Category: Flu Virus

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ROUZIC ISLAND, France, Sept 7 (Reuters) - The island of Rouzic's windswept clifftops should be teeming with gannets, but an unseasonal wave of bird flu on the French Atlantic coast this summer has devastated their numbers, alarming conservationists and poultry farmers.

Thousands of seabirds have perished along France's western shores in past weeks because of the viral infection, which usually strikes during autumn and winter months, raising fears it may have become a year-round risk and endemic to French wildlife.

That poses a danger for France's poultry industry, the European Union's second largest, which was forced to cull more than 19 million birds between November and May because of avian influenza, as bird flu is formally called.

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"Bird flu is hitting seabirds in the spring and in the summer, which is totally new. Traditionally bird flu mainly hits waterfowls during winter," Pascal Provost, director of the Sept-Iles archipelago bird reserve which includes the Rouzic island.

After a brief lull in farm outbreaks in May, the French government eased poultry farming curbs in June. read more

However, soon after the virus hit flocks along the Brittany coast, slowly spreading south.

Rouzic is home to one of the world's rare colonies of northern gannets. Provosts said bird flu ravaged the flock from early July, killing adults and leaving their chicks to starve.

Since late July, seven new bird flu outbreaks have been confirmed on French farms, according to the agriculture ministry.

"The situation is exceptional - never encountered in France before - due to its scale and the period when cases are being detected," the ministry said on its website, warning about the risk of contamination to poultry farms.

French poultry farmers are still recovering from previous outbreaks and the mass culling that followed, and before the latest outbreaks already faced a near 10% fall in output this year, industry group Anvol said.

"Before, bird flu outbreaks were caused by migrating birds, but now we see that there are more and more cases in French wildlife. This is new and it worries farmers and the whole poultry industry", Anvol chairman Jean-Michel Schaeffer told Reuters.

Bird flu is usually transmitted by infected migrating wild birds' faeces or direct contact with contaminated feed, clothing and equipment.

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Reporting by Stephane Mahe and Sybille de La Hamaide; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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New bird flu wave in France raises fears deadly virus here to stay - Reuters

Sometime in the spring of 2020, after centuries, perhaps millennia, of tumultuous coexistence with humans, influenza abruptly went dark. Around the globe, documented cases of the viral infection completely cratered as the world tried to counteract SARS-CoV-2. This time last year, American experts began to fret that the flus unprecedented sabbatical was too bizarre to last: Perhaps the group of viruses that cause the disease would be poised for an epic comeback, slamming us with a little more punch than usual, Richard Webby, an influenza expert at St. Jude Childrens Research Hospital, in Tennessee, told me at the time.

But those fears did not not come to pass. Flus winter 2021 season in the Southern Hemisphere was once again eerily silent; in the north, cases sneaked up in Decemberonly to peter out before a lackluster reprise in the spring.

Now, as the weather once again chills in this hemisphere and the winter holidays loom, experts are nervously looking ahead. After skipping two seasons in the Southern Hemisphere, flu spent 2022 hopping across the planets lower half with more fervor than its had since the COVID crisis began. And of the three years of the pandemic that have played out so far, this one is previewing the strongest signs yet of a rough flu season ahead.

Its still very possible that the flu will fizzle into mildness for the third year in a row, making experts gloomier suspicions welcomingly wrong. Then again, this year is, virologically, nothing like the last. Australia recently wrapped an unusually early and very significant season with flu viruses, says Kanta Subbarao, the director of the WHO Collaborating Centre for Reference and Research on Influenza at the Doherty Institute. By sheer confirmed case counts, this season was one of the countrys worst in several years. In South Africa, its been a very typical flu season by pre-pandemic standards, which is still enough to be of note, according to Cheryl Cohen, a co-head of the countrys Centre for Respiratory Disease and Meningitis at the National Institute for Communicable Diseases. After a long, long hiatus, Subbarao told me, flu in the Southern Hemisphere is certainly back.

Read: The pandemic broke the flu

That does not bode terribly well for those of us up north. The same viruses that seed outbreaks in the south tend to be the ones that sprout epidemics here as the seasons do their annual flip. I take the south as an indicator, says Seema Lakdawala, a flu-transmission expert at Emory University. And should flu return here, too, with a vengeance, it will collide with a population that hasnt seen its likes in years, and is already trying to marshal responses to several dangerous pathogens at once.

The worst-case scenario wont necessarily pan out. What goes on below the equator is never a perfect predictor for what will occur above it: Even during peacetime, were pretty bad in terms of predicting what a flu season is going to look like, Webby, of St. Jude, told me. COVID, and the worlds responses to it, have put experts few forecasting tools further on the fritz. But the souths experiences can still be telling. In South Africa and Australia, for instance, many COVID-mitigation measures, such as universal masking recommendations and post-travel quarantines, lifted as winter arrived, allowing a glut of respiratory viruses to percolate through the population. The flu flood also began after two essentially flu-less yearswhich is a good thing at face value, but also represents many months of missed opportunities to refresh peoples anti-flu defenses, leaving them more vulnerable at the seasons start.

Some of the same factors are working against those of us north of the equator, perhaps to an even greater degree. Here, too, the population is starting at a lower defensive baseline against fluespecially young children, many of whom have never tussled with the viruses. Its very, very likely that kids may end up disproportionately hit, Webby said, as they appear to have been in Australiathough Subbarao notes that this trend may have been driven by more cautious behaviors among older populations, skewing illness younger.

