Delthia Ricks

The stark contrast between Rwanda’s handling of a deadly Marburg virus outbreak this year & the rest of the world’s chaotic response to #Covid provides textbook lessons in how to properly respond to a threat and how to make a threat worse www.telegraph.co.uk/global-healt...

Interesting #LongCovid development: low-dose Naltrexone has been linked to improvements for some #LongCovid patients. The drug is FDA-approved & non-addictive & commonly used to treat alcohol & opioid use disorders. However, the lack of a control group may limit the findings' impact 👇

If Obama had put a former heroin addict in charge of premier health & science agencies all hell would've broken loose. Yet here we are w/ RFKjr's wicked racism, his anti-vax nuttery & his ugly, bloated leatherette face. Arabs invented Algebra & the numerals of math itself: 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9👇

This lady voted for Trump every time. Then she developed cancer and the bills started pouring in. Now, frustrations over healthcare and rising prices have sapped support for Trump & Republicans www.medpagetoday.com/washington-w... 👇

The plain fact of it is thus: the Trump administration wants to re-segregate higher education. It is a racist project straight-up-no-chaser. Accommodating any of this puts you on the wrong side of history, makes you a collaborator in this project. ballsandstrikes.org/law-politics...

Be a public health voter. Because your health and your community's health is on the ballot. @defendpublichealth.bsky.social

HHS wants a new Medicare code that pays doctors extra only when they attribute a patient’s symptoms to a vaccine. Vaccine critics say doctors are paid to push vaccines. We aren’t. Under this code, we’d be paid to blame them. My new piece in @cidrap.bsky.social: www.cidrap.umn.edu/childhood-va...

After a stunning election victory for President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in Brazil, U.S. right-wingers are falling back on an old favorite: baseless claims that the contest was rigged. www.ms.now/news/flavio-...

Global burden of cancer attributable to infections in 2024: a worldwide incidence analysis www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...

This tiny squid, captured on a #MegaSPIM light sheet microscope, is helping scientists understand how cephalopods detect changes in their aquatic environment. 🦑 Learn more: bit.ly/48lUArz #MicroscopyMonday @carsten-wolff.bsky.social @mblscience.bsky.social

mRNA melanoma vaccine cuts risk of recurrence or death, leaked trial data show: "We may be witnessing the beginning of an entirely new way of treating cancer," oncologist says www.medpagetoday.com/meetingcover...

Camptothecin transformation in plant-associated Sphingobium lineages is linked to a plasmid accessory region. Plasmid accessory genes enable camptothecin transformation in plant-associated Sphingobium. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... #OpenAccess #rhizosphere #MicroSky

MrhbtA, a C₂H₂-type transcription factor, promotes hyphal branching and azaphilone biosynthesis in Monascus ruber M7. MrhbtA promotes fungal branching and increases azaphilone pigment production. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... #OpenAccess #fungi #mycology #MicroSky

Maggots: an easily overlooked indicator insect of the distribution and receptor bacteria of ARGs. Maggots can indicate environmental ARG pollution and facilitate antibiotic resistance transfer www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... #OpenAccess #AntibioticResistance #MicroSky

@science.org reporting today that Vikaas Sohal was the leading candidate for NIMH Director, but was told this week that HHS is going in a different direction (see article) 🧪 www.science.org/content/arti...

Spoiler: No, it’s not. 🧪 ⚛️ ☄️ 🔭 🎢 cosmicave.org/2026/10/21/r...

Birdflu is raging on a Utah mink farm & could trigger a human pandemic, some experts say, but officials won’t act. For 2 months the deadly outbreak has been out-of-control. State officials haven't ordered the animals killed. Fur trade financial interests are superseding public health👇

The constellation in Van Gogh’s The Starry Night may be based on a real cluster of stars in the Taurus constellation. Researchers make a compelling case with evidence from astronomy, weather analysis and Van Gogh’s letters. sciam.com/article/astr...

How do #pathogens prioritize nutrients while adapting to changing environments? This study shows that an inositol-sensing receptor enables a #yeast to maintain inositol use even when glucose is abundant, linking nutrient sensing to carbon #metabolism and virulence. 🧪 #AcademicSky plos.io/3VK38FY

In our new study, we conducted a systematic mapping review to identify the terminology and #statistical methods researchers use to quantify spatial patterns of #roadkill distribution. Key info for #RoadEcology & #TransportPlanning 🧪🦤🌎🌱 #wildlife #roads #SpatialEcology #ecology shorturl.at/9qQNq

New research from chemistry professor Robert Britton and health sciences professor Ralph Pantophlet is helping to speed up the search for new antiviral drugs. 🧪

NSF funding is delayed. Last year, all applications for 2026 were suspended. Grant applications for high-power equipment for cutting edge research are sitting in purgatory. Instead of transparency, there is lack of clarity. 🧪 www.scientificamerican.com/article/scie...

🧪 #Ebola #Bundibugyo #CrypticTransmission Source of infection still unknown „The Nigerian patient, identified by Mankoula as the Ugandan-born wife of a Swiss diplomat in Nigeria, flew from Uganda to Abuja while the Kenyan man flew to Nairobi’s Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.“

The night sky in Vincent van Gogh’s painting The Starry Night may have been inspired by a celestial arrangement visible before dawn on 22 July 1889, according to research in Scientific Reports. The authors argue that the conventional June dating of the work should potentially be reconsidered. 🔭🧪

From Chloe Klare: Today’s paper involves an ambitious and inspiring mission to modernize the Ukrainian T-shaped Radio telescope after it was tragically destroyed by the Russian military. ⚛️ 🔭 ☄️ 🧪 astrobites.org/2026/10/15/ukrainian-tshaped-radio-telescope-glowup/

A person in France has just become the first recorded case and death from Shamonda virus, which is usually only found in livestock. I post this not because I think it’s a danger to the general public at this time, but because it highlights yet another case of zoonotic spillover.

