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22 Dec, 4 tweets, 3 min read
1. @WHO has released its latest global #flu update. Flu activity is still low, but it is definitely picking up after our 20 month or so #influenza holiday. Flu & #Covid cocirculating is going to make everything that much more complicated. who.int/teams/global-i…
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2. @WHO reports that 3.2% of the nearly 235,000 respiratory samples tested for flu from Nov. 22 to Dec. 5 were positive. The flu positivity rate hasn't been that high globally since the second half of March 2020. (Chart=mine)
3. #Flu activity is still low relative to pre-Covid times, but it is on the rise in parts of the world. The mix of viruses circulating depends on the region; in North America & Europe, it's mainly H3N2. That's unfortunate; that component of the vaccine is mismatched.
4. To give you a sense of where things are now versus a pre-Covid season, this graph plots #flu positivity rates from Aug. 2021 (orange) against 2019 (blue), which was an early and very active flu season. Still low for this time of year. But flu is on its way back.

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More from @HelenBranswell

Helen Branswell Profile picture
22 Dec
1. @WHO presser underway. I'll tweet a little.
@DrTedros, WHO's DG, said science came through in 2021 with amazing vaccines. But they were not shared equitably. There were enough doses produced to let every country vaccinate 40% of their people by Sept. But that didn't happen.
2. @DrTedros says vaccine production is increasing. But 20% of doses being used at this point are boosters. "No country can boost its way out of the pandemic," the @WHO DG said.
3. "Blanket booster programs are likely to prolong the pandemic, not to end it," @DrTedros said.
In 2021, 3.5M lives have been lost to #Covid — more than to HIV, TB and malaria combined. It is claiming 50,000 lives per week at this point, he said.
Read 7 tweets
Helen Branswell Profile picture
17 Dec
1. The latest FluView is out from @CDCgov. A 🧵
So our holiday from influenza does seem to be ending. Flu activity isn't spiking, but it is increasing. Hospitalizations for flu are on the rise — which is EXACTLY what Covid-stretched hospitals don't need right now. Image
2. In the week ending Dec. 11, 2.7% of health care visits were for influenza-like illnesses (non-Covid). That's above the national baseline level of 2.5% (red arrow). It is the first time since Nov 2019 (green arrow) the percentage of visits for ILIs has been above the baseline. Image
3. In other parts of the world a lot of the flu being seen is #influenza B. But here so far it has been overwhelmingly the influenza A virus H3N2. H3 viruses are typically very hard on the elderly — same demographic Covid has been ravaging. Image
Read 5 tweets
Helen Branswell Profile picture
16 Dec
1. Today's special #ACIP meeting, to deal with safety concerns related to the J&J #Covid vaccine, is beginning now. There will also be an update on the rollout of vaccines in 5-11 year olds.
I will try to live tweet.
2. New chair Grace Lee calls roll call and vote calls in a random order that changes each time she does it. It's confusing and makes it really hard to keep tabs of who is there, who voted. Just saying.
3. Doran Fink from @US_FDA says FDA updated its guidance on use of the J&J vaccine to reflect better understanding of the risk associated the J&J or any other adenovirus vectored vaccines (ie AstraZeneca). The risk relates to a serious clotting event TTS.
Read 42 tweets
Helen Branswell Profile picture
8 Dec
1. New global #flu data from @WHO. A short 🧵
Topline: Flu activity remains well below what was seen in pre-Covid times. Interestingly, RSV (respiratory syncytial virus) continues its rebound. Lots of it in lots of places.
2. @WHO reports that 1.1% of the more than 335,000 respiratory samples tested for flu in 102 countries from Nov. 8-21 were postive for #flu. Just a little over half of those were #influenza B infections.
3. This marks the first time since early April 2020 when the global #flu positivity rate was 1% or higher. As you can see from this chart (mine), flu activity fell off a cliff in March 2020 as the #Covid pandemic took hold around the world.
Read 4 tweets
Helen Branswell Profile picture
4 Dec
1. Short #flu thread.
@CDCgov's FluView came out today; data for the week ending Nov 27.
US Flu activity is ticking up. It's still not near most non-pandemic years, but flu is returning. 1.5% of clinical flu tests were positive, compared to .02% in 2020.
cdc.gov/flu/weekly/ind…
2. The data behind this chart give you a sense of the steady rise in flu positivity. In a pre-Covid year, you might expect to see a positivity rate of 4%, 8% or higher at this time of the #flu season, depending on whether the season was getting off to an early start or not.
3. So looking at the influenza-like illness curves, you can see that ILI rates (they include illnesses that are not #influenza) appear to be approaching the point where they cross the threshold into ILI season. But how much of that is flu?
Read 5 tweets
Helen Branswell Profile picture
3 Dec
1. @GuHaogao & colleagues report on an apparent case of #Omicron transmission in a Hong Kong quarantine hotel. Traveler from South Africa tests positive 2 days after arrival; traveler from Canada who is located directly across the hall tests positive 4 days later.
2. Canadian traveler was 7 days into quarantine when he tested positive. Viral sequences were compared; almost identical.
Both travelers were twice vaxed with Pfizer in the spring.
Surveillance footage showed neither left their room, only opening doors for food, testing.
3. "Airborne transmission across the corridor is the most probable mode of transmission," the University of Hong Kong researchers (including @bencowling88) report in @CDC_EIDjournal. wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/28…
Read 4 tweets

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