You can watch Dr. Klotman’s Week 239 video address here. The highlights are:
- There hasn’t been much COVID or Influenza activity this week.
- The most prevalent respiratory illness right now is Enterovirus D68 which causes an upper respiratory illness – a summer cold, as it were.
- The FDA has recently approved a combination COVID/Influenza test for home use.
- BrucePac has recalled 10 million pounds of chicken food products because of contamination with Listeria. These include chicken salad and other ready-to-eat chicken products distributed by 7-Eleven, Trader Joe’s, H-E-B, and other grocery stores.
- The dominate strain of SARS-CoV-2 in the US continues to be KP.3.1.1.
- In Denmark and Germany, the dominant strain is XEC – a recombinant of two COVID strains.
- XEC will probably become the dominant strain over the winter months; nonetheless, the m-RNA vaccines based on KP.3 (Pfizer & Moderna) should be protective against XEC.
- Travel abroad, at this time, is a significant risk for COVID – it is simply more prevalent outside the US, for the time being.
My suggestions are to check your refrigerator for any ready-to-eat chicken products from BrucePac of Oregan. If you have any, toss them out. And if you are planning travel to Europe and other destinations outside the US, make sure you are current with your COVID vaccinations, take some Paxlovid with you if you are >65yo, and wear your mask.
Unrelated to Dr. Klotman’s update, I read recently that the CDC has counted about 10,000 cases of Whooping Cough (Pertussis) this year. During the COVID pandemic, Pertussis cases declined markedly probably because of mask wearing and avoiding crowded public places. With more social interaction post-pandemic, the numbers of cases of many respiratory illnesses are returning to pre-pandemic levels.
The Pertussis vaccine is part of TDAP – the Tetanus, Diphtheria, Acellular Pertussis vaccine. If you haven’t had a Tetanus vaccine in the past 10 years, it may be time to get TDAP – talk with your PCP about it. I had mine two years ago.