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David Helekal

@dhelekal

Trees, AMR, Bayes. Current: Postdoc @ Harvard Chan SPH Prev: PhD @ Warwick

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29.11.2023
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Latest posts by David Helekal @dhelekal

🚨 New pre-print! 🚨 In the largest study of its kind to-date, we investigate the ecological and evolutionary mechanisms driving within-patient evolution of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Read here:
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... , and follow along with this thread, discussing our findings (1/21)

20.02.2026 15:57 πŸ‘ 64 πŸ” 32 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 3

We're also happy to see a second paper out today, led by Nicola de Maio, which develops methods to identify and account for mutation rate variation and recurrent errors.

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

09.02.2026 15:28 πŸ‘ 13 πŸ” 5 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 0
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Ian Roberts published his first paper "Bayesian Inference of Pathogen Phylogeography using the Structured Coalescent Model" with me, Jere Koskela and Xavier Didelot. We describe an efficient reversible jump MCMC method for inference for the structured coalescent. journals.plos.org/pl...

09.02.2026 15:22 πŸ‘ 11 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

Now published: our work using phylodynamics from surveillance data to quantify and experimentally validate the fitness impact of antibiotic resistance determinants & how this changes with patterns of antibiotic use: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

30.01.2026 12:34 πŸ‘ 64 πŸ” 31 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

Very happy to have had the opportunity to contribute to this work. Thanks to Robin Thompson for leading, the amazing team of co-authors and the INI for hosting us.

29.01.2026 00:19 πŸ‘ 15 πŸ” 8 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

βœ… Say: "My manuscript has been metropolised"
❌ Don't say: "My manuscript has been rejected and so I've sent it to MDPI"

14.07.2025 13:13 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

Now out in NEJM. Kudos to @dhelekal.bsky.social and @tatumdmortimer.bsky.social : www.nejm.org/doi/10.1056/...

10.07.2025 11:09 πŸ‘ 24 πŸ” 13 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 1
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Performance of deep-learning-based approaches to improve polygenic scores - Nature Communications Polygenic scores aim to capture genetic risk but may miss nonlinear genetic and environmental interactions. Here, the authors show that neural networks detect limited nonlinearity and do not outperfor...

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

29.06.2025 22:01 πŸ‘ 3 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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ECR Data Visualisation Workshop Please complete this application to attend the Data Viz workshop. This event will be held at the 2025 STI & HIV World Congress in Montreal, Canada on Wednesday, July 30th from 11:30-13:30. Effective...

If you are an early career research attending @stihiv2025.org and interested in learning more about data visualization in R, @odileharrison.bsky.social , Sim Dabee, and I are organizing a workshop during the conference (11:30am-1:30pm on Wednesday). Register here: forms.gle/e4UL1NG62PUD...

26.06.2025 14:12 πŸ‘ 5 πŸ” 5 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

A fun conversation with Carl this afternoon about his excellent book AIR-BORNE--the recording is available at the HSPH youtube site: www.youtube.com/user/Harvard...

24.06.2025 20:56 πŸ‘ 20 πŸ” 3 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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Outbreak of Ceftriaxone-Resistant <em>Salmonella enterica</em> Serovar Typhi, Bangladesh, 2024 Ceftriaxone-Resistant <em>Salmonella</em> Typhi, Bangladesh

One ceftriaxone-resistant #typhoid case last year set us on a path that is now live on Emerging Infectious Diseases.
47 cases in months, resistance rose from 0 to 5%. We spoke with patients, sequenced samples. 4.3.1.2.B1 lineage+blaCTX-M-15 on pCROB1. #AMR #PublicHealth
wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/...

23.06.2025 16:19 πŸ‘ 3 πŸ” 6 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

Looking forward to my visit @ccdd-hsph.bsky.social!

31.03.2025 20:47 πŸ‘ 3 πŸ” 2 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

(10/10) Work with @tatumdmortimer.bsky.social & @yhgrad.bsky.social

28.03.2025 20:43 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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Emergence of Extensively Drug-Resistant <em>Neisseria gonorrhoeae,</em> France, 2023 Extensively Drug-Resistant <em>Neisseria gonorrhoeae</em>

(9/10) As N. gonorrhoeae strains carrying high-level cephalosporin resistance on a tetM positive background have been emerging globally wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/..., the evident strength of selection for tetM may have created a favorable environment for their expansion in the US.

28.03.2025 20:43 πŸ‘ 3 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

(8/10) This raises concern for genetic hitchhiking, whereby alleles that may be neutral or deleterious on their own actually increase in frequency due to their presence in lineages that carry another gene or allele that’s beneficial.

28.03.2025 20:43 πŸ‘ 3 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
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(7/10) The number of major N. gonorrhoeae lineages carrying tetM also increased from one before 2020 that accounted for ~40% of all tetM+ isolates to 4 after 2020 that collectively accounted for ~80% of all tetM+ isolates. Two of these lineages carry penA variants that increase cephalosporin MICs.

