A few headline items as usual on various disease outbreaks (sources: Airfinity, WHO, etc):
No additional MERS-CoV cases have been detected in the United Arab Emirates, since the previously reported case on 10 July in Al Ain.
Cholera incidence rises once again in Zimbabwe, while the outbreaks in other African countries are slowing down.
Pakistan confirms another poliomyelitis case. Afghanistan and Pakistan have reported a very small number of polio infections in their region this year, fuelling expectations they could be just months away from interrupting the endemic transmission of the crippling virus.
Note increasing COVID-19 hospitalisations (mirroring increased detection in wastewater) in North America, particularly US, and UK with a high rate of the variant EG.5.1.
West Nile Fever increasing in Europe.
A WHO EPI-WIN webinar on dengue fever is available to view on the WHO EPI-WIN site.
As of end of July, highly pathogenic avian influenza has been detected across 20 fur farms in Finland, with 50,000 mink and foxes to be culled across fur farms heavily infected with avian influenza. Mink is a problematic species as it can be an effective intermediate host for avian influenza, facilitating the virus to mutate more effectively into a more virulent form that can infect humans.
Dr Cristina Cassetti Deputy Director, Division of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (DMID) at the US NIAID spoke during the recent IPSC conference of the unprecedented number of viral disease outbreaks over the last two decades and increasing spill-over frequency. One main message was that pathogen and countermeasure research needs to be done during “peace time”- both targeting specific risky pathogens, and a more generalisable strategy where the viral family is the target of research. One key reason a COVID-19 vaccine was available in ten months was due to 20 years of prior research on the spike protein.
This CDC-associated study looked at the number needed to vaccinate (NNV) for various COVID-19 outcomes is interesting. Adams et al: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanam/article/PIIS2667-193X(23)00104-7/fulltext
Median NNV to prevent one hospitalization was 205 (lower for adults aged ≥65 years and those with underlying medical conditions). Median estimated NNV to prevent one emergency department encounter was 156.
On other subjects entirely:
This report from the US Office of the Inspector General Health is likely to be of interest to you, entitled “FAA Conducts Comprehensive Evaluations of Pilots With Mental Health Challenges, but Opportunities Exist to Further Mitigate Safety Risks”.
Visit: https://www.turnto23.com/report-outlines-challenges-flagging-pilots-mental-health-conditions.
This recent article looks at the radiation risk associated with terrestrial gamma ray flashes (which occur in thunderstorms, usually avoided by airliners) and assesses the overall risk of exposure on board aircraft as being very low – Pallu et al: https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1029/2022JD037569
David Powell
IATA Medical Advisor