Nov. 20, 2023 For those who have gotten the flu shot this season, there's good news: This years formulation looks like it will be very effective at preventing severe cases and hospitalization. Thats based on how the vaccine performed in the parts of the world where flu season is wrapping up.
As flu season sets in across the United States, health officials look to see how flu vaccines performed in countries in the Southern Hemisphere, where the flu season tends to run from about April to September. Ananalysis published by the CDC that looked at mid-season flu data for South America showed that the flu vaccine was more than 50% effective at preventing flu hospitalizations there.
But since that reports publication earlier this year, the vaccine used in South America was found to be less and less effective as the flu season progressed. So the flu shots in the U.S. were updated to better protect against versions of the virus that were seen toward the end of flu season in parts of South America where the data was collected.
Final estimates can vary from interim estimates, and it does look like I did look at some of the final season data the other week and it does look like the effectiveness probably dropped a bit later in the season, and this is what happens when we see changes in the virus circulating, which was mostly a type called influenza A H1N1, said epidemiologist Annette Regan, PhD, MPH, a co-author of the CDC report on Southern Hemisphere flu. It does look like weve updated the formulation for the Northern Hemisphere based on that change.
It was a good report because it gave us an indication that in the middle of the season, the vaccine was working really well, but when everythings said and done and were at the end of the season, it doesnt always look exactly the same. So we have a slightly different formulation in the Northern Hemisphere than what went out in South America, said Regan, who formerly tracked flu data for the CDC and the Australian government. Shes now an associate professor at the University of San Franciscos Orange County campus.
Tracking flu trends below the equator helps medical teams and public health officials prepare for flu season up north, although the influenza virus is so adept at changing that predictions are helpful but not a guarantee of whats to come, said Paula Couto, MD, an influenza surveillance epidemiologist with the Pan American Health Organization, which is a regional office of the World Health Organization for the Americas.
She said the interim report, which used data from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, and Uruguay, can help with preparations such as estimating this seasons needs for health services and also demand for antiviral drugs used to treat flu.
Of course, influenza is a tricky virus because it has pandemic and epidemic potential, so it may not necessarily be the same [between hemispheres], but thats why we are always monitoring and alert about these viruses, said Couto, who also co-authored the CDC report.
There is no official start date for flu season each year in the U.S. The start date varies because its usually determined after the fact, based on a combination of factors such as increasing rates of positive flu tests and hospitalizations. That tends to be in late November.
In the U.S., we tend to see the flu season start in the Southeast, like in Florida and Texas, and surrounding states, and then we kind of see it spread from there, said Regan. Usually it doesnt take too long, like were talking a couple weeks max ... because people move a lot and people are much more mobile nowadays than they were during the height of the pandemic.
The U.S. appears to be on the verge of flu season.
The CDC indicated that flu cases are on the rise in the Southeast, as well as in South Central and West Coast states, according to the agencys latestweekly flu report. Currently, about 4% of flu tests are coming back positive nationally. Already, one child has died due to influenza. Children are one of the groups with low flu vaccination rates in the U.S. and around the world, Regan noted.
I just dont think any kid should die from flu, not in 2023, if we can help it, she said.
The CDC recommends that everyone in the U.S. ages 6 months and older get vaccinated for the flu. After getting a shot, it takes the body about 2 weeks to make enough antibodies for maximum protection, Regan said, and the effectiveness typically lasts at least 4 months. That means the time to get one is now, since flu cases are on the rise.
About one-third of U.S. adults and kids have gotten this years flu shot, according to theCDC, which is lagging several percentage points compared to last year. The adult vaccination rate varies from one state to another, ranging from 22% to 51%. The severity of flu season can vary, but federal data show there are between 9 million and 41 million cases annually, with up to 710,000 hospitalizations and between 12,000 and 52,000 deaths.
Between Oct. 1 and Nov. 11 this year, the CDCestimates that in the U.S. there have already been:
The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted seasonal flu trends, resulting in lower-than-normal flu cases when stay-at-home orders and quarantines were common. Last winter, though, flu returned with a vengeance. Both Couto and Regan said all indicators point toward a return to normal this season.
But the risk of serious illness or death from flu remains, particularly among high-risk populations like very young children and older people. Regan urged people, even if they have gotten the flu vaccine, to do other things to prevent the spread of flu in order to protect themselves but also people who are at high risk, like grandparents or newborn babies.
