ResponsibleRaul

I’m getting reports from Indiana. Something is seriously wrong. Hospitals in are filling up with flu A patients on ventilators. ICU is overflowing, forcing critically ill patients into PCU. 1/

We’ve seen this movie before. Overcrowded hospitals. Quiet policy shifts. Downplaying the risk until it’s undeniable.

I’m not an alarmist, but how does one not get alarmed by signals like these? Hospitals are filling up. People are being hospitalized and dying from what’s being called an “extraordinary flu.” School closings are becoming commonplace with hundreds of students, staff and administrators calling out. Facebook groups and Reddit threads are lighting up with reports of severe illness. And then there’s the data. Google search trends are revealing something deeply unsettling. Searches for stiff neck—a symptom of encephalitis—are surging, especially in children. We’re seeing encephalitis in children. Then there’s this: “Why can’t I see.” That phrase correlates eerily well with another tragic signal—dead on arrival. These are not isolated signals. They line up with what hospitals are reporting. With what everyday people are experiencing. With what we know about viral impacts on the brain. So the real question is: Is anyone actually paying attention to what this pattern means? Because it sure looks like the pieces are coming together in a way we can’t afford to ignore.

Since 2020, there has been a profound increase in disability in the U.S. workforce, especially among younger and middle aged adults. Although present in older adults too, there we see more early retirements.

RECOMBINATION: When a new virus is created from when two different viruses exchange genetic material and infect the same host cell. WHY NEW BIRD FLU VARIANT IS MAYBE BAD: •create new viral strains with altered virulence 
 •Help viruses adapt to new environments and hosts 
 •Help viruses develop resistance to antiviral therapies and host immune responses

One of the best presidents ever, FDR, had to hide his chronic illness because of ignorance around disabilities. I wonder how many people are hiding their long covid because of the same reasons.

Can we please put this on street video boards all over and air it as a commercial on every channel?? #AIRBORNE #COVID

'COVID-19 Linked to Faster Kidney Decline, Swedish Study Warns' 'The research team, led by Dr. Viyaasan Mahalingasivam and colleagues, examined data from 134,565 individuals with COVID-19 and 35,987 with pneumonia...' scienceblog.com/552682/covid-1…

⚠️ BREAKING: Twenty big cats at a Shelton wildlife sanctuary died from H5N1 bird flu within days around Thanksgiving, according to KOMO News. Over half the sanctuary's big cats have been infected as of December.

A ME patient asked me a curious question today. She wanted to know how I spent 300K of research funding provided to me by BMBF for 3 years. She was curious as 300K is a lot of money. I realized that the public needs to learn the nuances of the funding system and scientific research. I told her that 300K in research funding in Germany means 100K per year. Out of this 100K per year fund, 20K goes to the university as overhead costs. This budget is for the university. To do full-time research, we need to hire students. The annual salary of PhD students in Germany is roughly 48K. After deducting another 2K for publications or conferences etc, we have approximately 30K left for research. This particular project requires a costly experimental approach (mass spectrometry) for which we have a dedicated expense of 15K per year that goes directly to the proteomic core facility. So, I am now left with 15K of funds for all other research activity, including consumables, which is roughly 1250 Eur per month. In a simplified term, I have less than 42 Eur per day of funds for daily lab research activities. I guess you don’t need a big imagination on how to spend 42 euros per day on medical research. It is very important to remember this number (42 eur per day of research fund) that we have for a breakthrough research.

⚠️ BREAKING Pandemic Resurges in China 🇨🇳 as Infection Cases Surge, Hospitals Overwhelmed China is currently facing a surge in infections, including multiple virus outbreaks, severely overwhelming hospitals.

So we mass migrating to Bluesky soon? bsky.app/profile/respon…

⚠️ BREAKING: WHO Warns of H5N1 Outbreak Risk, Urges Stronger Global Surveillance of Animals to Prevent Spread to Humans WHO epidemiologist Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove has warned of the H5N1 threat, calling for urgent global surveillance of animals, including wild birds and poultry.