Interest in inoculations has also dropped during the pandemic: After more than a year of calls for booster after booster, people have a lot of fatigue, says Helen Chu, a physician and flu expert at the University of Washington, and that exhaustion may be driving already low interest in flu shots even further down. (During good years, flu-shot uptake in the U.S. peaks around 50 percent.) And the few protections against viruses that were still in place last winter have now almost entirely vanished. In particular, schoolsa fixture of flu transmissionhave loosened up enormously since last year. Theres also just much more flu around, all over the global map, Webby said. With international travel back in full swing, the viruses will get that many more chances to hopscotch across borders and ignite an outbreak. And should such an epidemic emerge, with its health infrastructure already under strain from simultaneous outbreaks of COVID, monkeypox, and polio, America may not handle another addition well. Overall, Chu told me, we are not well prepared.

Read: The most important vaccine Ill get this fall

At the same time, though, countries around the world have taken such different approaches to COVID mitigation that the pandemic may have further uncoupled their flu-season fate. Australias experience with the flu, for instance, started, peaked, and ended early this year; the new arrival of more relaxed travel policies likely played a role in the outbreaks beginning, before a mid-year BA.5 surge potentially hastened the sudden drop. Its also very unclear whether the U.S. may be better or worse off because its last flu season was wimpy, weirdly shaped, and unusually late. South Africa saw an atypical summer bump in flu activity as well; those infections may have left behind a fresh dusting of immunity and blunted the severity of the following season, Cohen told me. But its always hard to tell. I was quite strong in saying that I really believed that South Africa was going to have a severe season, she said. And it seems that I was wrong. The long summer tail of the Northern Hemispheres most recent flu season could also exacerbate the intensity of the coming winter season, says John McCauley, the director of the Worldwide Influenza Centre at the Francis Crick Institute, in London. Kept going in their off-season, the viruses may have an easier vantage point from which to reemerge this winter.

COVIDs crush has shifted flu dynamics on the whole as well. The pandemic squeezed out a lot of diversity from the influenza-virus population, Webby told me; some lineages may have even entirely blipped out. But others could also still be stewing and mutating, potentially in animals or unmonitored pockets of the world. That these strainswhich harbor especially large pandemic potentialcould emerge into the general population is my bigger concern, Lakdawala, of Emory, told me. And although the particular strains of flu that are circulating most avidly seem reasonably well matched to this years vaccines, the dominant strains that attack the north could yet shift, says Florian Krammer, a flu virologist at Mount Sinais Icahn School of Medicine. Viruses also tend to wobble and hop when they return from long vacations; it may take a season or two before the flu finds its usual rhythm.

Another epic SARS-CoV-2 variant could also quash a would-be influenza peak. Flu cases rose at the end of 2021, and the dreaded twindemic loomed. But then, Omicron hitand flu basically disappeared for one and a half months, Krammer told me, only tiptoeing back onto the scene after COVID cases dropped. Some experts suspect that the immune system may have played a role in this tag-team act: Although co-infections or sequential infections of SARS-CoV-2 and flu viruses are possible, the aggressive spread of a new coronavirus variant may have set peoples defenses on high alert, making it that much harder for another pathogen to gain a foothold.

Read: Dont worry, its not the flu

No matter the odds we enter flu season with, human behavior can still alter winters course. One of the main reasons that flu viruses have been so absent the past few years is because mitigation measures have kept them at bay. People understand transmission more than they ever did before, Lakdawala told me. Subbarao thinks COVID wisdom is what helped keep Australian flu deaths down, despite the gargantuan swell in cases: Older people took note of the actions that thwarted the coronavirus and applied those same lessons to flu. Perhaps populations across the Northern Hemisphere will act in similar ways. I would hope that weve actually learned how to deal with infectious disease more seriously, McCauley told me.

But Webby isnt sure that hes optimistic. People have had enough hearing about viruses in general, he told me. Flu, unfortunately, does not feel similarly about us.

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Seriously, Flu Could Be Bad This Year - The Atlantic

A recently launched clinical trial at Penn Medicine will evaluate a new chewing gum designed by School of Dental Medicine researchers to trap SARS-CoV-2 in the saliva, potentially blocking transmission of COVID-19 from one person to another.

The trial will recruit participants from a pool of Penn Medicine employees whose responses to the PennOpen Pass screening system indicate that they may be battling a COVID-19 infection. Those who enroll in the clinical trial will be given a packet of a dozen experimental tablets of gum. Each morning, theyll pop one in their mouthand start to chew.

The cinnamon-flavored gum is designed to do far more than freshen breath. Thanks to innovations emerging from the lab of School of Dental Medicine researcher Henry Daniell, the experimental gum contains plant-derived material genetically engineered to contain ACE2, a protein found naturally in human blood and saliva. The ACE2 receptor is found on human cells and is bound by SARS-CoV-2 virus during infection. In experimental models, chewing the gum was found to release the embedded ACE2, blocking the interaction of the chewers own ACE2 receptor and the viral spike protein.

In effect, the gum is designed to trap and neutralize SARS-CoV-2 in the saliva and, ideally, diminish the amount of virus left in the mouth. It is hoped that less virus would mean a lower likelihood of passing the infection on to others.

Daniell and colleagues are also working on another gum, containing a different protein that could target a broader range of respiratory viruses, including influenza.

Im hoping that if this is effective and safe it will be the beginning of several other oral delivery drugs, using this platform, says Daniell, the vice chair and W. D. Miller Professor in Penn Dental Medicines Department of Basic and Translational Sciences.

Findings from a pre-clinical study of the gums efficacy in neutralizing SARS-CoV-2 and influenza virus in patient samples, published in the journal Biomaterials in July, showed it could reduce viral load to nearly undetectable levels. The results supported an application to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for an Investigational New Drug, which went into effect in May and paved the way for the launch of the clinical trial at Penn Medicine.

