Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Your Flu Shot Is Missing Something This Year — And You'll Be Glad For It
NPR: This Year's Flu Shot Protects Against 3 Strains Instead Of 4
This year’s flu shot will be missing a strain of influenza it’s protected against for more than a decade. That’s because there have been no confirmed flu cases caused by the Influenza B/Yamagata lineage since spring 2020. And the Food and Drug Administration decided this year that the strain now poses little to no threat to human health. Scientists have concluded that widespread physical distancing and masking practiced during the early days of COVID-19 appear to have pushed B/Yamagata into oblivion. (Boden, 10/17)
AP: Whooping Cough Is At A Decade-High Level In US
Whooping cough is at its highest level in a decade for this time of year, U.S. health officials reported Thursday. There have been 18,506 cases of whooping cough reported so far, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. That’s the most at this point in the year since 2014, when cases topped 21,800. (Shastri, 10/17)
CIDRAP: Spike In Detection Of Multidrug-Resistance Gene Reported In New York Hospitals
Analysis of blood and urine from hospitalized patients in a large New York health system found that detection of a multidrug-resistance gene was common and associated with high mortality, researchers reported yesterday at IDWeek 2024. (Dall, 10/17)
On bird flu —
Reuters: Cows Dead From Bird Flu Rot In California As Heat Bakes Dairy Farms
Cows in California are dying at much higher rates from bird flu than in other affected states, industry and veterinary experts said, and some carcasses have been left rotting in the sun as rendering plants struggle to process all the dead animals. Carcasses left in the open and picked over by scavengers could facilitate the spread of bird flu to other birds and wild animals or degrade the carcasses such that they cannot be processed for rendering, experts told Reuters. (Douglas, 10/17)
Politico: Avian Flu Spreading In California Raises Pandemic Threat To Humans
Health officials across the U.S. are working to prevent a potentially dangerous combination virus as avian flu rips through one of the nation’s largest milk-producing regions during the height of flu season. Public health experts have long warned that avian flu poses a significant pandemic threat to humans, and the number of infections among dairy workers in California continues to grow. The timing of the outbreak will soon collide with the seasonal flu, complicating efforts to track bird flu and raising the risk that the two viruses could mix, potentially creating a virulent combo that could spread beyond dairy workers to the rest of the population. (Bluth, Lim and Brown, 10/17)
On mpox and polio —
Reuters: Mpox Vaccine Rollout In Congo Slower Than Expected, Health Official Says
Congo needs to do more to raise awareness about mpox and the availability of vaccines, an official with the response team said on Thursday, warning the campaign to distribute the shots would take longer than anticipated. Congo's mpox vaccination campaign launched this month in the hard-hit east. A Reuters reporter at a vaccination site in North Kivu province found that locals seemed unaware or suspicious of the shots. (Al Katanty, 10/18)
AP: Africa's Mpox Deaths Surpass 1,000 As Health Officials Urge International Support
The number of mpox -related deaths in Africa has surpassed 1,000, the head of the continent’s top public health agency said Thursday, warning of the continuing threat of cross-border contamination and a lack of rapid test kits. There were 50 mpox-related deaths in the past week, bringing the total to 1,100, indicating that authorities face a challenge in stemming outbreaks currently affecting 18 of the continent’s 55 nations, said Jean Kaseya, director general of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (Muhumuza, 10/17)
Reuters: More Time And Money Needed To Wipe Out Polio, Global Group Says
The Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) needs more funds and has pushed back by three years its target to officially wipe out all forms of the disease, officials said on Thursday. The coalition now hopes to declare an end to both the wild virus and the vaccine-derived variant by 2027 and 2029, respectively, compared with a previous deadline of 2026 for both forms. (Satija, 10/17)
