Octopus Overlords

Kraken wrote: ↑Thu Feb 01, 2024 10:39 pm I got my second pneumonia vaccine earlier this week. The pharmacy person at Walgreen's told me I didn't need it because the first shot was supposed to be one-and-done. But the pharmacist who administered it last year told me to come back in a year. So the first clerk huddled with another pharmacist who said that the second shot is a different vaccine. Which they didn't have in stock and would order. They did, and I did, and now I should be impervious to pneumonia -- which carries off a lot of old people, so I'm glad I stood my ground.

Other than a slightly sore arm I had no reaction to that shot at all.

An elderly man on the Kenai Peninsula has died from Alaskapox, making him the first person to be killed by the viral disease that was identified only nine years ago, state health officials reported Friday.

Aside from being the first fatal human case, it is the documented first human infection outside of the Fairbanks area, indicating that the virus, which is known to be harbored by small mammals, has spread beyond the wildlife populations in that Interior community.

The patient, who had an immune system that was compromised because of treatment for cancer, first reported signs of the infection in September when a tender lesion appeared in his armpit area, according to a bulletin issued by the state Division of Public Health’s epidemiology section.

Smoove_B wrote: ↑Thu Feb 01, 2024 5:44 pm Measles will be the first to reappear as you need higher vaccine coverage in the population to prevent spread.

On Friday, Broward County Public School reported a confirmed case of measles in a student at Manatee Bay Elementary School in the city of Weston. A local CBS affiliate reported that the case was in a third-grade student who had not recently traveled. On Saturday, the school system announced that three additional cases at the same school had been reported, bringing the current reported total to four cases.
...
At Manatee Bay Elementary School, the number of children at risk could be over 100 students. According to a Broward County vaccine study reported by the local CBS outlet, only 89.31 percent of students at Manatee Bay Elementary School were fully immunized in the 2023/2024 school year, which is significantly lower than the target vaccination coverage of 95 percent. The school currently has 1,067 students enrolled, suggesting that up to 114 students are vulnerable to the infection based on their vaccination status.
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About 1 in 5 unvaccinated people with measles are hospitalized, the CDC adds, while 1 in 20 infected children develop pneumonia and up to 3 in 1,000 children die of the infection.

Those who are not immunocompromised and are fully vaccinated against measles (who have received two doses of the Measles, Mumps, and Rubella (MMR) vaccine) are generally not considered at risk. The two doses are about 97 percent effective at preventing measles, and protection is considered to be life-long.

A sixth student at Florida's Manatee Bay Elementary School outside of Fort Lauderdale has a confirmed case of measles, health officials announced late Tuesday. However, health officials are not telling unvaccinated students who were potentially exposed to quarantine.

The school has a low vaccination rate, suggesting that the extremely contagious virus could spark a yet larger outbreak. But in a letter sent to parents late Tuesday, Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo—known for spreading anti-vaccine rhetoric and vaccine misinformation—indicated that unvaccinated students can skip the normally recommended quarantine period.
The letter, signed by Ladapo, noted that people with measles can be contagious from four days before the rash develops through four days after the rash appears. And while symptoms often develop between eight to 14 days after exposure, the disease can take 21 days to appear. As such, the normal quarantine period for exposed and unvaccinated people, who are highly susceptible to measles, is 21 days.

"Because of the high likelihood of infection, it is normally recommended that children stay home until the end of the infectious period, which is currently March 7, 2024," Ladapo's letter states, adding that the date could change as the situation develops. "However, due to the high immunity rate in the community, as well as the burden on families and educational costs of healthy children missing school, [the health department] is deferring to parents or guardians to make decisions about school attendance."

Local media outlets reported that, on Tuesday, more than 200 of the school's 1,067 students were absent.

"However, due to the high immunity rate in the community, as well as the burden on families and educational costs of healthy children missing school, [the health department] is deferring to parents or guardians to make decisions about school attendance."

due to ... the burden on families and educational costs of healthy children missing school, [the health department] is deferring to parents or guardians to make decisions about school attendance."

Local media outlets reported that, on Tuesday, more than 200 of the school's 1,067 students were absent.

