Here is Dr. Klotman’s Week 320 video address. My summary notes follow.
Hantavirus Outbreak
- This event occurred on a Netherlands cruise ship
- Three people, a 70yo couple from the Netherlands and a person from the UK, died of the shipboard infection
- The virus is carried by rodents (typically deer mice) and excreted in their feces, urine, and saliva
- The specific strain of hantavirus is the Andean strain endemic to Argentina (and Brazil, if memory serves)
- Hantavirus can produce two illness syndromes
- The first is a respiratory illness that can cause fatal pulmonary and heart problems
- The other is a hemorrhagic illness that can cause kidney failure
- Hantavirus is typically spread by inhalation of infectious material from dried rodent droppings, but this particular strain can also be acquired through human-to-human transmission
H5N1 Influenza
- 700 California dairies have been affected
- The virus can be transmitted in unpasteurized milk (raw milk)
- A recent study of affected California herds revealed that
- The virus can be found in cow’s breath (exhalation)
- The virus is also found in farm wastewater
- Many cows test positive for virus antibodies even when they have had no symptoms of infection
- Outbreaks of H5N1 among poultry flocks have begun to decrease; the worst month tends to be February
- H5N1 among wild birds is decreasing too
- In California, H5N1 is still sporadically detected among gulls and marine mammals
Measles
- The South Carolina outbreak appears to be over
- The current hot spot is Utah
- Nationally, we’ve already seen 1,800+ cases and will exceed last year’s total
- Internationally, Guatemala has seen 5300+ cases, and Bangladesh has recorded 35,000+ cases. Both countries have recorded pediatric deaths. There are also outbreaks in Europe. Travelers beware.
Influenza
- Flu cases are rapidly waning
- This flu season has caused 155 US pediatric deaths
- If we achieved a 70% level of Flu vaccination among children, it is estimated that we could prevent 30K pediatric hospitalizations and almost all of the pediatric deaths
Environmental PFAS
- A recent study to evaluate environmental contamination with PFAS (aka “forever chemicals”) using leg bands on Patagonian penguins found evidence of contamination in 90% of the bands even in this remote part of the world
Bats and Viruses
- Bats harbor many viruses but often those viruses cause no illness in their hosts
- Studies are being done to identify the factors that protect bats from the viruses they carry
- Up-regulation of defensive factors such as Interferon and down-regulation of the inflammatory response among other factors are being studied
Disease spread among Mammals
- A study of the animal trade over the past 40 years suggests that the more that wild mammals are traded, the more pathogens that they can share with people they acquire
- The number of shared pathogens between humans and other mammals increases the longer that the mammal is traded
- Trading live animals carries a greater risk than trading animal carcasses or products
- To control emerging human pathogens carried by animals, it is necessary to control the live animal trade, wet markets, and the like
Nurses’ Week
- Nurses’ Week ends May 12 – Florence Nightingale’s birthday
- Nurses continue to be the #1 most trusted profession
My Personal Notes:
- Nurses rock!
- Drinking raw milk is a really bad idea, but that’s probably why RFK, Jr endorses the practice
- There is no vaccine or specific treatment for hantavirus infection
- There are 17 Americans who were on the hantavirus-affected cruise ship
- They are all going to the U NE medical center where there is a high-level bio-containment facility
- They will be there for evaluation and possible quarantine
- Quarantine for hantavirus is 6-8 weeks in duration
- Our son is an Infectious Disease faculty member there, but is not directly involved in the hantavirus response tasks