I wonder if there are actions that can be done to encourage infectious disease funding… we’re at the edge of falling into an abyss of anti-science, anti-vax and we have a short period of time to push for positive change. Any thoughts?
Considering that the nominee to run HHS said he wants to give ID funding a "break, I'm worried. Sadly, I think the only way funding will increase is if the horse has already left the barn.
That said, the best way to achieve this might be to convince businesses (like farm industry) that prevention of a pandemic is in their economic interests. Right now I think many see the up-front costs and shrug off the potential losses that would occur if another pandemic were to erupt.
Sadly, everyone focuses on short term interest rather than long term consequences. The ag industry is run on maximizing least expense, yet the costs to the entire community will be even worse if this takes off into another epidemic. Also, reporting has been limited or repressed. I live in central California and news says that they can’t tell you where specific outbreaks are happening because it would be unfair to the farmers/dairy/poultry industry. It’s absolutely crazy.
I have been following this precarious situation since last spring. If those currently residing at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave have yet to elevate the attention to this 'pending' outbreak it is extremely unlikely those moving in to their new residence in Jan will exercise due diligence ☹️🤔
As a family doc and public health Epi nerd I have been following bird flu closely since June. Bird flu, H5N1, is no ordinary pathogen. It is designated a Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) virus because its ancestors caused significant worldwide pandemics in 1918-20, 1957-58, 1968-69, 1977-78, and 2009-10. When you think people are still heated about the possibility of NIH gain of function research or the Wuhan lab starting the COVID pandemic - here we are with domestic influenza A spread, daily edging closer to a human breakout - with none of the official agencies doing their job to protect us until too late. Not mentioned by you, and perhaps requiring a DEFCON 2 alert, is the fact that a healthy pig was found to be systemically infected by H5N1 on autopsy. Pigs are known to be able to be infected by several influenza viruses facilitating genetic reassortment. Should human to human transmission start we will look worse than the Chinese did with COVID's origins.
In dealing with H5N1, the national and state agricultural and public health authorities have been derelict in response to the point of malpractice. For instance, California with 1.7 million cows, is the largest dairy farming state in the country. In spite of the spreading H5N1 infections around the country, the was no, none at all, surveillance or proactive interventions, such as quarantines. There are still no studies documenting how the virus is spread from farm to farm. At the beginning of August there were NO known H5N1 dairy herd infections in California. Now 5 months later there have been 650 infected dairy herds, with 56 fully recovered; 37 known infected dairy workers (with mild disease) and so many infected poultry flocks, (with over 12 million birds culled) that there is an egg shortage. Infected raw milk has been pulled from store shelves. This explosive epidemic and increasing risk was 100% preventable. One would think that, forewarned as the virus continued to spread across the country, the California Departments of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) and Public Health (CDPH), rather than waiting for cases to pop up, would have assertively been surveilling the situation and quarantining farms. This was not to be so. Now, long after the proverbial barn door was left open, livestock and veterinary groups and official agencies are beginning to take basic public health steps. We are very close to viral capacity genetic breakout to infect humans. This is still an alarming and high risk story.
H5N1 vaccines are in US strategic stockpiles. They are not available to anyone. I'm not sure about the data supporting them, to be honest. But I'll begin to look under the hood. The reality is that we may need new ones, but that the ones we have may tide use over in a real emergency (DEFCON 1) situation.
Thank you. Guessing that these could be made fairly quickly with mRNA technology, but doubt that companies will do that unless the cat is out of the bag.
Follow up as to the minimal attention being paid to H5N1...
Why is it there is more attention being given to Norovirus cases which certainly is not a pleasant "stomach bug" yet extremely contagious, however I am doubtful it results in significant mortality 🤔
Happy day...patient was a 13-year-old girl who went to a B.C. emergency room on Nov. 4 with a fever and conjunctivitis in her eyes... discharged from hospital 01 Jan/25
Reported by CBC 02 Jan/25
Dr. Isaac Bogoch, an infectious disease specialist at Toronto General Hospital, "If you look at how severe this infection was, I think it's pretty fair to say that this"
"And also, for lack of a better word, a very vigorous host response and significant inflammatory response to this virus." is a terrible virus,"
I wonder if there are actions that can be done to encourage infectious disease funding… we’re at the edge of falling into an abyss of anti-science, anti-vax and we have a short period of time to push for positive change. Any thoughts?
Considering that the nominee to run HHS said he wants to give ID funding a "break, I'm worried. Sadly, I think the only way funding will increase is if the horse has already left the barn.
