On the subject of infectious disease.

Investment Analysis Clubs Macro Economic Trends and Risks
1

So, after my trip to England I was chatting with my neighbour about items in the news…Wimbledon, Henley regatta (with an explanation of the origins of “The Season”) Glastonbury etc…and polio. Specifically the discovery of the virus in more than one wastewater treatment facility. But not the actual disease…yet.

She texted me just now with this item…

https://www.statnews.com/2022/07/21/n-y-state-detects-polio-…

The public health concern in the UK wasn’t so much that the discovery of the virus was a previously unheard of thing…apparently individual isolated samples of vaccine derived virus have been detected since testing started. Similarly hete in the US, apparently. The recent incident is the first time a genetically similar virus had been detected in different areas…suggesting possible transmission across communities.

We were both speculating how long until the disease itself appeared…given that apparently 1 in 5 eligible under-5s in the UK remain unvaccinated (with no likelihood that the stats are better for the 6 and over who were born after the early aughts and the Wakefield inspired resurgence of the anti-vax movement.)

We both thought that it was probably a hypothetical risk.

1 Like
2

So, the same neighbour sent me this update yesterday…

https://www.propublica.org/article/polio-virus-us-new-york-v…

The surprise…and dismay…for me is that, contrary to what I’d inferred in the initial article, the US generally doesn’t test for polio virus routinely.

Another tidbit shared by one of my cronies on my trip to England was that, along with viruses and whatever else is tested, illicit drugs are on the surveillance list. With some success, apparently as there have been a handful of high profile drug busts following the initial alerts provided by wastewater analysis.