outbreak so far. The bills are still coming in.

Fortunately Carolina, at the epicentre of the largest current outbreak is taking action to combat this but at significant costs

Trump administration is failing to address spread of measles, experts say As number of cases climbs past 1,000, experts say CDC is not taking obvious steps amid funding cuts

CDC leadership and RFKJr is utterly failing to respond adequately to the measles epidemic continuing in USA, due to cuts in funding monitoring and reporting of infection has been cut back which further muddies the picture of how bad measles is in the States. 🧵 #HealthPolicy

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Trump ousts DHS secretary Kristi Noem and replaces her with Republican senator Noem’s tenure was marked by killings of US citizens by federal agents, a rumored affair and $220m spent on ads

About time. But what the hell is special envoy for the Shield of americas?

Measles meets ICE detention. What could possibly go wrong?

Gut physiology and environment explain variations in human gut microbiome composition and metabolism - Nature Microbiology An observational longitudinal clinical trial, incorporating a SmartPill and metabolomics, reveals the role of host factors in shaping the gut microbiome in healthy human adults.

Today we publish an (in my opinion) important paper in
@naturemicrobiol.bsky.social 🍾 showing that gut physiology and environment are factors explaining substantial variations in human gut #microbiome composition and #metabolism🦠
Fantastic work Procházková et al. 👏
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Finally, spring gearing up in the garden and even a bee enjoying the crocuses

5 Logical fallacies in the era of RFK Jr. Common rhetorical tricks that are trending right now

This is fantastic from Kristen Panthagani on the common disinformation tropes RFKJr uses to reduce trust in and now access to vaccines. Learn how to spot these common logical fallacies.

"I see nothing in the data"

Bhattacharya urges measles vaccination as US activity increases

As the US case number of measles spirals ever more (>1000already) following a year where over 2000 cases occurred, one statement on X by Bhattacharya urging vaccination is too little too late given the anti-vax policies RFKJr et al have pushed

Yikes!

😮😮

Nooooo!

😬😬😬😬

Noooooo!

Fun days with late night lectures - either my wifi disconnected or some idiot interfered with the lectern PC display set up. Oh the joys. The students were ever so kind but I hate those incidents when nothing works as it should! Gah. Please share your own teaching disasters & make feel less useless