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ɪᴀɴ ᴍ. ᴍᴀᴄᴋᴀʏ, ᴘʜᴅ 🦠🤧🧬🥼🦟 Profile picture
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Aug 2 • 6 tweets • 3 min read
#Flu in #Queensland, week to 24JUL2022
😷Total numbers continue to decline for another week
🤧Flu season is not done and dusted quite yet
🔵current data point(s) change in the subsequent week as outstanding results are finalised and reported
😷Percent positive with a moving average.
🤧Steadily in those >20 years
🤧Decline has stopped in those <20
😷Hospital admission numbers because of #flu, broken up by region of Qld, with historical context.
🤒Very small drop in admissions compared to the previous week
😷Ian's take-home messages...
📢Flu seasons pass-a good (N95) mask, worn properly, indoors increases your chances of missing this one and of protecting others from you
📢Stay home if sick (=new: cough, sneezing, headache, fever, fatigue)
📢Stay away from the elderly if sick
😷These graphs & tables were screen-captured from the latest #Queensland Government #Flu surveillance report found here. Great work.
health.qld.gov.au/clinical-pract…
😷 I will just add that despite numbers being low, this table *suggests* FluB might be stirring and perhaps it or A/H1N1 are adding to the tail. National data at the end of the week may enlighten us.

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More from @MackayIM

ɪᴀɴ ᴍ. ᴍᴀᴄᴋᴀʏ, ᴘʜᴅ 🦠🤧🧬🥼🦟 Profile picture
Aug 3
We know masks/respirators mechanistically filter our particles–effectiveness varying with type, style, fit and use.

•They work in practice, not only in theory.

But that doesn't mean they work all the time.
The use of 'masks' (overarching term) 𝗰𝗮𝗻 reduce the risk of transmitting an airborne pathogen.
They are imperfect. They are not a panacea. They cannot be used alone. They are a leaky\"holey layer". This means that outbreaks & epidemics still progress.
If you define "work" as 100% effective, then yes, they absolutely fail. That’s a stupid definition by the way.

•There is entrenched mythology that only healthcare settings need/should use N95/P2s (or better) masks.

Sadly, in the middle of a respiratory virus epidemic..
Read 18 tweets
ɪᴀɴ ᴍ. ᴍᴀᴄᴋᴀʏ, ᴘʜᴅ 🦠🤧🧬🥼🦟 Profile picture
Jul 30
Masked but got infected?
It's not magic..
😷 Mask removed at a critical time, or
☁️In an unclean airspace so laden with virus aerosol that N95 (95% filtration and 5% not successfully filtered;surgical mask let's through much more) couldn't cope & you received an infectious dose
Room air will still get full of virus if...

☁️The air isn't being filtered, treated or rapidly replaced
😷Most keep wearing baggy surgical masks that aren't designed to filter much of what we exhale, just deflect it

It's time to understand that we should mask up(grade)
This is also about the mask...
😷💨 The mask you wear must be fit for purpose - cloth or surgical masks are better than nothing, but aren't intended to protect you from inhaling an infectious dose of virus-laden airborne particles
Read 9 tweets
ɪᴀɴ ᴍ. ᴍᴀᴄᴋᴀʏ, ᴘʜᴅ 🦠🤧🧬🥼🦟 Profile picture
Jul 20
🧬Detailed public-facing PCR data from a private lab in Queensland, Australia (thankyou🙏) showing #Flu down to 5.8% positivity (about 1 in 17 samples for COVID-19 testing are FluA positive).
•SARS-CoV-2 continues to rise, currently at 16.7% (1 in 6).
•RSV at 7.5% and slowly⬇ Image
🦠Rhinoviruses are, as usual, a major pathogen in causing acute respiratory infection and lab/healthcare-seeking behaviour.
🦠Human metapneumovirus (MPV), parainfluenza viruses (PIVs) and adenoviruses (AdVs) are on a slow rising trajectory Image
😷A reminder that whatever respiratory signs & symptoms bring a patient in for a test/Doctor's visit - many very different respiratory viruses can cause that disease. Only a good pathology laboratory test has a hope of identifying a cause.
Read 4 tweets
ɪᴀɴ ᴍ. ᴍᴀᴄᴋᴀʏ, ᴘʜᴅ 🦠🤧🧬🥼🦟 Profile picture
Jul 19
#Flu in #Queensland, week to 17JUL2022
😷Total numbers continue to decline for another week
🔵current data point(s) change in the subsequent week as outstanding results are finalised and reported Image
😷Percent positive with a moving average.
🤧Steadily declining now <10% positivity. Image
😷Hospital admission numbers because of #flu, broken up by region of Qld, with historical context.
🤒Big drop in admissions for another consecutive week Image
Read 6 tweets
ɪᴀɴ ᴍ. ᴍᴀᴄᴋᴀʏ, ᴘʜᴅ 🦠🤧🧬🥼🦟 Profile picture
Jul 16
A thread listing some studies that have evaluated some rapid antigen tests (RATs) against PCR, each other and sometimes different SARS-CoV-2 variants.
🧪In Australia, the Therapeutic Goods Administration has organised post-market review of RATs.
tga.gov.au/post-market-re…
At writing, there were 97 products of which 5 have been reviewed. This entailed use of cultured virus sensitivity testing.
🧪"Nearly all tests state in their IFU sensitivity values of > 90% for PCR-confirmed specimens. Such statements, being in strong contrast to the results of our study and to other independent evaluations"
eurosurveillance.org/content/10.280…
Read 8 tweets
ɪᴀɴ ᴍ. ᴍᴀᴄᴋᴀʏ, ᴘʜᴅ 🦠🤧🧬🥼🦟 Profile picture
Jul 14
#Flu in #Queensland, week to 10JUL2022
😷Total numbers have continued last week's decline (2 in a row)
🔵current data point(s) change in the subsequent week as outstanding results are finalised and reported
😷Percent positive with a moving average.
🤧Steadily declining.
😷Hospital admission numbers because of #flu, broken up by region of Qld, with historical context.
🤒Drop in admissions for another consecutive week
Read 7 tweets

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