28.03.2025 20:43 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
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Doxycycline to prevent bacterial sexually transmitted infections in the USA: final results from the DoxyPEP multicentre, open-label, randomised controlled trial and open-label extension Doxy-PEP was effective in reducing bacterial STIs in this population of men who have sex with men and transgender women, including during an open-label extension when doxy-PEP efficacy was known. Doxy...

(6/10) This is consistent with a recent report out of Seattle, showing an increase in resistance in N. gonorrhoeae and an increase in S. aureus tetracycline resistance in those on doxy-PEP: academic.oup.com/cid/advance-... and www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...

28.03.2025 20:43 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
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(5/10) By May 2024, the estimated proportion of isolates carrying tetM skyrocketed to ~35%, suggesting a large selective pressure for doxycycline resistance. The rise seems most pronounced in HHS regions 9 and 10.

28.03.2025 20:43 πŸ‘ 3 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
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Drug-Resistant Gonorrhea This page explains drug-resistant gonorrhea, changing treatments, and current challenges

(4/10) To investigate the impact of the increased doxy use, we analyzed a collection of over 14000 N. gonorrhoeae genomes spanning 2018-mid 2024, collected and sequenced through CDC surveillance efforts -- GISP, eGISP, SURRG www.cdc.gov/gonorrhea/hc....

28.03.2025 20:43 πŸ‘ 3 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
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Effects of doxycycline post-exposure prophylaxis for prevention of sexually transmitted infections on gonorrhoea prevalence and antimicrobial resistance among men who have sex with men in the USA: a m... Doxycycline post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) has been shown to be efficacious for the prevention of bacterial sexually transmitted infections, but resistance implications for Neisseria gonorrhoeae rema...

(3/10) This is especially relevant for N. gonorrhoeae. In 2018, an estimated 10% of isolates carried the plasmid-borne gene tetM, which confers high-level tetracycline resistance (MIC β‰₯ 16 Β΅g/mL) pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC....

28.03.2025 20:43 πŸ‘ 3 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

(2/10) Over the past few years, the use of doxycycline to treat bacterial STIs has gone up in the US. Doxy became the recommended treatment for chlamydia (2020), it was used for syphilis treatment during bicillin shortages, and doxy-PEP was rolled out. What’s the impact on resistance?

28.03.2025 20:43 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
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(1/10) New preprint: Expansion of tetM-carrying Neisseria gonorrhoeae in the US, 2018-2024; Link: www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1...

28.03.2025 20:43 πŸ‘ 14 πŸ” 7 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 1

Work with @tatumdmortimer.bsky.social & @yhgrad.bsky.social

28.03.2025 20:05 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
Preview
Emergence of Extensively Drug-Resistant <em>Neisseria gonorrhoeae,</em> France, 2023 Extensively Drug-Resistant <em>Neisseria gonorrhoeae</em>

(9/10) As N. gonorrhoeae strains carrying high-level cephalosporin resistance on a tetM positive background have been emerging globally wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/..., the evident strength of selection for tetM may have created a favorable environment for their expansion in the US.

28.03.2025 20:05 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

(8/10) This raises concern for genetic hitchhiking, whereby alleles that may be neutral or deleterious on their own actually increase in frequency due to their presence in lineages that carry another gene or allele that’s beneficial.

28.03.2025 20:05 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
Post image

(7/10) The number of major N. gonorrhoeae lineages carrying tetM also increased from one before 2020 that accounted for ~40% of all tetM+ isolates to 4 after 2020 that collectively accounted for ~80% of all tetM+ isolates. Two of these lineages carry penA variants that increase cephalosporin MICs.

28.03.2025 20:05 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
Preview
Potential Impact of Doxycycline Post-Exposure Prophylaxis on Tetracycline Resistance in Neisseria gonorrhoeae and Colonization with Tetracycline-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus and Group A Streptococc... High-level tetracycline resistant Neisseria gonorrhoeae is now widespread among men who have sex with men in King County, WA. Doxy PEP use was associated w

(6/10) This is consistent with a recent report out of Seattle, showing an increase in resistance in N. gonorrhoeae and an increase in S. aureus tetracycline resistance in those on doxy-PEP: www.thelancet.com/journals/lan... and academic.oup.com/cid/advance-...

28.03.2025 20:05 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
Post image Post image

(5/10) By May 2024, the estimated proportion of isolates carrying tetM skyrocketed to ~35%, suggesting a large selective pressure for doxycycline resistance. The rise seems most pronounced in HHS regions 9 and 10.

28.03.2025 20:05 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
Preview
Drug-Resistant Gonorrhea This page explains drug-resistant gonorrhea, changing treatments, and current challenges

(4/10) To investigate the impact of the increased doxy use, we analyzed a collection of over 14000 N. gonorrhoeae genomes spanning 2018-mid 2024, collected and sequenced through CDC surveillance efforts -- GISP, eGISP, SURRG www.cdc.gov/gonorrhea/hc....

28.03.2025 20:05 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0