Mark Honigsbaum

Writer and medical historian. Author of Living With Enza, The Fever Trail & The Pandemic Century.

[Mark Honigsbaum @honigsbaum]

As bombs rain down on Tehran, the world appears more than divided than ever. But was war in the Middle East inevitable? Or is the current conflagration further evidence of how Covdi-19 destabilised our world, plunging us into permacrisis?

https://t.co/2Q47GRQC9x

[Dr. Saskia Popescu @SaskiaPopescu]

Here’s Everything Wrong With the Offshore Ebola Quarantine Plan | MedPage Today https://t.co/PdJzmsUd58

[Dr. Benjamin Mateus, MD @BenjaminMateus7]

WHO admits the epidemic is outpacing the response. But it's not outpacing a real mobilization — it's outpacing a deliberately hobbled one.

USAID gutted. Eastern DRC at war. 25.6M in food crisis. These aren't background conditions. They determine who dies.

[David Miliband @DMiliband]

The bottom line?

This could become the deadliest Ebola outbreak on record without urgent international action.

More in the IRC’s Flash Alert: https://t.co/xkWkjWTcrr

[Daniel Michombero /Batubenga @michombero]

#ALERTE 🚨 : Tentative d’intrusion à l’hôpital de Rwampara

« Nous sommes actuellement enfermés à l’hôpital de Rwampara. Des manifestants tentent de récupérer de force les corps des personnes décédées d’Ebola. Ils commencent également à incendier certaines installations de l’hôpital.
La situation est extrêmement tendue et nécessite une intervention urgente des autorités compétentes afin de sécuriser les patients, le personnel médical et les infrastructures sanitaires », explique une source sur le lieu.

[Craig Spencer MD MPH @Craig_A_Spencer]

For the @nytimes, I wrote about how cruel and horrific Ebola is, as both a provider, and as a patient.

I tried to reflect the science, and the profound sadness.

Very grateful to my editor, who pushed me to make this more personal. I usually avoid doing so. For reasons that become clear at the end of this piece.

Gift link:

https://t.co/H2BITlyawX

[Larry Madowo @LarryMadowo]

BREAKING: Angry locals tried to forcibly take the body of man believed to have died of Ebola in northeastern DRC. 2 tents treating patients were set on fire.

Some believe that Ebola is a "white man's disease" though it often spreads at funerals. Uganda has suspended DRC flights

[Mark Honigsbaum @honigsbaum]

Excellent article on how our unpreparedness for the Ebola outbreak in the DRC recapitulates a familiar cycle of panic and neglect, I make a similar point in my Substack post here: https://t.co/kgwP67oyQn

[Craig Spencer MD MPH @Craig_A_Spencer]

I’ve read a lot of reporting on Ebola. But this by @jwgale is excellent and essential reading.

Very few pieces pull together so many threads all at once, while giving clarity on what’s happening, and what comes next.

Read and share this @business gift link below:

https://t.co/Aw0z1x8f0v

[Mark Honigsbaum @honigsbaum]

@mirandalevycopy Wonderful!

[Mark Honigsbaum @honigsbaum]

The drought is over. Gunners are champions again! https://t.co/s0oC6m4Q1g

[Mark Honigsbaum @honigsbaum]

Our tardy response to the outbreak of Ebola Bundibugyo virus in the DRC is a reminder, as Margaret Chan, the former DG of the WHO, once put it, that the “virus writes the rules…and the virus can change the rules, without rhyme or reason, at any time.”

https://t.co/kgwP67oyQn

[Mark Honigsbaum @honigsbaum]

My take on the outbreak of Ebola Bundibugyo virus
https://t.co/lOnn7Es3Qy

[Dr. Benjamin Mateus, MD @BenjaminMateus7]

@MacintyreRaina In Jan2025, USAID terminated the $100M STOP Spillover program. That program monitored reservoirs for Ebola, Marburg and Lassa across Uganda, DRC and five other countries. Field teams were dispersed within days. The Uganda–DRC cross-border surveillance network went dark.
#USAID

[Dr. Benjamin Mateus, MD @BenjaminMateus7]

WHO just declared Ebola a global health emergency — the rare Bundibugyo strain, no approved vaccine or treatment. It's spreading across DRC and Uganda, cases now in Kinshasa and Kampala.
This didn't have to happen. 🧵
#pheic @PeterDaszak @HelenBranswell
https://t.co/3Aa57KwuoK

[Mark Honigsbaum @honigsbaum]

Pure genius

[Led By Donkeys @ByDonkeys]

Immigration makes Britain brilliant.

[Peter Daszak @PeterDaszak]

Breaking News! @peterdaszak.bsky.social speaks out about "vindictive political prosecution" of David Morens, MAGA's continuing anti-science witch hunt, & their mishandling of outbreak response in the face of Hantavirus h-2-h spread @BenjaminMateus7 https://t.co/ZG2EenK64k

[Jack @jackcoder0]

7. Professional Editing & Polish

“Act as a professional book editor. Review the full manuscript and correct clarity issues, repetition, weak phrasing, and structural inconsistencies. Improve readability without changing the core meaning.”

[Mark Honigsbaum @honigsbaum]

This is the best article I’ve read on the transmission dynamics of the hantavirus and the environmental conditions, and other considerations, governing its spread.

[Paul Nuki 🦋 @PaulNuki]

The race to understand how rat-virus spreads https://t.co/u9vxo8QQPL

[Prof Peter Hotez MD PhD DSc(hon) @PeterHotez]

1/n: I could be wrong, of course, but my take about this hantavirus outbreak is less about the actual outbreak and more about what it means in the context of the last two decades and moving forward. Let me explain...

[Florian Krammer @florian_krammer]

Here are the important references of historically described Andesvirus human-to-human transmission (rare among Andesviruses cases):

https://t.co/QXW3zj5KJS (1996)

https://t.co/OkLhhTPOtg (2014)

https://t.co/HC6NoxyRcP (2018/2019)

All were contained.

[Paul Nuki 🦋 @PaulNuki]

Important and welcome news re the hantavirus: it does NOT seem to be evolving fast genetically

From @benfarmerDT in Cape Town for @TelGlobalHealth :

The virus behind the deadly cruise ship hantavirus outbreak is nearly identical to a well known South American strain, easing fears of a new more virulent mutant version, a leading expert has said.

Genetic sequences of virus taken from victims are more than 99 per cent identical to those already known from the existing Andes strain.

Prof Tulio de Oliveira said the finding meant he was not currently concerned by the prospect of the virus having evolved into a new more dangerous variant.
He said the DNA code of the virus, its genome, had been sequenced from three patients: two in South Africa and one in Switzerland.

He said: "The genome of the virus is extremely similar to the Andes virus that is currently circulating in South America. We are talking more than 99 per cent identical."

Prof de Oliveira, of South Africa's Stellenbosh University, also told Al Jazeera the nature of the cruise, as passengers stayed together indoors during cold South Atlantic weather, had probably exacerbated the spread on the MV Hondius.