Where Is Influenza?

This is an edited version of an article I wrote recently for Pandemics Data and Analytics. I have added some personal opinion in the first two paragraphs. It is yet to be edited/published by Panda. Dynamics between viruses and human populations are complex and not well understood.  Each year across the globe between 3 million … More Where Is Influenza?

Quackery and Corruption

This article by Robert E. Wright discusses the history of medical quackery as it evolved in early US history, defining quacks as those who “put profits or power ahead of the scientific method”, breaking the Hippocratic oath to “sell a system or nostrum”. He compares age-old quackery to that we are all victims of today … More Quackery and Corruption

Living With Germs

Sunetra Gupta, one of the world’s leading Infectious Disease Epidemiologists, lunched with journalist Alec Marsh in Covent Garden in early December. He published his account of their conversation a couple of days ago in this article, Sunetra Gupta: ‘There seems to be a fundamental misunderstanding of how we live with germs’. I search for references … More Living With Germs

Pandemic Pandemonia

If mainstream media were taking notice and reporting these events instead of focusing on scary mutant viruses and other fear mongering which keeps chaos alive and obstructs evidence based public health responses, then Christian Drosten would be a globally recognised name. Instead most appear to never have heard of him.  He is well known in … More Pandemic Pandemonia

Investigative Journalism

Scattered amidst the single consensus narrative you occasionally find an actual investigative journalist. Anna Brees (UK) and Naomi Wolf (USA) are worth following. Days ago a German court ruled lockdown as a “catastrophically wrong political decision with dramatic consequences for almost all areas of people’s lives”. Naomi Wolf interviews Kevin McKernan and Bobby Malhotra in … More Investigative Journalism

A Blur of Bewilderment

After 20 years working in disease surveillance and outbreak control, the past year has been a blur of bewilderment.  A horrific respiratory virus that most people don’t know they have?  An infection fatality rate of 0.2% claimed by government departments to be magnitudes higher?  Diagnostic testing known to be unfit for purpose?  Childhoods, young lives, … More A Blur of Bewilderment