Fungademic-thon...'The Last of Us' predictive programming
CDC: Candida auris “is considered one of the highest threats” Also CDC: Candida auris “is not a threat to healthy people”
*updated…I mistakenly had only paid subscriber comments enabled, my apologies.
I have to say, I was betting on bacteria, but fungus is coming in strong.
I got a this comment from a reader yesterday, which prompted this latest dive:
When the TV show "The Last of Us" was gaining popularity (premiered in the US Jan 15, 2023), by March, a "drug-resistant and potentially deadly" fungus, Candidate Auris, started showing up in the media. BE SCARED! 😱 Despite this fungus "spreading at an alarming rate", the propaganda must've failed, I never heard anything besides these initial reports. I can find a few updates from sources like the CDC, which states C-Auris isn't a threat to healthy people, just to the "immune compromised". These reports weren't picked up by the media, of course. "Coincidentally", this article from Seattle was just published yesterday! 🤷♀️ A lot of scary language in the most recent article, until almost the end of the article where they mention, almost in passing, that C-Auris isn't a threat to healthy people, before listing all the symptoms and how difficult this fungus is to combat. 🤷♀️
First, let’s take a look at a headline from March of last year. Please note the nod they gave to the Predictive Programming present in “The Last of Us”, a widely viewed show on HBO. I did not see it, but here’s the premise:
Based on the video game franchise developed by Naughty Dog, the series is set twenty years into a pandemic caused by a mass fungal infection, which causes its hosts to transform into zombie-like creatures and collapses society. (source)
March 20, 2023
Deadly fungal infection spreading at an alarming rate, CDC says
The fungus, a type of yeast called Candida auris, or C. auris, can cause severe illness in people with weakened immune systems.
Most concerning was the increasing numbers of fungus samples resistant to the common treatments for it. Lyman hopes the paper will put C. auris on health care providers’ radar and spur facilities to practice “good infection control.”
“But we don’t want people who watched 'The Last of Us' to think we’re all going to die,” Javaid said. “This is an infection that occurs in extremely ill individuals who are usually sick with a lot of other issues.”
Even if C. auris moves beyond health care facilities and into communities, it’s unlikely to become a problem for healthy people who do not have invasive medical devices, such as catheters, inserted into their blood vessels, Javaid said.
The main problem is preventing the fungus from spreading to patients in hospital intensive care units, Javaid said. Unfortunately C. auris can colonize not only people who come in contact with the fungus, but also patient rooms.
Fast forward to this week (2024) and that “deadly fungal infection” that is “unlikely to become a problem for healthy people who do not have invasive medical devices” is getting scary again….
Jan. 30, 2024 at 4:37 pm
First known outbreak of deadly fungus C. auris confirmed in WA
C. auris infections are considered an urgent public health threat, and spread at an “alarming” rate during the coronavirus pandemic, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said last spring. The fungus was first reported in the United States in 2016, and was responsible for a 200% jump in infections between 2019 and 2021, The New York Times reported last year.
I’m sorry…I have to jump in here. C. auris, according to the previous report, is “unlikely to become a problem for healthy people who do not have invasive medical devices, such as catheters, inserted into their blood vessels”…
This is conjecture, but could the “200% jump in infections between 2019 and 2021 be due in part to the flagrant implementation of mechanical ventilation for covid patients??? I mean, I know I’m way out of my lane, but wasn’t there an inappropriate ventilation protocol in place (that paid hospitals a lot of money) for venting covid patients?
Those in long-term acute care facilities are generally most at risk, largely because they tend to be very ill and rely on devices like catheters or breathing tubes, Brostrom-Smith said.
In general, C. auris is not a threat to healthy people, according to the CDC.
CDC: Not a Threat to Healthy People
In general, C. auris is not a threat to healthy people. CDC typically does not recommend screening or testing family members. Family members should use alcohol-based hand sanitizer or wash their hands before entering and leaving a patient’s room and before and after contact with the patient or a patient’s medical devices.
Spoiler alert…China’s got it too ⬇️
January 30, 2024
China’s Rapid Rise in Potentially Deadly Fungal Infections Sparks Calls for Monitoring
Spread of Candida auris sparks concern due to drug resistance
Number of infections in China could be underestimated: study
Let’s just take a quick jump back to 2017.
Turns out that “scary superbug”(C. auris) has been deadly and spreading since 2017.
Good gatdamn. How are we not all dead?!?!?
Despite the “scariest superbug on the CDC’s radar” in 2017, I have no recollection of hearing anything about it….
