Katelyn, your communication skills are as impressive as your epidemiology skills. I love your clear, factual and hopeful writing - the perfect way to start our week. Thank you! 🙏
We have bird flu here along the parks bordering Lake Michigan. The City of Evanston hired a private contractor to safely collect the ducks, geese, gulls, and other birds found in the parks.
Thank you for the idea to contact our local public health authorities so they can provide frequent updates. We have that at the state level.
Katelyn, curious if you know why the CDC doesn't talk much about the TB outbreak in AK? It has been on going for years and seems to be ramping up. I looked at the Alaska Department of health website also and most of their data is from 2022. I guess the raw numbers are not as high as other places, but the rates are quite high due to the small population. (https://www.cdc.gov/tb-surveillance-report-2023/tables/table-2.html) I work part time in Southwestern Alaska and can tell you from experience that the numbers are much higher than they were 20 years ago. I routinely see pts with active TB and many on meds for latent TB each time I work up there this was not the case in the early 2000. I suspect many of the cases are isolated to smaller rural native villages and hence seems even more prevalent.
I assume it has to do with Alaska being a unique State. Alaska is notorious for sharing very limited data (or none at all) with CDC for a good reason. Because the population density is small, public health officials have to be very careful in describing outbreaks and sharing data that don't lead to the ability to identify individuals.
Thanks for the update! One correx/clarification...your post says:
"Other beverages like 100% juice, flavored milk, and plant-based milk alternatives (except fortified soy milk for allergies or specific dietary patterns) should be limited."
The other-than-cow-milk recommendation was not limited to soy milk; that was just noted as one example among the many unsweetened plant-based milk alternatives out there. I regularly drink unsweetened, calcium-fortified macadamia nut milk, as well as a similar coconut/almond blend. Here's the full recommendation:
"Only recommended when medically indicated (e.g., milk protein allergy) or to meet
specific dietary patterns (e.g., vegan). Choose alternatives that are nutritionally similar
to milk, such as unsweetened, fortified soy milk. Avoid plant-based milk alternatives
The recommendations are for children, internationally. The rationale for avoiding plant-based milks other than soy is that they are not nutritionally adequate for protein and certain minerals.
I'll add that they aren't standardized, either. Some are very watery. The risk is that children are fed a thin plant-based milk believing it to be nutritionally equivalent to dairy or soy milk, displacing nutrients from other sources.
Dawned on me. Maybe we could get more people to listen to our public science (like YLE) which is delivering the messages instead of them coming from the Government organization which many do not trust. The message would be the same but different source. Don't understand why people are so opposed to Government messages today. These organizations are made up of people who mostly want to help others just like the rest of us.
I have a question. I live in a rural community in the far northern part of California. Recently, a local teacher made a request on Nextdoor for fertilized eggs for a grade school class project. She incubated eggs from various domestic fowl in her classroom. She does this every year and includes photos of the children cuddling birds. I posted my concerns about H5N1 exposure, and included links to information provided here and other reputable sites. I was widely mocked by the poster and everyone else that commented. Am I wrong to be concerned?
Why only plain water? I have seen nothing indicating that consuming naturally flavored sparkling water is unhealthy, particularly compared to the alternatives. Nobody realistically is going to just drink plain flavorless water or milk all the time.
What I have seen is that selzer with acidic flavors could potentially have an effect, but generally speaking flavored selzers are usually not an issue for healthy adults. For instance, this from ADA:
And again, looking at a harm reduction model, you have to compare whether this mild theoretical harm for sparkling water is greater than that of other beverages that a 5-18 year old would be inclined to have if they are tired of plain water and milk.
FYI, I enrolled in Project Protects months ago at your suggestion, and weathered RSV with their help last week! I’m so proud to be a science data contributor!
Was there an edition where YLE discussed what types of policies/actions should have been taken to contain the H5N1 outbreak better? I remember last year (?) I had circulated some guides on how to protect backyard poultry--which maybe I got from ya'll!-- but what are other best practices that would have helped prevent the spread?
Your green dot for TB jumped Lake Michigan to Wisconsin. Kalamazoo is in Michigan :-)
Well, that is a very embarrassing mistake. Fixed it! Thanks for the comment.
I was about to share that same comment!
Katelyn, your communication skills are as impressive as your epidemiology skills. I love your clear, factual and hopeful writing - the perfect way to start our week. Thank you! 🙏
💯agree!
me too
We have bird flu here along the parks bordering Lake Michigan. The City of Evanston hired a private contractor to safely collect the ducks, geese, gulls, and other birds found in the parks.
