Jon Ploug retweeted
There is something really concerning (and disappointing) going on in the US right now.
A dangerous and preventable situation.
Let me explain.
nextstrain.org/avian-flu/h5n…
1/
Jon Ploug retweeted
My feed is currently full of takes treating a Utah mink farm like a Bond villain's volcano lair ("Dr. Evil tries to spark a pandemic", "classical dangerous Gain of Function experiment").
The limited sequence data actually show this:
We have 10 mink genomes in NCBI/NextStrain (QB062305–QB062376 + SRR40350173), all sampled on a single day (Aug 7). Because they form a three-step internal ladder on the tree, they don't just capture a point spillover—their standing diversity traces back ~6–7 weeks to a mid-June farm ancestor (~2026.46).
What did the virus actually do during ~7 weeks in mink?
- HA (568 codons) accumulated zero amino acid changes. Every mink HA protein is 100% identical to neighboring May/June ID & UT dairy cattle.
- Canonical PB2 mammalian sweeps (627K, 701N, 271A): zero.
- Instead, the basal mink stem fixed changes in the polymerase and M2 (PB2 Q13R, PB1 K388R, PA I129T, M2 G58D/S64F). An internal branch (8/10 tips) added PB2 I399T and reverted NS1 T60A back to the pre-2025 residue, and a nested split (5/10 tips) added PB1 N642T.
- Downstream spread into cattle, poultry, wild birds, or humans since August: zero.
Our genomic window on that farm closes on Aug 7 because the October follow-up samples still haven't been released. Less movie-pitch hyperbole and faster open deposits in GenBank would be a nice start.
Jon Ploug retweeted
This is playing with fire.
Minks and ferrets have such humanlike lung cells that they’re the standard for testing human flu transmission. (Cows aren’t!)
An H5N1 epidemic raging in a mink farm is basically the plot for Dr. Evil tries to spark a pandemic. Luck isn’t a plan.
Here’s something you should know about minks:
They have lungs and airways remarkably similar on a cellular level to those of people.
They’ve spread flus and infected humans before with COVID-19.
Right now, bird flu is spreading on a Utah farm filled with thousands of them… 🧵
ALT A close-up view of a white mink with red eyes and a pink nose baring its teeth and hissing, emerging from under a dark enclosure.
Jon Ploug retweeted
This is basically a classical dangerous Gain of Function (dGoF) experiment. I wish the US government would shut it down.
A while ago, Stacey Schultz-Cherry and I wrote a commentary (pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/article…), that ends with this sentence:
US: Bird flu has been spreading for around two months on a Utah mink farm holding thousands of animals. None have been culled, workers aren't being monitored, and the USDA says it doesn't regulate mink. So thousands of animals are exposed, workers could be at risk, and nobody seems to be taking responsibility.
theguardian.com/us-news/2026…
Jon Ploug retweeted
Kenya has confirmed a third case of the Ebola Bundibugyo virus. The patient, a 65-year-old woman, is a primary contact and a close relative of the first and second cases and had been under quarantine.
Jon Ploug retweeted
With 9,000 infections and 4,000 deaths, Ebola continues to spread in eastern DR Congo. German experts are training local healthcare workers to treat patients safely and contain the virus. #EuropeNews l.euronews.com/UQXV
Det giver en vis mening, at man i 1800-tallet vurderede vold mildt, da slagsmål var hyppige og man kunne jo ikke smide alle mænd i fængsel. Bedrageri derimod kunne ødelægge tilliden til møntfoden f.eks.
Det giver dog ingen mening at vi har fastholdt disse forældede principper.
And you will probably have very few casualties yourself, since it is not very transmissible. A cotton mask is 100 per cent effective (as proven during the Manchurian plague), and you can keep antibiotics on hand, which are very effective at treating plague.
1/ A Russian lab worker has died of plague after reportedly breaking a tube containing live Yersinia pestis at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Institute. Nearly 200 contacts were placed under observation.
The institute’s history makes the case unusually interesting.
Health authorities in Siberia’s Irkutsk region have placed nearly 200 people under medical observation after a laboratory worker died from plague, according to media reports and a statement by a regional leader.
themoscowtimes.com/2026/10/0…
Fiona Hill, who has studied Putin's Russia extensively, said of Putin in 2022: “if he has a capability, he’d like to use it.” She was describing a broader pattern, not biological weapons specifically.
That makes the provenance of the Irkutsk plague culture a legitimate question.
Jon Ploug retweeted
The #Ebola outbreak in DRC isn't getting much attention these days. It should be. statnews.com/2026/10/02/ebol…
Jon Ploug retweeted
Health authorities in Siberia’s Irkutsk region have placed nearly 200 people under medical observation after a laboratory worker died from plague, according to media reports and a statement by a regional leader.
themoscowtimes.com/2026/10/0…