David Miles

Once a travelling immunologist. Now a sedentary author. Still a masker. Co-host of @ChalkScribes.

[David Miles @Variolator]

How did a slave, a witchfinder, an aeronautical pioneer, a tanner's son and countless scientists save our lives?

Answers between the covers:
https://t.co/A1YMPdzcdu

[David Miles @Variolator]

Getting into practice to talk about whooping cough vaccines in Lincoln on Tuesday. Always nice to discuss the reason why millions of children haven't died.
#vaccines

https://t.co/7gJMxKB5Mb

[David Miles @Variolator]

@DrsMeena @TheLancet @YouTube And 15 years later, there are still people who think the Wakers and Walkies paper is gospel. Not that any of them have read it.

But yes, let's take a moment to dance on its grave.

[David Miles @Variolator]

Heading to Yorkshire to talk influenza with Beverley Cafe Sci tomorrow. If someone could distract the train gremlins, it would be much appreciated.
#Science #influenza

https://t.co/KOv6QdoJR5

[David Miles @Variolator]

@AtomSociety Many thanks for hosting. The ATOM crowd always come up with the most interesting questions.

[David Miles @Variolator]

Looking forward to heading back to Abingdon next week. Hope the ATOM crowd isn't too tired of my talks by now!

[ATOM Society @AtomSociety]

Just a week to go until our first talk of 2025! With the recent cold weather it's very timely that we'll be hearing from @Variolator about Influenza: from the Spanish Lady to the Winter Sniffle. We hope to see you there!

[David Miles @Variolator]

How Vaccines Work is finally available in the USA and Canada. So far, paperback and kindle editions only. Audio version to come.

It's the sort of book that RFK Jr really doesn't want you to read.

https://t.co/zfBiP7UnrA

[David Miles @Variolator]

Finished last year by making fun of Del Bigtree on the Think This Through channel. What else can you do with his fantasy that Bill Gates is going to tell him he's a genius for not being vaccinated except point and laugh?
https://t.co/N0Qi36i1bm

[David Miles @Variolator]

@Kit_Yates_Maths Never understood how 'just' could be applied to the most dangerous infectious disease in Europe pre-2020.

Perhaps we can argue that the footballers with the least flu and covid will win the world cup. Nothing else seems to get the message across.

[David Miles @Variolator]

One week away from returning to the town I was born in. Hope I'll get a better view of it than I did then.

[David Miles @Variolator]

How one popular movement gave us whooping cough vaccines and another gave us our whooping cough back. I’ll try to make sense of it at the Barbican Library @barbicanlib 12:30 Tue 8thOct.
#vaccines
Free tickets: https://t.co/CeeMU7zxVq

[David Miles @Variolator]

@Kit_Yates_Maths Why is this even a question? Mervyn Gordon demonstrated airborne dispersal by declaiming Shakespeare in the House of Commons in 1905. How are we still arguing about it in 2024?

[David Miles @Variolator]

@TRyanGregory Isn't the problem that the answer to the question is virus specific but classroom air isn't. With PIVs and MPVs, yes, probably best to get the first infections as children than adults. With covid, no because any infection is dangerous. Difficult circle to square.

[David Miles @Variolator]

@RDGGeekNight @ZerodegreesBeer I'm looking forward to emerging from that backroom.

[David Miles @Variolator]

@MamaWeasleyy Nucleocapsid antibody test is probably you best bet. Over 90% positivity by 500 days after infection so it's not perfect but it's the best around and fairly easy to get done. Alas it won't be free!

https://t.co/ANpRbFop5P

[David Miles @Variolator]

@mrmickme2 There are already cases in multiple countries so what matters now is how it's contained inside those countries.

Border closure is an extreme measure and mpox is far less transmissible than SARS-CoV-2.

[David Miles @Variolator]

@Kit_Yates_Maths Any idea how functional mpox contact tracing is in the UK?

It should be possible to contain it the old-fashioned way but not if we use the newfangled policy of public reassurance and private hand-wringing.

[David Miles @Variolator]

@Saffiya_Khan1 @UKHSA @GwynneMP Whenever I hear we should act more like Sweden, I think that's great, let's financially support people taking sick days so everyone can afford to isolate when they're ill.

Then I realise they think that's a bit too Swedish.

[David Miles @Variolator]

Many thanks to @plutopia for inviting me as a guest. It was a fun conversation!

[David Miles @Variolator]

@garwboy And then they're more interested in the page with the Tanzanian visa on it than the identity page.

Which happened to me once. When I pointed out what they were photocopying, they said they knew exactly what they were doing but strangely, didn't tell me why.

[David Miles @Variolator]

@Catherineoscopy Someone obviously needs a copy or three in their departmental library.

I'd love to know who thinks it's a good idea to vet their citations. Are they publishing in the Journal of Classified Stuff? Things that Didn't Happen Quarterly?