Until the sudden buzz in 2023, curiously coinciding with that popular show 🤔. Probably just another coincidence.
Sadly, the real problem is a lack of fast testing.
If only the FDA would stop with their regulating and just approve some shit already. Because WE NEED MORE TESTING. GAH.
But susceptibility is expensive and time-consuming to pin down, in part because no FDA-approved, commercially available tests exist for C. auris, note the researchers in Indiana. Hospital labs often send samples to larger, specialty laboratories for analysis. There are tests available for other pathogenic yeast infections, however, and the researchers behind the new study investigated those tests for use with C. auris.
Thank GAWD the FDA can grant Breakthrough Status and slash those cumbersome regulations. Phew!
July 20, 2023
T2 Biosystems (NASDAQ:TTOO) has received breakthrough device status from the US Food and Drug Administration for its Candida aurismolecular diagnostic blood test.
The extremely low level of detection by T2 Biosystems’ technology (“T2MR”) in whole blood (1 – 11 CFU/mL) has been effective in detecting secondary infections. Most recently, a 2022 publication1 in the journal Microbiology Spectrum evaluated the use of T2 Biosystems’ sepsis tests in COVID-19 patients and found “without the additional use of T2MR, 13.3% of candidemia and 10% of bacterial superinfections would have been missed.”
Excellent news! T2 is collaborating with the NIH…AND has a great new BioThreat Panel. Hellzzz yeah. I wonder what that’s all about.
All about awesome 🤘🏼
Oh cool. That explained exactly NOTHING.
Um…WTF??? A minute and a half of computer animated uninformative cartoon BS that I’ll never get back.
Anywho…the experts at FDA area apparently also fluent in bullshit and sometimes need a better test to get around regulating drugs save people with lifesaving drugs.
FDA Breakthrough Therapy
Breakthrough Therapy designation is a process designed to expedite the development and review of drugs that are intended to treat a serious condition and preliminary clinical evidence indicates that the drug may demonstrate substantial improvement over available therapy on a clinically significant endpoint(s).
And don’t worry…OF COURSE we have PCR Not a Test on tap.
GREAT NEWS…and 100% AWESOME!!
If we know one thing for sure after the Not a Pandemic, it’s that 100% is a statistic you should 100% trust. 👍🏼
Optimizing a real-time PCR assay for rapid detection of Candida aurisin nasal and axillary/groin samples
Conclusion . The optimized procedure was used to test 1414 patient surveillance samples. The real-time PCR detected all culture-positive samples with 100 % sensitivity and 100 % specificity.
I was wondering, how did we get those genetic sequences for this PCR????
Not actually isolating anything and computer modeling, of course…which is the accepted gold standard these days.
Additionally, we used FastQC to estimate the sequence read quality and percent GC content [16]. We identified SNPs using MycoSNP GeneFlow workflows (https://git.biotech.cdc.gov/geneflow-workflows/mycosnp/), which performs read mapping using Burrows-Wheeler Aligner (BWA) v0.7.17, SNP calling using Genome Analysis Toolkit (GATK) v4.1.4.1, and generates a multi-FASTA file of the informative variants
Soooo…but what about that genetic sequence? Seems reasonable to ponder, considering we just shut down the world and deployed murder shots based on some bullshit PCR signaling.
Candida auris Whole-Genome Sequence Benchmark Dataset for Phylogenomic Pipelines
Our outbreak benchmark dataset represents a polyclonal phylogeny with three subclades. The genomes in this dataset are from well-vetted studies that are supported by multiple lines of evidence, which demonstrate that the whole-genome sequencing data, phylogenetic tree, and epidemiological data are all in agreement.
You know the hallmark of great science? Justifying something by just saying it’s well-vetted and supported by multiple lines of evidence.
Institutional Review Board Statement
Ethical review and approval were waived for this study, due to fact the genome sequences were previously published in PubMed ID 30293877, which stated, “the work was part of an ongoing public health response, it was determined to be non-research public health practice by CDC officials who are responsible for human participant protection, and this study was therefore not subject to review by institutional review boards”.
Ethical review? Ummm…HELLO…this is part of an ongoing public health response and we don’t do ethics when it’s public health on the line.
This study is repeatedly cited for the C. auris genetic sequence, and it used “RNA-Seq-guided gene predictions”, which sounds pretty computer model-y.
Modeling is all the rage these days though, and it is immeasurably helpful when the murderers of the world need to shut shit down.
Moving on…
But do we have any treatments???? 🤞🏼🤞🏼
You bet we do!
