[Health] The Infectious Diseases Thread

[Max Peck]

Can't say I can recall seeing anything like recommending a curfew before:

There has been reporting of that virus being detected hereabouts, along with a bit of a spike in West Nile virus. The recommendations for avoiding mosquito bites stopped short of any mention of curfew though.

[Max Peck]

Move over bird flu, sloth fever is on the rise!

'Sloth Fever' Virus Is Spreading. Here’s What You Need to Know about Oropouche

Once confined to the Amazon region, the mysterious insect-borne virus that causes Oropouche fever has been expanding its range since late 2023, raising international concern. There have been more than 8,000 confirmed human infections in the Americas so far this year, most of them in Brazil, but Peru, Bolivia, Colombia and Cuba have also been affected.

In July, authorities in Brazil reported the deaths of two adults from the disease — the first fatalities recorded since the virus was identified almost 70 years ago. Brazilian officials are also investigating cases of fetal deaths and malformations that might have been caused by the virus, which investigations have shown can spread from a pregnant person to the fetus. There are no vaccines or treatments for the disease.

Earlier this month, the Pan American Health Organization upgraded its risk level for Oropouche from moderate to high, citing the virus’s geographical spread and the occurrence of fatal cases, which are notable for a disease that has historically been known to cause mild to moderate symptoms. On 23 August, the World Health Organization published a note stating that the public-health risk posed by the virus is high at the regional level and low at the global level. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has advised close surveillance of people returning from affected areas. Cases of Oropouche infection have been identified in people who have travelled to the United States, Spain, Italy and Germany from Brazil and Cuba, including 20 travelers from Cuba to the U.S. that the CDC reported on 27 August.

[Jeff V]

Does this just relate to the actual animal or does it include lazy people as well? Asking for a friend.

[GreenGoo]

My son picked up whooping cough at the end of the school year, last June. I managed to get it from him at the end of July.

It is a special kind of hell. It is also called the 100 day cough. Only 70ish more days of this to go...

[Unagi]

Move over bird flu, sloth fever is on the rise!

Oh jesus, these fevers are starting to circle in on me.

I swear to god, if there is a "just shave, already" fever in the next couple months, it's my fault.

[Max Peck]

I just heard a couple of Twitch streamers in LA talking about how they don't wear shorts when they're out and about because there's a lot of mpox going around and they believe you can catch it from things like bus or theatre seats.

That... doesn't seem like a real thing...

[Isgrimnur]

You just have to make sure JD Vance has been out of town for more than 48 hours.

[Max Peck]

Fair point.

[Blackhawk]

Don't say I never got you anything.

US confirms first human bird flu case with no known animal exposure

[Smoove_B]

It's definitely noteworthy. He was detected using seasonal flu surveillance methodology, which is nice. I don't expect him to be the last we'll see but at least his illness was mild.

I strongly suspect there are quite a few more cases and the only reason it's not tripping more alerts is because it has been a mild illness. If that changes....trouble.

[Smoove_B]

As a follow up, more people probably had it:

A second health worker who cared for a person hospitalized in Missouri with H5N1 bird flu developed mild respiratory symptoms but was not tested for influenza, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported on Friday.

The CDC said Missouri health officials didn’t learn that the health worker had symptoms until after the individual had recovered, too late to run a diagnostic test.

More:

This makes the second time that possible cases associated with the confirmed case have come to light well after the fact. Last week it was disclosed that a household contact of the confirmed case and a health worker who had cared for the individual while he or she was in hospital had also been ill. That first health worker tested negative for influenza.

In the case of the household contact, the person became ill the same day as the confirmed case, which all but rules out the possibility of person-to-person spread of the virus between these two people. Instead, it suggests that if indeed the second person was also infected with H5N1, he or she had the same exposure to the virus as the confirmed case.

It is still not known how that individual contracted H5N1. Although a number of U.S. states have seen the virus spread among cows, Missouri has not reported any infected dairy cattle, or any recent poultry outbreaks involving the virus.

I'm not saying it's concerning, but I'm also going to suggest that when things go sideways, this is how it's going to start.

I also thought this was great:

Determining how widespread the virus is in dairy herds is a challenge because many farmers have resisted testing their animals, seeing no upside to having their operations tied to the outbreak.

