1. #MPXV 𧡠@WHO has issued an update on the #monkeypox situation. In it they announce they're no longer going to report cases from the outbreak outside of Africa; rather, they're going to report all reported cases of/deaths from MPX together.
2. The rationale is clear: why should #MPXV cases in some countries be treated differently β treated as if they are more important β than #monkeypox cases in other countries? Makes sense & is just.
3. On the other hand, will this make it harder to track the outbreak? Isn't it possible there may be differences in cases that are caused by continuous human-2-human spread rather than animal-2-human events where spread stops after 1 or a few cases? Even if this is a DNA virus?
4. I'll be interested in hearing what the scientific community feels about this policy change.
Moving on: There've been 2103 #MPXV confirmed cases reported so far this year, with one death. 98% of the cases have been since May β ie part of the international outbreak.
5. Here's a chart of the cases by country and region. @WHO also said it is going to focus going forward on confirmed & probable cases/deaths in affected African countries. Will that underestimate the burden of #monkeypox in those countries?
6. @WHO says the ongoing international outbreak of #MPXV is mostly but not exclusively occurring in "men who have reported recent sex with new or multiple partners." New wording, I think.
7. But if #MPXV continues to spread, it isn't going to remain restricted to one group of people (if it is now). For instance, while many of the cases have reported travel, increasing numbers of cases have not, @WHO says.
8. #MPXV cases in this outbreak are often presenting with symptoms that don't match what the textbooks say about #monkeypox β which will complicate the job of finding cases & stopping transmission.
9. @WHO says given the degree of transmission, there's likely going to be more spread, spread into different population groups and within new countries.
The update is here: who.int/emergencies/diβ¦
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1. Short #flu π§΅
Looks like flu activity in the US is finally declining pretty much nationwide. @CDCgov says it is moving to the shortened FluView format next week, the one it uses in the off-season. Typically is does that from May-Sept, but this year has been different.
2. A child died from #flu last week, the 29th of the 2021-22 flu season. That's a low number compared to pre-Covid years, but as this chart shows, flu has been making a return after its early Covid hiatus. That's bad news for kids and their families.
3. Even though @CDCgov says #flu activity is decreasing, +2000 people were hospitalized for flu last week. In mid-June,
2. Last week @WHO said it had been notified of 700 cases of #PediatricHepatitis globally & at least 10 deaths.
In Europe, 1 child has died. 78% of the children are under the age of 5.
3. The @ECDC_EU / @WHO_Europe update on #PediatricHepatitis has an epicurve that shows either date of onset of illness or hospitalization, depending on what info is available. It urges caution in trying to interpret what looks like a recent decline in new cases.
1. A short #flu thread, being that it's Friday. So weird to be tweeting about flu in June. @CDCgov says flu activity is increasing in some parts of the country, but on average, this sort of late season surge seems to be slowing. Finally.
2. Nevada, New Mexico (since early April!), Florida & DC seem to have quite a bit of #flu. But other places are really quieting down, notably in the NE.
3. Three more children have died from #flu, with the deaths occurring in mid-to-late May. The pediatric death toll for the season stands at 28.
1. A short #monkeypox thread. @UKHSA has put out a technical briefing on MPX. Still early days in the investigation & it's not as meaty as I hoped, but there are some interesting nuggets within.
It's here: gov.uk/government/pubβ¦
2. This is one of few epicurves based on date of onset that I've seen. @UKHSA says their earliest case had symptom onset on April 8. They caution some things about the epicurve, though.
Like it's based on 265/320 cases known when the epicurve was constructed. Cases now at 366.
3. Another thing about the #monkeypox epicurve β you could conclude from looking at it that they might be getting their outbreak under control. Don't assume. @UKHSA says there's ~10-day delay at this point between the time someone develops symptoms & when UKHSA hears about it.
1. #VRBPAC is meeting today to review Novavax's submission for an EUA for its Covid vaccine. Often @matthewherper & I live blog VRBPAC meetings but not today. I'll try to live tweet.
Gonna be an interesting day.
If you want to watch the meeting: fda.gov/advisory-commiβ¦
2. #VRBPAC is going through roll call now. There's a big committee today βΒ 23 (22 voting members, 1 non-voting). There's fully a dozen temporary members sitting on this panel. Tons of expertise here. A number of former VRBPAC members.
3. #VRBPAC is being asked whether Novavax's #Covid vaccine should be given an EUA. This is for their primary series (2 doses, given 3 weeks apart); they aren't asking for an EUA for use of their vaccine as a booster. It's based on the Wuhan (aka original) strain.
1. A #monkeypox 𧡠@WHO has released a new update. They say as of June 2, a total of 27 non-endemic countries have reported 780 cases.
The line list being maintained by global.health currently reports nearly 1000 from 39 countries. monkeypox.healthmap.org
2. Most of the reported #monkeypox cases have been detected in Europe & the Americas, though there have been cases detected in the Middle East & the Western Pacific as well. @WHO's update is here: who.int/emergencies/diβ¦
3. #Monkeypox isn't behaving exactly as the scientific literature (based on cases in the endemic African countries) suggests.
There've been no deaths so far.
Some people have rash before other symptoms.
In some cases the rash is more localized, mainly in the ano-genital area.