Thread by @LazarusLong13

Another absolutely horrible take by #FireWalensky, @CDCgov

“If you go two years without getting that infection, without getting that protection from infection and then all of a sudden, boom, everybody from zero to three years gets RSV, you see the impact on health care.”

Except. That's NOT WHAT the data shows

As we can see, the biggest spike is in 0 to 6 months, and in comparison to 2018-2019, it is much greater. Roughly, per 100k, 130 versus 70, and it is still spiking.

Second biggest spike is in 6 to 12 months, at almost 80, versus 30 at

its highest.

In the 1 to 2 year olds, almost 40 this year vs. almost 20.
(The Y-axis is higher this year because of more cases).

If what Walensky is saying was true, we'd expect to see the 2 to 4 year olds screaming higher.

It's not.

But the big hitter was the zero to 6 months. What happened there?

Walensky's immunity silliness simply is irrelevant.

But this is relevant:

She really will do everything in her power to minimize CoVid, won't she?

Free version of that article here!
archive.ph/gRg9p

RSV dashboard is here - play with it, see what else you can find

cdc.gov/rsv/research/r…

This is Jose Romero, director of the NCIRD at the @CDCgov.

Jose is not thinking clearly. Has he been infected?

Why do I say he's not thinking clearly?

At the most recent CDC briefing, Jose was asked, why RSV is spreading so quickly and early.

"So we’re seeing more RSV because in the last past two years, we’ve not seen infections in children as we have previously. And so these children, if you will, need to become infected to move forward because it’s a disease very common in children. "

Literally, the XKCD comic.

But the same problem exists.

The biggest spike in hospitalizations is in the babies. 0-6 months and 6 months to 2 years. And the 0-6 months was the BIGGEST spike.

What could cause hospitalizations in that group?

Well, first what causes RSV hospitalizations?

"Pre-F antibody titers were significantly lower in mothers whose infants were hospitalized with RSV bronchiolitis compared with those mothers whose infants were not hospitalized..."

academic.oup.com/jid/article/22…

So, maternal antibodies are important. Could the maternal antibodies have not been passed on because the mother did not get infected?

Fortunately, 95% of people are exposed by the time they are two, so the mother would not have had to be exposed to pass on those antibodies.

Can you imagine?

"Now that you are pregnant, let's schedule your infections. First trimester, we'll do RSV and Ebola."

Silliness.

Let's take another look at that preprint that @fitterhappieraj found

Every infant inherits their microbiome from their mom, and mom's

microbiome diversity was reduced by Covid.

And we know those infants had a unique microbiota, per above, compared to Covidians (those infected).

Indeed, SARS-CoV-2 infections during pregnancy are associated with a compromised initial microbial seed of the infant.

No big deal, right?

Wrong.

"The inherited microbiome exerts marked effects on immune programming with long-term health consequences, including susceptibility to infections or chronic inflammatory diseases and reduced vaccine efficacy"

"Therefore, this “window of opportunity” at birth, either renders infants with a healthy immune system or alternatively establishes a divergent path leading to severe immune-mediated disease susceptibility (16-24). "

Well, that sounds like pediatricians are going to be busy.

To be crystal clear, this study is NOT saying that Covid is responsible for the increase in RSV.

But it is saying Covid causes negative changes at a very important moment in the baby's life, immunologically speaking.

And since we are talking about more severe RSV cases?

It seems to be directly related.

Or, at the very least, much more plausible than a concept invented last year. A concept that Fox & Friends has been pushing.

Was it bleach they last pushed? Or herd immunity?

In any event, both Walensky and the director of the CDC are also

pushing immunity debt like universities pushing student loan debt.

Someone needs #FireWalensky, and put Jose on notice.

@CDCgov? That microbiome spoiled once #FireWalemsky got hold of it.

Maybe probiotics could save the #xkcdCDC. Maybe.

The RSV surge in the 0-6 month old babies, which eliminates "immunity debt/gap" as a viable hypothesis?

Will have very real consequences down the road. This is not surprising given measles ability to wipe out immune memory

frontiersin.org/articles/10.33…

H/t @Gene_PHL @Comm_in_Care