I don't have the time to do Follow Fridays, but it's an admirable custom—and as Twitter becomes increasingly important to Flublogia, I'm grateful the people whose tweets help me keep you current on public health news.
So as a new year dawns, here's a list of the people and organizations whose tweets I find essential. If you're not following them, you should. In alphabetical order:
BC-CfE in HIV/AIDS: A major resource against AIDS, right here in Vancouver.
Helen Branswell: Health reporter for The Canadian Press; her stories are automatic must-reads.
Declan Butler: Science reporter with Nature.
Dr. John A. Carroll: Loving and eloquent eyewitness to Haiti.
CDC: The Centers for Disease Control—reliable and encyclopedic.
CIDRAP: An astonishing news gatherer at the University of Minnesota.
Mike Coston: Tireless author of thoughtful and well-researched posts on Avian Flu Diary.
ECDC: The European Centre for Disease Control in Stockholm covers the world as well as Europe.
Eurosurveillance: Published by ECDC, an essential journal.
FluTrackers: Following outbreaks in astounding detail. Don't just follow them; support them.
Laurie Garrett: Journalist, author, and all-round good disease tracker.
Shane Granger: Australian number-cruncher and infographic genius.
Gregory Härtl: Communications spokesperson for WHO.
HealthMap: Excellent newsgatherers.
Richard Horton: The editor of The Lancet and devastating critic of public-health follies.
Makoto: Japan's amazing outbreak tracker, hours ahead of everyone else.
Marion Koopmans: Virologist, with expertise in public health and surveillance.
Ian M. Mackay: Australian virologist and blogger, H7N9's gift to Flublogia.
Krisztian Magori: Disease ecologist, always tweeting a new surprise.
Maryn McKenna: Every good science writer dreams of being as good as McKenna.
MERScoV: Tracking MERS from Saudi Arabia.
MERS CoV Virus: Tracking MERS from Germany.
Nature News & Comment: Always something interesting and important.
André Picard: Public health reporter for Canada's Globe & Mail.
Vincent Racaniello: Effortlessly succeeding in becoming the world's virology prof.
Andrew Rambaut: Informed and meticulous accountant of MERS; we'd be lost without him.
Lisa Schnirring: CIDRAP science writer; Flublogia has relied on her for years.
Marc Sprenger: The Director of ECDC and one of its voices on Twitter.
Judy Stone: Internal medicine and infectious disease, and clinical-research expert.
Gert van der Hoek: Among the immortals of Flublogia and especially of FluTrackers.
WHO: The object of Flublogia's sometimes-exasperated affection and respect.
Carl Zimmer: A polymath science writer worth following, even if you're not interested in public health.
Of course I rely on many other individuals and organizations, but these are the ones who most consistently have something to say that we should all listen to. To all of you who contribute to the online early-warning system that Flublogia has become, my thanks. I wish you all a happy, prosperous, peaceful and healthy 2014.