The technology behind this experimental treatment has moved from the laboratory bench toward the beginning of clinical experimentation, all within Penn Dental Medicine, a first for the school. The partnership with colleagues from Penn Medicine enables the launch of the first-in-human clinical trial.

This technology may have the ability to reduce the spread of COVID-19 and the flu as well as make it safer for dentists and other healthcare providers to provide care to patients who we know are infected, says Mark Wolff, the Morton Amsterdam Dean of Penn Dental Medicine, who was also a coauthor on the Biomaterials study.

For years, Daniell has used his plant-based platform to generate a range of biomolecules with both therapeutic and commercial potential. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, one of the proteins his lab had explored was ACE2, originally with a view toward evaluating its impact on pulmonary hypertension.

As the pandemic began, ACE2 began receiving significant attention for a different reason: its receptor provides the docking station for the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2. Suddenly, Daniells work had found a new potential application: as a trap for the virus that causes COVID-19.

Daniell had already been working on protein drug delivery approach via a chewing gum, and, given that the SARS-CoV-2 virus replicates in the salivary glands, delivering ACE2 to the mouth with a gum appeared to him to be a potentially powerful approach.

Another coincidence augmented the potential of the viral trap approach. During infection, not only does the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein bind to the host cells ACE2 receptor, but two other co-receptors on the virus, known as GM-1 receptors, facilitate the binding process. CTB, a protein that Daniell had already been evaluating in his ACE2 biotherapeutic, turns out to also bind GM-1, thus serving as an additional lure in the context of SARS-CoV-2 infection.

In a Molecular Therapy paper published in November 2021, Daniell and colleagues showed in pre-clinical studies that a chewing gum containing CTB and ACE2 could reduce SARS-CoV-2 viral loads in saliva obtained from COVID-19 patients under experimental conditions. The Biomaterials paper extended that work, using samples from the delta and omicron waves of the pandemic to demonstrate that the gum could neutralize these strains under these same in vitro conditions as well.

The latter publication also went beyond COVID to consider how such a gum might potentially block a broader cross-section of viruses, including those that dont rely on the ACE2 receptor to enter cells.

I was very keen on developing this chewing gum delivery system to trap many different oral viruses, says Daniell, and was looking for a way to broaden the approach.

To do so, Daniell and colleagues developed a gum containing a different protein, called FRIL, which is found naturally in the plant Lablab purpureus, also known as the Lablab or hyacinth bean. While the spike-ACE2 receptor interaction is specific to coronavirus, FRIL binds to molecules called complex-type N-glycans, which are found on a broader spectrum of viruses, including SARS-CoV-2 and influenza viruses.

The research team used two different assays to evaluate the in vitro performance of the FRIL and CTB-ACE2 chewing gums; one, a microbubbling test developed by the Perelman School of Medicines Ping Wang; the other, an electrochemical sensing test invented by Cesar de la Fuente of Penn Medicine and the School of Engineering and Applied Science. Both tests confirmed that the gum could significantly reduce viral levels in patient samples.

Throughout the stages of evaluating the gum, Daniell and Penn Dental Medicine colleagues have worked in close collaboration with researchers from around Penn, particularly in the Perelman School of Medicine, enabling the work to take on special relevancy in the context of the evolving COVID pandemic. In addition to Wang and de la Fuentes testing platforms playing a role in evaluating the technology, Ronald Collman, a professor of medicine, helped collect COVID-positive samples with which to test the gum. Frederic Bushman, a microbiology professor, sequenced the viral samples to determine which strain of SARS-CoV-2 they represented. And Penn Medicine infectious disease specialists Pablo Tebas and William Short are the leader investigators for the phase 1/2 clinical trial and the Perelman School of Medicine is serving as the regulatory sponsor for the clinical trial.

The trial aims to enroll 40 participants. Each will receive gum tablets to chew and tubes for collecting saliva over the course of three days. The plant material for the trial is being produced and grown at Fraunhofer, a research and development organization, before being further processed at Penn Dental Medicine, using a freeze drier machine that meets FDA regulations to process the lettuce and ready it for incorporating into gum tablets.

Each day participants will chew four tablets of gum, and take eight samples of saliva, before and after chewing, says Daniell. On the fourth day, theyll come to the clinic, chew a final tablet of gum, and get an examination, record their symptoms, and submit their samples.

The phase 1/2 trial will be used to ensure the gum is safe to use. Each of the participants saliva samples will undergo multiple PCR tests to quantify the level of virus present.

With the gum, Daniell hopes to develop a tool that can complement others, such as vaccines and antivirals, to make a further dent in this pandemicand perhaps future ones. He points out that the gum represents the first Investigational New Drug submission for a human therapeutic protein drug that doesnt require a cold chain or protein purification. Eliminating the protein purification stepmade possible because of the protein being grown in plantsreduces costs dramatically. And being shelf-stable means the gum could more easily reach remote and less developed areas of the world without need of refrigeration or special handling.

To one day reach this scale, Daniell has partnered with Penn Center for Innovation (PCI) to spin out this technology into a Penn startup company. Michael Poisel, who manages PCI Ventures, a division of PCI that works directly with researchers help form and launch new startups based on Penn technologies, says Daniells desire for broad and global accessibility has been a primary motivation behind the development of the gum and other products, from their initial promise in the lab to the clinical trial ongoing today.

One of the exciting things about the technology is the potential to help people in countries that dont have the resources to benefit as broadly from the current vaccines and other therapies, Poisel says. Henry is really focused on making sure we can offer this in a cost-effective manner so the gum, once FDA approved, could be distributed as widely as possible and benefit as many people as possible.