Changement climatique : 96 % des récifs coralliens classés « en danger critique d’extinction » d’ici cinquante ans www.lemonde.fr/planete/arti... #climate #climatechange #globalwarming #ecology

Mucin modulates phage infection dynamics and biofilm formation in enteropathogenic Yersinia enterocolitica. #Mucin boosts #phage growth and limits #biofilms in pathogenic #Yersinia enterocolitica. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... #OpenAccess #bacteriophage #MicroSky

Distribution and resistance-associated genomic features of Acinetobacter in an urban #wastewater network. Urban wastewater monitoring links persistent Acinetobacter to #AntibioticResistance patterns. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... #OpenAccess #MicroSky

Pennsylvania’s state health dept reports a rise in congenital measles & infection during pregnancy as a result of the large outbreak that has affected 42 counties. Congenital measles is rarely seen in the U.S. but 66 cases have occurred in Pennsylvania so far. 6 deaths have been confirmed to date 👇

RFKjr, a severely brain-damaged individual who spent years injecting himself with heroin, thinks Hep B vaccine is dangerous. Are his “thoughts” & “beliefs” actually valid given his personal health choices?

Scary. That was reality before the diphtheria vaccine. 20th century writer William Carlos Williams, also a pediatrician, wrote a riveting short story about an ailing girl who wouldn’t open her mouth. Suspecting diphtheria, the doctor used force to examine her throat. Diphtheria choked kids to death👇

Pennsylvania’s state health dept reports a rise in congenital measles & infection during pregnancy as a result of the large outbreak that has affected 42 counties. Congenital measles is rarely seen in the U.S. but 66 cases have occurred in Pennsylvania so far. 6 deaths have been confirmed to date 👇

RFKjr, a severely brain-damaged individual who spent years injecting himself with heroin, thinks Hep B vaccine is dangerous. Are his “thoughts” & “beliefs” actually valid given his personal health choices?

Scary. That was reality before the diphtheria vaccine. 20th century writer William Carlos Williams, also a pediatrician, wrote a riveting short story about an ailing girl who wouldn’t open her mouth. Suspecting diphtheria, the doctor used force to examine her throat. Diphtheria choked kids to death👇

#Medsky🧪 The extracellular matrix (ECM) is emerging as a central regulator connecting #LongCOVID, hypermobility disorders (such as hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (hEDS) and hypermobility spectrum disorders), and overlapping conditions like ME/CFS, POTS, and Mast Cell Activation Syndrome (MCAS)

Measles & its risks👇 1.) Can be deadly 2.) Can wipe out 11%-73% of memory B & T cells 3.) Subacute sclerosing panencephalitis—SSPE—a progressive lethal condition caused by a persistent measles infection in the brain. Emerges 7-to-10 years after initial infection med.stanford.edu/news/insight...

Bangladesh is still battling the world’s worst measles outbreak, which began in March. An estimated 202,000 cases have erupted in multiple communities; 22,000 have been lab-confirmed. Measles is highly contagious. Officials estimate 1147 deaths. 94% of fatalities have been among children under 5👇

In the not-so-distant past a measles outbreak of the magnitude in Pennsylvania would have meant a small army of CDC experts descending on the state. Now under RFKjr, the agency has only 1 available for a crisis that’s affected 42 counties & caused 1286 cases, 6 deaths & hundreds of hospitalizations👇

Dumb & dumber share their collective knowledge about measles & chickenpox 👇

RFKjr is using millions of taxpayer dollars to advance his maniacal anti-vaccine agenda, which is based on his personal superstitions & extensive brain damage. Following his lead is a perilous journey 👇

Flu, covid, RSV and shingles vaccines may do more than keep you from getting sick. They may protect your HEART. Flu infection was tied to a sixfold jump in heart attack hospitalizations the week after

RFK Jr’s new “vaccine injury center” will be based at the NIH Clinical Center, which is not a regular hospital, it only sees patients who are in NIH clinical studies So, does anyone know *which specific studies* RFK Jr was talking about when he and Jay Bhattacharya did the ribbon cutting?

#Medsky🧪#IDsky #pedsky #neurosky #publichealth Acutenecrotizingencephalopathy is a rare but severe pediatric neurological disorder characterized by rapid neurological deterioration and characteristic bilateral thalamic lesions on neuroimaging.

Increasing evidence suggests that respiratory viral infections, particularly #influenza viruses and #SARSCoV2, play a major role in triggering ANE. www.frontiersin.org/journals/neu...

#Medsky🧪 #publichealth From fentanyl to peptides The findings illustrate the reckless way in which the market for peptides is developing. Most of the substances being marketed as peptides are unapproved drugs. @wsj.com www.wsj.com/health/pharm...

RFKjr is using millions of taxpayer dollars to advance his maniacal anti-vaccine agenda, which is based on his personal superstitions & extensive brain damage. Following his lead is a perilous journey 👇

In the not-so-distant past a measles outbreak of the magnitude in Pennsylvania would have meant a small army of CDC experts descending on the state. Now under RFKjr, the agency has only 1 available for a crisis that’s affected 42 counties & caused 1286 cases, 6 deaths & hundreds of hospitalizations👇

Bangladesh is still battling the world’s worst measles outbreak, which began in March. An estimated 202,000 cases have erupted in multiple communities; 22,000 have been lab-confirmed. Measles is highly contagious. Officials estimate 1147 deaths. 94% of fatalities have been among children under 5👇