6 more states join #USDA's mandatory (though not yet national) milk testing strategy, bringing to 38 the number of states participating. New states joining are Arkansas, Louisiana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Carolina & West Virginia. www.aphis.usda.gov/livestock-po…

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— Helen Branswell (@helenbranswell.bsky.social) January 17, 2025 at 1:28 PM

#USDA has confirmed another California dairy herd has been infected with #H5N1 #birdflu, the state's 712th; 143 of those herds have cleared the infection & come out of quarantine, per CA's Dept of Food & Ag.
Cumulative national total: 929 herds in 16 states.
www.aphis.usda.gov/livestock-po…

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— Helen Branswell (@helenbranswell.bsky.social) January 20, 2025 at 11:43 AM

Avian flu surge continues on US poultry farms as feds address contamination of raw pet food

Shoring up pet food safety plans to account for H5N1 and enhanced preslaugher turkey flock surveillance come in the wake of raw product links to cat infections.https://t.co/dnH2lwhJme pic.twitter.com/4TBlutX17s

— CIDRAP (@CIDRAP) January 21, 2025

Katherine J. Wu was one of the very best journos covering Covid, so I was eager to hear her thoughts on bird flu. She says her level of concern has gone from "medium" to "medium-plus."
She says we're kinda OK for now. But she reminds us that if RFK Jr is head of HHS, that would be very bad.

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— Fiona "Fi" Webster ?????? (@fiona-webster22.bsky.social) January 15, 2025 at 9:50 PM

There's still more we can & must do to control the outbreak in cows & poultry & reduce human infections. We need more testing, more outreach to educate the public about the risks, & above all we should offer vaccination to those at risk.https://t.co/3cCWVPxzEY

— Dr. Angela Rasmussen (@angie_rasmussen) January 16, 2025

Wastewater detections of bird flu viral RNA are mostly confined to California, where officials suspect discarded milk to be the cause.#birdflu pic.twitter.com/NbSRTHwCNw

— STAT (@statnews) January 17, 2025

H5N1 can live up to its name as a highly pathogenic avian influenza virus. This kid is lucky to be alive.

Severe illness seems to be thankfully rare. But at population scale, this is millions of people. We can’t afford to let H5N1 become a pandemic.https://t.co/GYruAjbWEt

— Dr. Angela Rasmussen (@angie_rasmussen) January 17, 2025

Good read on H5 avian influenza https://t.co/blMjce31wI

— Marion Koopmans, publications: https://pure.eur.nl (@MarionKoopmans) January 18, 2025

Between the incoming administration’s immigration, agricultural, and trade policies and H5N1 trying its hardest to live up to its pandemic potential, it’s about to be a banging 4 years for egg-price economists

— Dr. Angela Rasmussen (@angie_rasmussen) January 20, 2025

Too bad if there happens to be a recall on food tainted with salmonella or other, or an uptick of H5N1 activity in humans, or a new outbreak of any other infectious disease. No alerts, no problem. 🤷🏽‍♀️
Make sure you are up to date on recomnended vaccines at the minimum
www.reuters.com/world/us/tru…

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— BK. Titanji (@boghuma.bsky.social) January 21, 2025 at 9:43 PM

Seeing from colleagues, the CDC PHAP program is *cancelled* as of an email sent about 30 minutes ago. No service program for the next two years – it is essential for data collection, community health work, etc. especially in states that critically need the help.

— Laura Johansen, MPH (she/her) (@laurajohansen.bsky.social) January 21, 2025 at 8:15 PM

Last night's update: More than 200,000 new cases https://t.co/A5gzkSZJL0

— BNO News (@BNOFeed) January 20, 2025

Are people getting infected more or less often than years past?