Henry Daniell is vice chair and the W. D. Miller Professor in the Department of Basic and Translational Sciences in the University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine.

Mark Wolff is the Morton Amsterdam Dean in Penns School of Dental Medicine.

Michael Poisel is executive director of PCI Ventures at Penn.

Daniells coauthors on the Biomaterials paper were Penn Dental Medicines Smruti K. Nair, Hancheng Guan, Yuwei Guo, Rachel J. Kulchar, Geetanjali Wakade, Fracis K. Mante, Robert P. Ricciardi, and Mark Wolff; the Perelman School of Medicines Marcelo D. T. Torres, Andrew D. Marques, Jevon Graham-Wooten, Wan Zhou, Ping Wang, Sudheer K. Molugu, Cesar de la Fuente-Nunez, William R. Short, Pablo Tebas, Kenneth B. Margulies, Frederic Bushman, and Ronald G. Collman; Taiwan Academy of Sciences Md. Shahed-Al-Mahmud, Yo-Min Liu , and Che Ma; and Brazils State University of CampinasUNICAMPs William R. de Araujo.

Daniell is a patentee in this field and the co-founder of a Penn spinout company seeking to further develop certain Penn-owned intellectual property relating to this program. Relevant information on patents and applications is available online.

The work was supported primarily by the National Institutes of Health (HL107904, HL109442, HL133191, HL137063), the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Penn Center for Precision Medicine, Penn Health-Tech, the Center for Innovation & Precision Dentistry, and the Taiwan Ministry of Science and Technology.

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Chewing to curb COVID | Penn Today - Penn Today

DUBLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The "Influenza Vaccines Market Forecast to 2028 - COVID-19 Impact and Global Analysis By Vaccine Type, Virus Type, Technology, and Route of Administration" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The influenza vaccines market is expected to grow from US$ 7,478.53 million in 2021 to US$ 12,272.49 million by 2028. It is expected to grow with a CAGR of 7.4% from 2022 to 2028.

Increasing government support to promote influenza vaccination and rising investment by top market players and governments are the major factors boosting the market.

The governments of various states are supporting the promotional activities of vaccination program. For instance, the Australian government gives a free seasonal influenza vaccine to those at risk of influenza-related complications through the National Immunization Program (NIP). By 2022, enough vaccines have been given to cover all risk groups eligible for a government-funded flu vaccine through the NIP.

Vaccine Type Insights

Based on the vaccine type, the influenza vaccines market is segmented into quadrivalent vaccines and trivalent vaccines. The quadrivalent vaccines segment is likely to hold a larger market share in 2022.

The same segment is anticipated to register a higher CAGR during the forecast period. The quadrivalent influenza (flu) vaccine protects against 4 influenza viruses, including 2 influenza A viruses and 2 influenza B viruses. All flu vaccines in the US during the 2021-2022 season are quadrivalent vaccines. Different vaccines are approved for different age groups.

Virus Type Insights

Based on virus type, the influenza vaccines market is segmented into influenza virus type A and influenza virus type B. The influenza virus type A segment is likely to hold a larger market share in 2022. The same segment is expected to record a faster CAGR during the forecast period. The market growth of the influenza virus type A segment is because it is the most common form of influenza and can infect animals, although illnesses associated with this type of flu are more common.

Technology Insights

Based on technology, the influenza vaccines market is segmented into egg-based and cell-based. The egg-based segment is likely to hold a larger market share in 2022. The same segment is expected to record a faster CAGR during the forecast period.

The market growth of the egg-based segment is due to its most common method of producing flu vaccines through an egg-based manufacturing process that has been used for more than 70 years.

Route of Administration Insights

Based on route of administration, the influenza vaccines market is segmented into injection and nasal spray. The injection segment is likely to hold a larger market share in 2022. The same segment is expected to register a higher CAGR during the forecast period.

The market growth of the injection segment is attributed to the fact that it is the most common method for flu vaccine administration.

Key Topics Covered:

