The rapid spread is scary. Already surpassed the ~8,000 SARS cases. Based on numbers, case fatality is ~2%, though likely to rise depending on no. in critical care. Very sad & worrriesome when health care workers die. Hoping swift actions will contain this beast. #coronavirus

This was a fun project combining some field work with lab work. Got to show evidence of escaped African warthogs reproducing in #Texas. The US now has the perfect set for the emergence of African swine fever virus. We’ve got the ticks and hogs. #ASFV urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https…

This is a good summary of our responsibly when it comes to COVID-19

Interesting/concerning article on the viability of #Coronavirus. medrxiv.org/content/10.110…

This is pretty wild data coming out from South Korea and Italy

Over the last month I’ve wondered if vaping could enhance #COVID19 transmission. This article is interesting: Turbulent Gas Clouds and Respiratory Pathogen Emissions: Potential Implications for Reducing Transmission of COVID-19 | Infectious Diseases | JAMA jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/…

A free 60 min drop-in support meeting facilitated by a therapist for those working on the front line of the pandemic to discuss the stress and trauma they might experience as a result of COVID-19. familystrategies.org/free-workshops #covid19 #quarantine #coronavirus #firstresponders #hope

This is super cool.

I have stayed out of politics for a long time. Don’t really like it, but something is off. Let’s pose with beans and pretend a pandemic doesn’t exist. Oh yes, let’s undercut and discredit Dr. Fauci and other scientists while we’re at it.

If someone would have told me that I would graduate a student wearing a mask I would have laughed. Good job, Dr. Brittany on your PhD. Proud of you. #bankrobber or #scientist ?

Excited to get this paper out showing #Lyme like symptoms for a confirmed case relapsing fever. This is one reason that relapsing fever gets misdiagnosed as Lyme disease. Also indicates the emergence of this pathogen in densely populated areas of #Texas. wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/27…

Really proud of this guy (⁦Alex Kneubehl, PhD⁩). He defended his PhD yesterday. He’s put in a lot of hard work and is incredibly bright. Love my group.

More evidence of the diversity and distribution of the tick-borne relapsing fever spirochete in densely populated regions of #Texas, but #lymedisease continues to be diagnosed while there’s little epidemiological support for it. journals.plos.org/plosntds/artic…

Enjoying giving a training exercise for the Texas health department this week on collecting soft ticks in Austin parks. It’s also fun working and hanging out with Serhii Filatov and Alex Kneubehl, PhD in the field. Where’s Waldo?

Behind on tweeting but excited to get this manuscript out. Characterization of Immunological Responses to Borrelia Immunogenic Protein A (BipA), a Species-Specific Antigen for North American Tick-Borne Relapsing Fever | Microbiology Spectrum journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/sp…

excited to publish an approach to amplify entire tick mitochondrial genomes and sequence them for ~$10/sample. cost effective approach for phylogenetic studies that should be applicable across different taxa. ⁦⁦⁦⁦Good job ⁦Alex Kneubehl, PhD⁩ nature.com/articles/s4159…

Isolation and genetic characterization of tick-borne relapsing fever spirochetes from #ticks collected by a home in Camayeca, #Mexico. We believe this disease is being misdiagnosed in the Americas #infectiousdisease #publichealth biorxiv.org/content/10.110…

Our paper describing O. turicata in the Mexican states of Aguascalientes and Zacatecas is now published!! DOI 10.1007/s10493-023-00830-2 congrats Edwin Vázquez & thanks to all our collaborators Job Lopez , Alex Kneubehl, PhD , PES Aparna Krishnavajhala and the rest of the team!

Hoy es el día! Llega a término el doctorado de Edwin Vázquez con mi dirección y la de Job Lopez . Today is the day for Edwin’s PhD defense!! Posgrado en Ciencias Quimicobiológicas IPN ENCB IPN IPN