Our second #AltComms #MMWR looks at COVID-19 antiviral prescribing June 2023-September 2025
Main points:
📌Low COVID-19 antiviral use among older age groups at high risk for bad outcomes
📌 Prescriptions are more likely when COVID-19 activity is high
🧵👇 on www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes...
Another Thursday = more #MMWR #AltComms
First, 2024-25 data on respiratory bugs from 6️⃣😲 surveillance systems
Main points:
📌loads of stuff circulating - just different stuff at different times
📌severe COVID-19 = worst for older ages
📌severe RSV = worst for infants
🧵 on www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes...
🧵 4/4
➡️ Rabies remains almost universally fatal once symptoms begin, but entirely preventable with timely PEP.
When in doubt after 🦇 contact, treat!
#altcomms
www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes...
🧵 1/7 #AltComms
MMWR (Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report) this week on a Zika outbreak in Bangladesh in 2024
This is classic, boots-on-the-ground epidemiology—and exactly why it still matters. Let’s dig in.
This year’s flu vaccine - about 50% effective
AND may cut healthcare visits & hospitalizations in HALF 🤯
(That’s HUGE! ’specially for those with chronic diseases or older than 65yo.)
#Altcomms 🔗 bsky.app/profile/altc...
(Can you tell we love this campgin & really miss our CDC comms ppl?!)
✨ EVERYONE age 6 months & up should get their flu shot ✨
Yes, even our healthy kids.
Recent MMWR: more kids died last year from flu than in any other non-pandemic season since 2004 (when first reportable)
Kids should NOT die from flu
#FightFlu #VaccinesWorks
🔗 #Altcomms bsky.app/profile/altc...
Government Shutdown 101 📚
What's furlough?
Are all gov employees furloughed?
And what does it mean for CDC?
Well, because #MMWR staff are furloughed, no #AltComms tonight 😢
Short thread 👇
1/
Our #MMWR #AltComms deep dive is on flu vaccine effectiveness, or VE
Using flu data from the Southern Hemisphere (SH), we can sneak a peek at how well flu vaccines might work for our season in the Northern Hemisphere (NH)
Tl;dr: Looking good 🎇
dx.doi.org/10.15585/mmw...
Let's jump in 👇🤿
1/
This week's #MMWR is a reminder to GO GET YOUR FLU SHOTS 💉💉💉
Why? All 3 articles are from our Flu Division friends!
We love a timely, themed issue 💚
We'll do a deep dive into the flu vaccine effectiveness article in a bit
Quick #AltComms looks at 2/3 of this week's articles below 👇
A bar graph plotting the influenza-associated hospitalization rate for every flu season starting with the 2010-2011 season. The most recent season, 2024-2025, had a hospitalization rate of 127.2 flu-associated hospitalizations per 100,000 people. In the previous seasons, the highest rate was 102.9 hospitalizations per 100,000 (the 2017-2018 season) and the lowest rate was 8.7 hospitalization per 100,000 (the 2011-2012 season). That makes the most recent flu season the worst flu season for flu-associated hospitalizations in the past 15 years.
Today's other #MMWR describes the most recent flu season. Just in time for the next one - timely #AltComms
Basically: the highest flu-associated hospitalization rate since the 2017-2018 season
Last season's rates were 2-3x higher than during seasons during 2010-2023
www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes...
eGGadS, today’s #MMWR features group G Streptococcus (GGS)
Two residents of a long-term care facility developed invasive GGS
Thanks to a robust public health response, the case count stopped there
Let’s dive in for our #AltComms report: www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes...
🧵👇
An image of a scroll with text over a background of a garden and a wicker basket filled with oranges. The scrolls reads "Floridians, Go forth and get vaccinated! xoxo, Dr. Alt"
Since today is our #AltComms day, we thought we'd issue an #AltRecommendation for Florida
(to offset the FL Surgeon General's stunt www.bbc.com/news/article...)
Most of the time, viruses and allergies cause conjunctivitis (infected/irritated outer layer of the eye)
But a surprising culprit - Neisseria meningitidis (Nm) - was behind a 41-person outbreak among basic military trainees at a Texas base
How? Unclear.
www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes...
