ugh, not again 😔 #measles has re-entered the chat (in the US)

measles case confirmed in San Diego, California thank you to @doritmi for the public health info!

https://twitter.com/doritmi/status/1753978227494887901

Respiratory viral infections continue to surge across the US:

30 states have flu infections that are very high & accelerating

COVID-19 levels in wastewater are higher now than this time last year

Hospitalizations rose 17% this week from respiratory illnesses

What can we do?👇 There’s still plenty of time to get your yearly flu shot.
Want the breakdown of this year’s vaccine? Watch!

2023 / 2024 Flu Season Vaccine Breakdown

The indications of a Marburg virus infection can be very similar to other illnesses or conditions. However, symptoms can become increasingly severe as the disease progresses. This can lead to deadly consequences such as multi-system organ failure. While diagnosis of #Marburg can be difficult and requires a molecular diagnostic test, if you are in an area with an outbreak and experiencing any symptoms it is important to be evaluated.

mRNA vaccines are NOT gene therapy.
However, cell & gene therapies are emerging technologies that can help to reduce the burden of inherent genetic alterations that cause diseases. I describe a few of these breakthrough technologies below. 1. CAR-T cell therapy = a patient's own immune cells are engineered to express moieties that target a specific cell type in the body (often for oncology use)

2. CRISPR = a form of DNA editing to disrupt harmful genes or to repair mutated genes

(genes are DNA 😉)

Almost every unvaccinated person who is sexually active will get HPV (human papillomavirus) at some time in their life. And, each year in the United States (US) HPV causes ~36,000 cases of cancer for men and women. Fortunately, the HPV vaccine protects against several strains of the virus that are known to cause cancer (cervical, vaginal, anal, etc). Since 2006 when HPV vaccines were first used in the US, HPV infections and precancer detections (on the cervix) have dropped more than 80%.

Here I give a summary of how the bivalent mRNA vaccine boosters for Covid-19 work. The mechanism of immune response action is the same as the mRNA vaccine series made by Pfizer / BioNTech or Moderna. But this time we get two sets of instructions in one shot. The first set of instructions encode for our bodies to make the original spike protein on SARS-CoV-2 (ancestral strain). The second set of instructions encode for our bodies to make a mutated form of the spike protein, such as the Omicron variant spike protein.

“What is the treatment for monkeypox? How does it work?”

Here I give a short overview of how the drug Tecovirimat (TPOXX) works for the treatment of smallpox / monkeypox / or other vaccinia virus type infections. TPOXX can be administered by IV injection or as an oral pill. In the US, TPOXX is FDA approved for the treatment of smallpox disease for adults and children and is currently in the Strategic National Stockpile. Its use for other orthopox virus infections, including monkeypox, is under an Expanded Access Investigational New Drug protocol.

Here I give a brief overview of how the vaccine against #Monkeypox works.

This vaccine is under various brand names including JYNNEOS (US), IMVANEX (EU), and IMVAMUNE (Canada) which is made by the company Bavarian Nordic.

More info in 🧵 This is a live, non-replicating vaccine which is derived from the Vaccinia virus, part of the Orthopox virus family. This family includes both smallpox and monkeypox, so pan immunity is achieved.

This falls under the more ‘traditional’ types of vaccines. It is not mRNA tech.

Here I breakdown the mutations within the #DeltaVariant of SARS-CoV-2 and how these amino acid changes are important to be aware of related to the virus’s ability to infect & be detected by antibodies.
Refresher on how to read the mutations can be found here:

Here I give a quick overview of the various vaccines for Covid-19 that have been approved or are close to finishing their clinical trials. Vaccine appointments are not easy to obtain, so stay up to date when you’re eligible and know that all the vaccines are safe & effective. It’s important to take whichever vaccine is available to you, if you decide to, as they all have shown 100% effectiveness at preventing Covid-19 related deaths & hospitalizations.

Here I describe the reasoning why the #COVID vaccine is recommended even if you have tested positive for the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Building immunity to this virus in enough people is critical to ensure its eradication and to end this pandemic. Antibodies are produced by B cells, which can differentiate into memory B cells, and T cells can also differentiate into memory T cells. These memory clones are what hold information about specific pathogens that our bodies have been exposed to.

Here I provide information on what we currently know about the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 (see mRNA vaccine video) & its relation to pregnancy. This is NOT my area of expertise; I relied heavily on previous research & what current metrics show about vulnerable groups to Covid19. I also received a ton of assistance from an awesome friend @ananyanmngndla who helped to really define terms, complete the BLAST analysis, and aid me in better understanding structural comparisons! 👏ANANYA👏

Here I breakdown the general components found within vaccines, with an extra focus on the mRNA vaccines for SARS-CoV-2. This is part two collaborating with @SoloukiSabrina , and if you missed her video on what an allergic response is check it out in the thread below. While preservatives and adjuvants are safe and common vaccine components, both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are preservative and adjuvant free.

Here I describe a brief overview of logistics (timing, storage, 2x dose) of the mRNA SARS-CoV-2 vaccines made by Pfizer/BioNTech or Moderna. Please reference the other videos for mRNA technology & DNA/RNA distinctions. I do use some technical terms, please find them defined below. Im happy to hear questions and comments. Thank you for taking time to learn about the challenges overcome to make mRNA vaccines!🧪

Here I describe a brief overview of how the Pfizer/BioNTech or Moderna mRNA vaccines work. Taking a vaccine is one’s personal choice, and I hope this video can help someone make that decision rooted in science. There is a lot more information I wanted to cover, such as the immunity length over time, side effects, and non-mRNA vaccine technologies. We could discuss this for hours. But, the focus here is on the technology itself.