Yeah, that'll ensure we all get bird flu.
— Patrick Chovanec (@prchovanec.bsky.social) March 3, 2025 at 6:56 PM
The rapid production capacity of mRNA vaccines will be key if #H5N1 #birdflu triggers a pandemic. But a review of a #BARDA contract to test & license an H5 vaccine so FDA could accelerate approval in a pandemic is raising about whether this option will be available. www.statnews.com/2025/03/03/h…
— Helen Branswell (@helenbranswell.bsky.social) March 3, 2025 at 8:40 AM
#USDA confirmed another #H5N1 #birdflu infected dairy herd in Idaho, the state's first new finding since October. Wonder if this is a new spillover; will ask and report back. www.aphis.usda.gov/livestock-po…
— Helen Branswell (@helenbranswell.bsky.social) March 4, 2025 at 8:10 AM
The Trump administration's handling of avian flu is raising big questions. Is the focus on controlling outbreaks—or keeping grocery costs down?
— STAT (@statnews.com) March 1, 2025 at 3:29 PM
It would indeed be good to know if cats can be vectors for household spread of #H5N1 #birdflu. They sure are susceptible to the virus. www.statnews.com/2025/03/04/h…
— Helen Branswell (@helenbranswell.bsky.social) March 4, 2025 at 8:00 PM
New Jersey reports H5 avian flu cluster in cats
The cats had no known exposure to infected poultry, livestock, raw milk, or raw meat, but roamed freely outdoors where they may have been exposed to wild birds or other animals.https://t.co/Hsh83QbJEh
Photo: Jimmy B/Flickr cc pic.twitter.com/5mqVK2PlOB
— CIDRAP (@CIDRAP) February 28, 2025
HHS is re-evaluating a nearly $600 million contract with Moderna to develop and test vaccines against flu viruses that could prompt pandemics.
— STAT (@statnews.com) March 3, 2025 at 9:44 AM
Yup, this would have brought together experts to share the latest findings on respiratory virus transmission. The meeting is canceled, but the continuing spread and evolution of H5N1 and other respiratory pathogens is not. In the middle of the game, the defense is walking off the field.
— Linsey Marr (@linseymarr.bsky.social) February 28, 2025 at 2:05 PM
Excellent "State of pandemic risk" review on #H5N1 just published in J Virol by a panel of influenza experts. They highlight the knowns and importantly, the gaps in the outbreak. #IDSky #MedSky 🧪
journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/…— BK. Titanji (@boghuma.bsky.social) February 27, 2025 at 2:23 PM
Last night's update: Nearly 1,000 new deaths https://t.co/a61O9pNavS
— BNO News (@BNOFeed) March 3, 2025
So far this year, more than 1.6 million COVID cases have been reported in the U.S., causing 118,226 hospitalizations and 7,824 deaths.
— BNO News (@BNOFeed) March 3, 2025
🔷New Early Spring Forecast🔷
Despite the growth of LP.8.1* in the US, the plateau should break here into mid March. Spring should start helping here soon.— JPWeiland (@jpweiland.bsky.social) February 27, 2025 at 9:03 PM
5 years into Covid's impact, phenomenal review by @dwallacewells.bsky.social gift link
www.nytimes.com/interactive/…— Eric Topol (@erictopol.bsky.social) March 4, 2025 at 12:00 PM
One graph that caught my eye from this piece
— Eric Topol (@erictopol.bsky.social) March 4, 2025 at 5:38 PM
======
COVID 2024-25 vaccines 33% protective against emergency room or urgent care visits, data reveal
The vaccine was 45% to 46% protective against hospitalization for older adults. https://t.co/qExJDwzfXP pic.twitter.com/GSUOMMAxov
— CIDRAP (@CIDRAP) March 3, 2025
A novel #Vaccine platform shows promise in providing robust, long-lasting protection against both COVID-19 and #Influenza, with potential for broader immunity to various flu strains. @cornell @ScienceAdvances https://t.co/4qJmACA1oh https://t.co/RKNIbsUnIn
— Medical Xpress (@medical_xpress) March 3, 2025
— Medical Xpress – medical research advances and health news (@medicalxpress.com.web.brid.gy) March 4, 2025 at 10:17 AM
Hospitalized #COVID patients at higher risk for organ-related death, readmission for 2.5 years, data suggest
During follow-up, the crude all-cause death rate was 18% in the COVID-19 group and 9% among controls.https://t.co/TxUIpdgWQH pic.twitter.com/cUbnqqd4fA
— CIDRAP (@CIDRAP) February 28, 2025
The long-term, multi-system complications after Covid hospitalization among ~64,000 cases and 310,000 matched controls. Excess of Type 2 diabetes, kidney, lung and neurological disorders. Replicates prior work by @zalaly.bsky.social and colleagues
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10….— Eric Topol (@erictopol.bsky.social) March 2, 2025 at 4:16 PM
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The large clinical trial of a new Covid vaccine pill (not shot) was halted by RFK Jr www.aol.com/multimillion…
The Covid nasal vaccines may be next up to be axed.— Eric Topol (@erictopol.bsky.social) February 26, 2025 at 11:27 AM
I talked to NIH officials, current and former, about what's been happening inside the agency since the Trump administration shut down their grantmaking pipeline in January. Their stories showed just how willing our new leaders are to break the law: www.theatlantic.com/health/archi…
— Katherine J. Wu (@katherinejwu.com) February 27, 2025 at 11:13 AM
The FDA canceled an upcoming vaccine advisory committee meeting to discuss influenza virus strains
Hey friends
Measles isn’t just a rash and fever.