1. Introduction

2. Influenza Vaccines Market - Key Takeaways

3. Research Methodology

4. Influenza Vaccines Market - Market Landscape

4.1 Overview

4.2 PEST Analysis

4.3 Experts Opinion

5. Global Influenza Vaccines Market - Key Market Dynamics

5.1 Market Drivers

5.1.1 Increase in Government Support to Promote Influenza Vaccination

5.1.2 Increasing Investment by Top Market Players and Governments

5.2 Market Restraints

5.2.1 High Cost of Vaccine Development

5.3 Market Opportunities

5.3.1 Emerging Economies

5.4 Future Trends

5.4.1 Strong Pipeline Candidates for Influenza Vaccines

5.5 Impact Analysis

6. Influenza Vaccine Market -Global Analysis

6.1 Global Influenza Vaccines Market Revenue Forecasts And Analysis

6.2 Global Influenza Vaccines Market, By Geography - Forecasts And Analysis

6.3 Global Influenza Vaccines Market - Market Potential Analysis, By Region

6.4 Company Analysis

6.4.1 Market Positioning of Key Players

6.4.2 Comparative Company Analysis

6.5 Growth Strategy Analysis

6.6 Performance of Key Players

6.6.1 Sanofi

6.6.2 SEQIRUS

7. Influenza Vaccines Market Analysis and Forecasts To 2028 - By Vaccine Type

7.1 Overview

7.2 Global Influenza Vaccines Market, By Vaccine Type 2022 & 2028 (%)

7.3 Quadrivalent Vaccines

7.4 Trivalent Vaccines

8. Influenza Vaccines Market Analysis and Forecasts To 2028 - By Virus Type

8.1 Overview

8.2 Global Influenza Vaccines Market, By Virus Type 2022 & 2028 (%)

8.3 Influenza Virus Type A

8.4 Influenza Virus Type B

9. Influenza Vaccines Market Analysis and Forecasts To 2028 - By Technology

9.1 Overview

9.2 Global Influenza Vaccines Market, By Technology 2022 & 2028 (%)

9.3 Egg-based

9.4 Cell-based

10. Influenza Vaccines Market Analysis and Forecasts To 2028 - By Route of Administration

10.1 Overview

10.2 Global Influenza Vaccines Market, By Route of Administration 2022 & 2028 (%)

10.3 Injection

10.4 Nasal Spray

11. Influenza Vaccines Market Analysis and Forecasts To 2028 - Geographical Analysis

12. Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Global Influenza Vaccines Market

13. Influenza Vaccine Market -Industry Landscape

13.1 Overview

13.2 Growth Strategies in the Influenza Vaccine Market, 2021-2028

13.3 Inorganic Growth Strategies

13.3.1 Overview

13.4 Organic Growth Strategies

13.4.1 Overview

14. Company Profiles

14.1 Key Facts

14.2 Business Description

14.3 Products and Services

14.4 Financial Overview

14.5 SWOT Analysis

14.6 Key Developments

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/1ye6sv

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Global Influenza Vaccines Market Analysis/Forecast 2022-2028 - COVID-19 Impact and Analysis by Vaccine Type, Virus Type, Technology, and Route of...

Simon O'Connor/Stuff

During the winter 253 people were hospitalised in Taranaki Base Hospital with Covid.

The health forecast for winter was all doom and gloom, but the outlook for spring and summer is much better.

Cough and cold viruses normally take a holiday over summer, Te Whatu Ora Taranaki medical officer of health Dr Jonathan Jarman said in an emailed response to questions.

This is partly because of the weather and the behaviour of humans; during summer people are out and about, windows are open, and we are not spending a lot of time close to other people like we do in winter.

However, he said its important to note that Covid-19 was not going away.

READ MORE:* Staff illness sees Taranaki hospitals restrict visitor numbers and reduce care services* Covid-19, flu causing dire staffing situation for Taranaki hospitality businesses* Covid-19 NZ: Are we speeding towards a 'twindemic'?

There are likely to be ongoing infections throughout summer, though at a lower rate than the peak of winter.

People are still dying because of Covid-19, Jarman said.

And wastewater surveillance testing shows that the Covid-19 virus is still out there.

As of Tuesday, 74 people in Taranaki have died with Covid being the underlying cause of death or a contributory cause of death.

During winter, 253 people were hospitalised in Taranaki with Covid 73 in June, 113 in July, dropping to 67 in August.

From the peak of more than 500 cases a day in March there 45 new cases of the virus on Tuesday.

Stuff

Te Whatu Ora Taranaki medical officer of health Jonathan Jarman says cough and cold viruses normally take a holiday over summer.

While there are now only 299 active cases of Covid in the region, 45,131 or 36.8% of the population, in Taranaki have had the virus. Nationally, more than 50% of the population have been infected.

Medical experts predicted a tridemic made up of Covid, the flu and a respiratory illness called RSV could hit over winter.

And while winter was challenging,, RSV didnt really make an appearance, Jarman said.

It is possible that the rates of illness last year caused enough protection at a population level to protect people this year.

Flu was predicted to come back with a vengeance, but it didnt reach the same levels as it did in 2019, before lockdowns and border closures put it on hold.

There were 108 people hospitalised with the flu in Taranaki during winter 55 in June, 50 in July and 3 in August.

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After a challenging winter with the flu and Covid, coughs and colds are due to 'take a holiday' - Stuff

AUSTIN, Texas Austin Public Health (APH) recommends families prioritize getting up to date with their vaccines this fall, includingseasonal flu shotsand COVID-19 vaccines.

Health professionals look to the southern hemisphere to predict the severity of flu season.In Australia this year, children younger than 5 years to teens had the highest number of reported cases.

"Now is not the time to let our guard down. Everyone, especially children and seniors, need flu protection,"said Austin-Travis County Health Authority Dr. Desmar Walkes. "This time last year we were fighting the COVID-19 delta variant, and we protected our most vulnerable from COVID-19 and flu with a combination of masking and vaccine. Lets do it again."

Babies and young children have been eligible for COVID-19 vaccines sincelate June. More data:

Fewer than 2,500 children 6 months to 4 years arefully vaccinated in Travis County.

Half of children admitted to hospitals for treatment were unvaccinated and do NOT have any underlying medical condition.

Case numbers at our areaschoolsare rising and may significantly increase if illness spreads from sick students to their families.

The first year of the pandemic saw historically low levels of influenza circulation. Infections increased during the2021-22 season, although flu-related deaths and hospitalizations remained low. Preventive measures such as mask-wearing, social distancing and robust hygiene practices protected our communities against more than COVID-19.

Seasonalflu vaccines are recommended for everyone 6 months and older. Ideally flu shots should be administered duringSeptember and October, although they can still help prevent serious illness from influenza when administered beyond this time period. Flu most commonly peaks in February and significant activity can continue into May.

Flu shots can be administered at the same time as COVID-19 vaccines. TheCDC just authorized new COVID-19 booster dosesand APH has ordered supply. Expect more details on those doses soon.

The seasonal flu vaccine protects against influenza viruses that research suggests may be more common during the upcoming season. Last season Influenza A was the most common circulating strain inTravis County. Some people who get flu shots may still get sick, but studies show the overall severity of illness is likely reduced by vaccinations.