Vaccines are not 100% effective, Regan said, so it's vital that people wash their hands and cover their mouths when sneezing and coughing.
And I think the big one is staying home when were feeling ill, especially because children are very good spreaders of influenza, theres good data to show that. So keeping them home when theyre under the weather can be really helpful for helping to control the spread of influenza and RSV and helping to stop these epidemics," she said.
So just because this flu season is a return to normal or going according to predictions, each persons actions from getting vaccinated to washing their hands is important, Regan and Couto concurred.
In the particular case of influenza, we know that the next pandemic is going to happen, Couto said. You can never really know when, and thats why being vigilant about influenza, its key. Of course, the last pandemic was COVID-19, but we cannot forget that influenza is still a threat.
In the depths of the Covid-19 pandemic, something strange happened: For a year or two, illnesses that used to emerge like clockwork when fall and winter arrived flu, RSV, and the myriad viruses that cause colds did not sicken us.
The cause now appears clear: The measures we took to avoid the new disease, including isolating and social distancing, muscled most other respiratory pathogens out of the cold-and-flu-season picture.
When we started to tire of altering our lives to avoid SARS-CoV-2, which causes Covid, those other viruses returned but at odd times and behaving in odd ways. Rhinoviruses aka common cold viruses made children in Hong Kong so sick they ended up in hospital. In late August and September of 2022 in parts of Europe and North America, RSV-infected children overwhelmed pediatric hospitals, months earlier than respiratory syncytial virus seasons occurred in pre-Covid times. Shortly thereafter, flu transmission kicked into gear, peaking just after Thanksgiving in this country unusually early for influenza.
Now, as we head into the fourth Northern Hemisphere winter of the Age of Covid, respiratory viruses appear to be falling back into seasonal order, experts tell STAT.
Late summer RSV was not a thing in 2023, as it was the past two years. And flu activity is only now starting to amplify, just in time for the intergenerational mixing and germ swapping events that we know of as Thanksgiving and Christmas.
The early signals from influenza suggest the virus is settling back into the seasonal pattern it followed to the degree the always mercurial bug follows any pattern before the pandemic, said Alicia Budd, team lead for domestic flu surveillance at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. All I can say is at this point we are at a pretty typical point in flu activity, she told STAT.
Overall, the signs to date appear to portend a winter more like what we knew before the arrival of Covid, said Megan Culler Freeman, an assistant professor of pediatrics specializing in infectious diseases at the University of Pittsburgh.
Last year as early as August, childrens hospitals across the country were full to the gills because there were so many children with respiratory distress, Freeman said. And I would say that this season is starting to feel a lot more normal. Only now, as were getting into November even towards mid- to late- November were starting to see more of our winter volume starting to begin.
Petter Brodin, a professor of pediatric immunology at Imperial College London, agreed that respiratory diseases seem to be heading back towards their regular seasonal slots, though he noted that its different for different viruses, so its a little difficult to speak in general terms.
The return to normal hasnt happened in a synchronized fashion around the globe, though. Ben Cowling, chair of epidemiology at Hong Kong Universitys School of Public Health, said respiratory diseases seasonality in China and Hong Kong both of which used aggressive Covid containment measures for longer than many other places is still not as close to pre-pandemic normal as it appears to be in North America and Europe.
Flu circulation, for instance, only returned to Hong Kong in the spring of 2023, shortly after mask mandates were relaxed, Cowling and colleagues reported recently in an ahead-of-print paper published in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases. The spring activity was followed by a large swell of influenza A transmission H3N2 viruses specifically in October. Flu can circulate year round in Hong Kong, Cowling said, but he noted October is a pretty atypical time for a wave of flu there.
I dont think were back to normal seasonality yet here, and not in China. But I agree with [the] observation that in some places it does seem to be going back to how it had been before. The question, though, is about how Covid will go in that mix? he said.
The scientific consensus is still out about whether Covid will be a seasonal virus, transmitting primarily during cold-and-flu season. Many experts think it is heading that way, but hasnt yet settled into that pattern.
On the question of what caused the temporary disappearance of Covids viral rivals, there appears to be broad agreement that the control measures used to slow spread of SARS-2 impeded the ability of other viruses to circulate. The resulting hiatus in exposures to these bugs eroded the amount of immunity humans had to them at a population level, creating a larger-than-typical number of vulnerable people when we let down our Covid guards.
