‘The Issue Is When to Pull the Trigger’: How Prepared Are We for Human Bird Flu?
Over the past four years, a silent pandemic has been raging. One in which the death toll is believed to number in the hundreds of millions, but which has received remarkably little attention until now.
The pandemic in question is bird flu, the H5N1 strain of influenza, which since 2020 has moved far beyond the avian world and into mammals ranging from dairy cattle to domestic pets, and species that live on our doorsteps, such as foxes. The virus’s presence has been detected on every continent, even Antarctica. While it has yet to evolve the capability of spreading between humans, alarm bells were raised last month after a dairy farm worker in Texas contracted H5N1, seemingly from cattle.
It would appear to be the first known case of bird flu jumping to humans from another mammal. “There is increasing concern at the scientific and public health levels,” says Dr Gregory Poland, director of the Mayo Clinic’s vaccine research group, who has previously compared the rising infection rates among animals to “the rumbles prior to an earthquake.”
In the U.K., the virologist Prof Paul Digard and his team at the Roslin Institute in Edinburgh were awarded an additional £3.3m grant last year to ramp up their research into bird flu, and assess the risk the current strain of H5N1 might pose to humans.
If the findings spark concern, it could provide the government with more evidence to start bolstering national supplies of flu vaccines. Last year, reports emerged that the U.K. Health Security Agency had run a procurement exercise to source suitable jabs, while the U.S. has accumulated a national reserve of four types of flu vaccine that could provide some protection against H5N1 in case of any future outbreak.
Low Risk for New-Onset Thyroid Diseases After mRNA Vaccines — but Meta-Analysis Indicates Incidence of Autoimmune Disorders Highest After First Dose
The chance of new-onset thyroid disease after administration of mRNA COVID-19 vaccines was rare, but still noteworthy, according to a meta-analysis.
There were 77 cases of thyroid-related autoimmune diseases among people with no history of an autoimmune disease prior to receiving the COVID-19 vaccine, with 38 cases of Graves’ disease (GD) and 39 of subacute thyroiditis (SAT), reported Vikram Gill, MBBS, of St. Peter’s University Hospital/Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey.
Additionally, these autoimmune diseases occurred more often in women than in men, “about a 2-1 breakdown, which is what we would expect as women tend to have more autoimmune disease overall than men,” Gill said at a poster presentation at the American Association of Clinical Endocrinology annual meeting.
Gill and co-author Hongxiu Luo, MD, also of St Peter’s, searched for articles reporting GD and SAT following COVID-19 mRNA vaccinations from 2019 to November 2023. They found that a GD diagnosis happened about 40 days after the first dose, with SAT emerging sooner, at about 11 days after the first jab. In the group with GD, over half developed hyperthyroidism symptoms after the first dose of mRNA vaccine, while around 45% showed symptoms after dose 2. Roughly 5% showed signs after the third dose. In the SAT group, almost 54% showed hyperthyroidism symptoms after dose 1, as did about 44% after dose 2, and around 5% after dose 3.
Even if these vaccine-associated autoimmune diseases are not common, providers should be aware of these ties, Gill advised, adding that “the incidence is highest for the first dose.”
A Dose of Reality on Adult Vaccinations
The number of children who received their routine vaccinations declined during the pandemic, so public health officials have been focusing on getting kids back up to date. They should also be paying attention to adults as a new, first-of-its-kind report quantifying the economic impact of adult immunizations makes clear.
Researchers at the nonprofit Office of Health Economics, based in London, analyzed four adult vaccine programs — for the flu, pneumonia, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), and shingles — across 10 countries including Australia, France, Japan, and the United States.
I know the public health community can do better. During the pandemic, nearly 80% of U.S. adults completed their primary series of COVID-19 shots. With that public health emergency in the rearview mirror, the U.S. has slipped into complacency, and demand for vaccines across the life course is falling. Fewer than half of adults received updated COVID-19 and flu shots last year. New vaccines offer adults protection against RSV and shingles, but most Americans eligible for these shots aren’t getting them: Nearly two in three people age 65 and older haven’t received the shingles vaccine, which the CDC recommends that people aged 50 and older get. Only 23% of people 65 and older have gotten the RSV shot, which is encouraged for every adult aged 60 and over.
How can the U.S. increase vaccination rates for adults? The process begins with encouraging doctors, biopharmaceutical companies, and government leaders to work together to build awareness of recommended vaccines and their impact and remove barriers to access. Studies show that when physicians and community leaders recommend vaccination, it has a positive impact on increasing rates.
Rise of Drug-Resistant Superbugs Could Make COVID Pandemic Look ‘Minor,’ Expert Warns
The COVID-19 pandemic will “look minor” compared with what humanity faces from the growing number of superbugs resistant to current drugs, Prof Dame Sally Davies, England’s former chief medical officer, has warned.
Davies, who is now the U.K.’s special envoy on antimicrobial resistance (AMR), lost her goddaughter two years ago to an infection that could not be treated.
She paints a bleak picture of what could happen if the world fails to tackle the problem within the next decade, warning that the issue is “more acute” than climate change. Drug-resistant infections already kill at least 1.2 million people a year.
AMR means that some infections caused by bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites can no longer be treated with available medicines. Exposure to drugs allows the bugs to evolve the ability to resist them, and overuse of drugs such as antibiotics accelerates that process.
Single Dose of Measles Vaccine Less Effective in Children Born by Cesarean, Study Finds
The Telegraph via Yahoo!News reported:
The measles vaccine does not work as well in children born by cesarean, a study by the University of Cambridge has revealed.
Experts found that the jab was more than twice as likely to fail in children who had been born by cesarean section rather than by vaginal delivery. The analysis revealed that 12% of children born by cesarean had no immune response after one dose of the measles vaccine compared to five percent of children who were born naturally.
The researchers said it highlighted the need for children to have both doses in order to be protected against the disease. It comes as the U.K. is experiencing its biggest outbreak of measles in a decade amid falling vaccination rates.
They found that “c-section births were linked with 2.56 increased odds of primary vaccine failure,” compared to babies born naturally, but this was later rectified by a second dose of the jab.
Pfizer and AstraZeneca Announce New Investments of Nearly $1 Billion in France
Leading healthcare companies Pfizer (PFE.N) and AstraZeneca (AZN.L) announced on Sunday new investments in France worth a total of nearly $1 billion, ahead of the start of this year’s annual ‘Choose France’ business summit.
Pfizer said it would invest 500 million euros ($538.5 million) in France to build up its research and development work in the country, while AstraZeneca announced an investment of $388 million for its site at Dunkirk.
Johnson & Johnson Looks to Offload Remaining Kenvue Stake in $3.75B Deal
After Johnson & Johnson‘s consumer healthcare spinoff last year—and its subsequent reduction in holdings in the new company — the healthcare conglomerate is once again cutting its stake in Kenvue.
This time, though, J&J plans to exit Kenvue completely. In a Monday securities filing, Kenvue revealed J&J’s plan to offer 182.33 million shares of Kenvue in exchange for debt to be held by Goldman Sachs and J.P. Morgan Securities. The “debt-for-equity” exchange looks to be worth about $3.75 billion, based on Kenvue’s Friday closing share price of $20.54.
The disclosure comes just about one year after Kenvue split off from Johnson & Johnson and started operating and trading as an independent consumer healthcare firm. The company markets popular products such as Tylenol, Neutrogena, Listerine, Aveeno and Zyrtec, generating $15.4 billion last year.