"As a community, we realize now more than ever, how health impacts our quality of life our ability to work, play, and spend time with loved ones. Getting your flu shots is an easy way to keep your family safe and on track,"said Austin Public Health Director Adrienne Sturrup. "We dont have to getsidelined by another virus, especially one weve been routinely vaccinating against for decades."

The composition of flu vaccines varieseach seasonbecause there are many different flu viruses. Therecommendations for the 2022-2023 seasoninclude two updates compared with last seasons recommended vaccines: the influenza A(H3N2) and the influenza B(Victoria lineage) vaccine virus components.

Vaccine Providers

VisitVaccines.gov(Vacunas.govin Spanish) to find flu and COVID-19 vaccine providers near you.

Free COVID-19 tests

Thefederal governmentsuspendedits free mail-order test kit program to maintain the national stockpileSept. 2, 2022. Free at-home test kits and PCR testing are still available at APHs Metz Elementary testing site (84 Robert T. Martinez Jr. St., Austin, TX 78702).

Free masks(N-95 respirators)

Use theCDCs mask-locator toolto find pharmacies near you that provide free masks (N95 respirators). It does not show current inventories, so check with the location for availability.

Note: PIO staff will be available to respond to media inquiries following the Labor Day holiday weekend.

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Flu & COVID-19 vaccines recommended amidst concerning seasonal trends - AustinTexas.gov

Health care workers and care home residents are to start receiving Covid boosters and autumn flu jabs from Monday as the autumn vaccination programme gets under way.

Thousands of people across Scotland have already been issued appointments, with the first inline receiving the inoculation today.

It comes ahead of an expected "winter wave of respiratory virus" with the flu possibly making a resurgence after a drop during the lockdown, the country's national clinical director warned.

Speaking to BBC Scotland Radio,Jason Leitch described Scotland's current Covid infection rates as"almost entirely good news" after cases were shown to have been at their lowest in eight months.

Around one in 55 people in private householdsnorth of the border were estimated to have the virus in the week to August 23, data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed.

However, Mr Leitch emphasised that a winter resurgence is expected and said: "Today's a really important day.

"This is the autumn booster for Covid and combined in many cases with flu so it is really important that people go for their appointment or make their appointment depending who they are."

The rollout will first see health and social care staffreceive the jab, alongside the "house-bound" which includes care home residents.

Mr Leitch said a portal has been open for some time to allow the essential workers to book an appointment for the jabs.

"The first day 35,000 of them signed up, that should tell you a little bit about how good this vaccine is if the health and social care workers want to queue up to get it," he added.

This rollout also marks the first time a bivalent vaccine, targeting two variants at once, will be issued to some Scots.

The 'Spikevax bivalent Original/Omicron has previously been described as asharpened tool in our armoury to fight against Covid.

"This is a kind of standard development," the national clinical director said."As vaccines come on stream, as the disease changes, the vaccine companies work on abetter in inverted commas vaccine.

"So this one has little bits in it that make it kind of amenable to Omicron original and Omicron new basically.

"We know the old vaccines, let's call them, still are absolutely fantastic. They are still doing really well, most of the world is using them, they are still reducing serious disease and death by huge percentages.

"So whichever vaccine you're offered, anywhere in the world, is the one you should get."

Speaking on new variants, he added:"The most important thing is what happens next and we are beginning to see new variants pop up with new numbers, but nothing so far.

"The trick is if they give it a new greek letter, that's more worrying. So if they just give it a new number attached to the old greek letter, don't panic.

"If they give it a new greek letter you'll have to have me in to talk about it probably and we don't want to have to learn the greek alphabet using Covid as our excuse of course."

Following the first group, the vaccine programme will then invite over 65s after which the over 50s will be able to book their appointment.

It is hoped that all groups will receive their vaccine by the end of the year with the rollout taking place in smaller centres.

Asked if there is a plan for a larger rollout for younger age groupsif there is a "massive covid outbreak in the winter", Mr Leitch said: "There is always. So the joint committee looks at the disease, the status of the people with immunity, where the immunity is going up or down all of that.

"So everything needs to be kept in reserve, we don't know what will happen with variants, we don't know. The doomsday scenario, of course, and this isn't to scare anybodywe don't expect it to happen but what if we get one from somewhere else in the world that escapes our vaccine and that sets us back.

"It probably won't set us back to the beginning but it might set us back a little so you've got to have everything in reserve."

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Flu and Covid jab programme starts ahead of 'winter wave of respiratory virus' - HeraldScotland

Modellers have been using flu-tracking data to tease out incidence of Covid-19 in New Zealand. Photo / NZME

Piggy-backing a major flu survey has been giving modellers a handy insight into our Covid-19 rates and all without relying on test results.

In a new study, Kiwi researchers have outlined how they used weekly data from the Flutracking survey to get a fresh perspective on Covid-19 in New Zealand, where another 1103 new cases and 11 virus-linked deaths have been reported today.

For Dr Emily Harvey and her University of Auckland colleagues, the internationally-run survey, in which tens of thousands of Kiwis now self-report any influenza-like symptoms, offered a rich vein of data to mine.

Over the nearly two years where our elimination measures wiped out flu here, it provided a useful way to measure possible coronavirus cases against the number of PCR tests being carried out.

This told them not just how high testing rates truly were, but also how quickly a new community outbreak might be picked up.

"Although we looked into other sources of data, including from GPs and Healthline, we found that these other data sources all had major limitations," Harvey said.

The biggest one: that people typically only reached for those services when their cold or flu symptoms became severe enough.

