Ajit Karna, BVScAH, MPH, PhD

Thrilled to see an email from @RSTMH that my grant proposal to work on Yellow fever virus in Brazil is going to be funded. I am already looking forward to the trip and becoming a proud member of the society. #virology #epidemiology #onehealth 🦟🦠💼🐒✈️

@SidThakur_AMR @US_FDA @CVMResearch @NCStateVetMed Congratulations Sid!

Happy, and relieved, to share the news. Last week the National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring System (NARMS) program was refunded for 5 years. Yesterday, the FDA GenomeTrakr program was also refunded for 5 years. Thank you @US_FDA @CVMResearch @NCStateVetMed for support.

@thapa_sushil @smadixit @rosh_lal @pandeya_drona @_bishalbhandari @DigbijayMahat @AnupSubedee @drbhatta @Lunabs8 @swarupbaba @nerokoala @BijayaKDhakal There is a Cochrane review “Rapid, point‐of‐care antigen and molecular‐based tests for diagnosis of SARS‐CoV‐2 infection”. Talks about POCTs. cochranelibrary.com/cdsr/doi/10.10…

@smadixit @AjitKarna @rosh_lal @pandeya_drona @_bishalbhandari @DigbijayMahat @AnupSubedee @drbhatta @Lunabs8 @swarupbaba @nerokoala @BijayaKDhakal Seeking remarks on this interesting test called CRISPR, “100% specific & sensitive in EUA Clinical evaluation” as mentioned in their technical brochures. Seems a reliable substitute to RT PCR. For the benefit of your audience pls. comment with evidences 🙏 not the guts feeling.

These are all good lines of thought, worth keeping in mind for further exploration @DigbijayMahat ji. But let me ask you a few direct questions and try to parse your arguments a bit, to help you think through & make your suggestions clearer to people like myself. Questions:

@rosh_lal @pandeya_drona @_bishalbhandari @DigbijayMahat @AnupSubedee @drbhatta @thapa_sushil @smadixit @Lunabs8 @swarupbaba @nerokoala @BijayaKDhakal I heard* the sensitivity of the Ag rapid test kits used in Nepal are 60-80%, little better than tossing a coin. They say it’s SD Biosource. By the way, do we know anything about the agreement between Ab Rapid Test Kit and RT-PCR from Nepal? Isn’t that data due too?

@pandeya_drona @_bishalbhandari @DigbijayMahat @AnupSubedee @drbhatta @thapa_sushil @smadixit @Lunabs8 @swarupbaba @nerokoala @BijayaKDhakal Anyone knows whats the sensitivity of Fujirebio Ag detection kit?

@BiratNepal @impact_tb Happy birthday Max. Hope you’re doing great!!

Rarely in our life do we come across a person who offers happiness to each and everyone around - ✨Happy birthday Dr Max✨You are indeed one of the heartbeats of our organization - a pillar, a guide, a mentor, a friend!🎂🍫🎉 We love you. Thank you for loving us the way you do.💝

Land Use Change and Coronavirus Emergence Risk - our new work looking at the nexus of land use change around SARSr-CoV bat hosts in Asia & what might tip some locations into being high risk locations in the future medrxiv.org/content/10.110… (feedback welcome)

@nepaliaashish Absolutely!

@AjitKarna, sounds familiar??

@nepaliaashish Congratulations and all the best!

Yes, its official! I am joining the faculty of @NYUAbuDhabi starting September 2020. I will be working on population genetics and gut microbiome of traditional populations. Graduate students and postdocs are encouraged to DM to inquire about opportunities.

Our new preprint: Whence the next pandemic? Intersecting global geography of the animal-human interface, poor health systems & air transit centrality reveals conduits for high-impact spillover: medrxiv.org/content/10.110… @MarieBashirInst @MAHE_Manipal @SS_GlobalHealth @siobhanmor

@florian_krammer @viro_doc @ChdsNepal @AB_Algaissi @MarionKoopmans @ViralPseudotype @VirusWhisperer @jbloom_lab @vsv512 Magnificent! @florian_krammer 🙏

@viro_doc @AjitKarna @ChdsNepal @AB_Algaissi @MarionKoopmans @ViralPseudotype @VirusWhisperer @jbloom_lab @vsv512 has a wonderful replication competent VSV that can be used!

Does anyone willing to share their SARS-CoV-2 pseudovirus to a lab in a resource-limited settings - Nepal (Not a single BSL-3 in the country)? Any other alternative suggestions? #covid19 @ChdsNepal

@viro_doc @ChdsNepal @florian_krammer @AB_Algaissi @MarionKoopmans @ViralPseudotype @VirusWhisperer @jbloom_lab Thanks Ali and all. This is how laboratories in this part of the world, as we discussed, will do great things together.

Setting up my CDC light traps in Kathmandu after heavy rain stopped.🤞 for Culex tritaeniorhynchus, quinqs, Ae aeg/albo

@pandeya_drona @mohpnep The discussion has been going on for few months back, and now it’s taking a shape on implementing the study.

Seroprevalence study in Delhi showed 1 in 4 people were infected with COVID-19. Nepal currently has over 100 CLIA, ECLIA, CMIA and ELISA based Immunoassy platforms 4 COVID-19 antibody testing (Total and/or IgG). Isn’t it time to think about seroprevalence in Nepal ? @mohpnep

Evolution and epidemic spread of SARS-CoV-2 in Brazil science.sciencemag.org/content/early/… Nice work by @CaddeProject ! Happy to colaborate in it! Congrats @candido_darlan

Protecting #foodsystems and livelihoods using #onehealth measures- Qualitave risk assessment for evaluating the risk of exposure of #SARS_CoV_2 from animals and their products to humans and animals @FAOAnimalHealth fao.org/documents/card…

@SidThakur_AMR 💩 are fascinating 😂

The role of ducks and birds in spreading AMR genes is underreported for sure. Hope to see more studies like this in the future.

Many people experience a temporary loss of smell ("anosmia") as a result of #COVID19 infection - why? Based on this autopsy study, it looks like anosmia is due to inflammation of the nerves at the level of the nose rather than in the brain. bit.ly/2ZgDDwb

I am happy to share that our, @ChdsNepal, proposal for #COVID19 diagnostic development in Nepal is now accepted for funding from Nepal’s National Academy of Science and Technology. We are grateful for the opportunity, and now recruiting Nepalese students. Please RT/DM me.

Why local data, local decision making, strong community public health response and coordination will be important for the next phase @davidnabarro @WHO @ICMRDELHI @MoHFW_INDIA @NITIAayog @JeremyFarrar @WHOSEARO @WHOAFRO @WHOEMRO blogs.bmj.com/bmj/2020/07/03…