sharing story b/c it mentions covid… specifically that the lowering of covid guidelines could have been a contributor to the spread of this infectious junk Mystery Rise in Infection With 30% Fatality Rate Sweeps Japan (msn.com)
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So, the question is, when the milk is pasteurized does it remove the virus? Or will a ton of people be getting the avian flu as a result?? I guess this will raise the dairy prices again. 
Supposedly no threat to the milk supply…
If anyone out there is drinking unpasteurized milk where they aren’t personally observing the cows, I might rethink that.
If they don’t need to depopulate cattle, it shouldn’t have too much of an impact. Hopefully it’s just one-off avian-to-cattle infections. If it starts spreading cattle-to-cattle, then it’s going to be a more significant issue.
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Thanks. 
Doing ok-ish! Thanks for asking!
The nausea from the Mayo AZ testing procedures finally settled down a few days after we got home.
Then it was back to my Houston Lyme doctor. (She had put me on 6 weeks of doxycycline mid-January, so I finished that up along with the follow up bloodwork for her just before the trip to Mayo.)
She said a couple of my labs were moving in the right direction and none gotten worse, so moving on to the next phase of her standard chronic Lyme regimen: 2 weeks of tindamax (completing today) followed by 6 weeks of ceftin (will start tomorrow).
The tindamax side effects were really mild compared to the doxycycline ones (which were at least tolerable). We’ll see how the ceftin goes.
She said about 80% of her patients see significant improvement after completing all 3 (but that symptoms can actually be worse in the meantime).
My follow up with my Mayo AZ neurologist is next week.
Ran across this book at the library since DS14.1 read another historical graphic novel by the author. It was published in 2019, so an interesting read after what went down with Covid…
It even had a forum on-topic bit:
Sounds familiar…actually a bit surprised more of these ideas didn’t get recirculated…
Keep in mind they were using cloth masks, FWIW…
And their first attempt at a vaccine targeted an unrelated bacteria…
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Wow.
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Sigh. I’m really hoping it turns out this was somehow bird-to-human and not cattle-to-human. Mammal-to-mammal is not what we want to see.
https://www.dshs.texas.gov/news-alerts/dshs-reports-first-human-case-avian-influenza-texas?
ETA: YLE’s comments in her email today:
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I have no words.
Part of me is really reassured by this…
…and part of me has become very cynical of the CDC’s judgement. And even YLE’s independent assessment.
4 years ago I would have just assumed they knew what they were doing. Now…
I mean…at least mpox hasn’t turned into a major deal. But…it has become endemic in the US with clearly ongoing domestic transmission. And we’re not even talking about that. 
(Didn’t many “experts” say it would burn out within a couple of months?).
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There is starting to be a lot more chatter about avian flu, so thought I’d share my current lay person’s threat assessment.
TL;DR:
Be mildly alert, but really no need to be concerned at this point for the vast majority of the public.
Don’t collect dead birds and you should be fine. If you rescue any ailing ones, it’s probably worth taking precautions.
If you have indoor/outdoor pets, you should probably be slightly more vigilant. (Particularly in a situation like you have a cat that is skilled at hunting birds or locating dead ones.)
At tts other end of the spectrum, if you work directly with poultry or are in frequent direct prolonged contact with wild birds, you should be keeping up directly with what is going on and taking precautions, or at least be vigilant for symptoms. (I wouldn’tr assume your employer is doing that adequately on your behalf.)
Those working with livestock should be upgrading their vigilance as well and staying informed.
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Big fan of STAT News for their generally evenhanded reporting.
TL;DR - bird flu has been detected in the US milk supply but pasteurization should make it a non-issue for consumers.
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I’m less worried about pasteurized milk than the implication that many cattle are now infected and it is spreading from cattle herd to cattle herd. How long until this virus makes the leap to humans? Or to pigs and then humans?
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Really interesting analysis of the genome of the farm worker sequence vs cattle sequences.
I wasn’t familiar with this particular poster, but it’s a repost by YLE so I’ve added him. The referenced Tom Peacock @PeacockFlu is someone I’ve followed from early in Covid and is very highly respected.
^This graphic is data-driven.
^This one is adds in hypothetical analysis
And we still seem to be very, very bad at this…
I really, really, REALLY hope they just aren’t providing sufficient data publicly to link the two to protect the worker’s identity.
https://x.com/michaelworobey/status/1783992353595990498?s=46&t=JD8lfknyOt-1jICzMFrc2A
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There just isn’t much in the news about this. I read that it was found in milk, but we shouldn’t worry about it 
I just don’t know what to believe anymore!!
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In 2019 I would have confidently said this is likely the case.
But today …
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During the 1918 epidemic, my grandfather was married with 4 young kids, living in Manhattan.
There was Diptheria running amok at the same time - they lost their youngest child (18 months) to that in August, then he lost his wife to the flu in November.
He married my grandmother about a year later.
Grandfather died in the early 1930s, is buried with his first wife in the ginormous First Calvary cemetery outside of Manhattan - first time I visited there, was eerie to see that headstone after headstone in that section are almost all epidemic victims, one after the other in such a short time frame.
Fun fact: that cemetery and some of the larger mausoleums in it is the location used for the cemetery scene in the Godfather.
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AstraZeneca is taking their vaccine off the market. Not enough demand lately, Not making revenue since April 2023.
https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/08/business/astrazeneca-covid-vaccine-withdrawal/index.html
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From what I have read, the Pfizer, Moderna and Novavax vaccines are generally considered better vaccines so I’m not surprised AZ had issues with demand once the other brands were widely available.
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