"This is an issue for monitoring Covid-19 testing, because we know that only around 20 to 25 per cent of Covid-19 cases will have the 'influenza-like illness' symptoms of cough and fever, and this varies with different variants."

After FluTracking was widened to ask about a range of Covid-like symptoms, including "runny nose" and "sore throat", the team saw a new way to capture infected people who weren't necessarily seeking healthcare.

Their first step was to define two new groupings from the data those reporting any one or more, or two or more, Covid-like symptoms alongside those people with cough and fever.

That allowed them to capture a greater proportion of Covid-19 cases, as well as more non-Covid respiratory illnesses that were also circulating but couldn't be picked apart without a Covid test.

Next, they made careful adjustments to correct for two known biases that participants were more likely to report symptoms, and that certain age groups were under or over-represented which could distort incidence estimates.

"Once we'd done this, we also used some statistical packages to calculate confidence bands for our weekly estimates," Harvey said.

"This was important to capture how much of the week-to-week variability we were seeing could be coming just from low survey responses, particularly in small regions or under-represented age groups, and how much we could have confidence that the increase or decrease seen was real."

The result was a smart tool the team has been using since late-2020 to inform modelling and our wider Covid-19 response - and outlined in a study just published in open-access science journal MethodX.

"Although Flutracker cannot distinguish what is causing the symptoms, the expansion of the symptoms asked about has meant that we've been able to track the rates of respiratory illness in different age groups and in different regions," she said.

"We have seen clear signals of reductions in respiratory illnesses in school-aged groups during school holidays, with resulting drops in adults in the week or two following.

"Similarly, when schools go back, we consistently see an increase in rates of illness in school-aged children, with a rise seen in adults in the week or two after."

Over 2020 and 2021, Harvey found it handy in counter-acting headlines claiming that testing rates were plummeting, when it could clearly be seen the alert level restrictions were also lowering the spread of all respiratory illnesses.

"The number of people actually getting sick was dropping as fast, if not faster, than the testing numbers so, our estimates of the testing rates were still very high."

This year, they've turned to it for estimating how many rapid antigen tests should be distributed, to ensure that everyone with new symptoms consistent with Covid-19 was getting tested.

"It's also been used in conjunction with other surveillance data, including wastewater testing, to help give confidence that observed case number drops are real, and not just a drop off in reporting."

That was important, Harvey added, pointing out that the FluTracker data could be picking up other illnesses with similar symptoms to Covid-19 and indeed, it this year captured what was one of New Zealand's biggest flu waves in years.

"To get insights into what is causing those symptoms, this data needs to be combined with surveillance testing that ESR and others do on swabs from hospital and other settings, and the incredibly valuable work done as part of the WellKiwis study, where participants with any respiratory illness get swabbed to determine which virus is causing the illness."

As experts have often pointed out, the numbers officially reported each day weren't reflecting the true picture of Covid-19 in New Zealand something not just down to people not testing, but asymptomatic cases and RATs not picking up infections.

"Estimating the true proportion of people who have had Covid is crucially important for knowing the height of the 'immunity wall' and thus the size and timing of future waves, but also for knowing where the burden of disease if falling - who is being hit hardest by the infection," Harvey said.

The critical missing piece of evidence remained a national Covid-19 Infection Prevalence Survey something the Ministry of Health had initially planned to launch in July.

"This would give a robust estimate of the proportion of people each week who have Covid-19, as well as valuable information on things like what symptoms people had, and their experiences of the illness," Harvey said.

"With Covid-19 here to stay, the sooner this gets up and running, the better."

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Covid-19: What NZ flu data is revealing about coronavirus - New Zealand Herald

A new virus called tomato flu has been reported in Kerala, India. According to an article in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine, the first case of this mysterious illness was reported on May 6. There have now been over 80 cases, with the disease spreading to other parts of India.

Most of those infected are children under the age of five, with symptoms including a high temperature, intense joint pain and a rash. The children also suffered an eruption of red, painful blisters that grew to the size of a tomato hence the name.

Although the children can be unwell, there have been no reports of serious illness or death so far. Everyone seems to be recovering.

Doctors treating the children were unsure what was causing this illness. The temperature, aches and pains could be due to any number of infections. They speculated that it might be the result of some exotic-sounding viruses that are transmitted by mosquitoes, such as dengue and chikungunya or even chickenpox.

They thought that perhaps the unusual tomato-shaped rash might be occurring because children were reacting differently to infections after they had COVID. Also, because of the large size of the spots, there was even a suggestion that it might be monkeypox.

Scientists have been testing samples from children with tomato flu to try to identify the cause of the disease. Two children in the UK who developed suspected tomato flu symptoms after returning from a family holiday in Kerala were swabbed. The lab results revealed that they were infected with an enterovirus named coxsackie A16.

Coxsackie A16 causes hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD), so-called because the patient has blisters on the palms of their hands, soles of their feet and in their mouth.

So it seems that tomato flu is actually HFMD. It is not a type of influenza, has nothing to do with tomatoes and is not a new disease at all.

It is not in any way related to foot and mouth disease of cattle. It is usually mild and clears up by itself within a week or so, although pain relief can be helpful.

Sometimes people get sores in their mouth, which makes it hard to swallow, so dehydration can be a problem in small children. In very rare cases, the person can develop viral meningitis. But it is important to note that, so far, no cases of serious illness following tomato flu have been reported from India.

Like many common childhood infections, it is very contagious and can be spread through faeces and the fluid in the spots, so parents are advised that children with HFMD should be kept away from school or nursery for five days after the symptoms start.

