Prof Peter Collignon

Concerning trend in major ID journals: an increasing number of systematic reviews/meta-analyses based largely on observational data, while prospective RCTs remain scarce. Evidence synthesis is valuable—but it cannot replace high-quality randomized evidence for practice-changing decisions. #idxposts

Is that because if you eat less, or absorb less of what you eat, so you ingest less sodium and that will lower your blood pressure? We all ingest too much sodium, especially in packaged and processed foods

At the turn of the 20th century, 7 out of 10 Japanese people were physically stunted. Now that number is so low that it's hard to track. We sometimes forget that side of how physically unhealthy the past was.

May 12, 2026 Update: We now have six 2026 Andes Hantavirus sequences The M gene, the most variable, is identical for all six A single rodent-to-human Index Case, followed by repeat Human-to-Human transmission continues as the highest probable scenario pathoplexus.org/andv/search

What’s in a name? Hantaviruses. Hantaviruses take their name from the Hantan River in South Korea, where Hantaan virus was first isolated in 1978 by Ho-Wang Lee during investigations of hemorrhagic fever first recognized in the Korean War. Andes virus, discovered in Argentina in 1995 and named after the Andes Mountains, is the only hantavirus with documented person-to-person transmission and causes severe hantavirus pulmonary syndrome. Which raises a simple contradiction: Which raises a simple question: If geographic naming could cause stigma or offense, why do we still use it?

May 12 Hantavirus Update: Read quickly and then go live your lives. Risk very low; CDC/UNMC/Emory U are on this. -11 cases, 3 deaths: Index case, his wife, one other -One new PCR+ Spanish case overnight; early symptoms -History of previous outbreaks indicates PCR+ occurs 5-15 days before symptoms -The situation remains within the window of the first generation of human-to-human transmission from the Index Case -That window closes about May 19th, when new cases need to begin to be attributed to a Gen 2 H-to-H transmission, if they occur -The four sequenced cases are nested within prior cases from Argentina; nothing remarkable about their genomes to predict abherent behavior -The 4 sequences are identical, indicating a single source, the Index Case, and not consistent with multiple rodent-to-human cases, as suggested by some -UNMC National Quarantine Center is responsible for observation of 18 non-symptomatic exposees -The Center personnel train quarterly for just this event -We have this National Center based, in part, on the visionary leadership of Senator @BenSasse, Senators Fischer & Ricketts, Congressmen Flood, Bacon, and Smith, and Nebraska Governor Pillen. -Thank you on behalf of the American people. -Outbreak likelihood remains extremely low and unchanged from yesterday

Simply saying "hello"....but this patient also recalls going to the restroom at the same time as the index. Also quite probable for shared contaminated surface. Esp if patient 1 had contaminated hands from coughing, clearing throat in sink (a common activity). #SimpleNotSimple

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1% of all physicians accounted for 32% of all medical malpractice claims paid

9x. That's how far stomach cancer death rates fell in the US between 1950 and 2021. Not because of some wonder drug. Because of refrigerators. When families stopped preserving food with salt and smoke, H. pylori infections dropped. Stomach cancer followed. A kitchen appliance rewrote the trajectory of one of the deadliest cancers of the 20th century. Now look at pancreatic cancer on the same chart. Flat line. Seven decades of research, and the death rate barely moved. 86% of cases are caught after the tumor has already spread. By the time you have symptoms, you're late. Lung cancer tells a third story: it rose for 50 years as cigarettes spread, peaked, and is now falling thanks to smoking bans, LDCT screening, and immunotherapy. "Cancer" isn't one disease. This chart shows at least a dozen, each with its own biology, its own timeline, and its own reckoning. The age-standardized death rate across all cancers has dropped by a third since 1990. But that number hides everything interesting. Some cancers are nearly solved. Others haven't moved in a lifetime. Your risk depends on which one you get, not just whether you get it.

🔴Important Hantavirus update 🔴 The sequence of the virus is out It's very similar to the Andes Virus (ANDV) that we know caused outbreaks through person to person transmission before Bottom line : This is nothing new. It's a virus we know about and is behaving as expected.

@FondOfBeetles I wrote about this with typos. Tldr most transmission amongst family/homes. Some transient exposure which could be via the air, but could be via contaminated touch — no-one can know for sure x.com/i/status/20526…

BREAKING: First sequencing of the Hantavirus from the outbreak. -99% identical to a June 2018 case from a patient in Argentina -10.4 SNV/year mutation rate - The Andes genome is about 12 kb across three RNA segments. At 10⁻⁴ to 10⁻³ substitutions/site/year, that translates very roughly to 1-12 SNV per year -Completely in line with a natural spillover in Argentina from the rodent host in 2018 and now in 2026 Source: virological.org/t/complete-seq…

Andes hantavirus spreading behavior: -76 index cases, 476 household contacts -16 (3.4%) of household contacts got infected -18% among sex partners; 1.2% other household contacts (p<0.001) - PCR blood test positive 5-15 days ahead of symptoms

On that Hantavirus superspreading party it's interesting to note that the postulated transient transmission (which could be "airborne") resulted in possibly 3 or 4 onward secondary transmission of the 34 cases. Prolonged close contact accounted for the rest

"Diseases that afflict the poor,.., rarely command attention. Tuberculosis killed 1.23 million people globally in 2024... It is one of the most lethal infectious diseases known to medicine, and yet it barely registers in the Western news cycle." But Hantavirus..good article:

At @JAMA_current today, 2 radiologists publish what should be the consent form for a total body MRI in healthy people Note: "no major medical society recommends whole-body MRI screening in the general population because it is unproven, and the harms likely outweigh the benefits." jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/…

Static vs. cidal: it’s not complex; it’s simply incorrect @BradSpellberg et Al Honored to be part of this amazing group who challenges dogmas and debunk ID myths #idxposts journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/aa…

Two things: 1. Obvious lie! Age-adjusted rates of death from heart disease are way down. 2. Doctors should probably not lie. They have a duty to do no harm and negligent? Grift-supporting? lies can be harmful.

Australia has 35 days of fuel reserves. Japan has 254. Around 90% of our fuel arrives by long-haul shipping, with 50-60% passing through the Strait of Hormuz: a chokepoint now under serious geopolitical pressure. The uncomfortable truth is that the only thing standing between Australia and energy sovereignty is political will. Dr. John Lee's analysis of our fuel vulnerability is exactly the kind of clear-eyed thinking that our civilisational moment demands. Link in comments.