Brodin likened the situation to the conditions that precede wildfires. You have the possibility of triggering a forest fire at any time of the year, but its only when you have enough flammable dry wood, for example, or whatever that it really flames up, he said. And so I think the reason why it happened at different times in different countries is because at that time there were sufficient numbers of individuals that were susceptible, that did not have immunity and then you started seeing this.
A primary driver of the phenomenon was the fact that with school closures and social distancing, young children werent contracting the cascades of infections they generally experience in their first years of life. Those infections build up their immunity to viral threats; missing them made this group both especially vulnerable and unusually large when the viruses returned. So as the years rolled on, and there wasnt very much RSV, it just left a huge susceptible population of infants 1-year-olds, 2-year-olds, 3-year-olds, 4-year-olds last year that had never seen RSV before, Freeman said.
Though children get infected with RSV repeatedly in early childhood, their first bout typically is the most severe, and the most likely to send them to hospital. In 2022, when the RSV onslaught was at its worst, the peak of hospitalizations was four times higher than it had been in previous RSV seasons, Freeman said.
That massive surge of RSV cases will have reset susceptibility levels in the pediatric population. I would expect that all those kids that were exposed last year are going to have a little bit of protection this year that shouldnt make it as severe of a season, she said. The birth cohort that is naive to RSV [this year] is more typical for the levels that we usually see in a given winter.
Brodin described this pattern the unusually large group of vulnerable children as a numbers game.
How many susceptible children do you have at any particular time in a given place, and is that enough to get the transmission going? he said.
While children are major amplifiers of many respiratory diseases, the break from exposure to influenza and other viruses will have created more susceptibility among adults as well, said Florian Krammer, an influenza virologist at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in Manhattan. That, in turn, could have led to the early start of the 2022-23 flu season.
I think, in general, if the population is not bombarded with viruses, the immunity might go down a little bit, and that might give different opportunities to the virus to maybe circulate under circumstances where it usually doesnt transmit well, Krammer said in an interview. Maybe it doesnt need the cold temperature, and it can start when its a little bit warmer. Theres a lot of factors that could influence that.
Human behavior and weather especially in temperate climates dictate the seasonality of viruses, said Ellen Foxman, an associate professor of laboratory medicine and immunobiology at Yale University School of Medicine. The human activities that were so heavily altered in the early part of the pandemic closed borders, sharply reduced international travel, far less social mixing had a huge impact on the spread of other viruses. But those days have come to an end and the return to pre-Covid behavior is pushing us back towards pre-Covid disease patterns, she suggested.
Were going to work, going to school. Kids are going to daycare. All those behavioral things that influence viral transmission are getting back to normal, Foxman said. In that regard I feel like those things are normalizing, and the more time that goes by that those things are normal, that will probably influence our viruses to behave as they did before.
Foxman uses a different analogy to describe what has happened with seasonal respiratory diseases in the post-Covid era.
Its like when a pendulum swings back and forth, and then its periodicity gets messed up, you know? It takes a while for it to get back to what it was before. And I think we had a big pendulum swing in one direction. Then we had a big pendulum swing in another direction last year, she said. I dont know if were really back to normal yet or not. I dont know if that pendulum is still swinging a little bit out of its normal periodicity, to extend the analogy. The next few months will really tell.
Scott Hensley, a professor of microbiology and an influenza expert at the University of Pennsylvania, also believes this winter will tell the tale regarding whether the seasonality of non-Covid respiratory viruses has really returned.
Could I let you know in, like, March? he quipped when asked his thoughts.
Right now in Philadelphia, flu activity is super low as it should be, Hensley said. I think last year we did have this highly unexposed population or not recently exposed population where there was a little bit of fire and everything just ignited. But I do think that things seem to be kind of settling back into a normal rhythm, so well see if cases start increasing in the next month or so.
NYT
Whats the difference between influenza A and influenza B, and does it matter which you catch?
Each fall, the flu emerges as a formidable force, spreading through the droplets produced when people cough, sneeze or talk, and sometimes hitching a ride to our noses by way of the infected surfaces that we touch. Influenza viruses cause tens of millions of illnesses and thousands of deaths in the United States each year.
There are two players every flu season: influenza Type A and Type B. Influenza A tends to pop up early in the season and accounts for more than75 percent of all cases, while influenza B typically has a distinct but much smaller peak in late February or March.