That said, the best way to achieve this might be to convince businesses (like farm industry) that prevention of a pandemic is in their economic interests. Right now I think many see the up-front costs and shrug off the potential losses that would occur if another pandemic were to erupt.
Sadly, everyone focuses on short term interest rather than long term consequences. The ag industry is run on maximizing least expense, yet the costs to the entire community will be even worse if this takes off into another epidemic. Also, reporting has been limited or repressed. I live in central California and news says that they can’t tell you where specific outbreaks are happening because it would be unfair to the farmers/dairy/poultry industry. It’s absolutely crazy.
Experts on risk assessment are needed who speak the language of business.
I have been following this precarious situation since last spring. If those currently residing at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave have yet to elevate the attention to this 'pending' outbreak it is extremely unlikely those moving in to their new residence in Jan will exercise due diligence ☹️🤔
Yeah that worries me as well. The one thing they did well last time was vaccines. But one gets the sense that many of them somehow regret that fact.
As a family doc and public health Epi nerd I have been following bird flu closely since June. Bird flu, H5N1, is no ordinary pathogen. It is designated a Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) virus because its ancestors caused significant worldwide pandemics in 1918-20, 1957-58, 1968-69, 1977-78, and 2009-10. When you think people are still heated about the possibility of NIH gain of function research or the Wuhan lab starting the COVID pandemic - here we are with domestic influenza A spread, daily edging closer to a human breakout - with none of the official agencies doing their job to protect us until too late. Not mentioned by you, and perhaps requiring a DEFCON 2 alert, is the fact that a healthy pig was found to be systemically infected by H5N1 on autopsy. Pigs are known to be able to be infected by several influenza viruses facilitating genetic reassortment. Should human to human transmission start we will look worse than the Chinese did with COVID's origins.
In dealing with H5N1, the national and state agricultural and public health authorities have been derelict in response to the point of malpractice. For instance, California with 1.7 million cows, is the largest dairy farming state in the country. In spite of the spreading H5N1 infections around the country, the was no, none at all, surveillance or proactive interventions, such as quarantines. There are still no studies documenting how the virus is spread from farm to farm. At the beginning of August there were NO known H5N1 dairy herd infections in California. Now 5 months later there have been 650 infected dairy herds, with 56 fully recovered; 37 known infected dairy workers (with mild disease) and so many infected poultry flocks, (with over 12 million birds culled) that there is an egg shortage. Infected raw milk has been pulled from store shelves. This explosive epidemic and increasing risk was 100% preventable. One would think that, forewarned as the virus continued to spread across the country, the California Departments of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) and Public Health (CDPH), rather than waiting for cases to pop up, would have assertively been surveilling the situation and quarantining farms. This was not to be so. Now, long after the proverbial barn door was left open, livestock and veterinary groups and official agencies are beginning to take basic public health steps. We are very close to viral capacity genetic breakout to infect humans. This is still an alarming and high risk story.
Thank you for this explanation and knowing about that pig dying is really scary.
More scary. the pig was HEALTHY and sacrificed to see if infected because close to infected poultry!
Can you provide a bit more info on H5N1 vaccines? Currently available? If so, to whom? Side effects compared to “usual” flu vaccines?
H5N1 vaccines are in US strategic stockpiles. They are not available to anyone. I'm not sure about the data supporting them, to be honest. But I'll begin to look under the hood. The reality is that we may need new ones, but that the ones we have may tide use over in a real emergency (DEFCON 1) situation.
Thank you. Guessing that these could be made fairly quickly with mRNA technology, but doubt that companies will do that unless the cat is out of the bag.
Yes and yes, I think that's about right.
Follow up as to the minimal attention being paid to H5N1...
Why is it there is more attention being given to Norovirus cases which certainly is not a pleasant "stomach bug" yet extremely contagious, however I am doubtful it results in significant mortality 🤔
Sad day the elderly pt in Louisiana died from H5N1 & CNN reports the infection was from the D1.1 clade
Happy day...patient was a 13-year-old girl who went to a B.C. emergency room on Nov. 4 with a fever and conjunctivitis in her eyes... discharged from hospital 01 Jan/25
Reported by CBC 02 Jan/25
Dr. Isaac Bogoch, an infectious disease specialist at Toronto General Hospital, "If you look at how severe this infection was, I think it's pretty fair to say that this"
"And also, for lack of a better word, a very vigorous host response and significant inflammatory response to this virus." is a terrible virus,"