We've learned nothing.

[Kraken]

How Covid-19 affected the moon

A new study has found that the COVID-19 lockdowns on Earth led to a surprising drop in the Moon’s nighttime temperature. Researchers suggest that reduced human activity during the pandemic affected the radiation emitted from Earth, impacting the lunar surface in ways not previously observed.

[Smoove_B]

C. Diff vaccine developed:

Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI) is an urgent public health threat with limited preventative options. In this work, we developed a messenger RNA (mRNA)–lipid nanoparticle (LNP) vaccine targeting C. difficile toxins and virulence factors. This multivalent vaccine elicited robust and long-lived systemic and mucosal antigen-specific humoral and cellular immune responses across animal models, independent of changes to the intestinal microbiota. Vaccination protected mice from lethal CDI in both primary and recurrent infection models, and inclusion of non-toxin cellular and spore antigens improved decolonization of toxigenic C. difficile from the gastrointestinal tract. Our studies demonstrate mRNA-LNP vaccine technology as a promising platform for the development of novel C. difficile therapeutics with potential for limiting acute disease and promoting bacterial decolonization.

Uses something called mRNA to facilitate immunity. Imagine that.

[disarm]

A vaccine against C.diff is an interesting development. My question is who would be the recommended recipients?

In most cases, individuals become infected unexpectedly... usually randomly after a course of certain antibiotics, or due to exposure while hospitalized for other issues. Who is considered high risk enough to warrant vaccination? Should the subset of healthcare workers with frequent exposure to patients with C.diff receive the vaccine?

It's interesting that we may soon have a vaccine against this illness that has potentially lethal potential, but I don't see it as something that's likely to be recommended for the population at large. So who will be the target?

[Smoove_B]

I'd imagine they're going to target (1) elders (2) people in long-term care facilities (which might largely be #1) and (3) people that are immunocompromised.

That's a good question about health care workers though - they might also be eligible in the same way that we protect some police officers and first responders with rabies vaccines just because of the nature of their job.

[Isgrimnur]

'Dangerously Stupid' Marjorie Taylor Greene's Milk Boast Gets Udderly Slammed Online

Far-right Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) received a lengthy fact check on X, formerly Twitter, after she promoted the consumption of raw milk, something the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warns on its website can cause severe illness and potentially even kill someone.

[Smoove_B]

Once again proving my belief that humans really are the worst:

In the Budongo Forest in Uganda, animals — including chimpanzees, monkeys, and antelope — rely on minerals from decaying palm trees, per the report. However, between 2006 and 2012, these trees were excessively cut down to use as strings for tobacco leaves to dry on.

Because chimpanzees crave sodium, they turn to other means to get it, including chewing on cement bricks. According to a new study published in Communications Biology, some animals have made changes to their diet to include the guano, or animal droppings, of bats.

To the point:

"Human-induced activities are often the primary drivers of virus emergence among wildlife and humans," Arend de Haas, a conservation ecologist and co-founder of the African Conservation Foundation, told Mongabay. "They create opportunities for viruses to jump species barriers by increasing contact between humans, domestic animals, and wildlife."

Thankfully we don't have any recent examples of that happening.

[Max Peck]

US vaccinations fall again as more parents refuse lifesaving shots for kids

Measles, whooping cough, polio, tetanus—devastating and sometimes deadly diseases await comebacks in the US as more and more parents are declining routine childhood vaccines that have proved safe and effective.

The vaccination rates among kindergartners have fallen once again, dipping into the range of 92 percent in the 2023–2024 school year, down from about 93 percent the previous school year and 95 percent in 2019–2020. That's according to an analysis of the latest vaccination data published today by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The analysis also found that vaccination exemptions rose to an all-time high of 3.3 percent, up from 3 percent in the previous school year. The rise in exemptions is nearly entirely driven by non-medical exemptions—in other words, religious or philosophical exemptions. Only 0.2 percent of all vaccination exemptions are medically justified.

The new stats mean that more parents are choosing to decline lifesaving vaccines and, for the fourth consecutive year, the US has remained below the 95 percent vaccination target that would keep vaccine-preventable diseases from spreading within communities. In fact, the country continues to slip further away from that target.