You tend to have one or the other virus predominant at any given time, said Anice Lowen, an associate professor of microbiology and immunology at the Emory University School of Medicine. Heres what to know about the flu viruses.
Influenza A viruses come in many varieties. Four subtypes commonly affect humans, Dr. Lowen said you may have heard of H1N1, for example. But many more influenza A viruses have been identified in animals, which makes it a potential source of pandemics whenever a new type of influenza A jumps to humans, she said. All fourflu pandemics in 1918, 1957 and 1968 and the swine flu pandemic of 2009 were caused by Type A viruses.
Bad news: According to UR Medicine Infectious Disease specialist Angela Branche, MD, it looks like we could have a lot more cases of the flu this year compared to the last three years.
The extra precautions people took during the pandemic meant fewer people got the flu, which probably lowered our overall immunity.
But theres also good news: Getting your flu shot is the best way to prevent serious illness and keep you and your loved ones out of the hospital. The flu in the Rochester area is expected to peak in late December to early January. So, its a good idea to get your flu shot now, so you build up your immunity for the peak.
Even better news: Its safe to get two vaccines at the same time. So, you can get your COVID boosters or RSV vaccine at the same time.
If youre getting all three, Branche recommends getting two, waiting a few weeks, then getting the third. Its recommended you get one in each arm. (A reminder that the RSV vaccine is only for people over the age of 60, or pregnant mothers.)
Flu symptoms can include:
A key difference with the common cold: If theres a fever at all, it usually comes on gradually and tends to be mild.
Two key COVID symptoms that arent usually associated with the flu are shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, and loss of taste or smell. But some of the main symptoms, such as coughing and a runny nose, do overlap, so its a good idea to talk to your primary care doctor about your symptoms.
The flu is an easily spread virus, usually passed when an infected person coughs or sneezes. So, wash your hands frequently and consider wearing a mask in crowded settings if youre older or have a medical condition that may affect your immune system. Branche reminds us that flu cases can continue into the spring, so its never too late to get your flu shot!
If you think you have the flu or another respiratory virus, contact your primary care doctor to see if you need an antiviral medication. It can decrease the length of time youre sick. You can visit our Get Care Now website for help. But dont wait too longantiviral medications work better the earlier theyre taken.
At home, you can take Tylenol to feel better. And be sure to drink plenty of water and get rest.
Find your flu shot at vaccines.gov
After a year of no new cases of highly-contagious avian influenza, Wisconsin agriculture officials confirmed the virus has returned to the state.
The state Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection reported on Friday that the virus was detected in a small backyard flock in Taylor County.
The last confirmed case of highly-pathogenic avian influenza was on November 7, 2022 in Jefferson County. But Dr. Darlene Konkle, state veterinarian at DATCP, said it's not surprising to see the virus affecting domestic birds again. New cases of HPAI in domestic flocks have been reported in Iowa, Michigan and Minnesota over the last month, according to DATCP.
"We are seeing kind of an uptick in cases throughout the United States, not just in one specific area," Konkle said. "The migration of birds has something to do with that as well. There's just higher populations of birds moving through."
Dr. Lindsey Long, wildlife veterinarian for the state Department of Natural Resources, said the DNR and the U.S. Department of Agriculture take samples from birds for highly-pathogenic avian influenza strains during the summer and fall. She said staff did not detect the highly-contagious H5 strain during summer surveillance. But the agency found two likely cases in blue-winged teal this month and is currently investigating several possible cases in swans.
"I think we were a little bit surprised not to see as many cases in Wisconsin this year," Long said. "But that doesn't mean next year, there couldn't be a gene deletion or something that would make some birds susceptible again."
She said avian influenza is highly variable, affecting some birds more than others. Long said many waterfowl carry multiple strains of the virus at low levels without any symptoms.
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"This particular H5 HPAI is really one of the first times we've actually seen avian influenza have significant mortality (in wild birds)," Long said. "Normally that 'highly-pathogenic' definition is because of how it interacts with domestic birds."
Because of the constant change in the circulating virus, she said it's hard to know how long this version of avian flu will continue impacting birds in Wisconsin and around the world.
USDA data shows the virus has been detected in 216 birds in Wisconsin since the start of 2022. Before this month, Long said the last confirmed case in a wild bird was in a bald eagle in January.
Konkle said she believes the state will see more cases in domestic flocks this fall and winter, in part because the virus is able to survive in cold and wet weather.