Here's the rolling 12-month total infections as estimated through WW. 2022 was a heavy year with the arrival of Omicron, we're less than half that rate today. Bump near the end is Winter2023+Summer2024. pic.twitter.com/PDtmTZTVhq

— JWeiland (@JPWeiland) January 18, 2025

Here’s where the 3 million lives saved figure is from @YaleSPH https://t.co/VXXcAnMekl

— Prof Peter Hotez MD PhD (@PeterHotez) January 21, 2025

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Trump wants to pull the US out of the World Health Organization again. Here's what may happen next https://t.co/L6fuLY9IgQ

— The Associated Press (@AP) January 21, 2025

Per Helen Branswell at STATNEWS, “The move could cripple the WHO and substantially weaken global health security”:

… A U.S. withdrawal from the WHO would deprive the Geneva-based institution of its biggest funder and a major contributor of scientific expertise, likely necessitating a massive reorganization and a curtailment of the functions the WHO is able to perform.

During the previous Trump administration, in the first summer of the Covid-19 pandemic, the U.S. filed notice of its intent to withdraw from the WHO, saying it was doing so because the agency had protected China in the early days of the pandemic, when it was slow to share details of the spread of the new coronavirus.

But the Biden administration rescinded the withdrawal notice on its first day in office…

In his executive order calling for the U.S. to withdraw from the WHO, Trump reiterated the same issues he raised in 2020: the WHO’s “mishandling” of the Covid-19 pandemic, “its failure to adopt urgently needed reforms, and its inability to demonstrate independence from the inappropriate political influence of WHO member states.”

He also said the WHO demands an unfair level of payments from the U.S., relative to other nations’ contributions.

In a statement Tuesday morning, the WHO said that it “regrets” Trump’s decision and noted that, with the cooperation of the U.S. and other member states, it had embarked on a series of reforms over the last seven years.

“We hope the United States will reconsider and we look forward to engaging in constructive dialogue to maintain the partnership between the USA and WHO, for the benefit of the health and well-being of millions of people around the globe,” the WHO said…

Should the United States follow through on the threat to withdraw, it would mark the first time in 75 years that a member state has left the United Nation’s health organization. The Soviet Union and a number of its satellites withdrew from the nascent agency in 1949 over Cold War tensions, returning in 1956.

The WHO’s constitution does not even anticipate countries withdrawing. There is no provision in it for countries to revoke their membership.

But the joint resolution of Congress that allowed the U.S. to join the WHO at its founding does spell out the terms by which it can leave. The country must give a one-year notice and pay any outstanding bills before it can quit the organization…

Lawrence Gostin, a professor of global health law at the O’Neill Institute, part of the Georgetown University Law Center, told STAT a U.S. withdrawal from the WHO would be “a grave strategic mistake.”

“We’ll be out on the outside looking in” when the pandemic treaty, a pact that is meant to better prepare the world for pandemics and that is still a subject of negotiations, is agreed to in May, he said. Trump’s order also calls for the U.S. to stop negotiations on that agreement.

“When major issues come up before the World Health Assembly, we’re not going to be at the table. When China is trying … to assert its influence in Africa, in Latin America, and other countries where the United States has very strong strategic interests in minerals and trade, we won’t be there,” said Gostin, who has been involved in drafting and negotiating the pandemic treaty…

A U.S. withdrawal from the WHO would throw into doubt the organization’s capacity to do the myriad things it is tasked with, from developing the disease coding system used by health systems around the world to organizing responses to health emergencies like the West African Ebola outbreak in 2014-2016 or the Zika outbreak of 2015-2016.

The organization also serves as a de facto drug and vaccine regulatory agency, doing for countries without the capacity to rigorously assess the evidence supporting new drugs and vaccines what the Food and Drug Administration does for the U.S. or the European Medicines Agency does for countries in the European Union. WHO prequalification, as the process is called, assures countries that the data supporting a new drug, vaccine, or diagnostic test have been thoroughly studied, expediting the work of national regulators…

(Lots more disheartening information at the link.)
 

Scoop: The White House is commissioning a new review of covid's possible origins, days before Trump arrives.
Jake Sullivan asked for an outside panel to examine feds' intel and findings.
I asked Biden officials: is this an effort to front-run Trump? They insisted it's about getting answers.