Chicago authorities have identified two cases of measles as of Friday, one city resident and a migrant child at a shelter, the first cases reported in Chicago since 2019.

A second confirmed case of measles has been reported at a shelter for migrants in Pilsen, the Chicago Department of Public Health said on Sunday.

According to CDPH, there has been an increase in measles cases worldwide in recent months due to lower vaccination coverage.

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Three more cases of measles have been identified at a Chicago migrant shelter Wednesday, city health officials confirmed.

The three additional cases bring the shelter's total to seven measles cases. Eight have been identified citywide since last week, but one case is not related to the new arrivals.

Since the weekend, about 900 measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccinations have been administered at the Pilsen shelter.

A team from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention arrived Tuesday to help local health officials manage the outbreak and administer further vaccines. Public health officials said they are also screening and offering vaccinations to migrants as they arrive at the city's landing zone.

....

State officials are moving families who have been exposed to measles from shelters to unnamed hotels, specifically pregnant women and babies who are not able to be vaccinated.

At least four of the eight measles patients identified in Chicago's Pilsen migrant shelter have been children, and two of the children are students in the Chicago Public Schools.

There have now been 10 measles patients identified in Chicago in sum.

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Meanwhile, this email went out to parents Wednesday afternoon:

Dear CPS Staff and Families,

As we have been communicating for the past few days, the Chicago Department of Public Health (CDPH) has confirmed a handful of measles cases in the City of Chicago.

I know that news like this can be unsettling, but I want to assure our CPS community that our schools are safe. This situation is NOT like what we experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic. Since COVID was a novel, or "new" virus, no one had immunity. By contrast, the vast majority of Chicago residents—more than 90 percent—are protected from measles by the Measles, Mumps, Rubella (MMR) vaccine. This is one of the highest vaccination rates in the country. The MMR vaccine is a safe, highly-effective vaccine that is given in childhood and is a requirement for students enrolled in CPS schools.

Punisher wrote: ↑Thu Mar 14, 2024 8:45 pm Since it's supposed to be a requirement is it possible that the vaccine just wasn't effective or is it much more likely that the requirement just isn't enforced?
And if it's just not being enforced is this just more fallout from the covid vaccine causing so many peoples getting stupid about it?

While students typically are required to be vaccinated to enroll in school in Illinois, asylum seekers can be exempted from vaccination.

In 2020, 159 cases were reported nationwide, compared with 200,000 new cases each year around the world, according to the World Health Organization. The new letter says Central Florida accounted for 81% of cases in Florida and nearly 1 out of 5 leprosy cases nationwide.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a health advisory Thursday about a rise in rare but severe forms of meningococcal infections. These bacterial infections can cause potentially life-threatening inflammation of the membranes surrounding the brain and spinal cord.

The CDC says 422 cases were reported in 2023, the highest annual number seen since 2014. Of the 94 cases with known outcomes, 17 died. Since March 25, 143 cases have been reported to the CDC — 62 more cases than what was seen over the same time period in 2023.

The spike is notable in part because infections are disproportionately affecting people ages 30 to 60, as well as African American individuals and those with HIV. Typically, infants younger than 1, teenagers and young adults ages 16 to 23 as well as individuals older than 85 have a higher risk of contracting meningococcal disease.

A new study might point to the first signs of a frightening public health scenario: Researchers found two recent cases of prion disease—universally fatal ailments caused by rogue proteins—that could have been caused by the victims eating contaminated deer meat. This connection is still far from confirmed, but doctors are calling for more research into the matter.

The report was published earlier this month in the journal Neurology. It describes the case of a 72-year-old man who visited doctors after he began to rapidly experience confusion and aggression sometime in 2022. Though he received treatment for his symptoms, which included seizures, his condition deteriorated quickly and he died just a month later. An autopsy then determined that he had developed a sporadic form of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, the most common prion disease in humans. What made the case most notable: the man had a hunting friend in the same lodge who had recently died of CJD and had eaten venison from the same deer population.

