By now we have all heard of the outbreak of Hanta virus on a Dutch cruise ship. In a way it is a kind of fire drill for how well we are prepared for an outbreak of a contagious disease. The disease isn't particularly contagious, and it is "mostly" spread by rodents. However it is serious and lethal, with a fatality rate of nearly 50%. And it has affected some American citizens. And it is the Andes strain, which can be transmitted person to person, though it requires close contact, and doesn't appear to spread through the air like Covid.
There is a good discussion in an interview on The Bulwark with epidemologist, Katelyn Jetalina:
Why is the CDC Silent About the Hantavirus Outbreak? (w/ Katelyn Jetelina)
The interview was meant to be somewhat reassuring, but wasn't entirely. I didn't realize that the US had dropped out of WHO, the World Health Organization, in the second Trump term. The CDC is working with WHO, with special permission (from who? It wasn't entirely clear if this came from WHO, or the US government).
The staff of the CDC has been reduced by a third, by DOGE. Dr. Jetelina was one of the people who were laid off.
A Nebraska connection: Nebraska Medicine/UNMC asked to monitor U.S. citizens from cruise ship hantavirus outbreak | Newsroom | University of Nebraska Medical Center
"Nebraska Medicine and the University of Nebraska Medical Center have been asked by federal partners to receive and monitor U.S. citizens from the cruise ship associated with a hantavirus outbreak. These individuals will be observed in the National Quarantine Unit, located on the campus of Nebraska Medical Center and UNMC. Nebraska Medicine and UNMC are working closely with the Douglas County Health Department, Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services and federal health partners to coordinate the effort."
"The National Quarantine Unit is the only federally funded quarantine unit in the United States, designed specifically to safely house and monitor people who may have been exposed to high-consequence infectious diseases. “We are prepared for situations exactly like this,” said Michael Ash, MD, CEO of Nebraska Medicine. “Our teams have trained for decades alongside federal and state partners to make sure we can safely provide care while protecting our staff and the broader community. We are proud to support this national effort.”
"...Nebraska Medical Center also is home to the Nebraska Biocontainment Unit, a highly specialized facility designed to care for patients with high-consequence infectious diseases. Should anyone develop symptoms, they can be safely treated in this unit."
This biocontainment unit was used in 2014 to care for two doctors who had been infected during their work overseas with Ebola.
It's good to know that we have resources in the US, but it is not reassuring that we are no longer coordinated with the WHO. If we had a more contagious disease, or if this one took a more contagious turn, we are ill prepared.
I didn't mention above that a complicating factor with Hanta virus is that the incubation period can be up to 45 days. So it can be several weeks until people know they are in the clear. Which also makes contact tracing and identifying the source of infection much more difficult.
ReplyDeleteThere aren't any anti viral meds known to be effective at present, though several are being evaluated. This needs to be a priority.
Sounds like a potential nightmare
DeleteTrump announced that he was beginning the one year process to leave WHO on the same day he was inaugurated. It was just finalized and the US is officially no longer a member .
DeleteThe only saving grace is that it doesn't appear to be super contagious. But if you do catch it you're in for a fight for your life.
DeletePublic health, things like the CDC and WHO, aren't sexy, buzzy issues like all the culture war stuff, and litmus issues like immigration, and war and peace issues. But potentially they affect us more than these. No one is running for office on public health advocacy. But they should be. We all saw how a pandemic can disrupt everything.
Trump was a one man wrecking ball and demolition crew from day 1 of his second term. He probably was in his first term, too, but there were at least some people around then to mitigate some of his worst impulses.
DeleteOn the right in the US, there is a lot of distrust of the WHO. A big part of that is the Right's almost reflexive distrust of international and multinational organizations (such as the UN).
ReplyDeleteThe WHO also hurt its reputation by prematurely ruling out the possibility that COVID emerged from a lab in Wuhan (to which US government funding allegedly contributed). This angle has received a lot of airplay in right-wing media.
I think the church's view on this is that it is better for humanity that countries, especially a wealthy and powerful country like the US, participate in these multinational endeavors like the WHO, the UN, the World Bank and so on. Thus, the church wouldn't be happy with the UK's exiting the European Union via Brexit.
I'd like the to think the church also wouldn't want its members to turn a blind eye to these organizations' biases, corruption and incompetence (to the extent these things exist).
It was probably a mistake on the part of WHO to rule out a lab related accident prematurely. On the other hand diseases do cross over from animals in natural habitat to humans. Sometimes "We don't know" is a legitimate answer, when they don't know definitively.
DeleteI agree it is better for humanity when the US can collaborate in multinational endeavors like WHO.
Jim - “I'd like the to think the church also wouldn't want its members to turn a blind eye to these organizations' biases, corruption and incompetence (to the extent these things exis”
DeleteBased on my experience in DC, including knowing many who work for the UN organizations like the World Bank, WHO etc and for the federal government, I would say that (IMHO) the current administration has all of these faults— biases, corruption and incompetence—to a far, far greater degree than the international organizations. But the American bishops seem to turn a blind eye to it.
Katherine, has anyone actually proven that Covid escaped from a lab? I thought that the source of it was still ambiguous - nothing actually proven.
DeleteAs I understand it, they haven't proven that it escaped from the lab. But they haven't proven that it didn't, either. At question was the use of "gain of function" research. Which is, enhancing a pathogen's capabilities (for qualities such as virulence or resistance) on purpose, for research purposes. My feeling is that they shouldn't do that, it is simply too risky. And lends itself to conspiracy theories.
