Angie Rasmussen

@angierasmussen.bsky.social

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Virology, dogs, football, off-color language

Posts Replies Media

Reply to

Alan Rew

Trying to be better about it!

Reply to

Constantine

Yes. The more evolutionary experience a virus has with a given host, the more selection pressure to adapt to grow and transmit efficiently in that host.

FDA found infectious H5N1 at relatively high titers in bulk raw milk from 4 states with known infected herds. Pasteurization inactivates H5N1. Do NOT drink raw milk!!! www.fda.gov/media/179708...

www.fda.gov

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Angie Rasmussen

When dealing with pseudoscience, the devil is in the detail - in this case, narrowing down a specific "Lab Leak" hypothesis. In Dr. Chan's @nytimes.com OpEd there is, however, a very specific hypothesis for COVID-19 origin. It's a prime example of conspiracism vs empiricism, so let's dive in. 🧵

On the day of Dr. Fauci's testimony, @nytimes.com decides to run a deeply unethical OpEd with snazzy graphics and snappy headlines about the Lab Leak. The article itself contains multiple falsehoods and deep mischaracterizations. Let's take every point in turn 👇🧵 www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Opinion | Why the Pandemic Probably Started in a Lab, in 5 Key Pointswww.nytimes.com The world must not continue to bear the intolerable risks of research with the potential to cause pandemics.

Reposted by

Angie Rasmussen

Opinion | Why the Pandemic Probably Started in a Lab, in 5 Key Pointswww.nytimes.com The world must not continue to bear the intolerable risks of research with the potential to cause pandemics.

How dare anyone call me a conspiracy theorist?! I’m just asking reasonable questions that allege a conspiracy…see, one of the most prominent anti-science, bigoted conspiracy theorists in America agrees!

Encore performance

I am awful at photography but still stoked that moving to Canada is finally paying off

This is why I keep doing this job, even when I get exhausted or frustrated or depressed about it. Viruses remain perpetually astonishing and it never gets old.

The 2-part report found on virological.org is a very interesting read. Astonishing what can be discerned from the #H5N1 #birdflu sequence data. (Or astonishing to me, a non-scientist.)

Virologicalvirological.org A discussion forum for analysis and interpretation of virus molecular evolution and epidemiology.

Reply to

Kathleen Lenihan

It spilled over from birds to cattle once ~5 months ago and has been spreading in cows ever since, has spilled back to birds & other animals several times, and we need to do a lot more testing to get it under control.

Whether I’m particularly interesting is highly subjective, but I am definitely interested in this analysis on H5N1 and you should be too 👇🏻

If you're interesting in the #H5N1 outbreak in cattle in the US, please have a look at our preliminary analyses just posted. Part 1 of 2: virological.org/t/preliminar...

Reposted by

Angie Rasmussen

My colleagues and I have just posted a "Note about availability of #H5N1 2.3.4.4b consensus sequences from cattle and other species" on virological.org. Consensus genomes and metadata. virological.org/t/note-about...

Note about availability of H5N1 2.3.4.4b consensus sequences from cattle and other species:virological.org On Sunday, April 21st, 2024, “in the interest of public transparency and ensuring the scientific community has access to this information as quickly as possible to encourage disease research and devel...

Reply to

Kendra "Gloom is My Beat" Pierre-Louis

The Bulletin does not seem to like reminders of Nicholas Wade’s past statements on this matter, despite the fact that writing an entire book of racist pseudoscience horseshit is pretty relevant to his ability to report factually and objectively about this topic.

It’s not a smoking gun for anything except further evidence that Nicholas Wade, a man who previously published a book claiming that intelligence and economic success is genetically linked to race, is completely ignorant about molecular biology and genetics.

Advocates for a lab leak are once again saying that the lab in Wuhan... did virology work? Walk me through this one, I can't see how this is a smoking gun. @angierasmussen.bsky.social @kgandersen.bsky.social @eddieholmes.bsky.social www.city-journal.org/article/new-...

The Story of the Decadewww.city-journal.org The materials strengthen—perhaps conclusively—the lab-leak hypothesis of Covid-19’s origins.

Reposted by

Angie Rasmussen

This doesn’t surprise a lot of us in the COVID world, but it doesn’t make it any less gross. She’s…problematic.

What the fuck happened to Zeynep Tufekci www.nytimes.com/2024/01/14/o...

Case study in why it’s important to acknowledge scholarly limitations as well as successes. In other words, Zeynep has spent so much time convincing everyone that her shit don’t stink, she now believes that it smells like roses

What the fuck happened to Zeynep Tufekci www.nytimes.com/2024/01/14/o...

Reply to

Darren Dahly

Oh yes, over on the other social media site, there are plenty of those who view it as not just controversial, but appalling that virologists would have anything to offer in this regard.

New in the Journal of Virology: a position piece from me and 77 of my incredible colleagues, arguing that biosafety regulations on virology research must be developed with the input and advice from technical experts. journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...

Virology—the path forward | Journal of Virologyjournals.asm.org A systematic study of pathogens is the only way to assess the risks they pose and develop medical countermeasures to mitigate those threats. However, on the heels of the COVID-19 pandemic, increased c...

Biosafety is incredibly important. It’s the highest priority for me and every other virologist I know who works with infectious pathogens. Modern biosafety practices are able to substantially mitigate risks to lab personnel. journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...

Which is precisely why regulations have to be designed to maximize both risk mitigation and the research itself. Without virology research, we will not be prepared to face the next pandemic. We will not understand how these viruses work, much less develop drugs or vaccines to fight them.

Virology research is essential for pandemic preparedness. Virology research has not caused pandemics in the past. Virology research is our best defense against them. And virology research must be regulated, to ensure it continues safely. journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...

journals.asm.org

This is not a rejection of more regulation or oversight. We support regulation and oversight. We want to do this life-saving research as safely as possible, which requires technical competence when developing regulatory policy. journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...

journals.asm.org

Reposted by

Angie Rasmussen

"You've heard of Elf on the Shelf"—actually, no, I never 'heard' of it at all, it's just some marketing trash that suddenly appeared everywhere in 2005 pretending to be a tradition. I hate it and everything like it. Shove the Elf up your ass. Fuck you.

No better way to start a Sunday than some protracted teeth baring in the eternal BarkBox bitch battle

I don’t think Peter Hotez is here yet, but I’m sharing his excellent piece here anyway. Attacking scientists is a hugely effective tactic of anti-science extremists. We need to stand together and fight back. www.latimes.com/opinion/stor...

Opinion: Scientists have become sitting ducks. We need leaders to step up and defend uswww.latimes.com Americans need science to sustain democracy and progress. The alternative is to follow the path of the Soviet Union: sidelining experts and sacrificing lives.

Reposted by

Angie Rasmussen

it is bleakly funny that jordan peterson's been very clearly and publicly insane for some time and the sensible media has to ignore it so they can keep writing sober 5,000-word thinkpieces about what his appeal means for the souls of our young men

Reply to

Gentry Lane

I’ll join you at the terrible at being men forum

Shouldn’t it be Jupiter?

Holy Zeus. I might be a man. How often do men think about ancient Rome? Quite frequently, it seems. wapo.st/45QY1ns

Reply to

Cheryl Rofer

There are no firm conclusions. For some people there may be impacts on immunity and susceptibility to infection.

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Angie Rasmussen

If I crawled my way up from irrelevancy to relative obscurity on one platform I can do it again