I'm a longtime Johnny Cash fan, and the weather reminds me of his cover of the song Jackson with his wife June Carter Cash. Things are heating up in the country and world-wide now. We'll certainly see all kinds of health effects from this, including but not limited to infectious diseases. For now, try to keep cool, hydrated, and apply plenty of sun screen.
Also Remember Mosquito Protection
Speaking of climate change, the Florida Department of Health reported 2 more cases of autochthonous malaria in Sarasota County (see below), bringing the total to 6 cases in that region. Now is the time to take extra precautions for mosquitoes for residents of and travelers to that area.
By David Benbennick - The maps use data from nationalatlas.gov, specifically countyp020.tar.gz on the Raw Data Download page. The maps also use state outline data from statesp020.tar.gz. The Florida maps use hydrogm020.tar.gz to display Lake Okeechobee., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=570156.
CDC Budget Cuts
I can't find any official announcement on the CDC website, but Kaiser Family Foundation and various media entities have reported seeing emails from CDC to state health departments detailing some of the effects of the recent Biden administration budget cuts. Specifically, funding for sexually transmitted infection and pediatric vaccine support are being cut significantly. This couldn't come at a worse time. The impact will be most severe on those populations already at high risk such as rural populations and others lacking medical insurance coverage and access to healthcare. Here's hoping the feds find a workaround for these cuts.
'Demic Doldrums
We continue in a covid lull worldwide, with only a few areas showing increasing activity according to WHO.
On the variant front, not a lot to report although a new omicron subvariant, XBB.1.5.26.1 abbreviated as EU.1, may be the latest to watch. It's still at very low numbers in the US but has a significant growth advantage over other circulating variants. Remember that XBB.1.5 is the variant included in the upcoming covid vaccine for this fall.
My Entomophobia
I don't strictly fulfill diagnostic criteria for entomophobia, but my long-suffering wife would disagree when it comes to my fear of mosquitoes. I believe it dates back to a camping trip to Big Bend National Park when I was maybe 7 or 8 years old. I woke up to about 100 bites on my body, while my best friend in the same tent had about 2. It was then that I realized I was very popular with mosquitoes; I'm a mosquito magnet.
I'm particularly reminded of this with the current malaria transmission in Florida and Texas. One of my earliest childhood memories is of my father intermittently taking to his bed with high fevers and shaking chills, a vigorous man reduced almost to an invalid for a few days. He knew this was his malaria relapsing, related to his World War II service in North Africa. He had either Plasmodium ovale or Plasmodian vivax, the 2 types of malaria that have an exoerythocytic phase that requires primaquine treatment to eradicate, after initial treatment with choroquine or other agent. Apparently he didn't have access to primaquine, although it was discovered in 1946 and approved for use in the US in 1952, before I was born. Either he ultimately did get treatment or the episodes just burned out by themselves, but he didn't suffer from relapses in later life. Even though these forms of malaria aren't as deadly as P. falciparum, morbidity is still significant.
So, make my summer cocktail sunscreen, plenty of water, and DEET. (Not to be confused with prior advice of some extremists for covid treatment, the sunscreen and DEET are topical agents, only the water is to be ingested!)