But whether the current strain of avian influenza will ever disappear from wild and domestic flocks remains uncertain. Konkle said previous strains of the virus have mutated over time, becoming less of a threat. But she said virologists and wildlife biologists are still studying the current version of the flu. In addition to North America, she said the virus is still being found in South America and Europe.
"What we're hearing from the wildlife biologists is that the concentration of the virus or the number of detections in wild birds has decreased in 2023 compared to 2022, but they're still finding detections," she said.
While most commercial poultry operators have invested in biosecurity measures to protect their birds, Konkle said there are plenty of low-budget ways to protect smaller flocks. She said protective measures include increased handwashing, limiting exposure to wild birds and changing outside shoes and clothing before interacting with the flock. She said backyard flock owners should also only get birds from reputable sources and isolate new birds from their flock for 30 days.
Among the 28 endemic viruses analyzed in this study, the authors included fast-evolving influenza viruses and coronaviruses strains and antigenically stable viruses, like measles and hepatitis A. They ensured that the selected viruses had high-quality genome sequences available for circulating strains spanning at least 12 years in order to predict accurate adaptation rates. To identify viruses undergoing antigenic evolution, a type of adaptive evolution driven by positive selection to evade antibody recognition, Dr. Kistler employed a quantitative method which calculated adaptive amino acid substitutions per residue per year. Since, antigenic evolution occurs through the virus acquiring antibody escape mutations, it is predicted that these escape mutations will occur in the viral protein that mediates receptor binding, which is located on the virions surface and is typically the primary target of neutralizing antibodies. In other words, Dr. Kistler explained, we look for an excess of protein-coding changes in the protein that mediates receptor-binding. Across all viruses, Dr. Kistler analyzed 239 viral proteins, however she said, we estimated that only 14 are evolving adaptively. Thirteen of these were located on the virion surface and were either the primary receptor-binding protein or are at least sometimes involved in receptor-binding, while the rest of the genome showed little-to-no ongoing adaptation. These 14 protein-coding genes belonged to 10 of the 28 viruses analyzed in this work, suggesting that nearly a third of the endemic viruses analyzed are predicted to be undergoing antigenic evolution. However, Dr. Kistler acknowledged this panel is skewed towards viruses that have ample historical sequences available and may not reflect the overall proportion of antigenically-evolving endemic viruses. Consistent with our need for yearly flu vaccines, influenza A/H3N2 evolved roughly 2-3 times faster than the other viruses analyzed.
An obvious question is where the evolution of SARS-CoV-2 falls with respect to these other viruses, the authors explained in the article. They also noted the challenge of using this papers method for a virus with a short existence. Instead, the authors compared the rate of amino acid substitutions in the receptor-binding proteins between SARS-CoV-2 and the 10 viruses predicted to be evolving antigenically. Dr. Kistler found that SARS-CoV-2 accumulates amino acid substitutions at a rate 2-2.5 times faster than the fast-evolving influenza A/H3N2. While this may sound concerning, the authors point out that we dont know whether SARS-CoV-2 can sustain such high rates of evolution or if the emergence of the highly fit Omicron variant was a one-time event. As to what makes viruses like influenza and SARS-CoV-2 evolve quickly and others evolutionarily stable, there are many possible reasons. Dr. Kistler explained that some factors influencing antigenic evolution are mutation rate, mutational tolerance of the proteins targeted by neutralizing antibodies, the positions and co-dominance of epitopes, viral transmission dynamics, and existing population immunity.
While not ubiquitous, antigenic evolution is not uncommon amongst endemic viruses and immune evasion appears to be the primary driver of ongoing adaptation in viruses that have been circulating in humans for decades or longer, Dr. Kistler stated. Because these antigenically evolving viruses are particularly capable of causing repeat infections and escaping vaccine-mediated immunity, identifying which viruses evolve this way and how fast they evolve is directly relevant to vaccine design. She added, for instance, the strains included in the influenza vaccine have to be updated regularly to antigenically match the circulating strains. It is likely that vaccines targeting any antigenically-evolving protein will have to do the same. Moving forward, Dr. Kistler aims to expand this work further to compare an even wider panel of endemic viruses. The pandemic has spurred an increased interest in sequencing the circulating viruses and we hope to incorporate an analysis of more viruses in the future.
A Texas A&M University survey of US parents finds that 41% already had or would vaccinate their children against COVID-19, 63% against influenza, and 71% against respiratory syncytial virus(RSV) this fall and winter.
