There's a new illness going around

[thewayne]

And they don't really know what it is. Doesn't test positive for flu or covid, symptoms similar to both and can turn into pneumonia. Seems to have a low mortality rate at the moment, which is not uncommon with pneumonia. It's shutting down schools and school districts in ten states from losing teachers, students, and bus drivers. Currently it's in Texas and east/north of there, but that means it has probably established itself well in the west, but the numbers haven't blown up yet.

I have no idea if it's spreading in Europe yet. If it's not yet identified, it's not easy to track. But with international air travel, with numbers like these, it's probably already around the world and possibly the next pandemic.

Time to start masking up again, which I'm starting today. Of course the big problem is that the Center for Disease Control is no longer trustworthy, and we're withdrawing from the World Health Organization - at least that process takes a year.

This write-up has a good summary of some of the symptoms and what it's doing in schools. She's a good follower of outbreaks and has a medical background.

https://siderea.dreamwidth.org/1867959.html

Comments

[armiphlage]

We track unplanned absences daily at our factory as one of our key process indicators. We normally have 2-3 absences each day. We've been 15-20 every day this year.

Only one data point, of course.

[thewayne]

Wow.  Definitely concerning.

[graydon]

And if there's anything SARS-CoV-2 ought to have taught us, prompt lethality in the acute phase is surely enough something to worry about, but it is not the only thing to worry about.

[kaishin108]

Good idea to start masking up!

Our new regime will not handle another pandemic now.

And bird flu is spreading...

[thewayne]

Interestingly, in another post by Siderea a couple of days ago, the guy they're putting in charge of pandemic response is actually a pretty good fit!

[kaishin108]

Well! That is a bit of good news. :)

[dewline]

I need to re-read that one.

[dewline]

As you say: the returning regime is not willing to respond properly to any additional pandemics. They are ready to punish everyone who does.

[acelightning73]

Could it be RSV (Respiratory Syncytal Virus). They make a big deal that people with infants and young children should be vaccinated against it, and so should the kids. And Senior Citizens like me can become seriously ill from the virus, so I got vaccinated against it. I also got the pneumonia vaccine. Apparently it isn't the human manifestation of chicken flu. (I worry that one of the feral cats who live in my yard will eat a random tweety bird and get the bird flu, which is especially lethal to felines - several zoos have lost lions and tigers and other big cats to the bird flu. And egg producers have had to euthanize entire flocks to prevent the spread of the disease, leading to ridiculously high egg prices.

[thewayne]

I've had RSV twice and been vaccinated for it, not fun stuff.  Apparently there's something about it that they can't test adults for it, too close to a cold or something.

[acelightning73]

My biggest weaknesses are in my digestive system, not my lungs. I never smoked cigarettes (although I smoked plenty of weed when I was a hippie). And they claim that humans can't catch bird flu except from eating the flesh of infected animals, or spending time in close contact with farm animals.

[thewayne]

Lungs for me since I have no immune system.  Guts can be a problem, but mine are doing okay thus far.  I had pneumonia five times in seven months when my antibody production finally packed it in.

[acelightning73]

The description of the new disease sounds like the description of what happens to humans who catch avian flu.

And outdoor domestic cats CAN get avian flu if they eat an infected tweety bird.

[thewayne]

Yeah, the new bird flu has killed a few people, and in some cases it's unclear as to exactly how it's been transmitted.  In one case, the person was badly immune-compromised (IIRC), in another they worked with animal carcasses (again, IIRC) which gives a possible direct line of transmission.  It's doing a heck of a job on chicken/egg production and also spreading through cattle lots.  I see a sharp rise in beef/chicken prices soon, I hope it doesn't cross over to the piggies!

[acelightning73]

Apparently some of the "swine flu" strains came about when pig farmers had a pond where they put all the pig shit, and random waterfowl landed on the pond and the virus migrated between birds and pigs, and eventually into the human who tended the pigs. And pigs are biologically a whole lot like humans - there are a couple of people who received pig kidneys as transplants, and the transplant took very well. And in med school they use pigs to teach anatomy, and they practice suturing on pigs feet from the meat market, because pig skin has a texture very much like human skin. So if bird flu infects pigs, it's going to jump to humans.

And chicken prices are going up - some news item about how much people were spending on Football Day snacks mentioned that chicken wings were a lot more expensive than they were last year.
And I found out that if a house cat eats a tweety bird that's infected with bird flu, the cat will get sick and die. I just hope my ferals don't eat any tweety birds in the yard.

[thewayne]

Brave new world.  Pity we can't reload the game back to some point before 2015.

[acelightning73]

I think the swine flu was before 2015 - I remember it was going around when I was in college, and I graduated in 1969. So people with pig farms had migrating ducks landing in their manure pools before that date. I just want to tell all my feral cats not to eat tweety birds.

[disneydream06]

Dear MAGA,
Just ignore this information, like you always do. UGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hugs, Jon

[gingeriana]

Oh well, looks like i am on my second day with this thing
A bit exhausting, but definitely easier than covid

[thewayne]

Hope you're well soon!  I had a respiratory virus a couple of weeks ago that I'm still coughing from, and now my right knee is making serious complaints!  Sucks getting older. 

[pondhopper]

Yes, we have that or similar here. There are lots of no-name untestable viruses now. My daughter Vicki has been sick several times the last few months ths. Her immune system is weak.
:/

[silveradept]

I'm more inclined to the "we are suffering the consequences of multiple infections of an immune-destroying virus" than the "novel strain of pathogen," but as is noted, the answer could be "why not both?"

I certainly haven't stopped using my masks in any interim, but that whole "food" thing means I might still have a decent exposure issue, should something come through a workplace. Keeping my fingers crossed that by luck continues to hold as much as possible.

[thewayne]

The opinion of our immune system getting hammered repeatedly goes have some merit to it.