Even a mild case wipes out years of acquired immunity.
A gateway to severe illness long after recovery.
— Outbreak Updates (@outbreakupdates) March 4, 2025
An unvaccinated NJ traveler who returned to the US infected with #measles went to 3 health facilities earlier this month seeking care before being diagnosed. Not surprisingly, additional cases are now being detected.
Measles will spread if we give it the chance. www.nj.com/healthfit/20…— Helen Branswell (@helenbranswell.bsky.social) February 28, 2025 at 6:56 AM
Eventually any outbreak burns itself out if absolutely nothing is done. The difference is how many people get maimed in the process. If you vaccinate, fewer infections and fewer complications if you don't more infections more complications. It's really that simple.
abcnews.go.com/Health/texas…— BK. Titanji (@boghuma.bsky.social) February 25, 2025 at 4:18 PM
For the nervous: Per the NYTimes, Do You Need a Measles Booster?
… More than 90 percent of children in the U.S. have received at least one dose of the shot that protects against measles, mumps and rubella, which is part of the routine child vaccination schedule.
If you are fully vaccinated — meaning you have received two doses at some point in your life — you should be set. Even though immunity from any vaccine wanes over time, the measles vaccine offers strong lifetime protection against infection for almost everyone, said Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious disease specialist at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say that anyone born before 1957 is most likely protected from the virus, because measles circulated so widely then.
But if you were born afterward and are not entirely sure whether you were vaccinated, try to track down your medical records. You can also ask a doctor for a blood test to measure the amount of antibodies against measles in your blood…
Alexa, show me what it looks like when herd immunity collapses
— Chatham Harrison is tending his garden (@chathamharrison.bsky.social) March 4, 2025 at 2:31 PM
They're firing people who track deadly viruses. And no longer providing the data they do have.
This is what's coming, sooner or later (if not for flu, then for some other virus):
—punishment of anyone reporting on the mounting death toll
—claims that the whole pandemic story is a "hoax"— Fiona "Fi" Webster ???????????? (@fiona-webster22.bsky.social) February 25, 2025 at 1:00 PM
One of the streams of funding axed with USAID is support for controlling and preventing #Ebola outbreaks. Countries cannot pivot overnight to self support to respond to #Malaria, #TB, #HIV #ebola. Also #ebola anywhere is Ebola everywhere. Support should be no brainer.
www.reuters.com/business/hea…— BK. Titanji (@boghuma.bsky.social) March 4, 2025 at 5:22 PM
SCOOP: The Ebola outbreak in Uganda, which had seemed to be in retreat, has claimed a new victim: a four-year-old boy who died on Monday, according to a State Department cable viewed by The New York Times.
nyti.ms/4h5Qfed— Apoorva Mandavilli (@apoorvanyt.bsky.social) February 28, 2025 at 11:18 AM
Baud
You can also trade them for medical care. #GoldenOldie
Professor Bigfoot
I had my regular doctor visit yesterday— obviously, I’m going to die, but apparently no time soon.
I asked her about vaccines— my polio and MMR vaccines are literally a half century old, should I get them updated? “No, we’re not there yet- at this point the evidence is that those inoculations are still effective in older people. But I do recommend getting the latest covid vaccine for everyone.”
One thing she said that hit home to me was this: “It looks like they’re trying to kill us all.”
New Deal democrat
As of last Friday’s update, only 40,500 people have died from COVID in the past 52 weeks. That number will almost certainly drop below 40,000 this week, and could be 35,000 once the final numbers are in for March. Aside from the problems of long COVID, and any new strain that is more virulent, I think we can call the COVID pandemic effectively over.
That’s in part because in the week of February 1, the last full reporting week, 850 people died. The preliminary number for the latest week of February 22 was 283. This suggests a final number for that week will be ~650. These numbers compare with ~1500 per week in February of last year. BIobot’s update for February 22 is similar (but indicates that influenza hospitalizations were still rising).