The study, published late last week in Vaccine, involved 5,035 parents of children younger than 18 years surveyed on September 27 and 28, 2023.
In total, 40.9% of respondents said they had or would vaccinate their children against COVID-19, while 63.3% said they would do so against flu, and 71.1% said their children would receive the RSV vaccine.
Predictors of intent to vaccinate included concerns about diseases (average marginal effects [AME] for COVID-19, 0.064; AME for flu, 0.060; and AME for RSV 0.048), as well as trust in health institutions (AME for COVID-19, 0.023; AME for flu, 0.010; AME for RSV, 0.028). Parents who had previously vaccinated their children were also more likely to pursue vaccination (AME for COVID-19, 0.176; AME for flu, 0.438; and AME for COVID-19, 0.194).
Relative to men, women were less likely to say they would vaccinate their children against COVID-19 and flu (AME for COVID-19, 0.076; AME for flu, 0.047). Respondents who indicated that vaccines were important were more likely to pursue vaccination for COVID-19 and RSV (AME, 0.097 and 0.072, respectively).
Worries about a link between vaccination and autismwhich studies have disprovenwere statistically significant for only COVID-19 (AME, -0.030). Relative to political conservatives, liberals were more likely to vaccinate against COVID-19 (AME, 0.076).
The large number of unvaccinated children will likely lead to large numbers of excessive disease in children.
Compared with Democrats, Republications were less inclined to vaccinate their children against COVID-19 (AME, -0.060), and Democrats had higher odds of seeking RSV vaccination (AME, 0.151). The most common reasons for vaccine hesitancy were doubts about safety and the need for vaccination and a lack of information.
"The large number of unvaccinated children will likely lead to large numbers of excessive disease in children," the authors wrote.
Your eyes are the window to your wellness. They can reveal things like your blood pressure, nutritional intake,risk of strokeandage-relatedvision issues. So when it comes to a bout of illness you come down with this winter, the general-health-to-eye pipeline may be no different.
Viruses that cause the common cold, the flu and COVID-19 can manifest in conjunctivitis,the medical term for pink eye. In addition to giving your eyes a pinkish or reddish hue (not what most people are going for), it can cause other symptoms like irritation, itchiness and discharge. While it's made its rounds as one of the more sneaky symptoms of COVID-19, the idea of a virus causing eye irritation is nothing new, according to Dr. Jennifer Tsai, an optometrist practicing in New York City.
"When you have a viral infection, that can lead to eye-related symptoms, especially if you touch the eye or you're around someone that has it and they're coughing or sneezing," Tsai explained. This means pink eye can spread from your own mucus membranes that are currently under attack from a virus or through exposure to someone else with a respiratory infection.
Here are the types of eye infection to look out for this flu season, what to do for home relief and when to see a doctor.
When caused by a virus, pink eye will typically resolve by itself within a couple of weeks. If you have a bacterial infection, you may be prescribed antibiotic eye drops.
The most familiar seasonal viruses -- the common cold, the flu and now COVID-19 -- can all cause viral pink eye. Some research from 2021, for example, found that as many as one in 10 people with COVID-19 experienced eye symptoms, though the American Academy of Ophthalmology says conjunctivitis from COVID is much more common in children than it is in adults.
Tsai says that the most common cause of viral pink eye is infection with the adenovirus, a virus that causes mild cold or flu symptoms in most people, which also spreads more widely during flu/respiratory virus season. Lesser-known viral culprits of pink eye also include the herpes simplex virus, the virus that causes cold sores, Tsai said. This can spread if virus from a cold sore touches the eye, or it can reoccur in outbreaks.
In order to find the right relief for pink eye and learn if you'll need medical treatment, you need to find the root cause of your pink eye: is it bacterial or viral?
Viral pink eye symptoms, according to Tsai, commonly include an itching feeling in the eye, along with watery discharge. Other symptoms can include redness or burning.
Viral pink eye will also likely be present in both eyes; it may start in one eye but will quickly spread to the other, she says.
Bacterial pink eye is caused by an infection or injury to the eye, Tsai says, including infection from contact lenses. If you have bacterial pink eye, it's more likely you'll experience a thick, yellowish, or sticky discharge from your eye along with more eye pain and blurry vision. (The AAO notes that bacterial conjunctivitis doesn't always cause discharge.) A big clue that you're suffering from bacterial pink eye, according to Tsai, is that it's in one eye, though both eyes can be infected.
