RSV on the Upswing?
I always keep a close watch on respiratory pathogen panel results at Children's National. It is not in any way a formal active surveillance program but does help monitor what viruses are out there. If you are in front-line practice you probably already know that the "routine" respiratory pathogens are back in circulation. Recently our most prominent virus group has been parainfluenzavirus, particularly type 3. Paraflu commonly has some seasonality with peaks in spring and fall. However, I've also been watching the Respiratory Syncytial Virus numbers. RSV is of course primarily a winter pathogen, but a few pockets around the country have been reporting very high numbers of RSV cases. At CNH we haven't quite seen those numbers but still the positive detections are higher than usual this time of year, about 3-6 children per week. Also, we have had a few kids in intensive care with more severe RSV disease. It isn't time to bring out the palivizumab early but certainly bears watching.
Swine Fever Viruses
African Swine Fever and, just recently, Classical Swine Fever, have reared their ugly heads but mostly have been overshadowed by the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. ASF, a large DNA virus, and CSF, a small RNA virus, don't infect humans. So, why should we care?
Both viruses are devastating to swine, which in turn affects the swine industry and therefore those dependent on that industry. A breakout of ASF in Europe, Asia, and elsewhere around the globe has been responsible for rises in pork prices world-wide. ASF hasn't circulated in North America, but it could be imported very easily by travelers returning from these areas with prohibited food and other products.
CSF really has been absent from Australia, North America, and Europe but is endemic in other parts of the world. Bhutan just announced an outbreak in wild boars beginning June 23.
As stated above neither ASF nor CSF infects humans, and there is no known risk to ingesting pork infected with these viruses. (Of course, plenty of other reasons to eat only well-cooked pork!) Transmission is just among pigs/boars; ticks (a soft tick, Ornithodoros sp.) can transmit ASF to swine. Expect more price increases for pork relative to the general increases in consumer goods related to the pandemic. In May 2021 pork prices were $109.58/lb, compared to $62.78/lb a year ago. Culling infected herds is the main method to control domestic pig spread although a CSF vaccine does exist as well. I hope these measures will be effective in reigning in these pathogens before more economies are devastated.