November 13, 2023
Pfizer Expands Presence in Antimicrobials with Amplyx Acquisition
Pfizer is expanding its presence in infectious diseases with the acquisition of San Diego-based Amplyx Pharmaceuticals and its lead antifungal compound Fosmanogepix (APX001). Terms of procurement were not disclosed.
Fosmanogepix is an investigational asset in development as a front-line treatment against invasive fungal infections, including Candida auris, which is highly resistant to antimicrobials and is considered one of the highest threats by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
CDC: C. auris “is considered one of the highest threats”
Also CDC: C. auris “is not a threat to healthy people”
Anywho….we’ve got a breakthrough status test, let’s get this show on the road, Pfizer can’t do it alone guys.
FDA advisers back Cidara and Melinta’s antifungal treatment.
Dive Brief:
A panel of outside experts convened by the Food and Drug Administration have recommended a new antifungal treatment developed by Cidara Therapeutics that could become the first therapy drug approved in more than a decade for candidemia and invasive candidiasis.
The FDA advisory committee voted 14-1 on Tuesday that the medicine, rezafungin, has a favorable risk-benefit ratio when given to adult patients who have limited or no other treatment options. While the FDA doesn’t have to follow the recommendations of its expert panels, it usually does.
U.S. rights and Ex-U.S. rights to rezafungin have been partnered with Melinta Therapeutics and Mundipharma respectively. Cidara retains the rights to rezafungin in Japan.
INDICATIONS AND USE
REZZAYO is an echinocandin antifungal indicated in patients 18 years of age or older who have limited or no alternative options for the treatment of candidemia and invasive candidiasis. Approval of this indication is based on limited clinical safety and efficacy data.
REZZAYO has not been studied in patients with endocarditis, osteomyelitis, and meningitis due to Candida.
IMPORTANT SAFETY INFORMATION
REZZAYO is contraindicated in patients with known hypersensitivity to rezafungin or other echinocandins.
REZZAYO may cause infusion-related reactions, including flushing, sensation of warmth, urticaria, nausea, or chest tightness. If these reactions occur, slow or pause the infusion.
REZZAYO may cause photosensitivity. Advise patients to use protection from sun exposure and other sources of UV radiation.
Abnormalities in liver tests have been seen in clinical trial patients treated with REZZAYO. Monitor patients who develop abnormal liver tests and evaluate patients for their risk/benefit of continuing REZZAYO therapy.
Most common adverse reactions (incidence 5%) are hypokalemia, pyrexia, diarrhea, anemia, vomiting, nausea, hypomagnesemia, abdominal pain, constipation, and hypophosphatemia.
You know what I love in my “approved” medication????
✅ Limited clinical safety and efficacy data
✅ Abnormalities in liver tests
✅ hypokalemia, pyrexia, diarrhea, anemia, vomiting, nausea, hypomagnesemia, abdominal pain, constipation, and hypophosphatemia
The Op is still LIVE, my friends.
And here’s how you know:
Dangerous deadly scary “thing”
New rapid test that has sidestepped regulation
New treatment approved on limited safety and efficacy data
I had a debilitating candida infection in my left knee in Sept. of last year. I did my own research and diagnosed myself with it. I made a homeopathic anti-fungal salve from a base of coconut oil, adding oregano and garlic oils, and tea tree oil. My knee infection responded to the treatment by running down my leg to my ankle, where it did the most ligament damage. It was like the fungus was feeding on my connective tissues. I kept applying the salve and the infection kept running down my foot until it was between my second and third toe, and then it left my body. I also had candida rash on my armpits that went away when the internal candida infection was banished. It was about 10 weeks where I couldn't walk, and then months more of rehab. I just got home from a 10 mile walk and my ankle hurts a lot right now. My knee is pretty good. There was damage done. I still rub the salve on my feet and oregano oil makes a great general deoderizer. I no longer drink alcohol because of the candida infection. I'm not supposed to have sugar either (my orders). It really is physician, heal myself.
i noticed the money tell in the FDA Approval slide - you'll get the best tools in the bull-shit and bear-it markets with piles of gold. hmmmm. stock portfolio management and fda approval. one of these things is not like the other! really.
i think i'm smelling a double shitter in this inning. next generation of t-shirt is likely to be a hot commodity, when one bullshit detection device isn't going to be adequate to the job!
and i'm thinking that the plan is not for a single thing. it makes sense for an attack from a multiple of things from ostensibly different directions. it is well know that people who are able to survive from a single life-threatening stressor can more easily succumb to the multi-tiered event: loss of work, death of parent/child, cancer diagnoses within close proximity, for example. hhhhmmmm
thank you again for the nice dig, here.