Finally RAT neg on day 12 of #SARSCoV2 infection despite having antivirals. Daily testing allowed me to protect others in the household. Five day iso with daily testing unaffordable to most will not help the economy. We need widespread equitable access to testing and treatment.
I wore N95 in common areas, used HEPA filtered air purifiers, open windows and isolated for 12 days. Did have rebound too - from RAT neg at day 5 to RAT pos again on day 7. But maintained the 7 day iso & kept testing to make sure I was not putting others at risk.
We r not all young, strong & able bodied in my home, incl 1 person in a wheelchair. All I will say is the impact of 1 infection on my family was extremely disruptive. Prevention is always better.
And I will look for work-arounds that will allow me to speak at public events without endangering others in my household. Freedom is for everyone, not just the able-bodied. Prevention (vaccine-PLUS), free testing and treatment is the best route to freedom and a healthy society.
An interesting side bar. TGA lists the senisitivity level of available RATs. I had 2 brands at home, both "very high sensitivity". One was neg and one was pos at day 7. Appears there are differences even among the highest rated RATs. tga.gov.au/products/covid…
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The Sydney Q station is worth a visit. It is where ships and incoming passengers were quarantined during pandemics such as the 1918 influenza pandemic. Many haunting reminders carved into the rock.
I and another family member had COVID last week despite being fully vaxxed, and was worried about a vulnerable family member that I am sole carer for. I protected them from infection by universal #N95 use at home, windows open (brrrr) and air purifiers running 24/7. 1/2
I also checked my RAT daily to monitor how infectious I was (a negative RAT is a good indicator u r not infectious). I also had a private prescription for AVs which cost $1200. All these things were expensive - the air purifiers, the N95s, the RATs.
When people cite "freedom" and "choice" or pour scorn on those of us who mask or who seek to protect vulnerable loved ones, freedom and choice are a privilege available to those with means.
Mousepox, caused by orthopoxvirus ectromelia virus, closely related to #smallpox only infects mice. In mice it causes a mild illness. In 2001 Australian scientists were developing a contraceptive vaccine for mice. But it killed all the mice. (Thread) newscientist.com/article/dn311-…
The vaccine was to help control mouse breeding and reduce agricultural damage . They used ectromelia virus as a vector to carry mouse egg proteins so the mice would develop antibodies to their own eggs and thereby become infertile.
They inserted a gene for production of interleukin-4, a cytokine that stimulates the immune system, hoping this would accelerate the production of antibodies. When they vaccinated the mice with smallpox vaccine (which also protects against ectromelia virus),
MPX is an orthopoxvirus closely related to #smallpox. It has 2 clades- the milder one has a fatality rate similar to #SARSCoV2 - the other, closer to SARS1 at 10%. UK outbreak caused by the milder clade. #monkeypox has surged since 2017 due to (thread) wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/27…
A combination of waning immunity from smallpox vaccines - mass vaccination stopped by 1980, when SPX declared eradicated; population growth and ecological factors as we explored wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/27…
Smallpox vaccines work against MPX, and also work as post-exposure prophylaxis in a strategy devised during the eradication campaign called "ring vaccination" because of a long incubation period. tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.10…
Let's talk about the mystery epidemic of #hepatitis in children. It's most likely a complication of #COVID19 but may take a while to be adjudicated as such. The syndrome has been seen in children <17, mostly unvaccinated kids <5 years. A thread.
Hepatitis is a known presentation of #MISConlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ij… & MISC is a late complication, after the acute infection. So, the fact that PCR is negative is not surprising.
Also, kids do not have as robust an antibody response as adults so may be -ve on serology too. nature.com/articles/s4159…