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Look for flu and COVID-19 infections to ramp up in the coming weeks, U.S. health officials say, with increases fueled by holiday gatherings, too many unvaccinated people and a new version of the coronavirus that may be spreading more easily. High levels of flu-like illnesses were reported last week in 17 states — up from 14 the week before, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday. “Folks are traveling a lot more this season. They want to see their families,” said the CDC's Dr. Manisha Patel. "And all of that sort of adds to the mix” in the...

Winter officially begins Thursday, and with the cold season comes an expected rise in rates of flu and Covid, said Dr. Mandy Cohen, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The U.S. is seeing a "sharp increase" in flu levels right now, particularly in the south, Cohen said Wednesday in an interview. Covid cases also appear to be climbing nationally, she said, while cases of respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, seem to have reached their highest point this season. "We’re seeing RSV peak a bit sooner, but we do not believe we’re near yet at the peak...

With flu season approaching in the US, murmurs of a potential "twindemic" brewing are once again starting to surface. "This could very well be the year," Vanderbilt infectious disease expert Dr. William Schaffner told NPR's Up First on Friday, "we have a surge in COVID, and simultaneously an increase in influenza." One big reason that infectious disease experts are especially worried this year is because Australia's 2022 flu season was pretty bad, and what happens during the Southern Hemisphere's winter flu surge often forshadows the US flu season well.

After the remarkable success of the mRNA vaccines in protecting people against COVID-19, scientists are turning their attention next to another annual respiratory scourge: influenza. Both Moderna and Pfizer—makers of the first vaccines to earn U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval using the mRNA technology—are studying whether subbing in the influenza virus’ genetic material in that platform will prove equally fruitful. On Sept. 14, Pfizer announced that the first volunteers had received doses of its mRNA flu shot; the Phase 3 study will involve more than 25,000 adults in the U.S. ages 18 and up who will be randomly...

Former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb warned Wednesday that “we’re in for a whopper” of a flu season due to a lack of immunity in the US population. Gottlieb, who helmed the FDA under President Donald Trump and serves on Pfizer’s board of directors, made the chilling prediction during an interview on CNBC about workplace safety amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. “We haven’t seen a flu season last year — we’re in for a whopper because we haven’t put immunity into the population in at least one and maybe now two years. When the flu does come...

The 2020/21 flu season has been and remains unusually mild. Preliminary reports suggest this may be due to the preventative measures put in place by government and health officials to help curb the spread of COVID-19. ...a mild flu season could lead to a more virulent following season. ...vaccines for the upcoming flu season, [are based on] the strains that are currently circulating and pay close attention to the strains that dominated the southern hemisphere’s flu season as they denote what strains may dominate the northern hemisphere’s flu season. ...virologist teams that analyze flu genomes to help pinpoint emerging strains...

The cognitive dissonance required to accept these numbers is stunning. This is all part of a narrative supporting an agenda to keep the masses in the dark, compliant, and terrified. Conning people into conceding control to our "betters" is how they keep us in line.. Flu season came and went without ever actually existing this year. Doctors and mainstream media are putting forth every possible excuse for why it went from 400,000 hospitalized cases and 22,000 deaths last season to an infinitesimal 165 hospitalized cases this season, but very few of them are stating the most obvious reason. They claim...

Has COVID-19 cured the flu? Not exactly. In any given year, influenza claims approximately 250 lives in the state of Washington. 2020 is different, of course, because COVID-19 is here. In fact, this year’s flu season, which started in the beginning of October, has yielded zero flu deaths and zero lab-confirmed cases. Zero lab-confirmed influenza deaths have been reported for the 2020-2021 season to date. One WA influenza specimens reported to CDC, public health laboratories and commercial laboratories. Zero influenza-like illness outbreaks in long term care facilities have been reported for the 2020-2021 season to date. Does that mean the...

Flu – not coronavirus - continues to be the illness to worry about February 20, 2020 - Influenza Surveillance - Awareness The New Mexico Department of Health (NMDOH) warns residents flu remains a more significant illness to be concerned about in the state than novel coronavirus. The Department of Health continues to monitor and respond to both the annual flu season and the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. There remains no case of the coronavirus in the state. Flu and respiratory virus season, however, continues with many cases still being reported at New Mexico’s clinics and hospitals. “Coronavirus still needs to...

