Kai Kupferschmidt Profile picture
Feb 24 10 tweets 8 min read
Cambodia has informed @WHO of two confirmed cases of #avianinfluenza #H5N1, an 11 year old girl that died and another member of her family, @SCBriand just said in a @WHO press conference. Field investigations are going on, she said.
@WHO @SCBriand It's crucial, of course, to learn more about what exactly happened incl. whether there are other possible cases, how the cases were infected and whether there was any human-to-human transmission.
@WHO @SCBriand A teleconference is ongoing at the moment between Cambodia and @WHO, @SCBriand says. "So far it is too early to know whether this is human-to-human transmission", she says.
@WHO @SCBriand As usual in these cases:
There is a lot of uncertainty.
Be careful not to jump to conclusions! And don't trust other people who jump to conclusions. We just don't know at the moment.
@WHO @SCBriand There is a lot of #H5N1 circulating in birds at the moment and across a larger part of the world than ever before and that will invariably lead to spillover to mammals incl. humans as well.
@WHO @SCBriand That means there is a real risk of a pandemic because every spillover present an opportunity for the virus to adapt to mammals.
("It’s a numbers game", Richard Webby told me a month ago here: science.org/content/articl…)
@WHO @SCBriand But it does NOT mean that every single case of #H5N1 is somehow the start of a pandemic. Remember that we have seen hundreds of human cases of #H5N1 in recent years and we have not had a pandemic (so far).
@WHO @SCBriand It is even possible that this virus for some reason just does not have what it takes to become a successful human pathogen.
But I would never bet against viruses and evolution... And I don't know anyone in this field who would!
@WHO @SCBriand So every single case of #H5N1 is a reminder that we DO need to be prepared for the possibility of an influenza pandemic.
And - in my personal opinion - we are sorely lacking on that front at the moment given how we are coming out of the #covid19 pandemic...

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More from @kakape

Feb 21
When I talked to @BrendaCrabtreeR a few days ago about #mpox she told me the story of a patient she helped to treat in Mexico City in June: a man in his 30s who did not know that he was also living with HIV.

science.org/content/articl…
@BrendaCrabtreeR The young man’s immune system was so weak it could not keep the monkeypox virus in check. He had painful necrotizing lesions spreading across his skin and the virus had spread to his lungs too. “He just kept getting worse and worse and worse,” @BrendaCrabtreeR told me.
@BrendaCrabtreeR No vaccine or treatments are available in Mexico. Desperate, the doctors transferred blood plasma from a colleague that had been vaccinated in the US to the patient hoping the antibodies might help fight the virus. But they could not save the patient. He died a few weeks later.
Read 14 tweets
Feb 17
There has been a spate of travellers returning from Cabo Verde recently infected with the bacterium Shigella sonnei.
“Most cases have stayed in five-star, all-inclusive hotels in the Santa Maria region of the island Sal”, @ECDC_EU writes in a risk assessment it just published.
The report notes 258 cases (see table). “The most recent cases were reported in Sweden on 19 January 2023, suggesting an ongoing moderate risk of new infections among travellers in Cabo Verde, particularly among those staying in the Santa Maria region of Sal.”
Interestingly most cases are women (ratio of 2.5:1). “This is unusual for shigellosis outbreaks, which are often reported among men who have sex with men (MSM). In foodborne shigellosis outbreaks however, a slightly larger proportion of females can be observed among cases…”
Read 8 tweets
Feb 15
Marburg outbreak in Equatorial Guinea stands at 9 deaths (1 confirmed as Marburg, 8 suspected), 16 suspected cases in health facilities and 21 asymptomatic contacts being monitored at home, says @drtedros in @WHO presser.
@DrTedros @WHO The outbreak is in the border region with Gabon and Cameroon.
"So far, no confirmed cases have been reported in Cameroon or Gabon", says @DrTedros. "But WHO is working with the Ministry of Health of Cameroon to investigate an alert in that country."
@DrTedros @WHO #Mpox remains a public health emergency of international concern:
The emergency committee met on Friday. "The committee has advised me that in its view #mpos remains a global health emergency, and I have accepted that advice", says @DrTedros.
Read 4 tweets
Feb 9
Es hat ne Weile gedauert, aber wir sind endlich wieder da mit @pandemiapodcast!
Neues Logo, neue Musik, alte Crew und wie immer tolle Themen und Gäste:
Dieses Mal geht es um #longcovid, #Vogelgrippe #H5N1 und neue #Impfstoffe

superelektrik.de/pandemia/updat…
@pandemiapodcast Vielen Dank an @C_Scheibenbogen, @florian_krammer, @CorneliaBetsch, @PeacockFlu, Mitchell Warren und vor allem an @marga_owski, die uns einen Einblick in ihr Leben mit #longcovid gewährt hat...
@pandemiapodcast @C_Scheibenbogen @florian_krammer @CorneliaBetsch @PeacockFlu @marga_owski Wir kommen jetzt auch wieder regelmäßiger. Versprochen! Und wir wollen in Zukunft immer auch versuchen, einige Hörerfragen zu beantworten. Also schreibt uns gerne an pandemia@superelektrik.de oder einfach hier bei Twitter...
Read 4 tweets
Feb 9
Malawi is experiencing the deadliest cholera outbreak in its history with more than 36.000 cases and 1210 deaths.
"With a sharp increase of cases seen over the last month, fears are that the outbreak will continue to worsen without strong interventions."

who.int/emergencies/di…
Tropical storm Ana (Jan 22) and Cyclone Gombe (Mar 22) caused flooding, displaced people and led to the outbreak. "This outbreak, which was initially limited to the Southern Region and the flood-affected areas, has now spread to all the regions and districts in the country"
This is part of a surge in cholera cases worldwide that has led to a shortage in vaccines and to health organisations rationing doses.
I wrote about this here:
science.org/content/articl…
Read 4 tweets
Feb 3
The new #mpox situation report ist out from @WHO and it has some interesting data:

Overall 85,449 cases and 89 deaths have been reported globally since the outbreak started last year.

who.int/publications/m…
@WHO In the past two weeks 716 cases and 9 deaths were reported.

Most of these cases are in the Americas as are all the deaths (5 in the US, 3 in Peru, 1 in Brazil).

Here is a breakdown of cases for the past week:
@WHO Overall, the outbreak is still predominantly affecting MSM and our sexual networks:
"Among cases with sexual orientation reported, 84% (26,532/31,545) have identified as gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men."
Transmission during sex the most reported mode (69%)
Read 9 tweets

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