Thread by @Archimedes2020

Hi-time for a rant. Believe it or not, IRL I am not a blue owl, I'm actually a scientist and an expert in infectious diseases. #Influenza #trumpwillkillusall #ETTD thehill.com/policy/healthc…

The science thing, as well as being a compassionate human being make me completely outraged about the fact that refugees will not receive an influenza vaccine. #Influenza #trumpwillkillusall #ETTD

Flu is nothing to fool around with! In 1918 an influenza pandemic killed at least 50 million people (3% of the world's population)! It infected 500 million people including people in remote areas like the arctic. #Influenza #trumpwillkillusall #ETTD
cdc.gov/flu/pandemic-r…

In the US, it was so bad, that calculations of life expectancy in the country were redone and the average life expectancy decreased by about 12 years! #Influenza #trumpwillkillusall #ETTD

The whole thing was really unusual in that unlike in other outbreaks, where the disease hit the very young and very old hard, this outbreak also hit young adults! #Influenza #trumpwillkillusall #ETTD

Why was it so bad? Well there are several explanations...first the virus may have been very aggressive. There is some evidence to support that (more about that later) but the BIG issues were that .....#Influenza #trumpwillkillusall #ETTD

The virus was allowed to spread in populations that were MALNORISHED, OVERCROWDED, and had POOR HYGIENE! Allowing for secondary bacterial infections to KILL PEOPLE! Sound familiar? Sound like #TrumpsCamps? Well it is. It's exactly like that.#ETTD ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/P…

Back in 1918 we didn't have a vaccine. We didn't even know what cause the flu. The virus that caused it in humans was identified by the British in 1933 (the viruses in pigs and birds were identified earlier)#Influenza #trumpwillkillusall #ETTD

The first vaccine was tested in Russia in 1936 and widespread vaccination was adopted in the 1940's. Vaccination helps, knowing how the virus spreads helps, but....things can still go bad...#Influenza #trumpwillkillusall #ETTD

You see Influenza likes to mutate. It can mutate slowly (genetic drift) as small mutations accumulate or really really fast (genetic shift) as giant changes happen. (microbiologyinfo.com/differences-be…)#Influenza #trumpwillkillusall #ETTD

Influenza is really good at genetic shift because its genome is divided into multiple strands of RNA and animals and people can become simultaneously co-infected with different strains of influenza #Influenza #trumpwillkillusall #ETTD (researchgate.net/figure/Influen…)

As the little virus packaging machines in cells ramp up, they may package combinations of virus RNA from the different individual viruses creating NEW VIRUSES!#Influenza #trumpwillkillusall #ETTD (researchgate.net/figure/Antigen…

That's why we've gotten subsequent pandemics, the genome of the circulation virus changes, rendering the vaccines we use ineffective. Chicken viruses may combine with pig viruses or human viruses or horse viruses or whatever #Influenza #trumpwillkillusall #ETTD

Many times these changes will be insignificant but they happen a lot so....they can be really significant..thats what happened in 1968 and 1969 when an avian virus changed same deal in 2001, 2003-2007 #Influenza #trumpwillkillusall #ETTD

This isn't just a threat to people, new flu strains can pose a real threat to our food supply because they kill chickens, and pigs. They can kill pets (canine flu is a big problem these days) and horses #Influenza #trumpwillkillusall #ETTD avma.org/KB/Resources/R…

So...we are taking a bunch of refugees, overcrowding them. Providing them with no way to be hygienic , allowing them to be malnourished, and dehydrated, and NOT protecting them from flu.#Influenza #trumpwillkillusall #ETTD abcnews.go.com/Politics/overc…

Basically, we are giving influenza a great place to replicate and become more deadly. #Influenza #trumpwillkillusall #ETTD

This is immoral. Allowing people to get sick and die when we can prevent this is just evil #Influenza #trumpwillkillusall #ETTD

Plus, don't think this will stay in the camps! If a deadly strain develops, one worker could go home, spread the virus. One person could go to the hospital, spread the virus....This threatens EVERYONE!#Influenza #trumpwillkillusall #ETTD upi.com/Health_News/20…

Trump and his cronies don't care. They assume they will be safe because they are rich and powerful. You know what...viruses don't care about your social status...they are an equalizer.#Influenza #trumpwillkillusall #ETTD ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/P…

No one is safe in a pandemic. If we turn our backs on this, don't view healthcare as a human right, we might as well start writing our own obituaries. #Influenza #trumpwillkillusall #ETTD