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Helen Branswell Profile picture
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26 Sep, 4 tweets, 3 min read
1. Belatedly looked at this week's FluView from @CDCgov. There's something to watch here.
A child or teen in Ohio contracted a swine flu virus — an H1N2. Public health investigations can find no link between the person & pigs, ie didn't live on a farm, didn't attend a state fair.
2. Public health has concluded it is possible this person was infected by another person. According to @CDCgov, they can see no evidence of ongoing person-to-person spread. But this bears watching. The 2009 flu pandemic was caused by a swine #flu virus.
3. There are a number of cases every year of people contracting a swine #flu virus in the US. Ten reported so far this year. Typically they occur in people who live or work on a farm with pigs, live with someone who works with pigs or has had contact with pigs at a fair.
4. Mostly these cases are one-offs. Someone is infected with a pig virus & doesn't transmit to anyone else. Dead end spillovers. I'm not alarmed by the Ohio case. I'll just be watching FluView.
This Ohio case wasn't seriously ill & is better. cdc.gov/flu/weekly/ind…

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More from @HelenBranswell

Helen Branswell Profile picture
23 Sep
1. Good day. #ACIP is meeting today to vote on recommendations about who should receive a booster shot of the Pfizer #Covid vaccine. The meeting starts at noon ET. I will be live tweeting.
@US_FDA's EUA for the Pfizer booster is veeeeeery broad. statnews.com/2021/09/22/fda…
2. The meeting is underway. Doran Fink of @US_FDA is now explaining FDA's EUA for the Pfizer booster, which was issued last night.
My observation: The group of people eligible for a booster under this EAU is very broad. 16-17 yos are excluded but many over 18 will be eligible.
3. @CDCDirector is addressing #ACIP. She acknowledges that the committee has to make decisions, sometimes with a huge amount of data, sometimes with "a paucity."
She mentions pregnant people.
My observation: Oddly, there was no mention of them in the FDA EUA.
Read 50 tweets
Helen Branswell Profile picture
22 Sep
1. Good morning. #ACIP is meeting today and tomorrow. Today, at least, I will be live tweeting.
@US_FDA has not yet indicated what it is going to do with Pfizer's application for a booster license. So it's really completely up in the air at this point how this turns out.
2. You'll recall FDA's advisory committee, #VRBPAC, voted that there wasn't enough data to approve the Pfizer application to give a booster to everyone 16 & older. VRBPAC did agree there was enough data to authorize boosters for people 65 & older & people at high risk.
3. But as I mentioned, FDA hasn't indicated what it's going to do. It is not bound to follow #VRBPAC's advice, but it will cause a real stir if it does not. If it doesn't follow VRBPAC's advice, it may set up a situation where a second advisory committee #ACIP disagrees with FDA.
Read 46 tweets
Helen Branswell Profile picture
13 Sep
1. Some unsettling #rabies exposure stories in a post from the invaluable @ProMED_mail tonight.
Some people in RI were feeding a raccoon that later testing showed was infected with rabies.
People: Do not feed raccoons. They do not need your help. local21news.com/newsletter-dai…
2. A grey cat that was hanging around a campground in Frederick County, Md, tested positive for #rabies. There were reports the cat was biting & scratching people between Aug 24 & Sept 3. People exposed or people whose pets were exposed to the cat should contact their MD or vet.
3. A link to the cat story here.
Important to know: #Rabies is fatal without quick post-exposure treatment. wfmd.com/2021/09/08/cat…
Read 4 tweets
Helen Branswell Profile picture
10 Sep
1. Being as it's Friday, there will be a #flu update from @CDCgov later this morning. I'll add to this when it comes out.
Just looking at the weekly Covid & #influenza report from @PHE_uk. In a normal flu season, one might see a little flu activity in early Sept. Nope. Image
2. @CDCgov's FluView is up. Actual confirmed cases of #flu remain very low. There is, however, a fair amount of influenza-like illness, or ILI, activity. The report suggests it may have plateaued among 0-4 & 5-24 yr olds. Will be interesting to watch this, now that school is in. Image
3. @CDCgov reports another 2 cases of infection with swine #flu viruses have been detected, both in Iowa. Neither was sick enough to need hospital care; both recovered. Both had traceable links to pigs. Image
Read 7 tweets
Helen Branswell Profile picture
3 Sep
1. Let's talk a little #flu. Or more specifically, let's talk about ILI — #influenza-like illnesses. Those are cold & flu-like ailments caused by a stew of viruses: influenza, rhinoviruses, adenoviruses, parainfluenza, human coronaviruses & respiratory syncytial virus — RSV.
2. @CDCgov releases its weekly #flu updates Friday morning. This week's (covering Aug. 22-28) showed there is more ILI activity now (red arrow) than there was at any point last winter during the traditional cold and flu season. Does that mean flu has returned? In a word, no.
3. I assume different parts of the country may be seeing different combos of bugs, but here's what's being seen in Utah, from Intermountain Healthcare's GermWatch. Lots of rhinoviruses (the most common cause of the common cold) & RSV. No flu or human CoVs. intermountainhealthcare.org/health-informa…
Read 6 tweets
Helen Branswell Profile picture
30 Aug
1. #ACIP meets today. I'll be tweeting on the meeting in this thread.
When it was first announced, this was going to be a 2-day meeting; now only 1.
If you want to listen to the meeting, you can do so from here: video.ibm.com/channel/VWBXKB…
2. Contrary to popular opinion, this #ACIP meeting isn't primarily about whether Americans who got mRNA vaccines need a 3rd dose starting in Sept., as per the policy announced by the Biden administration. Only 45 minutes of the 6.5 hour meeting has been set aside for boosters.
3. Why so little discussion about boosters? Not a lot of data at this point.
Pfizer only recently applied to @US_FDA for a 3rd shot; Moderna hasn't yet applied. #ACIP will review the data Pfizer submitted to FDA when it becomes available to ACIP, chair Grace Lee told me.
Read 36 tweets

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