Ben Burford

Expertise in Returned Travellers with Tropical Diseases, SE Asia 20 years- in Aust since Feb 2020

[Raina MacIntyre @Globalbiosec]

The #OHS pyramid is blindly cited in #PPE guidelines by #IPC committees to justify inadequate #PPE. It was designed for physical hazards like a faulty ladder, not for health workers, for whom the hazard may be the infectious patient. We propose flipping the pyramid and re-thinking HCW safety. #ebola @doctorahmad75 https://t.co/tOr8ilccn0

[🟢 BehavioralEdge 🟢 @_MarketBehavior]

The founders of $DUOL and $IBRX have dedicated the past 15+ and 30+ years to obsessive development, positioning their companies to fully capitalize on the advent of AI.

$IBRX founder:
"I am a physician, surgeon, scientist, but I ran the California Nanosystems Institute at UCLA for 10 years which integrated technology, networks, software, computing and healthcare. (...)

I presented as early as 2010 to president Obama that AI would be the future of healthcare."

https://t.co/YZ9RJeb5Vo
Min 2.

[Dr. Pat Soon-Shiong @DrPatrick]

Happening

[David Joffe MB BS (Hons), PhD, FRACP 🇦🇺 @DavidJoffe64]

Jon,

This is just one of several reasons I'm very reluctant to hang my hat on retroviral therapies for Long C-19....

We require multi-site agents.

Like TB, you simply cannot fix it with 1-2 agents. It's too elusive and possesses endless mutational energy

[Raina MacIntyre @Globalbiosec]

More contacts of #hantavirus being investigated in France and Singapore. The long incubation period means there could be more cases arising over the next 2 months. If any human-human cases from these, even longer. Using @EPIWATCH_bsp we saw a concerning rise in hantavirus in Argentina since 2025. Situational awareness and early warning can help alert stakeholders in the #travel industry to risks.

[Ben Burford @ReturnedTravelr]

Good move, best to have no closing date though as this virus is here to stay

[Victorian Department of Health @VicGovDH]

Eligibility to receive a free Japanese encephalitis vaccine has been simplified and temporarily expanded until 31 July 2026. This includes people aged 2 months or older who live or plan to visit any of the 24 high-risk local government areas in Victoria.

https://t.co/VfMVNhY9JU

[Dr. Pat Soon-Shiong @DrPatrick]

71% complete response rate with Anktiva in bladder patients who FAILED BCG with both CIS & Papillary. Waiting for final approval from EMA

With this result in BCG unresponsive disease, can’t wait to see what the CR rate is in BCG naive patients who are responsive to BCG + Anktiva. Complete enrollment soon

https://t.co/LYZbQsJ7TA

[David Sinclair @davidasinclair]

Longevity biotech now targets root causes rather than single diseases. This is a paradigm shift in medicine

[Outbreak Updates @outbreakupdates]

Mpox is still spreading across Africa while the world pretends it ended

1,400+ mpox cases in Uganda alone and climbing

Nine African countries fighting mpox with less than a million vaccine doses

[Rafael Parente @Rafael_Parente]

O Brasil está dando mais um presente ao mundo. 🇧🇷🧬A primeira vacina contra a dengue em dose única foi criada aqui. Mais de uma década de pesquisa séria, universidades fortes e cientistas comprometidos.
Ciência salva vidas e vacinas funcionam.
Parabéns aos pesquisadores. 💙

[Dr. Pat Soon-Shiong @DrPatrick]

I have received so many enquiries as to how did the Saudi FDA work with us to grant approval of Anktiva for lung cancer and bladder cancer. We submitted over 1.6 million pages of data ! The SFDA thoroughly reviewed these and on the basis of the clinical results made the decision to provide accelerated approval for Anktiva in lung cancer  ..the FIRST IN THE WORLD!!

