Here is Dr. Klotman’s Week 254 video address. The highlights are:
Influenza
- The most common Flu strains circulating today are Type A viruses H1N1 and H3N2
- The latest bird flu is H5N9 – yet another novel virus first isolated in 2015
- H5N9 is more severe than H5N1 that has affected almost 1000 dairy herds and caused the culling of millions of poultry.
- The CDC and Veterinary Medical Association both recommend against feeding pets uncooked foods that could contain raw bird meat. Cats are particularly vulnerable to H1N5 bird flu acquired by eating raw meat.
- Influenza B cases are very few this season
- Herd immunity for Influenza A requires at least a 70% vaccine uptake. In reality, the national uptake is around 40%. In other words, expect many outbreaks of H1N1 and H3N2 this season
COVID
- COVID hospitalizations are falling now.
- COVID, having had its heyday pandemic, is now becoming a mild seasonal respiratory illness not unlike Influenza.
- It is good to remember that we have Influenza pandemics every ten years or so. Expect something similar to happen with COVID in the years to come.
- The dominant strain of COVID continues to be XEC.
Other public health news not part of Dr. Klotman’s video include the following notes.
- Recent studies suggest that Long COVID is most common among individuals who have experienced multiple infections with the virus.
- Some 75% of the public still considers COVID a significant health threat. The reality is that as a result of vaccination and acquired immunity, COVID is now just part of the respiratory season viral landscape.
- Measels has been reported in four Texans – two Houston-area travelers who were unvaccinated and got it abroad, and more recently, two unvaccinated school-age children from the Lubbock area.