Based on data from 49 states plus the District of Columbia (Montana did not report data), 80 percent of jurisdictions saw declines in vaccinations of all four key vaccines assessed: MMR, against measles, mumps, and rubella; DTaP, against diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis (whooping cough); VAR, against chickenpox; and polio.

The most recent data I can find for Canada is from 2021, and it appears to be even worse.

[Sudy]

For the longest time I thought I had a persistent hemorrhoid. It caused significant discomfort most days for the past several months, usually 2-4 on the pain scale but occasionally 6-7 and was really derailing my life. While I trust my doctor I avoided treatment, hoping it would resolve on its own. I supplemented with Metamucil some of the time and applied Anusol topically occasionally and tried a stool softener but was inconsistent about it. I finally went to the doc and we got intimate. To my surprise he didn't see or feel any signs of a hemorrhoid and thinks it's a minor anal fissure. MINOR? If a minor tear hurts this bad I don't want to know what a major one feels like. He's prescribed an Anusol suppository for two weeks for starters. Inserting them isn't... fun. But I've gotten a bit better at it. And together with making sure to take my Metamucil, I'm starting to feel better! I really thought I'd be looking at a procedure to address it.

Moral: If your asshole hurts and doesn't clear up in a reasonable amount of time, don't wait to seek treatment! It's not worth it.


Also got my COVID/flu shots yesterday. Felt like garbage last night but went to bed early and doing a lot better today. Get your vaccinations! Being sick sucks, as does potentially contributing to the illnesses/deaths of others.

[Max Peck]

One of the weirder life hacks I picked up over the years is that a little Astroglide makes suppositories much less of a pain in the butt (Ha!).

[Sudy]

Definitely, I'm using a water-based lube... it's a little thinner than I'd like but it's definitely better than nothing.

[ImLawBoy]

For the longest time I thought I had a persistent hemorrhoid. It caused significant discomfort most days for the past several months, usually 2-4 on the pain scale but occasionally 6-7 and was really derailing my life. While I trust my doctor I avoided treatment, hoping it would resolve on its own. I supplemented with Metamucil some of the time and applied Anusol topically occasionally and tried a stool softener but was inconsistent about it. I finally went to the doc and we got intimate. To my surprise he didn't see or feel any signs of a hemorrhoid and thinks it's a minor anal fissure. MINOR? If a minor tear hurts this bad I don't want to know what a major one feels like. He's prescribed an Anusol suppository for two weeks for starters. Inserting them isn't... fun. But I've gotten a bit better at it. And together with making sure to take my Metamucil, I'm starting to feel better! I really thought I'd be looking at a procedure to address it.

Moral: If your asshole hurts and doesn't clear up in a reasonable amount of time, don't wait to seek treatment! It's not worth it.

That's one hell of an infectious disease!

[Sudy]

LMAO. Oops. I thought this was the gettin' old thread.

Um.

COVID COVID COVID COVID

[Isgrimnur]

Throat Cancer Is Becoming an Epidemic, And Oral Sex May Be Why

Over the past two decades, there has been a rapid increase in throat cancer in the west, to the extent that some have called it an epidemic.

This has been due to a large rise in a specific type of throat cancer called oropharyngeal cancer (the area of the tonsils and back of the throat).

The main cause of this cancer is the human papillomavirus (HPV), which are also the main cause of cancer of the cervix. Oropharyngeal cancer has now become more common than cervical cancer in the US and the UK.

HPV is sexually transmitted. For oropharyngeal cancer, the main risk factor is the number of lifetime sexual partners, especially oral sex. Those with six or more lifetime oral-sex partners are 8.5 times more likely to develop oropharyngeal cancer than those who do not practice oral sex.
...
HPV vaccination of young girls has been implemented in many countries to prevent cervical cancer. There is now increasing, albeit as yet indirect evidence, that it may also be effective in preventing HPV infection in the mouth.

[Blackhawk]

This I knew.

[Isgrimnur]

[hentzau]

After managing to dodge Covid since the lockdowns, I started showing symptoms and tested positive a week ago. Talked to my physician, and she prescribed me Paxlovid even though it was right at the end of when it would be effective. And I appear to be one of those lucky ones that Paxlovid gives me an absolutely HORRIBLE taste in my mouth. Like a constant worst think I've ever tasted. Like bad enough that I actually started vomiting about 6 hours after my second dose. So I stopped taking it, I just couldn't handle it.

