This week in outbreaks
Week ending January 28, 2023
Influenza like illness (ILI) is teasing us by remaining just above baseline in the week ending January 28. After nine weeks of continual progress, I hoped we would zoom right down to low levels of ILI activity. Alas, the percentage of visits to the doctor that are for ILI remained at 2.6%, exactly where it was the week prior. Activity remained stable at the national level, and within each age group.
Four jurisdictions are experiencing high or very high ILI activity, including New York City, New Mexico, and Puerto Rico.
Oklahoma is unexpectedly now in the “very high” category, with 5.7% of outpatient visits meeting the criteria for ILI. During the previous week, ILI activity in Oklahoma was two points lower at around 3.5%. I emailed the Oklahoma Department of Health to learn more, and their lead respiratory disease epidemiologist replied that influenza test positivity is trending down, and so too is the number of influenza hospitalizations, so it may be a non-influenza respiratory virus causing the spike. I hope to see things settle down next week.
COVID-19 activity is still falling, though the overall impact remains quite high. Over 31,000 people are in the hospital with COVID-19, and the average number of daily deaths is around 500. Delaware, Washington D.C., North Carolina, and New York are currently the most affected jurisdictions, judging by hospitalization rate.
RSV activity is still falling, unlike the seasonal coronaviruses which are rising stubbornly. The seasonal coronaviruses are one of the causes of the common cold.
Stomach bugs
Norovirus activity seems quite high. Norovirus causes the “stomach bug,” i.e., vomiting and diarrhea. There aren’t many good data streams for norovirus surveillance, so I don’t comment on it each week, but I do think there’s quite a bit going around right now.
Food recalls (and eye drops)
The following foods are being recalled because they are contaminated with bacteria that causes food poisoning. Please check your cupboards and throw out any of these items:
New this week:
EzriCare Artificial Tears Lubricant Eye Drops. The product is also distributed by Delsam Pharma. This is an especially important recall, as there have been 55 reports of eye infections, loss of vision, and one death associated with this product. (more info).
Ready-to-eat sandwiches, salads, yogurt, wraps and related products sold by Fresh Ideation Food Group between January 24, 2023, and January 30, 2023. The products were distributed mostly on the east coast. The list of affected products is long (more info).
Ready-to-eat sausage and charcuterie products sold by Daniele International, LLC (more info).
Reported in the last month:
Two recalls of alfalfa sprouts, sold by Fullei Fresh and SunSprout Enterprises. The sprouts were sold to retailers and distributors in Florida, Nebraska, Kansas and Iowa. (more info, more info)
A recall of Enoki mushrooms sold by Utopia Foods Inc has been expanded to include packages with best by dates of 03/02/2023 and 03.09.23. The mushrooms were sold to wholesale companies in NY, NJ and CT. (more info)
Frozen manicotti by Caesar’s Pasta, sold to restaurant distributors in Pennsylvania, New York and Puerto Rico (more info)
There is also a multi-state outbreak of Listeria linked to deli meats and cheeses, but the specific source has not been identified. If you are pregnant, over the age of 65, or have a condition that weakens your immune system, consider avoiding meat or cheese from deli counters. (more info)
If you have food allergies, you may wish to review these FDA safety alerts for foods with undeclared allergens.
In other news
In case you missed it, I wrote earlier this week about the pediatric acute hepatitis outbreak. I also teamed up with
to dig in to what the end of the Public Health Emergency means for vaccines, treatments, disease surveillance, and more. Read more here!An outbreak of measles in Central Ohio has ended. Although measles is vaccine preventable, outbreaks are challenging to control because measles spreads very easily through the air. The outbreak infected 85 children, none of whom were fully vaccinated (mostly because they were too young). The last case was reported on December 24, 2022.
HBO’s new show The Last of Us is bringing fungal infections into popular culture (a sentence I never thought I would write). NPR has an interesting story about a real-life fungal horror:
Ophiocordyceps unilateralis, otherwise known as cordyceps or zombie-ant fungus, infects insects such as ants or spiders. Like other parasites, cordyceps drains its host completely of nutrients before filling its body with spores that will let the fungus reproduce. It then compels the insect to seek height and remain there before it expels these spores, infecting other nearby insects in the process. (NPR)