CDC's handling of polio-like illness criticized by its own advisers.

[hexola]

I really wish there had been a question about this at yesterdays WH Briefing.

This issue dovetails nicely as counter to the idea that the immigrant caravan will be bringing "disease" - I guess it should be scary when these idiots can't even properly respond to an outbreak a few hours from DC!

https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/29/health/cdc-afm-response/index.html

Albany, Oregon (CNN)The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's own medical advisers are criticizing the federal health agency for being slow to respond to a polio-like disease that's struck hundreds of children over the past six years.

"Frustrated and disappointed -- I think that's exactly how most of us feel," said Dr. Keith Van Haren, one of the CDC advisers on AFM and an assistant professor of neurology at the Stanford University School of Medicine.

Van Haren and other doctors who care for these children say the agency has been slow to gather data and to guide pediatricians and emergency room physicians on how to diagnose and treat the children struck with the disease, acute flaccid myelitis.

"This is the CDC's job. This is what they're supposed to do well. And it's a source of frustration to many of us that they're apparently not doing these things,"

[MarvinGardens]

1. It's very rare, one in a million.

https://www.cdc.gov/acute-flaccid-myelitis/afm-surveillance.html

CDC has tested many different specimens from AFM patients for a wide range of pathogens (germs) that can cause AFM. To date, no pathogen (germ) has been consistently detected in the patients’ spinal fluid; a pathogen detected in the spinal fluid would be good evidence to indicate the cause of AFM since this condition affects the spinal cord.


The increase in AFM cases in 2014 coincided with a national outbreak of severe respiratory illness among people caused by enterovirus D68 (EV-D68). Among the people confirmed with AFM, CDC did not consistently detect EV-D68 in every patient. During 2015, CDC did not receive information about large EV-D68 outbreaks in the United States, and laboratories reported only limited EV-D68 detections to CDC’s National Enterovirus Surveillance System (NESS). During 2016, CDC was informed of a few localized clusters in the United States. Learn more about EV-D68.

For anyone who is interested, there is lots more information on that page describing CDC's activities regarding AFM. Like every agency, CDC has a limited budget, and many of the funds are allocated by Congress for a specific program or purpose. I am not saying that they should not investigate rare illnesses, but I imagine that infectious diseases impacting larger numbers of people receive greater attention from tgeir infectious disease divisions.

When Ebola was raging in Africa in 2014, who responded? When Zika was spreading in Florida, who responded? And how did that turn out? But go ahead, call them idiots if you like.

[malaise]

2. Not as rare as small pox or leprosy which is the latest fear-mongering

From Fux News a nd Don the Con and his goons

[ck4829]

3. Kick