I'm still feeling the effects of it. Slight upper respiratory thing going on, plus the described brain fog and waves of tiredness. First day back at work after a week off (I was actually already scheduled off, I was supposed to be on a road trip to Albuquerque to play Pulp Alley for the weekend) and man, it's a struggle. This is no joke.

And I am vaccinated except for the latest round of vaccines.

[Smoove_B]

I'm sorry to hear all of that. I will continue to offer the same advice - take it easy both mentally and physically. There's really strong evidence that even for mild infections, pushing yourself (mentally and/or physically) too soon can lead to increased chances of chronic illness. I have a friend that thinks he's had it 3 or 4 times now (first time he wasn't vaccinated, but now he is though I'm not sure how current) and he's beginning to think it's affected his brain. Every time he gets it, there is no rest or taking a break, he's just been grinding through like it's "just a cold" and initially seemingly fine. Now he's not so sure.

Anyway, listen to your body and dial everything back. Not a medical opinion by any means, just aligned with all the studies I've read.

[hentzau]

I'm sorry to hear all of that. I will continue to offer the same advice - take it easy both mentally and physically. There's really strong evidence that even for mild infections, pushing yourself (mentally and/or physically) too soon can lead to increased chances of chronic illness. I have a friend that thinks he's had it 3 or 4 times now (first time he wasn't vaccinated, but now he is though I'm not sure how current) and he's beginning to think it's affected his brain. Every time he gets it, there is no rest or taking a break, he's just been grinding through like it's "just a cold" and initially seemingly fine. Now he's not so sure.

Anyway, listen to your body and dial everything back. Not a medical opinion by any means, just aligned with all the studies I've read.

Yeah, Wednesday morning last week I was packed and ready to go down to St. Louis to pick up my buddy Joe to do two days on Route 66 to ABQ, and I got in the car, and just stared out the window and convinced myself that I was insane to make the trip. It was crushing, because I had been looking forward to this trip for like three months. But I know it was the right thing to do. I pretty much spent the week on and off in and out of bed.

[LordMortis]

Get better!

[Jeff V]

After managing to dodge Covid since the lockdowns, I started showing symptoms and tested positive a week ago. Talked to my physician, and she prescribed me Paxlovid even though it was right at the end of when it would be effective. And I appear to be one of those lucky ones that Paxlovid gives me an absolutely HORRIBLE taste in my mouth. Like a constant worst think I've ever tasted. Like bad enough that I actually started vomiting about 6 hours after my second dose. So I stopped taking it, I just couldn't handle it.

I'm still feeling the effects of it. Slight upper respiratory thing going on, plus the described brain fog and waves of tiredness. First day back at work after a week off (I was actually already scheduled off, I was supposed to be on a road trip to Albuquerque to play Pulp Alley for the weekend) and man, it's a struggle. This is no joke.

And I am vaccinated except for the latest round of vaccines.

Wife had that when she took it. I did not.

[Smoove_B]

Apparently we really are going to just sleepwalk right into the next one:

Blood tests of several people who were in contact with a patient in Missouri who caught H5N1 bird flu without any known exposure to infected animals reveal that at least one of them — a person who lived in the same house and had symptoms at the same time — also had the virus, according to two sources with knowledge of the investigation.

...

The tests were conducted to understand whether the Missouri patient – who is the first known person to catch H5N1 influenza in the United States without any apparent exposure to infected animals – infected anyone else. So far, the H5N1 virus has not been able to spread easily between people. Infectious disease experts fear that if the virus gains that ability, it could touch off a new pandemic.

Although the results don’t definitively rule out human-to-human transmission of the virus, they do suggest that it isn’t common or widespread and that it didn’t happen in a health-care setting where caregivers have close physical contact with patients, CDC officials said. Even though a person living in the patient’s household was also positive, the CDC says the timing of their illness suggests that both had a common exposure rather than one catching it from the other.

[Smoove_B]

Might as well document it here - so the robot aliens will know we knew.

