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Dr. Angela Rasmussen Profile picture
Dr. Angela Rasmussen
@angie_rasmussen
Virologist. PI @VIDOInterVac. Adj Prof @USask BMI. P2 @covarr_net. Jeopardy! loser. Famed for my obnoxious turns of phrase. 🇺🇸in🇨🇦. she/her
otaria123 Profile picture Jim Hanna Profile picture Ross Grayson, MPH, CIH Profile picture Adam Smithee Profile picture B. S. Profile picture 69 subscribed
Jun 16 • 10 tweets • 3 min read
In spring 2020, Craig described NY Presbyterian Hospital to me as “the fucking apocalypse.”

By July, the same sentient pancake stack bragging about his spaceships told me that even though an even bigger surge was hitting sunbelt states, the epi data was “bs” & PCR is fake. Because I, a virologist with 2 masters & a PhD, ~20 yrs experience with emerging viruses, & whose life at the time was like the forced reeducation scene in Clockwork Orange except with COVID data, was less skillful at interpreting basic epi data than a rich dude with opinions.


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Jun 4 • 20 tweets • 5 min read
People asking why this is factually incorrect…I’m at a conference today so am pressed for time but I’ll quickly address each of the 5 “key points.”

Bottom line: You can dress up unsupported horseshit in as much polished data viz as you want, but it still stinks. Yes the virus emerged in Wuhan & the WIV is there & studies SARS-related CoVs, but that’s where the truth ends.

Shi Zhengli’s lab does great work on SARSr-CoVs, but they aren’t the only lab in the world doing so. They aren’t even the only lab in China doing this work. Image
May 23 • 8 tweets • 3 min read
This is great news, as more testing is urgently needed, but there are some caveats.

Wastewater data can be difficult to interpret. It can be especially difficult to identify the source and won’t catch anything not connected to municipal sewage systems (many farms are not). Because there is no data indicating widespread human infection, spikes of H5 in wastewater could indicate dumping of infected milk, birds or other animals defecating into sewersheds, etc. Unlike other environmental samples, the host can be very difficult to identify.
May 3 • 22 tweets • 7 min read
Out now on @virological_org: preliminary report on the genomic epidemiology of H5N1 sequences in cattle. This complements the preprint @USDA put out yesterday.

There was a lot of data to work with, so it's split in two parts 👇🏼

virological.org/t/preliminary-…
virological.org/t/preliminary-… Some key findings from this preliminary analysis:

1. There was a reassortment event shortly before the cattle outbreak.

Only segmented viruses like influenza can reassort. If 2 viruses infect the same host, they can shuffle their genome segments like 2 decks of cards
Apr 24 • 20 tweets • 4 min read
Very important to note here that qPCR positives are not the same as "virus particles." It's much easier to detect viral RNA by qPCR than it is to detect infectious virus or intact virus particles (as the article correctly notes).

This finding does have some big implications: 1. This suggests there are undetected herds shedding virus into the milk supply. Viral RNA does not materialize out of thin air—it is the product of a current or very recent viral infection.

No virus replicating in cows, no viral RNA in milk.

No viral RNA, no PCR positives.
Apr 5 • 12 tweets • 5 min read
Here is the article linked above and what it actually says: “The Texas Animal Health Commission said in an email that sick cats tested positive for the virus.”

cidrap.umn.edu/avian-influenz…
“The Texas Animal Health Commission said in an e-Mail that it has received lab confirmation of HPAI in three cats.” Last I checked, 3 is 37 fewer than 40. There may be more cats affected but I did not find a single credible report of more than these 3 cats (for now). Also to be clear there is no evidence that it is “spreading rapidly” in mammals & sequence data suggests transmission from birds.

cidrap.umn.edu/avian-influenz…
“She said sequences from the dairy cows nest with those from wild bird samples collected from Texas about the same time. However, the goat samples from Minnesota are most similar to a pheasant sequence from Colorado. Moncla said none of the PB2 sequences have known adaptive markers, and the similarity of internal genes from wild bird and cattle sequences suggest direct transmission from wild birds.” The human case did have 1 PB2 mutation that suggested mammalian adaptation—likely adaptation to the human who got it. Cat H5N1 armageddon is not yet upon us.
Jan 19 • 27 tweets • 8 min read
The only things created or crafted here are these grossly incorrect heaps of horseshit generated by @caitlintilley @DailyMail & @nypost.

