Dr Siddharth Sridhar

Wait…the mark 6 song isn’t HK’s intangible cultural heritage? youtu.be/lAwiWIBOz24?si…

Feels like my building security guard + concierge force quadruples during CNY 🧧

Finally, we documented an odd split between rat hep E in rats and humans. Although two subtypes circulated in local rodents during the study period, only one made the zoonotic jump to humans. Determinants uncertain.

This paper also details the largest sero-surveillance study on rat hepatitis E in a human population to date. 0.7% of 8294 tested individuals carried antibodies against rat hepatitis E.

Our new paper examining eight years of rat hepatitis E surveillance in Hong Kong. 22 cases and a disproportionate impact on immunocompromised persons. …w-sciencedirect-com.eproxy.lib.hku.hk/science/articl…

@transit_jam Would dearly love to see QRC pedestrianized (at least on weekends)!

We are putting together a list of "blackspots" for pedestrians in Central, if you have anything that particularly irks (or is dangerous, inhibits walking with kids etc), drop me a line. Lots of QRC issues already on the list but some vocal support might help get changes through.

Good meet with Central & Western District Councillor Jeremy Young yesterday -- Jeremy is chairman of the Traffic and Transport Committee, a member of @ChinaRetold, and is keen to make improvements to the pedestrian experience in Central.

Saw this warning on a pack of crisps just as I finished the last one 😭

⚠️Nipah virus will not become the next Covid like pandemic. It is too lethal (won’t spread), R0 of 0.3 (need R0 >1 for escalation), and is predominantly a zoonosis (u get it from animals). unilad.com/news/health/ni…

@transit_jam No. I was feeling lucky.

@sid8998 Did you check it for foil?

So, on or off?

Overreaction.

Getting on a bus without seatbelts is such a ride

@ABsteward People have a hard enough time with standard dose rifampicin…

🆕⚡🧠 HARVEST TRIAL:: More Rifampin, Same Fate: High-Dose Rifampin Fails to Shift the Needle in TB Meningitis, NEJM, 2025 🚀 What they did 🧪 Double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial (HARVEST) 🌍 Conducted across Indonesia, South Africa & Uganda 👥 499 adults with tuberculous meningitis   🧬 ~61% living with HIV   🧠 86% definite/probable TB meningitis 💊 Standard TB regimen +   🔺 High-dose oral rifampin (35 mg/kg/day)   🆚 Standard-dose rifampin (10 mg/kg/day) ⏱️ Intensified dosing for 8 weeks, total treatment 9–12 months 🎯 Primary outcome: ⚰️ 6-month all-cause mortality 🔥 Key findings ⚰️ No survival benefit with high-dose rifampin   🔹 Mortality: 44.6% vs 40.7%   🔹 HR 1.17 (95% CI 0.89–1.54; P=0.25) ❌ ⏳ Earlier deaths in high-dose group   🕒 Median time to death: 13 vs 24 days 🧪 More hepatotoxicity signals   🧠 Drug-induced liver injury: 8.0% vs 4.4% 🚫 No deaths directly attributed to liver injury ⚠️ Limitations 🧩 Heterogeneous populations (HIV status, disease severity) 🧠 Extremely high early mortality → limited window to demonstrate benefit 💊 Oral rifampin only (no IV exposure strategy tested) 🔬 PK gains ≠ clinical benefit in advanced CNS TB 💡 Takeaway Despite better CNS penetration on paper, high-dose oral rifampin did not improve survival in adult TB meningitis — and potential harm cannot be excluded. 👉 This landmark NEJM trial reinforces a hard truth: pharmacologic plausibility does not guarantee clinical benefit, and TB meningitis urgently needs new strategies beyond dose escalation. nejm.org/doi/full/10.10…

ViuTV should really reconsider this backdrop…

“The fall of a prolific science journal exposes the billion-dollar profits of scientific publishing.” english.elpais.com/science-tech/2…

Humans saw this and still invented Microsoft Teams

@ABsteward Having a say in the naming of these undesirable enzymes is one compelling reason for national AMR surveillance. Feel bad for Delhi. Own goal from Verona though.

New Delhi Metallo-β-lactamases (NDM) are enzymes encoded by the blaNDM gene, which were first identified in 2008 in Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae from a patient in Sweden who had recently been in New Delhi, India #IDXposts

@growing_daniel Interesting. But if the diary of Merer is any indication, we would find their mundanity pretty fascinating.

I think people have generally grown more conscious as time goes on. I think if you went back 4500 years and talked to ancient Egyptians they would mostly seem terrifically dull without much to say. But I can’t test that theory sadly

@kjoules FSD shouldn’t have to justify a thing. Incredible courage.

Also from the Director of Fire Services: 1. Why weren't helicopters deployed to douse the fire with water bombs? 2. Why can't the aerial ladders go any higher? 3. Why weren't drones deployed to extinguish the fire?

The secretary's remarks were made available in a press release; here is a translation regarding the nets and foam boards: (ALT text if you want to cut and paste)

Big issue in public sector is the waiting time for ‘urgent’ CT/MRI scans for hospital inpatients. Let’s hope reducing demand for elective scans works…