Thank you for the idea to contact our local public health authorities so they can provide frequent updates. We have that at the state level.
Do you mean Lake Illinois?
;)
Katelyn, curious if you know why the CDC doesn't talk much about the TB outbreak in AK? It has been on going for years and seems to be ramping up. I looked at the Alaska Department of health website also and most of their data is from 2022. I guess the raw numbers are not as high as other places, but the rates are quite high due to the small population. (https://www.cdc.gov/tb-surveillance-report-2023/tables/table-2.html) I work part time in Southwestern Alaska and can tell you from experience that the numbers are much higher than they were 20 years ago. I routinely see pts with active TB and many on meds for latent TB each time I work up there this was not the case in the early 2000. I suspect many of the cases are isolated to smaller rural native villages and hence seems even more prevalent.
I assume it has to do with Alaska being a unique State. Alaska is notorious for sharing very limited data (or none at all) with CDC for a good reason. Because the population density is small, public health officials have to be very careful in describing outbreaks and sharing data that don't lead to the ability to identify individuals.
Can you say why Vermont has been white lately? Are we no longer collecting and sharing data in Vermont?
Thanks so much for your work!
I'm honestly not sure, but will look into this for you!
Add another curious Vermonter to this list
+1 another Vermonter
why is VT white? No data? I know the flu is here.....
Thanks for the update! One correx/clarification...your post says:
"Other beverages like 100% juice, flavored milk, and plant-based milk alternatives (except fortified soy milk for allergies or specific dietary patterns) should be limited."
The other-than-cow-milk recommendation was not limited to soy milk; that was just noted as one example among the many unsweetened plant-based milk alternatives out there. I regularly drink unsweetened, calcium-fortified macadamia nut milk, as well as a similar coconut/almond blend. Here's the full recommendation:
"Only recommended when medically indicated (e.g., milk protein allergy) or to meet
specific dietary patterns (e.g., vegan). Choose alternatives that are nutritionally similar
to milk, such as unsweetened, fortified soy milk. Avoid plant-based milk alternatives
containing added sugar or non-sugar sweeteners."
The recommendations are for children, internationally. The rationale for avoiding plant-based milks other than soy is that they are not nutritionally adequate for protein and certain minerals.
I'll add that they aren't standardized, either. Some are very watery. The risk is that children are fed a thin plant-based milk believing it to be nutritionally equivalent to dairy or soy milk, displacing nutrients from other sources.
Dawned on me. Maybe we could get more people to listen to our public science (like YLE) which is delivering the messages instead of them coming from the Government organization which many do not trust. The message would be the same but different source. Don't understand why people are so opposed to Government messages today. These organizations are made up of people who mostly want to help others just like the rest of us.
Thanks as always
I have a question. I live in a rural community in the far northern part of California. Recently, a local teacher made a request on Nextdoor for fertilized eggs for a grade school class project. She incubated eggs from various domestic fowl in her classroom. She does this every year and includes photos of the children cuddling birds. I posted my concerns about H5N1 exposure, and included links to information provided here and other reputable sites. I was widely mocked by the poster and everyone else that commented. Am I wrong to be concerned?
Why only plain water? I have seen nothing indicating that consuming naturally flavored sparkling water is unhealthy, particularly compared to the alternatives. Nobody realistically is going to just drink plain flavorless water or milk all the time.
Hard on ones teeth, as is acidic. Curiously added sugar in drinks not recognized so contributes more to obesity. Get information from CSPI.
What I have seen is that selzer with acidic flavors could potentially have an effect, but generally speaking flavored selzers are usually not an issue for healthy adults. For instance, this from ADA:
https://www.mouthhealthy.org/nutrition/the-truth-about-sparkling-water-and-your-teeth
And again, looking at a harm reduction model, you have to compare whether this mild theoretical harm for sparkling water is greater than that of other beverages that a 5-18 year old would be inclined to have if they are tired of plain water and milk.
A small suggestion for the Super Bowl poll: add an option for "Contemplating Superb Owls" ;-)
(google "superb owl sunday")
Love the outbreak map!
FYI, I enrolled in Project Protects months ago at your suggestion, and weathered RSV with their help last week! I’m so proud to be a science data contributor!
When should a 70-year old who got the Covid vaccine at the end of August get another?
There are new variants of COVID. My doctor is recommending every 6 months.
Was there an edition where YLE discussed what types of policies/actions should have been taken to contain the H5N1 outbreak better? I remember last year (?) I had circulated some guides on how to protect backyard poultry--which maybe I got from ya'll!-- but what are other best practices that would have helped prevent the spread?