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Helen Branswell Profile picture
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20 Mar, 4 tweets, 3 min read
1. A #flu thread:
There remains almost no influenza activity in the US this year. Nearly three-quarters of a million flu tests have been conducted; just over 1,600 have been positive. Last week 27 people in the country tested positive for flu. Image
2. These graphs come from @CDCgov's weekly #flu report, FluView. The red arrow points to this year's epidemic "curve" such as it is. Many years there is a fair amount of flu B at this time. I guess it could still come but I'm not worrying about it. cdc.gov/flu/weekly/ind… Image
3. Only 1 child in the United States has died from #flu this winter. Extraordinary. Image
4. Also extraordinary: There aren't adult #flu deaths either. This graphic shows flu deaths in several previous years (2018 was a severe flu season) & Covid deaths. Next time someone uses the "but the flu" argument, show them this graph. Image

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More from @HelenBranswell

Helen Branswell Profile picture
7 Jul
1. @WHO DG @Drtedros says the world is in a perilous position re: #Covid19. The global toll has topped 4M, vaccine nationalism has left many countries with little access to vaccine. That health workers in many countries are still unvaccinated is "morally abhorrent."
2. "Now is the time for the world to come together ... to end the acute phase of this pandemic," @drtedros said during today's @WHO #Covid19 press conference. "It's not charity," he said of working out ways to share vaccines & therapies. "It's the best way to end the pandemic."
3. @WHO's expert panel on vaccines, SAGE, recommends that older people & health workers around the world be vaccinated before young children, because the risk to the former is so much greater, Anne Lindstrom (spg?) from WHO tells the daily newser.
Read 6 tweets
Helen Branswell Profile picture
23 Jun
1. The impact of #Covid19 vaccines on the US epidemic. This graphic, from today's #ACIP meeting, speaks volumes.
I will try to tweet from the meeting, but it might be intermittent. First up: myocarditis & pericarditis in some people who've received mRNA vaccines.
2. #ACIP will also be discussing #Covid19 booster shots. Committee was just told it's not yet clear *if* boosters will be needed, but that it's important to plan for boosters if it becomes clear they are needed.
3. #ACIP hearing an explanation of traditional (ie not vaccine-related) myocarditis & pericarditis. The former is mostly seen in males & rates are higher in 15-18 yos than in younger children.
Read 22 tweets
Helen Branswell Profile picture
19 Jun
1. Earlier this week @CDCgov served notice it is suspending importation of dogs from countries with a high canine #rabies risk.
An event happened this week that is a stark illustration of why CDC is taking that step.
A thread.
2. The day @CDCgov's notice appeared in the Federal Register, a Pennsylvania lab reported that a dog imported to the US from Azerbaijan on June 10 tested positive for #rabies. This is exactly what the new policy is trying to prevent.
3. The dog was part of a shipment of 33 dogs & 1 cat. Those animals will have to be found & quarantined for months. Animals that have been in contact with them may need to be revaxxed against #rabies. This is a TON of work. The animals were distributed across 8 states.
Read 5 tweets
Helen Branswell Profile picture
19 Jun
1. Guinea's latest #Ebola outbreak is over, @WHO declared today. The outbreak flared earlier this year in an area that 5 yrs earlier had been engulfed in the biggest Ebola event in history. This one was historic too — triggered by virus from a survivor. statnews.com/2021/03/12/bom…
2. The outbreak was declared in mid-February, one of two #Ebola flare ups African countries fought this year as they battled Covid. The other was in DRC, in the area of the 2018-2020 North Kivu-Ituri outbreak. It has also been stopped.
3. There were immediate fears that #Ebola would spread across Guinea's borders, as the virus did in 2018. But the Guineans, with help from @WHO & other partners, kept this from becoming a big outbreak. There were probably 23 cases in this outbreak, 12 of them fatal.
Read 4 tweets
Helen Branswell Profile picture
23 Jan
1. Count your blessings time.
It's Friday, @CDCgov's FluView has been published & wow. Wow. Wow. Wow.
There continues to be almost no #flu activity in the U.S. Given that there's plenty of #Covid19 activity, you cannot explain this simply by masks + social distancing. Image
2. Lots of people are being diagnosed with #Covid19 — 186,000 on Jan. 21 — so clearly people are contracting respiratory pathogens. Just not #flu so much.
23 positive flu cases in the US in week 2 (ending Jan 16) - less than 2 dozen - is crazy low. Image
3. Also crazy low: So far this year the hospitals in the national flu surveillance network have reported 136 people hospitalized with serious #flu infections. Last year by week 2 of the flu season, 5,786 people had been hospitalized for flu. Image
Read 5 tweets

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