Viruses have been doing strange things since the COVID pandemic started. For example seasonal winter viruses spread in summer 2020, and no one is entirely sure what caused the outbreak of hepatitis in children in 2021. And until 2022, monkeypox outbreaks outside of Africa only involved small numbers of people.

Now we have these unusually large tomato-type rashes that arent typical of HFMD. It will be interesting to find out why the spots looked different enough for the disease to be given a new name. The tomato flu rash might be due to a range of different causes, and this highlights the value of accurate laboratory testing for viruses. However, it is worth noting that fewer than 100 cases of tomato flu have been reported since early May. So the outbreak is probably under control.

Sarah Pitt, Principal Lecturer, Microbiology and Biomedical Science Practice, Fellow of the Institute of Biomedical Science, University of Brighton

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Sarah Pitt does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

University of Brightonprovides funding as a member of The Conversation UK.

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'Tomato flu' outbreak in India here's what it really is - Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance

Global public health continues to be threatened by zoonotic and pandemic influenza.The virus has a high mutation rate, owing to its interspecies transmissibility and adaptability. The influenza A virus has diverse avian and animal origins with several viral subtypes; those in aquatic birds differ in neuraminidase (N1-N9) and hemagglutinin (H1 H16).

Subtypes H6 and H9 of the influenza A virus infect game birds like pheasants, quails, and domestic chickens. H9N2 viruses containing acquired neuraminidase (NA) and hemagglutinin (HA) genes generate H5N1, H5N6, H10N8, and H7N9 viruses that may infect poultry and thereby threaten another zoonotic outbreak and onset of a pandemic.

A recent virological study published in theEmerging Infectious Diseases journal identified the novel influenza A virus (H3N8) in live poultry in Hong Kong, genetically similar to the zoonotic H3N8 viruses reported in mainland China with its origin akin to H5N1, H5N6, H10N8, and H7N9 viruses. In addition, a risk assessment approach has been described to estimate the effects of human age stratified immunity in a population.

Study: Novel Zoonotic Avian Influenza Virus A(H3N8) Virus in Chicken, Hong Kong, China. Image Credit:krugloff/ Shutterstock

The study entailed virologic surveillance between December 2021 and March 2022. Influenza A(H3N8) virus was identified in samples collected from four farms (A-D) in the study duration. All four farms were serologically positive for past H3N8 infections. Consequently, the caretakers were advised to disinfect their farms thoroughly and strengthen their biosecurity measures. Follow-up testing was conducted in May 2022 and again at the end of June 2022; all four farms tested negative for the influenza A(H3N8) virus.

Between January and June 2022, many swab samples of drinking water from poultry cages, defeathering machines, fecal droppings, and chopping boards were sampled from stalls and markets. One swab specimen from a defeathering machine and one chopping board from two different live poultry markets were H3N8 positive. DNA barcoding determined that the virus detected in the swab specimens originated from domestic chickens.

Full-genome phylogenetic analysis of the isolated influenza A (H3N8) viruses revealed a close relationship between H3N8 viruses isolated from farms and poultry markets and an H3N8 viral strain implicated in the zoonotic outbreak in mainland China. The polymerase acidic, nonstructural protein, NA, polymerase basic 1 and 2, and M gene segments were identical to the G57 sublineage of the H9N2 virus found in mainland China. The sequences of the HA gene were derived from the Eurasian avian H3 lineage, which is found in wild birds and ducks.

Phylogenetic analysis of influenza A(H3N8) viruses isolated from chicken farms, live poultry markets, and the Mai Po Wetlands, Hong Kong, China (bold). A) Hemagglutinin gene segment; B) neuraminidase gene segment; C) polymerase basic 2 gene segments. Strains were analyzed with other relevant virus sequence data available in public databases (accession numbers in Appendix Table). Trees were generated by using IQ-tree (https://www.iqtree.org) with the general time reversible plus gamma model. Bootstrap values>80% are shown. Scale bars indicate estimated genetic distances.

NA gene sequence of H3N8 in poultry A was from the North American lineage. On the other hand, the N8 NA sequence detected by DNA barcoding of a virus from a fecal specimen in Hong Kong in 2018 was derived from Northern pintail duck orAnas acuta.

Two H3N8 viruses from fecal dropping samples from Hong Kong were related to the Northern shoveler duck orAnus clypeata;these strains were unrelated to chicken H3N8 in all gene segments. A similarity was found between the N8 gene segment sequence and the H3N8 virus from other aquatic birds in mainland China. Except for the N8 NA gene segment, no other gene segments detected in poultry Influenza A(H3N8) virus were from the wild bird H3N8 virus from Hong Kong.

Referencing was carried out of HI titers with the World Health Organization (WHO) antiserum to A/Switzerland/8060/2017 against A/chicken/MKT-AB13cp/2020 H3N8 virus and on comparing with the A/Switzerland/8060/2017 homologous virus. Limited antigenic cross-reactivity was noted among the novel avian influenza A(H3N8) virus and the seasonal human H3N2 viruses.

The overall seroprevalence was insignificant in human serum samples stratified by age. In contrast, high seroprevalence in the same serum samples was observed in a recent seasonal influenza A (H3N8) virus in humans.

Herd immunity is an important parameter when assessing any pandemic threat of zoonotic origin.

According to the study, the influenza (AH3N8) virus has been detected among poultry in Hong Kong. This virus might pose a serious zoonotic and pandemic threat. Therefore, it is recommended that poultry surveillance for this virus be enhanced, a comprehensive risk assessment be conducted, and pandemic seed vaccine strains be prepared if necessary.

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Detection of a novel bird flu virus with pandemic potential - News-Medical.Net