Dillon C. Adam, Ph.D

Infectious disease epidemiologist studying COVID-19 and other respiratory viruses. Research Assistant Professor @HKU_SPH 🏳️‍🌈

[Alexei Drummond @alexeidrummond]

Check out our BEAST tree summary method! The CCD0-MAP tree gives much more accurate results than the MCC tree. It returns the tree that maximises the product of sampled clade probabilities regardless of whether that tree was sampled. Highly recommend :)

https://t.co/q5ZNxnuJiR

[Ruopeng Xie @RuopengX]

Excited to share our paper on integrating contact tracing data to enhance outbreak phylodynamic inference is out now @MolBioEvol https://t.co/jJWVG8JFzX

With @DrDCAdam Hu Shu @bencowling88 @vijay_lab Olivier Gascuel from @ISYEB_UMR Anna Zhukova from @institutpasteur

[Leo Poon @world_epidemic]

A big crowd of students & colleagues from @HKU_SPH at the Option meeting. 4 full days of interesting discussion about flu and other respiratory viruses!
@hkumed
@options2024

[David Wallace-Wells @dwallacewells]

“The WHO European Region is experiencing an alarming rise in measles cases. Over 30,000 cases were reported by 40 of the Region’s 53 Member States between January and October. Compared to 941 cases in all of 2022, this represents a more than 30-fold rise.” https://t.co/wEnggT7ZKX

[Andrew Brooks @CytokineSignal]

Australia being ‘left behind’ as federal research and development funding sinks to 30-year low https://t.co/Lh3yqX1Jqs

[Jessica Wong @Jessica_Y_Wong]

HKU @bencowling88’s team at #EPIDEMICS9!

[World Health Organization (WHO) @WHO]

WHO statement on reported clusters of respiratory illness in children in northern China

WHO has made an official request to #China for detailed information on an increase in respiratory illnesses and reported clusters of pneumonia in children.

At a press conference on 13 November 2023, Chinese authorities from the National Health Commission reported an increase in incidence of respiratory diseases in China.
Chinese authorities attributed this increase to the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions and the circulation of known pathogens such as influenza, mycoplasma pneumoniae (a common bacterial infection which typically affects younger children), respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), and SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19). Authorities stressed the need for enhanced disease surveillance in healthcare facilities and community settings, as well as strengthening the capacity of the health system to manage patients.

On 21 November, media and ProMED reported clusters of undiagnosed pneumonia in children in northern China. It is unclear if these are associated with the overall increase in respiratory infections previously reported by Chinese authorities, or separate events.

On 22 November, WHO requested additional epidemiologic and clinical information, as well as laboratory results from these reported clusters among children, through the International Health Regulations mechanism.

We have also requested further information about recent trends in the circulation of known pathogens including influenza, SARS-CoV-2, RSV and mycoplasma pneumoniae, and the current burden on health care systems.

WHO is also in contact with clinicians and scientists through our existing technical partnerships and networks in China.

Since mid-October, northern China has reported an increase in influenza-like illness compared to the same period in the previous three years. China has systems in place to capture information on trends in influenza, influenza-like illnesses, RSV, and SARS-CoV-2, and reports to platforms such as the Global Influenza Surveillance and Response System.

While WHO seeks this additional information, we recommend that people in China follow measures to reduce the risk of respiratory illness, which include recommended vaccination; keeping distance from people who are ill; staying home when ill; getting tested and medical care as needed; wearing masks as appropriate; ensuring good ventilation; and regular hand-washing.

WHO will continue to provide updates.

[Adam Kucharski @adamjkucharski]

Good piece on the value of digital contact tracing in future pandemics by @marcelsalathe https://t.co/AER6BUIkPy – combined with better linkage to venues of transmission (e.g. superspreading events), potential for a lot of impact here. 1/

[Marion Koopmans, publications: https://pure.eur.nl @MarionKoopmans]

ECDC states there is not yet sufficient information to assess risks of the 16 notified cases of H5N1 in cats in Poland. Source unknown, suspected to be a common source given the sudden and widespread occurrence and involvement of in house cats https://t.co/dXR47b4oRo

[Houriiyah Tegally, PhD 🇲🇺 @houzhou]

Excited to see this work now online! Using a phylogeographic framework, we formally investigate the role of presumed origin locations of VOCs in their global dispersal and highlight the influence of air travel and hubs in the VOC expansion process.
https://t.co/kz8Yo7y62g

[Kai Kupferschmidt @kakape]

The @WHO has just declared an end to the #COVID19 public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC).
"I declare COVID-19 over as a global health emergency", says @DrTedros at press conference going on now.

[Marion Koopmans, publications: https://pure.eur.nl @MarionKoopmans]

Firewalled, but study finding almost 30% of ebola survivors experience sequellae even 5 years out https://t.co/SwnTTE2t1L

[Dillon C. Adam, Ph.D @DrDCAdam]

@Globalbiosec @UNSW Thanks Raina! Was so lovely to see you and the old team.

[Dr. Tom Frieden @DrTomFrieden]

New York City has declared an end to the mpox outbreak. Thanks to action by the LGBTQ+ community and local health officials, more than 100,000 people in the city were vaccinated and disease spread slowed significantly. https://t.co/snAsJ33F1K

[BBC News (World) @BBCWorld]

Avian flu spills over from birds to mammals in UK https://t.co/UedRbmdHD4

[Adam Kucharski @adamjkucharski]

Worth reading this classic paper: https://t.co/IyNT6sUIFi. It explains why repeat spillovers are bad, because even if pathogens currently transmit inefficiently, the longer they stutter along, the more opportunities it creates to pick up mutation that increases transmission...

[Neelika Malavige @GMalavige]

Singapore, appears to be track to break its previous years of the highest number of #dengue cases, is reporting an 24% increase in the densities of Aedes aegypti.

The 4 dengue viruses co-circulate, with each one replacing the other, driving outbreaks.

https://t.co/BKzew0P6xZ

[Joel Chan @kjoules]

Hong Kong had nearly a full year to vaccinate its elderly population before the Omicron outbreak began. By February 2022, only 23% of the elderly age 80+ were fully vaccinated. Result: the highest number of Covid deaths per capita in the world while vaccines were widely available

[Xinqi Su 蘇昕琪 @XinqiSu]

Back in 2003 when #SARS took 299 lives from Hong Kong, an expert committee was founded to review the control of outbreak (https://t.co/kfNoWoqqW4). So far #covid has caused 13,338 deaths in HK.