Pandemic Watch News Brief: The News You Need To Know ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

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[link removed] April 10, 2024
AVAC's weekly Pandemic Watch is a curated news digest on the latest pandemic prevention, preparedness and response (PPPR) news and resources.


Resource allocation for disease control remains highly contentious. The COVID pandemic showed how rhetorical commitments to share vital supplies often were not reflected in reality, as rich countries prioritised their own citizens." - Michael Peel in FT ([link removed])
Table of Contents
• If You Are in a Hurry (#If You Are in a Hurry)
• Will the Pandemic Accord Happen? (#Will the Pandemic Accord Happen?)
• Mpox Outbreak in DRC Continues as Cases Rise Again in the US (#Mpox Outbreak in DRC Continues as Cases Rise Again in the US)
• Viral Hepatitis Deaths Increasing (#Viral Hepatitis Deaths Increasing)
• Concern Grows about Avian Flu (#Concern Grows about Avian Flu)
• WHO Rolls Out Rapid Diagnostic Tests for Cholera (#WHO Rolls Out Rapid Diagnostic Tests for Cholera)
• Call for Global Response to Antimicrobial Resistance (#Call for Global Response to Antimicrobial Resistance)
• The Challenge of Living with Long COVID in Kenya (#The Challenge of Living with Long COVID in Kenya)
• Long COVID Study May Provide Clues for Further Research (#Long COVID Study May Provide Clues for Further Research)
Mosquito-borne diseases are surging in communities around the globe, driven in part by climate change and climate disasters. This week The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) warned that the Americas are experiencing the worst dengue season on record. Confidencial ([link removed]) (Nicaragua) reports, “the global increase in temperatures and extreme weather phenomena such as El Niño, are causing an unusual increase in the number of dengue infections.…” PAHO’s director Jarbas Barbosa says, “Last year there were 4.5 million cases, and so far, this year we already have 3.5 million cases, making this probably the worst dengue season ever in the Americas.” A report from Argentina underscores just how dire the situation is. The country is running out of bug spray. AP ([link removed]) (US) via ABC News
reports, “As the South American country contends with its worst outbreak of dengue fever in recent memory, bug spray has become this season’s hot-ticket item. So hot that it's sold out in virtually all Buenos Aires stores and going for exorbitant prices online, in some cases as much as 10 times the retail value.”

If You Are in a Hurry

* Read Nikkei Asia ([link removed]) , Third World Network ([link removed]) and Politico ([link removed]) on what’s happening in Pandemic Accord negotiations.
* Read Asaase Radio ([link removed]) on good news for Malawi and 11 other countries who will soon be getting rapid cholera diagnostic tests to help control outbreaks.
* Read CIDRAP ([link removed]) on the growing mpox outbreak in DRC and LA Blade ([link removed]) on an uptick in US cases.
* Read Kenyan Post ([link removed]) on increasing hepatitis deaths globally and WHO’s Global Hepatitis Report ([link removed]) .
* Read one researcher’s concerns about avian flu in STAT ([link removed]) .
* Read BBC ([link removed]) on new evidence from a long COVID study that may help guide future research for treatment.


Will the Pandemic Accord Happen?

Nikkei Asia ([link removed]) (Japan) reports, “World Health Organization members' negotiations on a pandemic preparedness treaty remain rocky less than two months before the intended deadline, as industrialized and developing nations butt heads over technology access…. An analysis of the section on technology transfer by US nongovernmental organization Knowledge Ecology International found that the U.S., the UK and European countries proposed numerous amendments that would favor pharmaceutical companies. Bangladesh, Iran and Brazil pushed for broader technology access. The negotiating body is set to meet again on April 29. If WHO members cannot find common ground, the treaty may not be ready for adoption at the organization's annual World Health Assembly in late May, likely sapping much of the effort's momentum. Read the Knowledge Ecology International analysis here
([link removed]) and the leaked text of the March 27^th accord here ([link removed]) .

Third World Network ([link removed]) (Malaysia) reports, “The Vice-Chair of the Bureau of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body (INB).… Proposed a new timeline of May 2026 to conclude negotiations on a Pathogen Access and Benefit Sharing (PABS) System…. The proposal clearly intends to establish a separate negotiating track for the PABS system, which will continue beyond May 2024, the deadline indicated for the adoption of the pandemic instrument. This could result in imposing obligations on Parties under Articles 4 and 5 on surveillance and one health, to share biological materials and genetic sequence information of pathogens pending development of a PABS system.”

FT ([link removed]) (UK) reports, “Resource allocation for disease control remains highly contentious. The COVID pandemic showed how rhetorical commitments to share vital supplies often were not reflected in reality, as rich countries prioritised their own citizens.” Africa Public Health Foundation’s Ebere Okereke is quoted: “If there’s anything we learnt from the COVID-19 pandemic, it is that good intentions don’t tend to translate into the same actions in an emergency.”

Politico ([link removed]) (US) reports, “Countries have rehashed the same arguments for nine sessions in a row. Rich countries have never yielded on their demand that any sharing of intellectual property (IP) for products such as vaccines be on voluntary and mutually agreed terms. To developing countries, that approach isn’t much better than doing nothing at all. Between these two camps lie years of accrued mistrust — over failed talks on IP at the World Trade Organization, over vaccine inequity, over the legacy of imperialism and underdevelopment.

Mpox Outbreak in DRC Continues as Cases Rise Again in the US

CIDRAP ([link removed]) (US) reports, “A severe mpox outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) continues at a brisk pace, with cases in the first quarter of 2024 triple that of the same period last year, World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, PhD, said yesterday at a media briefing that covered a host of global health issues…. Tedros said more funding is needed to support the response and to ensure that the outbreak doesn't spread to neighboring countries. He added that the WHO's vaccine advisory group last month called for steps to help the DRC gain easier access to mpox vaccines.” Read Tedros’s full remarkshere ([link removed]) .

