Coronavirus and Avian Flu Tidbits #305, July 28, 2024

Covid levels in wastewater continue to rise nationally for the 12th week. Levels increased 13% between July 6 and July 13 per SCAN. We have to rely on wastewater and emergency room visits as the CDC has failed us, no longer collecting more detailed data.

And now WastewaterSCAN, a private group based at Stanford University in partnership with Emory University, has stopped gathering data from 43 wastewater facilities. WastewaterSCAN was founded in 2020 and is backed by the Sergey Brin Family Foundation and Bloomberg Philanthropies. Verily, which processes samples for WastewaterSCAN, scored a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention surveillance contract late last year.  - Stat

Walgreens cont to be valuable. DC has the highest testing rate since February 15, and had positivity over 50% around the July 4 holiday.  As of July 20, the US positivity rate increased 39.6%.

California, especially San Francisco, has notably high levels.

Per JP Weiland, there are 760k-900,000 new Covid infections per day, with 1 in every 44 people in the US infected now. It's worse in some areas! 1 in 26 in the West, 1 in 29 in the South.

Per Sara Anne Willette's https://iowacovid19tracker.org/,  Oregon and Florida are currently the worst.

KP.3 Variant is increasing, especially in Japan and India thus far. Typical symptoms of the KP. 3 variant include high fever, sore throat, loss of smell and taste, headaches, and fatigue.

Surge in KP.3.1.1 detections

In its latest variant proportion projections, the CDC reported a big jump in KP.3.1.1 viruses, an offshoot of KP.3 that scientists this week said is poised to become dominant because of its higher infectivity and immune evasion. KP.3 and its relative, KP.3.1.1, together make up more than 50% of variant sequences.

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Trial of Paxlovid for Prophylaxis fails

2736 people--5 vs 10 day prophylaxis vs placebo did NOT reduce risk of infection from a family member.

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Longer flights increase the risk of getting a COVID infection

- a 1 hour increase in flight length, there is a 53% increase in risk of getting infected.

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“We are Volunteers for Paris 2024 and we resign due to the lack of Covid-19 measures

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COVID increases risk of diabetes

The risk of type 2 diabetes remained high beyond the first year after SARS-CoV-2 infection. The authors estimate that, in England alone, the added burden of diabetes due to SARS-CoV-2 infection represents a 15% increase in new cases.

Diabetes carries substantial costs for individuals and societies. It is associated with devastating complications, decreased quality of life and early mortality.

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/landia/article/PIIS2213-8587(24)00159-1/fulltext

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Another study - Covid accelerates brain aging and reduces cognitive ability

https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.07.22.24310790v2

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SARS-CoV-2 infection predisposes patients to coinfection with Staphylococcus aureus

Patients w Covid who develop a Staph aureus blood stream infection exhibit higher rates of mortality than those infected with either pathogen alone.

https://journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/mbio.01667-24

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Them: "If Covid were damaging people's abilities to fight other infections then we'd see a huge rise in illnesses right across the board"

The Other Infections: <see picture>

Them: "No, not like that" pic.twitter.com/bwMvjtcfqS

— tern (@1goodtern) July 20, 2024

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Review article on Lessons for Ventilation and Indoor Air Quality:

https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adp2241

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Review by @Zalaly: Long Covid:

https://theconversation.com/long-covid-puzzle-pieces-are-falling-into-place-the-picture-is-unsettling-233759

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Avian Influenza:

Colorado has now reported nine cases among workers at the two layer farms. The state had earlier reported another case in a dairy farm worker, bringing its total to 10 in recent outbreaks. Colo Dept of Public Health has a new dashboard: https://cdphe.colorado.gov/animal-related-diseases/hpai-h5n1

Colorado is currently grappling with ongoing outbreaks affecting dairy cows, and the B13.3 genotype circulating in cows has been confirmed in at least one recent outbreak at a massive layer farm in Colorado, along with a worker on that farm.

Dept of Agriculture reported a third recent outbreak, this time at a layer pullet facility in Weld County that houses about 300,000 birds.

Officials also reported two more outbreaks on dairy farms, raising its total to 51. The avian flu outbreaks have affected nearly half of the states licensed dairy farms. In response to the ongoing escalation, Colorado's state veterinarian ordered mandatory weekly bulk milk testing.

https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/avian-influenza-bird-flu/colorado-reports-2-more-avian-flu-infections-poultry-cullers

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Colo Dept of Ag: Immediate, mandatory weekly testing of dairy bulk tanks. Done by state certified vets & sent to certified labs. Serious Leadership Note, also provide free PPE to farmworkers.

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Since H5N1 was first detected in US poultry in early 2022, more than 100 million bird losses have been reported across 48 states, according to APHIS.

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A new study provides evidence that a spillover of avian influenza from birds to dairy cattle across several U.S. states has now led to mammal-to-mammal transmission—between cows and from cows to cats and a raccoon.

"This is one of the first times that we are seeing evidence of efficient and sustained mammalian-to-mammalian transmission of highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1,"

https://phys.org/news/2024-07-mammal-avian-flu.html#google_vignette

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New @Nature

The spillover of avian to cattle H5N1 flu, an investigation of outbreak in 9 farms https://nature.com/articles/s41586-024-07849-4… —evidence for efficient and sustained mammal-to-mammal transmission is unprecedented —DNA sequences of transmission "underscoring the ability of the virus to cross species barriers"

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Hong Kong announced suspension of imports of poultry meat and products, including eggs, from specific regions in the US, following recent outbreaks of H5N1 Last year, Hong Kong imported ~37,770 tonnes of poultry meat and ~84 million eggs from the US. https://efeedlink.com/contents/07-27-2024/116160b4-c744-42d8-9bce-1a184fd3e795-0001.html

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The @UKHSA United Kingdom's Health Security Agency (HSA) yesterday updated its risk assessment for H5N1 avian influenza B3.13 genotype from three to four on a six-tier scale. -- sustained or multispecies mammalian outbreak, incr human spread. What is the US waiting for???

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Other:

Oropouche virus

Brazil has recorded the world's first Oropouche virus deaths, the country's health ministry said Thursday, after two women died of the illness spread by infected flies and mosquitos.  The women from the state of Bahia in northeast Brazil were "under 30 years old, with no comorbidities, but who had signs and symptoms similar to a severe case of dengue," the ministry said.

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-07-brazil-world-oropouche-virus-deaths.html

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Database of studies on the health impacts of climate change.

at healthattribution.org