Gautam Menon

Starting a thread with the music I like, an eclectic mix of Indian classical, world music, jazz + others. Later additions will come below [@PMenonIFPRI] Alison Brown Quartet's "Under the Five Wire" from Bluegrass Underground ... youtu.be/fUvLgx-3Rbc via @YouTube

The WHO’s actions and communications in response to the hantavirus outbreak have, at least so far, been exemplary. Establishing and reinforcing the WHO’s intellectual and financial independence should be a priority for the nations of the world.

International collaborations remains crucial to global health. We need multilateral agencies to deal with problems that do not recognise borders, pandemic diseases being only one of them. Climate change and environmental pollution are others.

.. at the liminal borders between the known and the unknown. Communicating uncertainty frankly while remaining realistic, even as the public seeks definite answers, is difficult. It is, however, an indispensable part of good public health communication.

Public health cannot function effectively in such a background. Dealing with misinformation means honestly acknowledging what is known and what is not. This is not evidence of a vast cover-up, but of the way science functions, ..

Misinformation .. poses a widespread threat. The internet is already awash with conspiracy theories, some implicating pharmaceutical or vaccine companies, while others hint at forms of biological warfare. thewire.in/health/the-mv-…

It is here that governments and their agencies must be especially careful. Public communication must be clear, regular, definitive and authoritative. Conspiracy theories are a symptom of distrust, of governments, of companies and of expertise itself.

A painting of the end of meritocracy: A meeting of the two largest economies and not one woman at the table.

In any other country, the head of the National Testing Agency would have resigned.

The National Testing Agency (NTA) is worse than a national disgrace: given its repeated, egregious failure to root out corruption and fraud in the conduct of common entrance examinations, it is a clear and present danger to the well-being, especially the mental health, of millions of young men and women. As The Hindu’s editorial comments: “It would be a crime to allow the NTA to continue with its inept conduct of common entrance exams…NEET [National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test] was introduced as a measure to bring into play a single, standardised, and transparent entrance exam for medical admissions. But the transparency that it has so far shown is of an entirely different kind: leaks and breaches of confidentiality.” thehindu.com/opinion/editor…

Our team at the @pandemiccenter has updated their line list table of all the cases so far connected to the hantavirus outbreak. Subscribe to the Tracking Report here: mailchi.mp/brown/tracking…

I write in the Express about the hantavirus.

Thursday May 14th. Here are the main developments in the last 24 hours regarding the MV Hondius Andes hantavirus situation: Current case count European public health authorities now report: 11 total cases 8 confirmed 2 probable 1 inconclusive 3 deaths total Importantly, no new deaths and no major surge in new confirmed cases in the last 24 hours. Australians and New Zealanders evacuated Australia has now arranged a specialized repatriation flight: 4 Australians 1 New Zealander 1 Australian permanent resident They are traveling in full PPE and will undergo quarantine at Australia’s national resilience facility in Western Australia. All reportedly remain asymptomatic and tested negative before departure. UK passengers discharged from hospital quarantine Six UK-linked passengers who had been isolated at Arrowe Park Hospital were: discharged, tested negative, and are now completing isolation at home. UK authorities are still monitoring additional contacts and repatriating more exposed passengers from remote islands. European CDC update The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) released updated guidance today: risk to the general European population remains “very low” concern remains focused on close-contact exposure chains updated laboratory testing guidance for high-risk contacts was issued today. Netherlands update Dutch authorities confirmed: all repatriated passengers are under mandatory 6-week home isolation weekly testing is continuing three previously symptomatic airplane contacts in the Netherlands ultimately tested negative. United States situation No confirmed secondary U.S. community transmission has been reported. However: exposed passengers remain under monitoring in Nebraska and Atlanta, one previously reported mildly PCR-positive U.S. passenger remains under observation, California officials are monitoring an additional exposed traveler linked to the ship. Ship status The MV Hondius itself is reportedly: heading toward Rotterdam, undergoing decontamination/disinfection procedures, with a reduced crew and medical oversight onboard. Overall impression from today’s updates The situation currently appears more consistent with: a contained international contact-tracing event rather than an expanding uncontrolled outbreak. Health agencies continue emphasizing that Andes virus can spread person-to-person, but usually requires prolonged close contact, not casual exposure.

There is a class of “global health” people who warmed to (even sought to lead) discussions on “decolonisation” when it began to catch fire in the field, but who has over time come to see that they are the people, their interests are the interests, and their practices are the practices, from which the field would need to be, is being called to be decolonised. It’s been fascinating to watch their retreat, even antagonism.

New @Equatormag: an exhaustive account of Germany’s relentless philosemitic repression – which has not been slowed by Gaza or Iran or Lebanon and increasingly demonises Jews and Palestinians and anyone who criticises ‘memory culture’ gone mad

A good compact summary.

Today in @ScienceTM, we report the use of in vivo adenine base editing to correct a variant causing Dravet syndrome, a severe childhood epilepsy and neurodevelopmental disorder, substantially ameliorating disease symptoms and extending lifespan in an animal model. 1/13 drive.google.com/file/d/12rcxew…

This is excellent news!

Sumana Roy's brilliant translation of Jagdish Chandra Bose's seminal essays, 'The Man Who Made Plants Write', comes out in July.

Outbreaks of infectious disease, such as the hantavirus, remind us that in an interconnected world, we cannot erect walls high enough to keep every such disease out. indianexpress.com/article/opinio…

Droplet vs. airborne transmission is a false dichotomy. Every breath, cough, laugh, or word releases a turbulent cloud of respiratory particles spanning a continuum of sizes simultaneously. Large droplets become aerosols. Aerosols merge into droplets. The virus cannot and does not distinguish. These are not separate modes of transmission - they are different physical behaviors of the same biological event - respiration.