LA Blade ([link removed]) (US) reports, “Health officials report that over 570 cases of mpox have been detected in the U.S. so far in 2024, marking a significant increase compared to this time last year. While this year’s infection rate remains lower than the peak observed during the mpox outbreak in early August 2022, when the country witnessed an average of about 470 new cases per week, the latest data underscore that mpox continues to circulate. Health authorities stress the importance of vaccination, particularly for individuals at risk of infection.”

Viral Hepatitis Deaths Increasing

Kenyan Post ([link removed]) (Kenya) More than 3,500 people die from hepatitis viruses every day, the World Health Organization warned on Tuesday, calling for swift action to fight the disease which is the second-largest infectious killer… narrowly coming behind tuberculosis.… New data from 187 countries showed that the number of deaths from viral hepatitis rose to 1.3 million in 2022 from 1.1 million in 2019, according to a WHO report Read WHO’s Global Hepatitis Report here ([link removed]) .

The Guardian ([link removed]) (UK) reports on efforts in England to identify Hepatitis C cases. “The initiative includes new liver scanning and portable testing units to be rolled out in communities where people may be at a higher risk of contracting the infection. Also included in the initiative are testing events happening at GP surgeries and community outreach at drug and alcohol support services.”

Concern Grows about Avian Flu

STAT ([link removed]:) (US) reports, “News that H5N1 avian influenza has breached another mammalian species — this time dairy cows — has taken the flu science community aback…. To put these developments in perspective, STAT turned to Dutch virologist Ron Fouchier, a leading expert on H5N1, for his assessment of these latest twists in the H5 saga.” Fouchier says, “We have never seen this scale of infections in mammals, and in such diversity of mammals. We have now seen more than 40 species of mammals infected during the last outbreaks, which is unprecedented. We know that flu is unpredictable. But we also know that adaptation of virus to mammals is not a good thing.”

In a separate article, STAT ([link removed]) (US) reports the US CDC, “urged medical practitioners on Friday to be on the lookout for people who might have contracted H5N1 bird flu from cows. The agency also urged state health departments to rapidly assess any suspected human cases, and recommended that dairy farms with confirmed or suspected outbreaks require workers to use personal protective equipment…. The advisory is in response to the outbreak of H5N1 avian influenza in at least 16 dairy herds in six states across the country, which has led to at least one human infection so far.”

Medscape ([link removed]) (US) reports, “As avian influenza continues to spread among wild bird populations in the European Union (EU), scientists have described a wide range of factors that could drive the virus to spread efficiently among humans, thereby increasing its pandemic potential. Although transmission of avian influenza A(H5N1) from infected birds to humans is rare, ‘new strains carrying potential mutations for mammalian adaptation’ could occur, according to a report issued on Wednesday by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control and the European Food Safety Authority. The analysis identified a threat of strains currently circulating outside Europe that could enter the EU and the wider European Economic Area (EEA).”

WHO Rolls Out Rapid Diagnostic Tests for Cholera

Asaase Radio ([link removed]) (Malawi) reports, “The arrival of rapid diagnostic test (RDT) kits for cholera in Malawi today signals the start of a global programme that will see more than 1.2 million tests distributed to 14 countries at high risk for cholera over the next several months.Countries that will receive kits in the coming weeks in this largest-ever global deployment include those currently severely impacted by cholera outbreaks, such as Ethiopia, Somalia, Syria, and Zambia. This programme will improve the timeliness and accuracy of outbreak detection and response by boosting routine surveillance and testing capacity and helping rapidly identify probable cholera cases. Critically, it will also help countries monitor trends and build an evidence base for future preventive programmes, supporting the achievement of national cholera control and elimination targets.”

Call for Global Response to Antimicrobial Resistance

CIDRAP ([link removed]) (US) reports, “A group tasked with advocating for political action on antimicrobial resistance (AMR) says world leaders have a narrow window of opportunity to prevent the already staggering impact of drug-resistant infections from worsening. In a report released yesterday, the Global Leaders Group (GLG) on AMR said an economic study they commissioned estimates that, at the current level of action against AMR, there would be an average loss of 1.8 years of life expectancy by 2035, with some low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) seeing life expectancy fall by 2.5 years. In addition, AMR would cost the world $412 billion a year in healthcare costs and $443 billion in lost productivity.” Read the report here ([link removed]) .

The Challenge of Living with Long COVID in Kenya

The Sick Times ([link removed]) (US) reports on the struggles of living with long COVID in Kenya. “In Kenya, the complexities of Long COVID present a daunting challenge for patients and healthcare providers alike, mirroring the broader struggles faced across the continent. This situation serves as a stark reminder of the urgent need for heightened awareness, bolstered resources, and targeted support to tackle the multifaceted issues surrounding Long COVID…. While the pandemic has impacted populations from all continents, there is a significant gap in knowledge about COVID-19 on the African continent. Not only is the prevalence of contagious disease poorly understood, but it’s also often ignored by healthcare providers and the wider public.”

Long COVID Study May Provide Clues for Further Research

BBC ([link removed]) (UK) reports, “People with long COVID have evidence of continuing inflammation in their blood, which could help understanding of the condition and how it may be treated, a UK study suggests. It found the presence of certain proteins increased the risk of specific symptoms, such as fatigue, in people sick enough to need hospital treatment…. A test remains a long way off - but the findings may prompt future trials…. [Study participants] with Long COVID showed evidence of a continuing and active pattern of inflammatory proteins in their blood. The researchers said the presence of these chemicals in the blood, which are usually a sign of the body fighting off infection, was unusual when the initial infection occurred so long before.”
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