While pink eye from a viral infection can be managed at home in most cases (more on that below), and milder bacterial pink eye cases will also typically clear up, it's important to see a doctor as soon as possible if you have eye pain, vision problems or other symptoms of a severe eye infection. Your treatment, or whether you can relieve pink eye at home, will also depend on the type of eye infection you have.
It's a good idea to avoid eye makeup and contact lenses while you have pink eye.
Most cases of viral pink eye are "self limiting," Tsai said, which means they'll probably resolve on their own within two weeks. But if you have bacterial infection, you'll likely be prescribed antibiotic eye drops to help kill the bacteria that's causing your symptoms.
Tsai said that no matter the cause or severity of your pink eye, it's a good idea to see an eye doctor just in case. If you have symptoms that affect or blur your vision, cause eye pain, light sensitivity or a feeling that something is stuck in your eye, get seen as soon as possible.
Because most pink eye cases caused by a virus will resolve at home, managing pink eye will be based on easing your itchy or irritating symptoms. Here are some tips from Tsai:
In acknowledgement of the eye drop recalls and safety concerns surrounding some brands of artificial tears, Tsai said to continue to avoiding drops that don't meet safety standards. She also advises people avoid Visine and Clear Eyes drops, because they contain ingredients that can constrict blood vessels in your eyes. For eye drop recommendations based on specific needs, you can read this CNETlist of eye drops.
To avoid spreading pink eye, follow these tips from the American Optometric Association and the American Academy of Ophthalmology:
November 20, 2023
If youve noticed an uptick incolds, fluand COVID-19 among children in particular youre not alone.
The medical director at Health Sciences Centre Childrens Hospital emergency department in Winnipeg says theres an increase in cases of respiratory illnesses in kids showing up in the ER.
Rhinovirus, COVID-19, respiratory syncytial virus [RSV], influenza all the respiratory viruses are really gathering steam, said Dr. Karen Gripp, a pediatric emergency physician and associate professor at the University of Manitoba.
Read here
Recently, morning omelets and holiday dinners have gotten more expensive. One likely cause is bird flu, outbreaks of which led to the deaths of millions of chickens and turkeys from infection or culling in 2022, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and which still demands rigorous monitoring of wild populations. Now, reporting in Environmental Science & Technology Letters, researchers have developed a method that detected infectious bird flu virus in wetlands frequented by waterfowl.
Wild birds represent a significant reservoir of avian influenza virus. While some viral strains don't cause disease, the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) form can spread quickly and is often fatal. It spreads from wild birds that shed the pathogen through their feces into the environment, including the wetlands they inhabit. Detecting bird flu in these waters has proven challenging because infectious virus concentrations are often too low to be detected by most methods, leaving a significant gap in our understanding of viral transmission. To address this problem, Laura Hubbard at the U.S. Geological Survey and colleagues devised a multistep process to concentrate and identify infectious virus in environmental samples.
They tested their protocols on surface water samples taken twice in the spring of 2022 from four wetlands and a lake in Iowa. The team identified strains of infectious virus in samples from all four wetland sites in April, but not from the lake. Detection rates were significantly lower, however, when they tested the water samples for viral RNA (11.1%) using standard diagnostic protocols than when the same samples were inoculated into eggs and avian influenza virus was isolated and confirmed (66.7%). The researchers say these results highlight the need for improved RNA detection techniques to reduce the risk of false negatives.
Sequencing showed that most of the detected viral strains present in the water samples had low pathogenicity. One sample included HPAI, however, marking the first time this strain has been detected in a U.S. waterway, the researchers say. Just five weeks later, though, they did not detect avian influenza virus in any samples from the same sites despite previous research that demonstrated viral persistence for months in similar environments. The researchers suggest that the apparent absence of virus could be due to many environmental factors, including fewer waterfowl being present in May and substantially warmer water temperatures influencing virus survival.
Although further research is required to better understand the persistence and potential transmissibility of bird flu in wetlands, the researchers say the detection of HPAI virus and other strains highlights possible risks to wild and domestic fowl, other animals and even humans, who use these waterways recreationally. They also suggest that regular monitoring and early detection could help mitigate costly viral transmission and the rising cost of eggs and poultry.
The authors acknowledge funding from the U.S. Geological Survey through the Biological Threats and Environmental Health Programs of the Ecosystems Mission Area and from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Influenza Division.
