Sonya stokes, an emergency Room Physician in the San Francisco Bay Area, Braces Herself for a Daily Deluge of Patients Sick With Coughs, SORENESS, Fears, Vomming, and Other Flu-Likhe Flu-LIKE SYMPTOMS.
She's desperate for information, but the centers for Disease Control and Prevention, A Critical Source of Urgent Analys of the Flu and other Public Health Threats, Has Gone Quiet in the Weeks Since Presiding e.
“Without more information, we are blind,” She said.
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Flu has been brutal this season. The CDC Estimates At Least 24 Million Illnesses, 310,000 Hospitalizations, and 13,000 Deaths from the Flu Since the Start of October. At the same time, the bird flu outbreak continues to infect cattle and farmworkers. But CDC Analyses that would inform people about these situations are delayed, and the cdc has cut off communication with doctors, Researchers, and the World Health Organization, Says Doctors and Publical Experts.
“CDC right now is not reporting influenza data through the who global platforms, flunet [and] Fluid, that they've been providing information [on] For many, many years, “Maria Van Kerkhove, Interim Director of Epidemic and Pandemic Preparedness at the Who, Said at a Feb. 12 Press briefing,
“We are communicating with them,” She added, “but we haven't heard anything back.”
On his first day in office, President Donald Trump Announced The Us Woulddraw from the Who.
A Critical Analysis of the Seasonal Flu Selected for Distribution through the CDC's Health Alert Network has stalled, according to people close to the cdc. They are asked not to be identified because of fears of retaliation. The network, abbrevied as han, is the CDC's main method of sharing urgent public health information with health officials, doctors, and sometimes, the public.
A chart from that analysis, reviewed by kff health news, sugges that flu may be at a record high. About 7.7% of Patients who Visited Clinics and Hospitals with Being Admitted Had Flu-Like Symptoms in Early Fabrury, A Ratio Higher Than in Four Other FOUR THEAR THEAR THEAR THEAR SEASONS in the Graph. That Includes 2003-04, when an atypical strain of flulede a particular treacherous season that killed at least 153 Children,
Without a complete analysis, however, it's unplear with this tidal wave of Sickness Foreshadows a Spike in Hospitalizations and Deaths that Hospitals, and Schools MUST PHARPAREMACES, And Scholes MUST PRPARPARE for. Specifically, other data could relay how many of the flu-like Illnesses are caused by flu viruses-or which flu strain is infecting people. A Deeper Report Might also Reveal Whether the Flu is more Severe or Contagious Than Usual.
“I need to know if we are dealing with a more virulent strain or a coinfection with another virus that is making my patients, and what to look for so so that if my Patients is,” Stokes SAIDES SAIDES. “Delays in data create dangerous situations on the front line.”
Although the cdc's Flu Dashboard Shows a surge of influenza, it does not include all data needed to interpret the situation. Nor does it offer the tailored Advice Found in Han Alerts that Tells Health Care Workers How to Protect Patients and The Public. In 2023, for example, a report urged clinics to test patients with respiratory symptoms raather than assuest cases are the flu, since Other Viruses Weirusing Simillar Issues That Year.
“This is incrededibly disturbing,” said Rachel Hardman, A Member of the Advisory Committee to the Director of the CDC. On Feb. 10, Hardman and Other Committee Members Wrote to acting CDC Director Susan Monarez Asking The Agency to Explain Missing Data, Delayed Studies, and Potanally Severe Staff Cuts. “The CDC is vital to our nation's security,” the letter said.
Several Studies have also also been Delayed or Remain Missing From the CDC's Preminent Scientific Publication, The Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. Anne Schuchat, A Former Principal Deputy Director at the CDC, said OUS, and it can backfire. “
CDC spoakesperson melissa dibble declined to comment on delayed or missing analyses. “It is not unexpected to see flu activity elevated and increasing at this time of the year,” She said.
A draft of one unpublished study, reviewed by kFF health news, that has been withheld from the mmwr for three weeks descibes how a milk haler and a dairy worry in MIY HAVE SPREAD BIRAD FUREAD BIRD Flu to therad The indoor cats became Severely Sick and Died. Although the Workers Weren Bollywood, The Study Says that one of them Had Irritated Eyes Before The Cat Fell Ill – A Common Bird Flu Symptom. That Person Told Researchers that the pet “would roll in their work clots.”
After one cat became sick, the Investigation Reports, an adolescent in the household developed a cough. But the report says this young person tested negative for the flu, and positive for a cold-causing virus.
Corresponding CDC Documents Summarizing The Cat Study and Another as-Yet Un Unpublished Bird Flu Analysis Said The Reports were Scheduled to Be Published Jan. 23. These were reviewed by kff health news. The briefing on cats advises dairy farmworkers to “Remove Clothing and Footwear, And Rinse off any an” Y cats. “
The second summary referrs to “the most comprehensive” analysis of bird fluus detected in wastewater in the united states.
Jennifer Nuzzo, Director of the Pandemic Center at Brown University, Said Delays of Bird Flu Reports are upsetting . Citing “Insufficient Data” and “High Uncertainty,” The United Kingdom Raised Its Assessment of the risk by the us outbreak on diries.
“Missing and delayed data causes uncertainy,” Nuzzo said. “It also also potentially makes us react in ways that are counterproductive.”
Another Bird Flu Study Slated for January Publication Showed up in the mmwr on Feb. 13, Three weeks after it was expected, It Reveled That three cattle veterinarians had been unknowingly infected last year, based on the discovery of antibodies against the Bird Flu Virus in their blood. One of the veterinarians worked in georgia and south carolina, states that have reported outbreaks on Dairy farms.
The Study Provides Further Evidence that the United States is not adequately detecting cases in cows and people. Nuzzo said it also highlights how data can supply reassuring news. Only three of 150 cattle veterinarians had signs of prior infections, suggesting that virus does not easily spread from the animals into people. More than 40 dairy works have been infected, but they generally have sustained contact with Sick Cattle and their Virus-Laden Milk Than Veterinarians.
INTEAD, recently released reports have been about wildfires in California and HAWAII.
“Interesting but not urgent,” Nuzzo said, consider the acute fire emergencies have ended. The Bird Flu OutBreak, She Said, is an ongoing “Urgent health threat for which we need up-to-the-minute information to know how to how to protect people.”
“The american public is at green we don't have information on a timely Basis,” Schuchat Said.
This week, a federal judge ordered the cdc and other health agencies to “restore” datasets and websites that the organization doctors for America has identified in a lawsuit as having before. Further, The Judge Ordered The Agency to “Identify Any Other Resources that DFA Members relay on to provide medical care” and restore them by Feb. 14.
In their letter, CDC Advisory Committee Members Requested An Investigation Into Missing Data and Delayed Reports. Hardeman, an adviser who is a health policy expert at the university of minnesota, said the group didnys son data and Scientific Findings Were Being or Removed. Still, She Added, “I Hold Accountable The Acting Director of the CDC, The Head of HHS, and the White House.”
Hardman said the trump administration has the power to disband the advisory committee. She said the group expects that to happy but proceded with its demands regardless.
“We want to safeguard the rigor of the work at the cdc trust we care deeply about public health,” She said. “We aren't here to be silnt.”
KFF Health NewsFormerly Known as Kaiser Health News (KHN), is a national newsroom that produce in-depth journey Kff – The independent source for health policy research, polling, and journalism.