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— Dan Diamond (@ddiamond.bsky.social) January 17, 2025 at 3:33 PM

… Jake Sullivan, the Biden administration’s national security adviser, on Sunday asked the Office of the Director of National Intelligence to assemble an outside panel of experts who would take a fresh look at the existing findings on the coronavirus and examine the government’s conclusions, according to two administration officials.

Biden officials say the panel’s creation — coming days before the incoming Trump administration takes office — was driven by Sullivan’s desire to understand a virus that killed more than 1 million Americans and upended society. Sullivan also requested on Dec. 17 that intelligence agencies update their own assessments of the pandemic’s origins, according to one official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe national security matters…

The panel is still being assembled but is expected to include outside experts familiar with the highly technical issues involved with virus evolution and national security. Members of the panel will have access to classified intelligence on possible origins of the coronavirus.

Republicans on Friday greeted the news with skepticism, calling it overdue and insufficient. Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-Iowa), who sat on the House panel reviewing the nation’s coronavirus response, said Democrats had missed opportunities to investigate the virus’s origins during the past four years.

The panel — which could be shaped or dismissed by the incoming Trump administration — would represent the latest effort to settle a question that polarized political leaders, the intelligence community and the public as the virus ravaged the world in 2020…

One U.S. official who advised on establishing the new outside panel and spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss an in-progress effort said it was a move by the Biden administration to ensure that scientific work on the coronavirus mystery continues. “There is a commitment and a serious interest to say, this is not decided, or well enough understood,” the official said…

Independent panels can help shape debate — such as a board commissioned by U.S. intelligence agencies that raised new questions about symptoms suffered by government officials known as “Havana syndrome” — but are unlikely to uncover smoking guns. Government officials, including some Republican lawmakers, have repeatedly said any further revelations about the virus’s origins probably rest with China, whose leaders have been evasive.

Scientists and federal experts have been preparing for further reviews of the pandemic response as Republicans take control of the White House and the Senate this year. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Kentucky), the new chairman of the Senate’s government oversight panel, has vowed to prioritize investigations into the coronavirus pandemic, repeatedly alleging that federal officials participated in a “covid coverup” related to the possible origins of the virus.

The lab leak theory is something which dominates what passes for American intelligentsia and is essentially CCP propaganda meant to distract from the corruption of wet markets continuing to be open

— Centrist Madness (@centristmadness.bsky.social) January 15, 2025 at 8:43 PM

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New CDC update on SARS-CoV-2 variants shows small increase in XEC and further rise of LP.8.1 that together account for about 2/3 of new cases
covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-t…

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— Eric Topol (@erictopol.bsky.social) January 17, 2025 at 12:20 PM

Five years since the first confirmed U.S. case of COVID-19, most have moved on. But for people with immune system problems, the threat of infection remains and governs their everyday lives. pic.twitter.com/NZ1JelEJr4

— The Associated Press (@AP) January 18, 2025

Vulnerable Americans live in the shadow of COVID-19 as most move on https://t.co/4aGzuvOa5A

— The Associated Press (@AP) January 15, 2025

Did your existing health issues get worse after a #COVID infection, or did you develop new onset #LongCOVID? Tune in to our free webinar on January 23rd to learn how you can get involved in a study we're working on with the FDA and other patient orgs. 1/10 pic.twitter.com/k03Yo5fw4M

— CURE ID (@id_cure) January 22, 2025

Important Covid editorial @science.org by Maria Van Kerkhove
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/…

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— Eric Topol (@erictopol.bsky.social) January 16, 2025 at 2:18 PM

BARDA to fund development of COVID preventive drug

Shionogi will receive $375 million to develop a long-acting protease inhibitor designed to prevent SARS-CoV-2 infection in people who are immune compromised.https://t.co/wYjDsa6tww

— CIDRAP (@CIDRAP) January 17, 2025

Multiple #Covid-19 infections significantly increase the risk of #LongCovid, affecting 85% of studied cases. Vaccination prior to #Infection reduces this risk, highlighting its critical role in prevention. @stonybrooku https://t.co/LrL7mwPVAl https://t.co/VKP12CLHs2

— Medical Xpress (@medical_xpress) January 17, 2025

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This was always their pitch during the pandemic: restore trust in public health by letting anti-vaxers not take the vaccine. It makes no sense. It never did.