The U.S. government is taking wise measures to reduce the spread of the coronavirus. But, as the saying goes, we should pray like it all depends on God and prepare like it all depends on us. When I was in school studying infectious disease epidemiology, none of the cool kids worked on flu. We all wanted to chase Ebola, HIV/AIDS, drug-resistant tuberculosis, malaria, and other exotic killer bugs.Everyday, ho-hum killers like influenza, pneumonia, and other respiratory illnesses were just too mundane for globetrotting adventurers like us. Who wants to spend her life hand-sanitizing and finger-wagging about vaccines when you could...

There are different types of flu viruses, and the one causing illnesses in most parts of the country is a surprise. It’s a version that normally doesn’t abound until March or April. That virus generally isn’t as dangerous to older people — good news, since most flu hospitalizations and deaths each winter occur in the elderly. However, such viruses can be hard on children and people younger than 50. Louisiana was the first state to really get hit hard, with doctors there saying they began seeing large numbers of flu-like illnesses in October. In both of the previous two flu...

Submitted by Brandon Smith of Alt-Market.com, One of the most dangerous philosophical contentions even amongst liberty movement activists is the conundrum of government force and prevention during times of imminent pandemic. All of us at one time or another have had this debate. If a legitimate viral threat existed and threatened to infect and kill millions of Americans, is it then acceptable for the government to step in, remove civil liberties, enforce quarantines, and stop people from spreading the disease? After all, during a viral event, the decisions of each individual can truly have a positive or negative effect on...

At least 4,877 people have died in the world's worst recorded outbreak of Ebola, and at least 9,936 cases of the disease had been recorded as of Oct. 19, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Wednesday, but the true toll may be three times as much. The WHO has said real numbers of cases are believed to be much higher than reported: by a factor of 1.5 in Guinea, 2 in Sierra Leone and 2.5 in Liberia, while the death rate is thought to be about 70 percent of all cases. That would suggest a toll of almost 15,000.

I have spent a little time compiling links to threads about the Ebola outbreak in the interest of having all the links in one thread for future reference. Please add links to new threads and articles of interest as the situation develops. Thank You all for you participation.

Bloomberg - link and title only.

<p>Muslim burial practices are being blamed for the spread of Ebola.</p> <p>Remains of Secretary General of The Nigeria Supreme General for Islamic Affairs and Seriki of Egbaland, Alhaji Lateeef Adegbite at his burial in 2012.</p> <p>Islam requires family members to personally wash the corpses of loved ones from head to toe. This practise is putting more Africans at risk to catch the disease that is spread by body fluids.</p>

A young woman complaining of abdominal pain and nausea who had traveled to Africa arrived at a Long Island hospital fearful that she had contracted Ebola. She did not have the virus, but the pregnancy test was positive. The woman had been to South Africa, more than 3,400 miles (5,400 km) from the three West African countries enduring the worst Ebola outbreak on record, and the trip ended six weeks prior, or twice the potential incubation period for Ebola infection.

October 1, 2014Erin Brodwin This flu season is already shaping up to be worse than the last. Because flu season occurs in different time periods around the world, health experts track outbreaks of the virus globally to try and predict how the illness will affect each country before anyone there actually gets sick. Predicting how bad a particular flu season will be is a tough call. But in many years, flu outbreaks in the southern hemisphere can help foretell the virus' severity in the US. A group of scientists organized by the WHO called the Global Influenza Surveillance and Response...

Just got the following e-mail from my son's elementary school: "The _________ County Department of Health and _________ County Public Schools is offering the Flu Mist nasal spray vaccination next month to students in all elementary schools. All elementary-school students will receive a letter and consent form at school on Tuesday, Sept. 15, from the Health Department to take home to their parents. The consent form must be completed and returned to the school by Sept. 22 in order for your child to receive the vaccination. Please call xxx-xxx-xxxx or xxx-xxx-xxxx for more information or with any questions." What to...

The Associated Press Flesh-eating bacteria cases, fatal pneumonia and life-threatening heart infections suddenly are popping up around the country, striking healthy people and stunning their doctors. The cause? Staph, a bacteria better known for causing skin boils easily treated with standard antibiotic pills. No more, say infectious disease experts, who increasingly are seeing these "super bugs" -- strains of Staphylococcus aureus unfazed by the entire penicillin family and other first-line drugs. Until a few years ago, these drug-resistant infections were unheard of except in hospital patients, prison inmates and the chronically ill. Now, resistant strains are infecting healthy children, athletes...