Staff at a California lab are overwhelmed by rising H5N1 bird flu testing demands amid understaffing and management issues. Mistakes have occurred, risking delays in containment, according to the Los Angeles Times.

H5N1 is making the jump. Three human cases in North America, no animal exposure, and mutations signaling human adaptation. The dominoes are falling.

Multiple people have become sick and hospitalized on flights landing in Boston. We need to await more information to fully understand what's happening here, but your regular reminder that one of the most important times to wear a mask is when you are traveling.

#H5N1 @CDCgov @USDA ⚠️⚠️ 🇨🇦 Update from Bonnie Henry, B.C. Canada's Provincial Health Officer: [Summary by @KinCONN] ➡️ Teen with #H5N1 is still in critical care; not breathing on own ➡️ They have seen some improvement over the last few days; is in stable condition ➡️ Teen is in airborne isolation in hospital ➡️ Symptoms began with conjunctivitis ➡️ Progressed rapidly to deep lung infection ➡️ No onward transmission found ➡️ Looked at 60 HCWs at several hospitals who may have had contact with teen ➡️ In the end tested & monitored 34 HCWs; all neg. ➡️ Tested & monitored 16 close family & friends; all neg. ➡️ Contacts offered prophylaxis; daily follow-up with public health ➡️ 10 day infectious window/incubation period has passed for most ➡️ Some family members & HCWs are still within the 10 day exposure period; they are wearing PPE & taking precautions ➡️ There is ongoing monitoring of close family members who continue to spend time in hospital; they are in PPE & tested regularly ➡️ Dog, which appears to have been a rescue & recently adopted, was thoroughly investigated; neg. ➡️ Home where dog was prior to adoption & vet office were investigated ➡️ There are only 2 known cases of #H5 in a dog in the world ➡️ In total 25 animals - birds dogs cats reptiles - were examined ➡️ 10 different environmental samples from around home were tested including sediment & wastewater ➡️ Site visits were made to school looking for common exposure; no symptoms found in anyone else ➡️ Reiterated teen did not attend school while infectious ➡️ Samples from school wastewater neg. ➡️ Looked at sites teen had visited 21 days prior to symptom onset to learn where they were exposed ➡️ Genotype is D1.1 ➡️ #H5N1 strain is most closely related to wild cackling ducks sampled in Oct. ➡️ Not a direct match; there may have been an intermediary ➡️ Strain is not related to B.C. or U.S. poultry outbreaks or U.S. dairy cattle oubreaks ➡️ Virus is quite different from human cases in WA state ➡️ There have been 54 outbreaks of #H5N1 at B.C. poultry operations, most in Fraser Valley ➡️ No B.C. poultry workers have become infected - they use PPE ➡️ May never learn where teen contacted virus ➡️ Strain of #H5N1 that infected teen has two mutations ➡️ One mutation is around the receptor binding domain; previously strains with this adaptation have changed to more easily spread to humans such as #H3N2 or #H1N1 in 1918 ➡️ Second mutation allows virus to more easily attach to receptors deep in the lung; most influenzas do not lead to deep lung infections ➡️ They are taking serial samples from the teen to see if the virus has changed over time, including whether it is showing any resistance to antivirals ➡️ Apart from speaking to teen, epidemiological investigatoin is now over ⭐️ Request to Reporters: Can someone please ask what kind of antivirals have been administered to the teen? Thank you in advance! Link to press conference: youtube.com/live/JH76Mi-Wn…

H5 bird flu detections in wastewater between November 10 and November 16, 2024, according to CDC's National Wastewater Surveillance System. Almost all sample sites in California, from San Diego to San Francisco, have positive wastewater.

#H5N1 @CDCgov @USDA ⚠️⚠️ If cullers are still becoming infected after prophylactic Tamiflu, and are developing mutated strains that are resistant to Tamiflu, our primary too against a potential #H5N1 pandemic strain, that is not good.

Dairy herds positive with H5N1 avian flu—505 herds in 15 states. It’s not fizzling out. Worrisome.