Bird Flu News:

• Cows in CA are dying at much higher rates from bird flu than in other affected states, and some carcasses are rotting as farms struggle to keep up - potentially spreading more of the disease via scavengers. (Reuters)
• CDC confirmed the 5 likely H5N1 cases in human dairy workers in California, bringing the state total to 11 human cases. (CIDRAP)
• Utah and Washington state both have confirmed H5N1 outbreaks on poultry layer farms, with over 2 million birds between them. It’s WA’s first poultry outbreak this year. (USDA)

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Health News: 

• The BrucePac ready-to-eat meat recall has expanded once again by over 1.5 million pounds of meat, including products distributed to schools. (USDA)
• The USDA has launched an internal investigation into the deadly Boar’s Head Listeria outbreak. (AP)
• The FDA placed a clinical hold on Novavax’s combo flu-and-COVID vaccine due to a possible adverse event. (Novavax)
• The first two flu deaths of the season in CT occurred, in a 91-year-old and an infant. (NBC)
• This year’s flu shot doesn’t include the B/Yamagata lineage because there haven’t been any confirmed cases since spring 2020. (NPR)
• Illegal online pharmacies are selling counterfeit pills made with fentanyl and meth to people who believe they’re buying real drugs like Adderall, some of which remain in short supply. (DEA)
• Africa’s mpox outbreak just reached 1,000 deaths, and still rising. (CIDRAP)

Mental Health & Substance Use News:

• San Francisco overdose deaths have plummeted, following a national trend of lower deaths, as well. (SF Chronicle)
• Lawmakers have proposed restrictions on social media for kids as more are depressed and anxious, but some scientists say it’s hard to tell if they’ll help. (WSJ)

If you or someone you know may be considering suicide or need help, call or text 988.

Best Questions:

What are the symptoms of whooping cough, and how can it tell it apart from COVID, flu or RSV?

At first, pertussis, more commonly known as whooping cough, is very similar to the common cold in most kids and adults: runny nose, low-grade fever, and mild cough. Then, a week or two after symptoms first start, people start to have intense coughing fits, sometimes with a high-pitched “whooping” sound when they inhale between coughs - hence the name. These coughing fits can last for weeks and worsen over time. Many people say it’s the worst cough of their lives. Small babies may have different and very serious symptoms, like struggling to breathe. 1 in 3 infants under one year with whooping cough end up hospitalized, but others appear to just have symptoms of the common cold throughout. For most kids and adults, it’s very hard to tell whooping cough apart from COVID, flu, RSV or even a common cold during the first two weeks. But once the telltale coughing fits start, it’s relatively easy to test for Bordetella pertussis, the bacteria that causes whooping cough. As a reminder, there is a vaccine for both kids and adults, and adults should get a Tdap booster about every 10 years. You may have gotten a booster during pregnancy or been asked to get a booster before being around a newborn, but if you haven’t been vaccinated in the past 10 years, you can get boosted again now. 

Source: CDC

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The FDA paused Novavax’s clinical trial for a combo flu+COVID shot. Should I still get Novavax for my regular COVID shot this year? 

Let’s back up and talk about what happened in Novavax’s Phase 2 clinical trial for a combo flu and COVID shot. One person outside of the U.S. was a participant in the trial. They got the shot in January 2023. The clinical trial was done by July of that year, and then the person reported motor neuropathy, or issues with the nerves that control muscles, in September 2024. While the report came in September of this year, more than a year after the clinical trial ended, it’s not clear when their symptoms first started. Novavax’s Chief Medical Officer says they “do not believe causality has been established,” meaning that they aren’t sure the sudden motor neuropathy has anything to do with the fact that this person participated in the clinical trial. But science moves cautiously, and the FDA has put a hold on their clinical trials for both the combo shot and a new standalone flu vaccine while further investigation is completed. While this can be unsettling, our take is that this actually shows the public the great lengths that regulators go to make sure that any vaccines that hit the market are safe. We’re glad that they’re pausing trials to take a closer look. There have been no reports of motor neuropathy related to Novavax’s COVID shot or any of their older, already-approved vaccines. Long story short, the FDA (and we at ZHH) believe the Novavax COVID shot is still a fantastic option for getting updated protection against COVID this winter, especially for people who want an alternative to mRNA vaccines, either because they felt crummy after their previous shots or for other reasons. 

Sources: Novavax, CNBC, Reuters

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Best Read:

The Global Threat of Antibiotic Resistance - The New York Times

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