Federal officials today announced the first H5N1 avian flu detection in pigs, which was on a backyard farm in Oregon where an outbreak was recently reported in poultry.

In a statement from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), officials said the farm is located in Crook County in Oregon, which has a mix of poultry and livestock, including five pigs. The quarantined location also has sheep and goats.

Why is this notable?

When H5N1 emerged in dairy cattle earlier this year, officials worried about potential spread to pigs, due to the impact on farming and food supply, but also because pigs are known to be a mixing vessel for zoonotic and human influenza viruses.

In plain language, one of the driving factors behind annual influenza is how the virus moves between aquatic water fowl, humans and pigs. With pigs in particular, the virus has the ability to move back and forth (not just one direction) between humans and pigs and when that occurs, genetic swapping increases and *that* increases the risk a more virulent strain will emerge. All that said:

Michael Osterholm, PhD, MPH, director of the University of Minnesota's Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP), which publishes CIDRAP News, said it’s not yet known if the pig was truly infected or if the nasal passages had been contaminated by environmental exposure, a situation strongly suspected when a Colorado poultry culler tested positive in 2022 during nasal swabbing that was done as part of illness monitoring.

He said the necropsy examination will reveal if the pig was truly infected and if the virus was found deep in the pig’s lungs. “We’ll have to wait and see,” Osterholm said, urging caution in interpreting the new development.

He noted that earlier scientific work suggested that the virus doesn’t easily infect pigs.

[Max Peck]

He noted that earlier scientific work suggested that the virus doesn’t easily infect pigs.

But that's what makes it worth doing...

We choose to infect the pig. We choose to infect the pig... We choose to infect the pig in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard.

[AWS260]

Ah, just like the good old days.

[Blackhawk]

Every day I cheer that my kids are adults.

And then I remember my grandkids.

And then I remember the millions of other children.

[gilraen]

Ah, just like the good old days.

Most people don't realize that the DTaP childhood vaccine wears off. Everyone "sort of" knows that you need a tetanus shot every 10 years but no one reminds them that the same applies to whooping cough (pertussis would be part of the same vaccine as tetanus - Tdap - but you don't normally get a tetanus shot unless you got an open wound injury, and it's also possible to get a tetanus/diphtheria shot that doesn't include pertussis, depending on what that particular ER or clinic has in stock).

In my previous job, my coworker's high school-aged daughter got whooping cough, he simply didn't know it was a risk since she got all her shots as a kid. He ended up immediately getting a booster shot for himself and his other kid (also high-schooler).

[LawBeefaroni]

I got my DTAP booster a few weeks ago. My arm was sore for a whole week.

Doc was like, "Don't worry, you'll only need a few more."


Of note, I was supposed to get a singles vaccine at the same time but they were out. Going back next month.

[LordMortis]

I've been sick for almost four week, I've been diagnosed with whooping cough when I went in because it feels my lungs are ripping themselves off of my ribs (which as it turns out they tread indirctly), they've upped my happiness pills in the last month, my work load has doubled, and I'm addicted to Nile Online. Cut me some slack.

I do not recommend pertussis. At the time I was asked "where'd you catch that? The 1890s?" After that bout of months long misery, it was also when I stopped seeing a PCP via walk in with a large open waiting room that also is for pediatric PCP. I stopped getting sick after my check ups to full prescriptions and flu shots and such at that time. Given the choice, I will go to as small of a practicing PCP as I can in the future. Sadly, being being turfed to medicaid, rather than an ACA plan, a small private practice is no longer an option for me.

I was mostly sick free until I got hit by a car and had to spend a lot of time in open clinical environments again and then came TB.

Not only get your vaccines but a bazillion times this if you work in the medical field with exposure to patients.

[Smoove_B]

Most people don't realize that the DTaP childhood vaccine wears off.

Probably because up until ~20 years ago, those vaccinations were at ~93%+ nationwide so your risk of actually being exposed to Whooping Cough was pretty low as an adult. But now that vaccinations aren't cool and childhood vaccine-preventable diseases are in regular circulation again, adults are also at risk.

I still cannot believe I actually thought the vaccine issue was going to be put to rest in my lifetime. It's way worse now than when I started in the field and I still can't process it.