DeleteKatherine , I was very upset with the lab escape conspiracy theories I saw because they were saying that Dr Fauci was behind the experiments in the lab and that he stood to make millions from the vaccines. My older sister sent one to me. Her husband had gotten it from a deacon in their parish. They were, and still are, trumpers, ready to believe any right- wing lie they got. I traced that particular viral email to a 20 something guy in Toronto who had set himself up as an expert organization with a fancy name on the web. It consisted of himself and one other person, busily inventing lies to smear Fauci and every other legitimate COVID expert and facilitating their viral transmission..
DeleteI don’t know Dr Fauci personally, I’ve only seen him at athletic events that his daughter and our son were both participating in. Mutual acquaintances at NIH speak highly of him. I believe that he is a man of integrity. He and his family, including his three daughters, received so many death threats that all of the family was finally assigned security guards by the Biden government. My son knew one of his daughters in high school. I know the neighborhood where the family home is. It’s a pretty, treed neighborhood of older homes. No mansions there - just nice, older homes. One daughter was teaching in New Orleans and the threats found her there. At least at the moment, trump seems to be ignoring him. He was on the enemies list - the traitors list that trump suggested should be shot for treason. I hope he and his wife can again have their quiet walks around their neighborhood of decades, greeting their neighbors without fear or needing armed security walking with them.
Trump has created ongoing and very expensive nightmares for his enemies. And while he is improperly using taxpayer funded DOJ to carry out his revenge campaign, his innocent victims are having to spend huge sums of money to defend themselves.
Anne, I also think Dr. Fauci is a person of integrity. People like Tucker Carlson have stoked the rumors about the origins of the Covid virus. As far as I know they have provided no proof.
DeleteThe medical community speaks well of Dr. Fauci.
I have two nephews who are doctors, and a niece who is a PA. These family members have shared how difficult it was for healthcare workers who worked during the pandemic. They had to deal with patients and the public who would rather believe the rumors and the talk show hosts than people with actual medical training.
Doctors and nurses and other healthcare workers on the front lines in hospitals during Covid were truly heroic with all they had to put up with.
DeleteBtw, in response to the US's withdrawal from the WHO, my state, Illinois, has joined the WHO on its own. This is in part to have a lifeline to scientific and medical support in light of the CDC's significant reduction of aid to the state. (The CDC is seeking to cut ~$350 million in funding to the state, although I believe a federal court has put an injunction on those cuts, at least temporarily.)
ReplyDeleteAnother factor in the state's decision to join the WHO is the state's public health officials' refusal to accept the new vaccination theories emanating from Robert F Kennedy Jr.
I didn't know that states could join WHO on their own. But I think that was a good move on the part of Illinois, especially in view of federal cutbacks to CDC.
DeleteJim- “Thus, the church wouldn't be happy with the UK's exiting the European Union via Brexit”.
DeleteFrom what I read, the Brits aren’t happy about the exit now either. Buyers remorse after buying the snake oil.
It sounds as if Illinois has some sane leadership. But it seems too that trump is shifting as much as possible to the states by cutting funding for healthcare etc so that his tax cuts for the rich will be funded by the poor - and the states.
Our governor, JB Pritzker, is pretty sane, and also pretty effective. He's on the list of possible Democratic presidential candidates for 2028.
DeleteRe: Brexit: I don't remember if I said this here (or on dotCommonweal in those days), but my thing was: my heart was for it (or at least sympathized with the wish to be independent of foreign interference), but my head was against it. I didn't believe for a moment the Brexiter claims that Brexit wouldn't hurt the British economically. And apparently it didn't impact immigration.
DeleteIf Britain was to change its mind and ask to rejoin, I am not certain the EU would let the UK back in. That's not the right approach, either.
I think there was this mental image of an English bulldog with a Winston Churchill face, that they were just going to "muddle through" on their own. But it hasn't quite worked out the way they wanted it to.
DeleteI don't think the EU would let them back in now. They're going to have to figure out their own way forward. Maybe they'll have some helpful hints for us when we try to figure out life after Trump. Because there will be life after Trump.
The impact of Brexit was totally predictable. Rational economists explained it but the right- wing refused to listen. Plus the Brits still cling to a self- image formed by the long- gone glories of Empire and were persuaded by the snake oil salesmen that leaving the EU would restore those glory days to them.
DeleteI wonder if their clinging to the monarchy is a nostalgia for the Empire. But the British Empire was responsible for a lot of mischief. Lots of people died under its oppression. It established artificial borders that cause conflict today. And it supported the Zionist project in Israel for its own purposes. The US is now heir to this tarnished legacy. I wonder what vestigial delusions our country will try to maintain after our empire withers away which seems to be happening rapidly under Trump.
DeleteProbably clinging to monarchy because of nostalgia. Plus the monarchy brings in millions from tourists. They were pretty awful under Queens Elizabeth and Victoria especially. It’s truly amazing that Gandhi succeeded using peaceful resistance methods.
DeleteHappy Mother”s Day to Katherine,, Teresa, Betty, and Jean! 👌🌺🌷
ReplyDeleteThanks Anne! I hope you had a happy Mother's Day as well.
DeleteI am reading that early this morning 17 Americans from the Hantavirus-infected cruise ship landed in Omaha, where they will be cared for at the ASPR Regional Emerging Special Pathogen Treatment Center at the University of Nebraska Medical Center:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.msn.com/en-us/health/other/17-americans-from-hantavirus-infected-cruise-ship-including-1-who-tested-positive-return-to-us/ar-AA22UHlX?ocid=BingNewsSerp
They will be well cared for, but isolation is a daunting experience, and I don't think any of them are actually from Omaha or Nebraska. It is unclear how long they will have to be there before they can go home. It could be as long as 45 days.