Bird Flu News:

• Many U.S. parents feel uninformed about bird flu risks, a new poll found. (CIDRAP)
• Two cats in Belgium died after being infected with bird flu on a poultry farm there, and four more cats in New Jersey tested positive for H5N1. (CIDRAP)
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Measles News:

• Texas is up to 223 cases, up by 25 since Friday… (TX DSHS)
• …But epidemiologists suspect that the real number of cases in West Texas and New Mexico may be considerably higher. (YLE)
• The CDC issued an advisory to doctors to encourage their patients to get the MMR vaccine, especially before international travel. (CDC)
• A Maryland resident with confirmed measles may have exposed others at Dulles Airport and a local healthcare facility two days later. (Maryland.gov)‍
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Health News:

• Two federal food safety advisory panels were disbanded this week, including the USDA’s committee on meat and poultry inspection. (Washington Post)
• Cargill, Inc. says the U.S. can’t fully replace seed oils because there isn’t a large enough supply of alternative oils. (Bloomberg)
• The NIH will limit or terminate grants related to vaccine hesitancy and uptake. (Washington Post)
• The FL Department of Health issued a rabies alert for Volusia County after a cat and other wild animals in the area tested positive. Residents are advised to avoid contact with wild animals. (Fox)
• RFK Jr. plans to meet this week with executives of large food companies like General Mills and PepsiCo to discuss his healthy foods agenda. (Politico)

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Best Questions:

What is hantavirus? We regularly clean up after mice and rats. Should we be concerned?

The media is frantic about the strange deaths of Betsy Arakawa and her husband, the actor Gene Hackman. After a week of mystery, her death was determined to be caused by hantavirus infection. It’s particularly sad because hantavirus is so rare - last year there were only 15 deaths in the U.S. from respiratory disease caused by the virus. It’s spread to people who have contact with rodents or their droppings, urine, or saliva. Human cases of hantavirus are most common in the Western U.S. Not every type of mouse or rat carries hantavirus, but it’s very hard to tell rodents apart if you’re not a pro, so it’s best to take precautions (PPE) any time you’re cleaning up after rodents.

Here are some best practices your employees should use when cleaning up after rodents:

• Wear an N95 mask and disposable gloves.
• Spray the area down with a 10% bleach solution or disinfectant spray and let soak for 5 minutes. This helps prevent you from breathing in the virus.
• Use paper towels to wipe up, then wipe the area with disinfectant again.
• Wash gloved hands thoroughly, then wash hands again after removing gloves.

We love this graphic from the CDC’s hantavirus prevention document. We’d just add an N95 mask, since they’re easy to use and widely available.

Source: CDC

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What are the real risks of the measles vaccine, and how do they compare to the actual risk of my child getting measles, which is usually mild?

We get it - there is so much information out there, and you care about your child’s health. This answer is long but detailed so that you understand all the information.

The REAL risks of MMR vaccines:

Like most vaccines, there are common side effects like a sore arm or temporary fever or rash. In addition, measles has some rarer risks, including:

• Swelling in the cheeks or neck.
• Temporary low platelet count, which can cause a bleeding disorder that usually goes away without treatment and is not life-threatening.
• Seizures caused by fever in infants. (This gets more common as an infant gets older, so vaccinating on time can reduce this risk. There’s no evidence of long-term effects of these seizures.)
• Severe allergic reaction to some component of the vaccine.

There is no link between the MMR vaccine and autism — but one in four Americans think so!  

• The MMR vaccine is given at about the same age that parents might start noticing early signs of autism in children, so it makes sense that some questioned whether they might be related.
• But, the link between the MMR vaccine and autism is a myth started by a British scientist who conducted a study of just 12 children that was published in the Lancet but was later debunked and retracted due to fraudulent data and ethical concerns (among others, the lead scientist was suing the manufacturers of the MMR vaccine and had registered a competitor vaccine to MMR).
• Since then, dozens of studies - including a massive one with 535,000 kids in Denmark and others in the U.S. and U.K. have found zero link between autism and the MMR vaccine.

Measles is usually mild, but overall, it’s more dangerous than the MMR vaccine.

• We love this graphic from the NYT that really puts these risks into perspective.

• Yes, any medicine or vaccine has risks. But with the MMR vaccine, those risks are incredibly small compared to the risk you take if your child actually gets the measles.
• It’s true - your kid probably won’t get the measles, and even if they do, it’ll probably be mild. It’s a small, proactive risk to get them vaccinated, versus the small chance that they get measles, and then a much higher chance of complications if they do.

Sources: Unicef, Time, Parents.com, CDC, NIH

Best Read:

It’s been five years since COVID first hit the United States. These charts - from serious to silly - are an interesting way to reflect on just how much changed as we mark the anniversary.  

30 Charts That Show How Covid Changed Everything in March 2020 - The New York Times

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