This article and others like it are very misleading. This was not gain-of-function research, no matter how many loud non-experts say it is.
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Image This article describes this recent preprint published on @biorxivpreprint. Briefly, scientists in Beijing cloned a pangolin SARS-related coronavirus they had isolated & infected human ACE2 transgenic mice with it. All the mice died.

biorxiv.org/content/10.110…
Jan 8 • 25 tweets • 7 min read
Last week our @JVirology piece on biosafety dropped & a few things evidently need clearing up:

1. We don’t oppose biosafety regulation

2. It’s not unprofessional or rude to acknowledge distinct areas of expertise

3. Expertise is an asset, not a conflict
journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/jv… In this commentary, me and 77 of my colleagues argued that virology research is essential to pandemic preparedness. Biosafety is a cornerstone of virology research, but technical expertise is required for regulation that actually works & can’t be excluded from policy development.
Dec 11, 2023 • 21 tweets • 4 min read
This recent paper in @ScienceTM has a few of my favorite things:
✔️host-targeting drugs
✔️promising broad-spectrum antivirals
✔️international collaboration

It also demonstrates why continued virus discovery & virology research are critically important.
science.org/doi/10.1126/sc… Led by researchers at @harvardmed, @WuHanUniv, & @IcahnMountSinai, Dang, Bai, Dong, Hu, and colleagues targeted a protein called USP2, a deubiquitinase that stabilizes ACE2.

ACE2 is the receptor that allows SARS-CoV-2 and other SARSr-CoVs to enter cells and cause infection.
Nov 28, 2023 • 17 tweets • 3 min read
If you’ve heard/read scary stuff about virology/microbiology/pathogen research and the inevitable apocalypse it will bring, please know most of that shit is made up and funded by the factions of existential doomers warring as described in this excellent thread. As I’ve stated before many times, research on emerging pathogens presents myriad risks. But the risks can be mitigated and this research is essential for fighting the pandemics of tomorrow.

Wealthy tech dudes with derivative imaginations are trying to stop this essential work.
Nov 21, 2023 • 19 tweets • 7 min read
It’s a day of the week that ends in Y so here comes @KatherineEban with yet another long read that is heavy on the insinuation and unconcerned with things like facts.

Eban journalism: don’t know what evidence DOE used in their origin assessment? Invent some! Like this description of Ebola virus disease from Kevin Esvelt, an “evolutionary sculptor” who has never set foot in a containment lab and has published zero papers on the topic.

Ebola doesn’t cause “spouting blood from every orifice” except in the movie Outbreak. Image
Oct 23, 2023 • 15 tweets • 5 min read
Example of a COVID grifter in action. 👇🏻

Tracy Høeg is a sports medicine doctor who rose to pandemic stardom by putting out a bunch of dubious anti-vax/anti-mask papers a la Vinay Prasad.

Predictably, she now has a podcast for the “vaccine curious” and OMG IT’S BEING CENSORED! Image Tracy Høeg’s entire brand is to say “I’m just asking questions, what about this (demonstrably false piece of anti-vaxxer lore)?” She especially likes to do this about childhood vaccines, since it’s easy to farm outrage from parents understandably concerned for their kids’ health.
Aug 23, 2023 • 15 tweets • 5 min read
Lots of people posting this article as if it shows something new about the origins of the pandemic. Specifically that this indicates the pandemic started well before late November/early December 2019, therefore…must be a lab leak. It does not show that and here is why. First, the fact that the Chinese government covered up early cases is not news. The @nytimes reported on this on February 1, 2020. Since then, it’s been clear that there were concerted efforts to conceal the extent of the early outbreak in Wuhan.

nytimes.com/2020/02/01/wor…
Aug 15, 2023 • 22 tweets • 5 min read
I see the lab leak opportunists are still at it with regard to serial passaging. So let’s talk about whether that can “pre-adapt” a virus to have pandemic potential in humans using primate cells.