The latest CDC wastewater report shows particles declining in all regions. Nationally there were 3.49 particles per mL, approximately halfway between last autumn’s low of 1.77 and the Holiday peak of 5.52.
Last Friday’s variant update showed no new variants of concern.
It is interesting that the CDC has been permitted to continue these weekly reports. It could be because, as I speculated when the reports were “paused” in late January, they would give the T—-p Administration ammunition to crow about having defeated COVID.
New Deal democrat
There is a further, ominous implication of RFK Jr’s cancellation of the flu advisory committee’s meeting. Since what they do is determine what strains should be included in the next winter’s flu shot, it likely means there will be *no* flu shot being offered later this year.
This is going to kill thousands of people, mainly seniors.
Baud
@Professor Bigfoot:
Good doctor. So many are wingnuts.
Dentist are worse.
Bruce K in ATH-GR
@New Deal democrat: I guess I should be thankful that Greece still provides for free flu and COVID vaccines. Should I be feeling guilty that I’m in a country that takes vaccination seriously, publicly supports Ukraine, and puts murdering neo-Nazis in prison?
WereBear
It doesn’t just look like it. We’ve been trained since Reagan not to “see” the bleedin’ obvious.
Jeffg166
@Professor Bigfoot:
We will have to look at Canada, Mexico and Europe for guidance as to what flu vaccine to get.
NotMax
@Bruce K in ATH-GR
On the other hand, there’s retsina.
;)
No Nym
@Baud: When I was working in a Medicaid clinic, all the doctors were liberals and it was the nurses who were wing nuts. The 2017 election results had them all high-fiving and feeling salty. The doctors and I were gobsmacked. Until then, we had no idea.
Spanky
@Professor Bigfoot:
@New Deal democrat:
The goal is to eliminate the cost of taking care of the non- productive. That’s what is really meant by “government efficiency”.
WereBear
Dr. Sarah Myhill of the UK has been treating Long Viral syndromes for years, developing an excellent, drug free, program. Been helping Mr WereBear for several years now.
She has a website and books with explain the whole theory. NIH was skeptical of her methods, but she says nutrition is key. And has proved it to their satisfaction.
TBone
Thank you again, A.L. for the cats article. Noah had a blood draw at his tube removal on Monday and the vet tells me the test results show his kidneys may have been affected. They would like him to be on a specific diet for that, but we can’t mess with him eating voluntarily so soon. He goes back first week in May for follow up. Of course, no one has offered a diagnosis as to the cause of his near fatal illness (or Josey’s death by starvation) since his complete recovery. So all I have to go on is instinct and intuition. His neck bandage came off this morning because the hole has closed up, but he started to hind leg scratch at the scab so I rebandaged. So it goes. He’s still eating just about everything I offer! Except the vet-recommended sneaky pumpkin in food – only his sister ate some and promptly started vomiting on everything in sight.
NotMax
@Spanky
Ice floes in shorter and shorter supply, don’tcha know.
//
TBone
@TBone: (I bolded for emphasis)
p.a
WaPo, FTFNYT havs stories on these cuts & cancellations p1 above the fold, right? I mean, they’re not big like email servers, but still important, right?
Ohio Mom
@Professor Bigfoot: You could have asked/she could have offered a titer test. It’s a blood test that measures the level of antibodies in your system.
i had one once, discovered I must not have had mumps, had no mumps antibodies, so I got a MMR shot. (Apparently just a mumps shot isn’t available).
WereBear
I became curious about where the red states are really at, and watched some real estate agents, job advisors, and “moving here”
While blue states have become more cosmopolitan, the red ones have become steadily more rules-bound, and conforming. They are self-selecting.
One video for the Villages was especially wild.
“We like eating early, and everything shuts down at nine. I don’t mind the giant flying roaches. There’s all kinds of rules here and we LOVE it that way. Yes, things are expensive avd far away but you can live in your golf cart.
“So if that will upset you, we care. Don’t come.”
This is new.
different-church-lady
What is it with these idiots and chickens?
Professor Bigfoot
@Baud: She’s been my doc for almost 20 years now— started seeing her when I lived in that town; now I live an hour away from there and will still drive that hour to see her.
I dread her retirement.
My PCPs have all been women for the last 40 years and that has served me well.
Professor Bigfoot
@WereBear: I agree, and said that to her and she agreed.
Professor Bigfoot
@Ohio Mom: I did, actually, and she said that they weren’t doing those tests.
Yet.
I’ve been with her for a long time and I’ve SEEN her change on things based on new research and new knowledge; it’s one of the reasons why I trust her judgment implicitly.