Isgrimnur wrote: ↑Thu Mar 21, 2024 8:59 pm Central Florida is a hot spot for leprosy, report says

In 2020, 159 cases were reported nationwide, compared with 200,000 new cases each year around the world, according to the World Health Organization. The new letter says Central Florida accounted for 81% of cases in Florida and nearly 1 out of 5 leprosy cases nationwide.

Researchers around the world are growing more uneasy with the spread of highly pathogenic avian influenza (H5N1) in US dairy cows as the virus continues to make its way into new herds and states. Several experts say the US is not sharing enough information from the federal investigation into the unexpected and growing outbreak, including genetic information from isolated viruses.

To date, the US Department of Agriculture has tallied 32 affected herds in eight states: Idaho, Kansas, Michigan, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, South Dakota, and Texas. In some cases, the movement of cattle between herds can explain the spread of the virus. But the USDA has not publicly clarified if all the herds are linked in a single outbreak chain or if there is evidence that the virus has spilled over to cows multiple times. Early infections in Texas were linked to dead wild birds (pigeons, blackbirds, and grackles) found on dairy farms. But the USDA reportedly indicated to Stat News that the infections do not appear to be all linked to the Texas cases.

Spread of the virus via cattle movements indicates that there is cow-to-cow transmission occurring, the USDA said. But it's unclear how the virus is spreading between cows. Given that even the most symptomatic cows show few respiratory symptoms, the USDA speculates that the most likely way it is spreading is via contaminated milking equipment.

So far, the USDA says that genetic sequences of H5N1 viruses infecting cows has not revealed any mutations that "would make it more transmissible to humans and between people." But last Thursday, Stat reported that international experts have faulted the USDA for not sharing more genetic data from its investigation, among other information. Until this weekend, the agency had only shared a few genetic sequences in an international database of viral genome sequences (GISAID).

"A country with capacity like the United States should be able to generate this information within days," Marion Koopmans, head of the department of viroscience at Erasmus Medical Center in the Dutch city of Rotterdam told Stat last week. "I would expect very fast, very transparent updates, and it’s somewhat amazing not to see that happening."

Smoove_B wrote: ↑Mon Apr 22, 2024 6:39 pm In an alternate universe, Chinese pundits are spreading a rumor that Bird Flu was actually released from a U.S. government bio-weapons lab in Wisconsin.

Viral fragments of bird flu have been identified in samples of milk taken from grocery store shelves in the United States, a finding that does not necessarily suggest a threat to human health but indicates the avian flu virus is more widespread among dairy herds than previously thought, according to two public health officials and a public health expert who was briefed on the issue.

The Food and Drug Administration said Tuesday that it had been testing milk samples throughout the dairy production process and confirmed the detection of viral particles “in some of the samples,” but it declined to provide details.

...

The greater concern, however, “is that it’s showing up in a lot more samples, meaning the infection is more widespread in dairy herds than we thought,” said one public health official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to share information not yet made public.

Smoove_B wrote: ↑Tue Apr 23, 2024 8:08 pm Everything is fine. This is totally normal.

Viral fragments of bird flu have been identified in samples of milk taken from grocery store shelves in the United States, a finding that does not necessarily suggest a threat to human health but indicates the avian flu virus is more widespread among dairy herds than previously thought, according to two public health officials and a public health expert who was briefed on the issue.

The Food and Drug Administration said Tuesday that it had been testing milk samples throughout the dairy production process and confirmed the detection of viral particles “in some of the samples,” but it declined to provide details.

...

The greater concern, however, “is that it’s showing up in a lot more samples, meaning the infection is more widespread in dairy herds than we thought,” said one public health official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to share information not yet made public.

If this sounds eerily like what was happening in early 2020, then you've been receiving and reading my newsletter. Again, the fact that it's in the milk isn't the issue here (broadly). Instead, that we're just learning about it now suggests there have been failures at a federal level with respect to monitoring and communication.

If the universe was testing us to see if we learned anything, we just failed. Again.

EDIT: Or maybe the cynical take is that information is intentionally being suppressed because we know what it will do to the economy. But I guess that's potentially R&P so I'll park it there.

Blackhawk wrote: ↑Tue Apr 23, 2024 10:43 pm It's a bovine conspiracy!