Is this even possible? Image Sure, it’s possible. In the sense that it’s possible that I could replace Pete Carroll as Seahawks head coach based on my getting married at a tailgate party and my avowed loyalty.

But it’s not plausible. At all.
Jul 17, 2023 • 8 tweets • 2 min read
There has been tons of anthroponotic (humans to animals) transmission of SARS-CoV-2 to deer. But it probably doesn’t end there.

Given that SARS-CoV-2 has a very broad host range, there are likely other reservoir species that we just haven’t found yet.
cnn.com/2023/07/12/hea… And why does this matter? Well, the paper found Alpha, Gamma, Delta, and Omicron in the deer. 3 of these variants no longer circulate in humans. So animal reservoirs can preserve circulation of variants that would have otherwise been outcompeted in humans.
nature.com/articles/s4146…
Jul 12, 2023 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
Two truths:
1) a senior scientist, who purports to oppose harassment & abuse in academia, is spinning the testimony of colleagues at an anti-science show trial without evidence to suggest its their fault they’ve been targeted for abuse; 2) This is a normal, everyday practice. This is extremely disappointing, as Dr. Eisen has done his share of spinning to promote his vision of transforming publishing and peer review. How does that jive with implicitly accusing colleagues—who preprinted their work as soon as it was drafted—of fraud without evidence?
Jun 16, 2023 • 28 tweets • 8 min read
“The real opposition is the media. And the way to deal with them is to flood the zone with shit.”

Steve Bannon’s quote explains everything about why these increasingly deranged “intel” about the origin of COVID are coming out now, prior to declassification of actual intel. Image “Flood the zone with shit” is a favorite information warfare tactic. Bannon et al have used it to very effectively gaslight the public on everything from Jan 6th to his own indictment.

And now the lab leak proponents are using the same, exact playbook.
amp.cnn.com/cnn/2021/11/16…
Jun 12, 2023 • 41 tweets • 15 min read
REVEALED: reporters at @thetimes working alongside the internet’s most prominent SARS-CoV-2 origins conspiracists combined the world’s most idiotic lab leak theories to create this long read of nonsensical reheated horseshit. …

So let’s get into this tepid excuse for journalism I already knew this was going to be a doozy just by looking at the photo. This is what happens when you prompt an AI image generator with “suspicious-looking masked CCP official or military scientist with a coronavirus-themed PRC flag inspired by racist stereotypes” Image
Jun 8, 2023 • 8 tweets • 3 min read
It’s essential to understand how the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic began, partly to guide efforts to prevent the next one. But we already know some of the steps to take.

This important perspective in @NEJM from @ggronvall & @LawrenceGostin addresses exactly that.
nejm.org/doi/full/10.10… No matter what you may have consumed on Twitter, in NY Times columns, on podcasts or YouTube videos, on cable news, or in pop sci books from (largely unqualified) people with opinions, the question of where SARS-CoV-2 came from is a scientific question.

And science has an answer
May 24, 2023 • 14 tweets • 6 min read
Thrilled to announce that my lab has received support from @CIHR_IRSC to study mpox virus pathogenesis and optimize response to treatment here at @VIDOInterVac.

Quick thread on what we plan to do 👇🏼 Currently, the best mouse model for studying mpox is a wild-derived mouse strain known as CAST/EiJ, from the subspecies Mus musculus castaneus. However, although CAST/EiJ mice typically get very sick & may die from MPXV infection, they don't fully recapitulate human mpox disease.
May 6, 2023 • 21 tweets • 8 min read
I did not say in this article that we found infected animals at Huanan market. I interpreted our findings, as did co-authors & colleagues, in this article.

These data don’t exist in a vacuum & cannot be interpreted without the context of other evidence.
theatlantic.com/science/archiv… Image We analyzed metagenomic data shared at GISAID from environmental samples collected by the Chinese CDC at Huanan market in Jan 2020, shortly after the market closed.

We found some SARS-CoV-2 positive samples had very little or no human DNA/RNA, but lots from susceptible mammals.