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— Clean Observer (@hammbear2024.bsky.social) January 17, 2025 at 10:52 PM

Weird medical discovery of the week: “Tick bites can trigger serious reactions to some medications”:

Jennifer Wallace was reacting badly to medication she takes for chronic pancreatitis. She broke out in hives, her heart beating fast. And she suffered an unstoppable, intense itching all over her body. Several times, she went into anaphylactic shock, which can be deadly, and was rushed by ambulance to a hospital.

It took doctors a long time, however, to figure out the unlikely cause: alpha-gal syndrome, also known as red meat allergy, which Wallace probably got from lone star tick bites in her backyard in North Carolina.

According to one study, in the parts of the United States where lone star ticks are common, North Carolina included, as many as 9 percent of unexplained anaphylactic reactions may be due to alpha-gal syndrome — an allergy to a carbohydrate called galactose-alpha-1,3-galactose, alpha-gal for short, found in all mammals except humans and some old-world primates.

“Because it’s present in cows and pigs and sheep, when we eat meat or products [derived] from those animals, we can get a reaction,” says Scott Commins, an immunologist at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Wallace’s pancreatitis medicine is made using some of those products…

Besides reacting to red meat, people with alpha-gal syndrome may be allergic to such mammalian-derived ingredients as gelatin, which can be found in gummy bears and yogurt. If you are highly sensitive, you may react to cosmetics, including certain shampoos (which may contain keratin derived from horns or hooves) and deodorants (because of lanolin, from sheep’s wool).

Lastly, there are drugs and other medical products with ingredients of mammalian origin, from pancreatic enzymes derived from pork, like the ones Wallace took, to anti-venoms, thyroid medications and heparin, a commonly used blood thinner. What’s more, many drugs come in mammalian-derived gelatin capsules and contain other pork- or cow-based inactive ingredients…

According to the CDC, there may be as many as 450,000 people living with alpha-gal syndrome in the United States, with the highest prevalence in states such as Arkansas, Virginia, Kentucky and Missouri. This pattern can be explained by the geographic distribution of the lone star tick, the main culprit behind AGS, whose range is expanding because of climate change. (Other ticks may trigger the condition, too, just much less frequently.)…

If there is one drug that has many patients worried, it’s the blood thinner heparin. It’s derived from pig intestines and is used to prevent and treat blood clots. In some cases, heparin is administered intravenously. “It’s one of those medicines that you could receive in an emergency situation,” Commins says. In one small study co-authored by Wilson, 24 percent of people with alpha-gal syndrome undergoing heart bypass surgery had a serious allergic reaction to intravenous heparin…

For those who react intensely to medications, some researchers suggest that taking omalizumab, a newly approved drug for food allergies, could reduce risks of surgery or treatments. In the future, however, more medications could be made with plant-based ingredients. Some biotechnology companies are also working with genetically engineered pigs that don’t produce alpha-gal to develop new materials and drugs.

For now, one of the best approaches for AGS patients is to wait because antibody levels to alpha-gal tend to go down as the post-tick bite time increases. That’s why, Wilson says, if you “want this thing to go away,” the No. 1 thing to do is avoid more ticks.

And: An exotic disease that you really shouldn’t be wasting your time worrying about, unless you or a close contact are travelling in the region:

Tanzania confirms Marburg outbreak in Kagera region

So far all 25 suspected case-patients have tested negative for the virus but remain under close surveillance. https://t.co/tqGZPJ4shU

— CIDRAP (@CIDRAP) January 21, 2025