“We’re going to have the flu epidemic and the coronavirus epidemic at the same time” — CDC director Robert Redfield

Winter is coming. Read the rest

A few years back, my brother Rick Pescovitz came up with Under The Weather Pods, single-person pop-up shelters. You may have caught Rick on Shark Tank (video below). Rick was sick of getting soaked at his kids' soccer games and was inspired by a portable toilet he saw by the field. Under The Weather Pods are designed for watching sports, fishing, and other outdoor events where it's raining, windy, or cold, but you are either obligated to watch or having so much fun you don't want to leave.

As travelers are taking unusual steps to protect themselves from the Coronavirus, from wearing water jugs on their heads to covering themselves in plastic tarps, my brother thought to see how his StadiumPod, meant for seated spectators at sports games, would work on an airplane. He tells me the flight attendant happily took his photo and that the man who sat next to him didn't even bat an eye. Stay safe out there!

Under the Weather Pods

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The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have published a free graphic novel titled "The Junior Disease Detectives: Operation Outbreak," some of which is set at a state fair where a teenage 4-H member is infected with swine flu. As CNN reports, the comic's plot is similar to what actually happened this summer at two state fairs. From CNN:

At the California Mid-State Fair in Paso Robles, which took place in San Luis Obispo County from July 18 through 29, two people fell ill after attending the fair. Similarly, two attendees of the Fowlerville Family Fair in Michigan, which took place in Livingston County from July 23 through 28, also became sick in the days after.

Public health disease detectives in both states immediately tested the patients for variant influenza virus, a flu strain that normally circulates in swine but not people. Person-to-person transmission of variant strains is uncommon, and you cannot catch this type of flu from eating pork.

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Google Flu Trends — an attempt to estimate flu rates by analyzing searches for flu-related topics — is not terribly accurate. And a group of social scientists might have figured out why. Turns out, the culprit could be Google's own algorithm, which seems to prioritize searches that might have nothing to do with someone having the flu, such as someone asking how to tell the difference between flu and a cold. Read the rest

If you're not quite sure what the "H" and the "N" in H1N1 stand for or how the 2009 H1N1 differed from the 1918 H1N1, or if H10N8 is just starting to sound like alphabet soup to you, then Judy Stone's article at the Molecules to Medicine blog can help. Read the rest

Narcolepsy is an autoimmune disease — a finding that helps explain why the 2009 swine flu (and the vaccine used to prevent it) was correlated with increased cases of narcolepsy. Read the rest

After stumping her doctors, a sick Taiwanese woman turned out to be infected with a strain of bird flu never before seen in humans. She survived, and nobody else appears to be infected, but you might want to get used to thinking about H6N1. Read the rest

Given the ongoing outbreak of H7N9 flu in China (and, now, also Taiwan), this is a good time to listen to a fascinating podcast discussion with David Quammen. Quammen recently published a FANTASTIC book, Spillover, about zoonoses — the diseases that humans contract from animals. This includes bird flus like H7N9. It also includes AIDS and a whole host of familiar viruses and bacteria. Bonus: Scary disease girl Maryn McKenna has a cameo in the podcast, discussing the way news media (in China and the US) are covering H7N9 and what you can do to better understand what's happening. Read the rest

Looking for a quick rundown of basic information about the new strain of bird flu that's infecting people in China? The Toronto Star's Jennifer Yang has a great, one-page breakdown that will get you caught up on just about everything you need to know — including how scared you should be. For the record, the answer to that is complicated. We aren't near a pandemic yet. But we do need to get a better handle on understanding how this virus works so we can stop it from spreading. It's a serious situation and the news is not all good news. But we don't seem to be at a point where anybody outside of China and the international public health community should be in an urgent crisis mode. Read the rest

Flu season is in winter. Okay, great. But why? (Consider this an open thread for all your favorite humidifier recommendations.) Read the rest

Short answer: We don't know. Despite its ubiquity, there's a lot scientists don't know about the influenza virus. Helen Branswell is a great medical reporter. In this piece for the Winnipeg Free Press she explains why the flu virus makes seemingly simple questions frustratingly difficult to answer. Read the rest