Rick Bright
@RickABright
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Practical, Innovative, Hyper-focused on saving lives. Immunologist, Virologist, Pandemic Nemesis. Posts are mine.
Washington, DC
Joined January 2017
@ann_mcnitt @outbreakupdates It’s critical to know if they’ve confirmed as influenza, subtyped, and if given antivirals. Good to know vaccination status, too. Word needs to get to healthcare workers to use diagnostic tests to get details of the outbreak.
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RT @CEPIvaccines: For International Day of Women and Girls in Science, we caught up with CEPI Deputy CEO @AureliaFNguyen to discuss her car…
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@outbreakupdates They don’t need to send to the state lab for H5 subtyping. CDC has paid millions to help set up Quest, LabCorp, Aegis, other Oct labs that are easily accessible to most hospitals. If hospitals don’t have onsite capability, they can send to one of these pvt labs for H5 subtyping.
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RT @CovidDataReport: Do you or someone you know have a virus right now that is coming up negative for Covid? I am starting to hear more thi…
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RT @michaelmina_lab: There are so many reasons to provide rapid tests for bird flu From improved speed access and accessibility, to the p…
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@AlphonsusOlieh Urge caution on this post. No source link or info. If it was true, again, even the child in MN with gofundme page is not confirmed, we would hear from the state health dept and possibly the CDC (even in their cone of silence).
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In September, the CDC awarded $41,444.07 to ARUP Laboratories, $75,750.00 to Laboratory Corporation of America, and $325,072.00 to Quest Diagnostics to support development and validation of tests for H5N1. The awards were part of a larger funding package from the CDC that the agency said were intended to "strengthen our national laboratory system to support readiness and response activities at all levels of public health and across multiple pathogen and condition types." In addition to the funds for H5N1 test development, the package included contracts worth up to $118 million to Labcorp, Quest, ARUP, Ginkgo Bioworks, and Aegis Sciences "to improve the efficiency and accuracy of laboratory testing and the situational awareness provided by use of laboratory data during and outside of public health emergencies" including "by improving specific laboratory processes and data sharing." Quest launched its H5N1 test at the end of October, Labcorp launched its test in December, and ARUPlaunched its test at the beginning of January. Sonic Healthcare's American Esoteric Laboratories also offers H5N1 testing. Excerpt From @360DxNews report.
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@YoffiLexi @KrutikaKuppalli @MarionKoopmans No need to send to the state. Can send to labcorp or quest or other pvt labs that recently received contracts from CDC to support their #H5N1 testing. There is likely coverage in every state from one or more of these labs.
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RT @outbreakupdates: I’m getting reports of gastrointestinal tuberculosis linked to raw milk. And no one is doing contact tracing. I’ll s…
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Couldn’t agree more with the praise for @DrGerryParker landing in this key role at a most critical time for #H5N1. Dr. Parker knows this virus and its risk, and he knows how to navigate politics of DC and HHS/USDA. Good signs for a clear action plan to come.
Credit where it is due: Trump taps Gerald Parker, a veterinarian & avian influenza expert to lead the White House Office of Pandemic Preparedness and Response Policy. At last, a true merit appointment of a respected scientist in the White House.
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RT @HelenBranswell: 1. This time last year, the US had only ever recorded 1 human infection with #H5N1 #birdflu, in 2022. With the confirma…
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@BogochIsaac Thanks Isaac. It looks like these data are from positive flu tests. Do you know if they also send for subtyping and maybe even sequencing of subsets when getting flu A + in Canada?
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RT @ScottGottliebMD: .@FoxNews: “Officials at the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) warn there is a growing measles outbreak…
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@webb0412 @flindall_steve I’d urge caution in assuming that people who test positive for influenza aren’t vaccinated. In addition to subtyping virus, it’s interesting to see how many clinicians don’t ask the question or can’t access data on vaccination status. It’s critical to get this data, too.
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@flindall_steve Have you been able to subtype any of the flu A samples? Or send any for sequencing? This is very important during the peak we are seeing in the U.S., especially w/#H5N1 very prevalent. Do you have capability to subtype?
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@luckytran This is also why the development & use of low-cost, rapid tests that detect flus/B, COVID, rsv at minimum at very valuable for early appropriate treatment, and aid in public health tracking for these pathogens. Empirical syndromic diagnosis can be helped now with rapid tests.
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@BryanTegomoh @KrutikaKuppalli @MarionKoopmans @cmyeaton Thanks Bryan. This is very insightful and highlights important challenges that need to be addressed.
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RT @llborio: Excellent choice. Gerald Parker is experienced and clear-eyed about the threats we face. One of his favorite sayings is “let’…
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