Explaining how the SFDA went about their review and their approval is best described in their own words below: 

“ Positive Results Demonstrated in Clinical Studies
The approval of Anktiva is based on a comprehensive evaluation of all available evidence—including efficacy, safety, and quality—in accordance with regulatory requirements. For NSCLC, results from a single-arm clinical trial in patients who had previously not responded to one or more therapies, including immune checkpoint inhibitors, demonstrated a potential improvement in survival. Based on these findings, the SFDA granted conditional approval for this indication. A confirmatory trial to demonstrate long-term clinical benefit is required to maintain this approval status.
For NMIBC, clinical trial results sowed a complete response rate of 62%. The approval for this indication was based on the complete response rate as the primary endpoint. Collectively, these results led the SFDA to consider Anktiva as a new treatment option for patients with limited therapeutic alternatives, contributing to improved disease and survival outcomes.

Sustained Efforts to Achieve National Objectives
This approval reflects the SFDA’s continued commitment to innovation and expanding access to advanced treatment options, thereby enhancing the quality of healthcare in alignment with the goals of the Health Sector Transformation Program, one of the key initiatives of Saudi Vision 2030.”

[Dr. Pat Soon-Shiong @DrPatrick]

Revealed at our summit: building and teaching with machine vision and AI, the world’s first robot to manufacture NK cells at scale! Will be installed in next 3 months and then we change the cost of cell therapy forever to make it available to so many who need immune restoration

[Alí Sebastian Meza @AliSMV7]

Albendazole-Praziquantel Dual Therapy Compared With Albendazole Monotherapy in Neurocysticercosis A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of RCTs

https://t.co/4WxP15KA97

[Ben Burford @ReturnedTravelr]

100%!!

[David Joffe MB BS (Hons), PhD, FRACP 🇦🇺 @DavidJoffe64]

@susanr1111 The Late Departed Professor Mary-Louise McLaws (UNSW) stated in 2020

"It's F**king AIRBORNE"‼️

She remains deeply missed in these dark times.

[Outbreak News Today @bactiman63]

#France #chikungunya #dengue
As of October 27, 2025, 91 clusters of locally acquired vector-borne transmission of chikungunya and dengue and a total of 810 cases have been identified in metropolitan France:

762 cases of chikungunya spread across 79 clusters (1 to 139 cases per cluster; 53 of these clusters are closed);
29 cases of dengue spread across 12 clusters (1 to 9 cases per cluster; 12 of these clusters are closed);
19 isolated cases of chikungunya for which the precise location of contamination could not be identified.

Since May 1st, the start of enhanced surveillance, until October 27th, 2025, the following have been identified:

1,025 imported cases of chikungunya
1,012 imported cases of dengue
11 imported cases of Zika

[AJ Leonardi, MBBS, PhD, MPH @fitterhappierAJ]

When I told everybody here and argued with many overly confident people that the evidence appeared to me to show that Covid was a serious and exceptional infection, and that the long Covid risk would remain and probably increase after infection, I was accused of not understanding that immunity builds with infection

I tried to explain that the virus harms immunity and was called an alarmist by people that had more advanced credentials than I, whilst I was still a medical student.

For a while, many people brushed me aside and did not credit me given my understanding of the immune system as shown by my work in the olearly 2010s on T cell differentiation and death which I was awarded a PhD by the National Cancer Institute for.

In fact, the National Cancer Institute was threatened for hosting me with a NYT oped that I was spreading misinformation.

Now, the NYT is raising the alarm on increasing long covid incidence on reinfection in children- over double

It’s hard to convey the indignant rage I feel over my future- and your futures- having been robbed from us.

https://t.co/gsSDrEK4Yz

[Ben Burford @ReturnedTravelr]

@Docthebookworm @bowditch71 Good idea

[Outbreak News Today @bactiman63]

#Chikungunya in #Italy 2025: 409 total cases, (364 locally transmitted)

[John Johnston @JOHNJOHNSTONED]

“In 1918, doctors did something obvious.

They opened the windows.

They dragged beds outside. Set up tents. Let people breathe.

That’s what saved lives during the deadliest pandemic in modern history. It wasn’t complicated technology. It wasn’t miracle drugs. It was air.

Simple, free, moving air.”

[Eng Eong Ooi @EngEongOoi]

1206 genomes reveal origin and movement of Aedes aegypti driving increased dengue risk | Science https://t.co/zdag5kv8zB