🧵👇 #AltComms
🌪 Recent Thursdays have been chaotic, and today #MMWR embraces the chaos
This week focuses on mysteries 🔍 of the microbial variety
We'll drop mini-threads for today's #AltComms in a bit, but first... time to comfort eat some carbs 🍞🥐🥞
Neither snow, nor rain, nor resignations, nor clap outs stays #MMWR… Despite the chaos of the last 24 hours, today we get 3️⃣ (‼) articles for today's #AltComms
💊 Drug overdose deaths involving stimulants
💉 Annual flu vaccine recs
👶 Protecting young babies from RSV
🧵CDC’s journal (Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report) released a new report today describing an investigation into a skilled nursing facility resident who was infected with Hepatitis B virus through a shared blood glucose monitor.
#altcomms #MMWR
www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes...
📄📚 Got something exciting in press?
Let us know — we’re happy to hold off until the embargo lifts. We take confidentiality seriously - we kind of have to: we’re #altCDC and still work at CDC.
We’re here to make sure your science doesn’t get sidelined.
#AltComms
#CDCSavesLives
📣 Attention CDC staff
Your work deserves better than being buried by this admin.
We’ve been using #AltComms to spotlight MMWRs — but if you’ve got manuscripts, commentaries or other publications coming out elsewhere, we want to feature them too.
DM us or
📧 altCDCtips@proton.me
📱 Signal: altCDC.99
Ever gotten splashed by a car driving through a puddle? Solar panel installers in Michigan dealt with something similar - but instead of gross street water, they were near freshly-sprayed pesticides for agriculture!
Our final #MMWR for today's #altComms describes these bystander exposures
Raccoons have it all, don't they? They're cute, scrappy, versatile, and highly intelligent.
In this week's #altComms report, we highlight something else that up to 80% of their population has -- a roundworm called Baylisascaris procyonis that's shed in their poop and can infect people. 🧵
[1/5] Have you ever...accidentally gotten high? This altCDCer once ate a special cookie that no one mentioned was special. So, we can relate to the 85 people that are part this #altComms post that went on the JOURNEY of being so high...with no clue why.
Today's #MMWR #AltComms report feels very... timely... considering today's FDA announcement 52 food standards (many which are for dairy products 🧀🍦)
One article describes a Salmonella outbreak linked to raw milk 🦠🥛
Yummy!
www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes...
🧵
1/5
#MMWR #altcomms
The other #MMWR published this week is about the literal plague 😨
Although we think of the plague as the disease that swept across Europe in the Middle Ages and then disappeared, it's very much still a thing in the US!
Regrettably, our #MMWR #AltComms release was delayed by an outbreak of self-indulgent nonsensical giggling🍷It's now contained, and risk of transmission is low.
Let's dive into the first article, which looks at text messages for public health follow-up on Giardia cases
www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes...
Now, back to our usual programming [tele/radio]
What time is it? #MMWR #AltComms time!
Get in, loser, we're talking fungus 🍄
www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes...
At the last All Hands, we were told that CDC's communications ban ended in Feb. But there hasn't been a post from CDC's FB or Instagram accounts since March. That's 3+ months the agency has been muzzled from sharing the latest public health science, recommendations, or outbreak updates. #AltComms
Line graph titled “Percentage of serum specimens positive for parvovirus B19–specific antibodies, by epidemiologic week.” The x-axis represents epidemiologic weeks (1 to 52), and the y-axis shows the percentage of positive serum specimens, ranging from 0% to 10%, with a break above 10%. Three lines represent data for different years: 2025 (solid dark blue line): Starts at around 4.5% in week 1, increases gradually to about 8% by week 22, and remains steady. 2024 (dashed light blue line): Starts around 2%, climbs steadily, peaks around 9% in week 25, then drops sharply and gradually declines. 2023 (dotted blue line): Remains relatively flat, fluctuating between 0.5% and 2% throughout the year. The graph shows a noticeable increase in parvovirus B19 antibody positivity in 2024 and 2025 compared to 2023.
#MMWR #AltComms
A morbidity and mortality weekly report (MMWR) released by CDC today found that the number of Parvovirus B19 infections is higher this year compared to last year. B19 activity typically peaks April through June.
www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes...
A graph of the number of pediatric community-acquired pediatric (CAP) hospitalizations and Mycoplasma pneumoniae (Mp) associated CAP hospitalization. The data span 2018 to 2024. Seasonal increases in CAP hospitalizations happen during the winter each year. Mp-associated CAP is only a small percent of this for 2018-2023. However, in 2024 Mp-associated CAP makes up a larger percentage of all CAP
First for our #MMWR #AltComms, an update on the recent burden of Mycoplasma penumoniae (Mp)
Bottom line: Sharp increases in pediatric Mp hospitalizations in 2024 compared to prior years (2018-2023)
www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes...