I am being paranoid— or I would be, except just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they’re not out to get you.
They are trying to kill us.
(I am currently reading “The Peripheral” by William Gibson, and I see us all hurtling towards his “the jackpot,” and this jackpot is a very bad thing for humanity)
artem1s
tell me you know nothing about agriculture or livestock without telling me your TCF’s new Sec Ag.
forget bird flu. we’re all gonna die from the super strain of salmonella that arises in some open air wet market in rural ‘Merka.
TBone
I will be donating my corpse to science for the study of long Lyme and simultaneous long Covid. Should keep researchers busy for years.
Still battling the external inflammation with steroid ointment because my lips caught fire again this week. All new skin now. There’s not much I can do about the internal except dietary aids.
TBone
@Professor Bigfoot: my former female PCP first name is Ayn. Yes, she is an asshole.
I’m reaching out to a new doctor this week, recommended by my female dermatologist and I need all the good vibes I can get!
Professor Bigfoot
@TBone: Bonne chance, ma cher. I’m going to be in that boat soon enough; and finding a PCP I’m going to be able to work with and trust is gonna be difficult in this area.
TBone
@Professor Bigfoot: well wishes for forging ahead for all of us! Thank you!
Remember, YOU are the “employer” in this situation! Do good interview questions.
frosty
@Professor Bigfoot: My last two PCPs have been women for maybe 20 years now? The second one just retired. I asked her if she could recommend another one as good as her and she said “No, I broke the mold.” I’m going with the female PA I’ve seen when the doc wasn’t available.
Because women have to be twice as good to get half the credit
WTFGhost
Thank you for doing more for us than the Trump administration – *twice* – and I hope we have no desperate need for more frequent updates.
I’m isolated and vaccinated – no flu shot, but see above re: isolated. Bird flu still scares the heck out of me, what with Republicans having tied the hands of governors, and Republican SCOTUS judges having made sure it will tear through megachurches like nobody’s business which is… which is… which is *NOT* a good thing, no matter how tempted a fellow might be to say otherwise. Ahem.
arrieve
@Ohio Mom:
Similar story. I had the titer test. I knew I’d had measles (I was two years old and was very sick; my mother often talked about how terrified she had been) but didn’t know I’d had mumps. I have not had rubella and the doctor asked if I wanted just a rubella shot or the MMR. I opted for the MMR, because why not?
dc
Why do news sources use the misleading language of these Assholes? They did not “pause” a contract, they are tearing up a contract because that’s what the chief Asshole has always done.
WTFGhost
@Jeffg166: I wonder if there will still be a tariff when some other nation develops a bird flu or covid/flu shot. They might even announce they’ll stop the export tariff the instant Trump is out of office, “since it was only by Mr. Trump’s actions that tariffs were placed against our country.”
@TBone: Cats don’t generally *need* fiber, and the goal of fiber is to expand when it is in contact with water, which can cause roughly the same behavior as a hairball – “OMG, this is too much/too big!” and hence, the vomiting. (In case you were curious.) Minor kidney damage isn’t a *terrible* thing – you’ll need kidney food, and you’ll want to watch urine output. Cats kidneys, when healthy, concentrate the eff out of urine, so they drop relatively tiny balls in scoopable litter. If their kidneys are having problems, you’ll see more urine output, but that’s not necessarily *bad* – just, it’s something to keep the vet posted about.
@WereBear: When bird flu rips through the Villages, they’ll be miffed that all the good hospitals are full and things are far away. Also: you *are* right – there are signs of conformity. I’ve noticed a lot of Christian propaganda, and the worst kind, the kind that pretends that being a Christian is more important than acting the way the hymns I used to sing suggested we ought to.
Also: who the eff wants to live in a *golf cart*? I’m sorry – I’m a normal American man, I don’t dis another man’s (or woman’s, though they don’t take it as *personally*, in general) wheels (though I reserve the right to laugh behind their back, especially if they’re modified to “roll coal” or some such adolescent nonsense), but golf carts are not WHEELS. I’m sorry – they’re not. Neither are those scooters. If you can’t top out at 40mph easy, so you can handle a 35mph city street, you’re not in your “wheels” you’re in your high powered roller skates.
Not that I have opinions on this.
@different-church-lady: they need an example of courage they can look up to.
Sister Golden Bear
@Professor Bigfoot: FWIW, I would recommend getting a blood test to check the effectiveness (titers) of your MMR vaccine. Not sure what age you are, but anyone born between 1957 and 1968 got a version that turned out become much weaker over time, and needs to get a booster. Even though I got mine, I still got the titer test done, just to be sure, since my other health issues put me at greater risk.
Kelly
WHO will publish guidelines with or without the USA. Vaccine manufacturers will go with those guidelines.