Rhiza Labs FluTracker Forum

it could also indicate some other non-flu condition

flu kills the elderly, pH1N1 not so much (yet)
but it's still flu

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no patents on genes, publish the GISAID sequences !

Nonsense.

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www.twitter.com/hniman

Houston and the Houston Metro area are close to the Gulf of Mexico and I can't think of anything remarkable about our air quality lately.
We are far enough from the fires, and the wind direction is generally from the Gulf, such that there would be no impact here from firefighters/victims.
Texas has a lot of sparsely populated rural areas, and that is generally where the fires are.
Nothing going on except pollen, and that would be no different than the same in other years.

Most of Texas is under extreme drought conditions. We have not had more than a trace amount of rain for the whole month of April, which is unusual. I am not aware of anything spiking illness-related.

Houston has many bad air quality days due to ozone, but generally worse in the hot summer months (June to October). No differences from other years.

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it's strange that this year the P+I ration was going up,
while the elderly ratio went down.
Most flu this year was H3.
Some H1 and B came later in Jan.,Feb.

_________________
no patents on genes, publish the GISAID sequences !

There have been two deaths from the wildland firefighters in Texas in the last month, neither of which was near Houston.

Houston is too small for a smoot curve and many weeks were missing,
so I used a 10-weeks moving average
Not many deaths actually, the 200 per week are redoubled from 5 weeks ago
but still much less than last year

------edit----- I also added the 5-weeks moving average----------------

_________________
no patents on genes, publish the GISAID sequences !

Pertussis

http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Ad ... irology%29

http://www.gazette.com/articles/cough-1 ... oping.html
18 Nov 2010 ... DENVER - The number of pertussis (whooping cough) cases is up
26 Oct 2010 ... Cases of Pertussis, or Whooping Cough, Up in El Paso County.
http://www.epcan.com/component/content/ ... unty-.html


OK, I posted this, but it doesn't look likely to me that this caused
the deaths

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no patents on genes, publish the GISAID sequences !

You are at a disadvantage in trying to figure this out since geography of the US would understandably be less familiar to you.

El Paso County, Colorado -- so that is not El Paso County, TX, and not many die of pertussis anyway.

The picture on your link looks like the right vegetation, but the snow-capped mountain would be out of place in Texas.
http://www.epcan.com/component/content/ ... unty-.html

A snow-capped mountain would be a nice addition to the state.

uhh, Colorado. I posted nonsense

_________________
no patents on genes, publish the GISAID sequences !

biggest increase in P+I - ratio in weeks 14-16
-----------------
4363 Somerville Mass
2055 El Paso Tex
1637 Duluth Minn
1531 Pasadena Calif
1495 New Haven Conn
1426 Shreveport La
1363 Youngstown Oh


biggest decrease in elderly - ratio in weeks 14-16
-----------------
860 Elizabeth N.J
910 Hartford Conn
911 Akron Oh
927 St. Petersburg Fla
929 Waterbury Conn
933 El Paso Tex
933 Wilmington Del
935 Tulsa Okla

biggest increase in total deaths in the last 5 weeks
-----------------------------------------
2052 Houston Tex
2218 Columbus Oh
2436 Des Moines Io
2613 Phoenix Ariz
2618 St. Louis Mo
2638 Syracuse N.Y



Tulsa,Oklahoma
01 180 119 46 8 4 3 11
02 135 101 25 4 3 2 13
03 105 78 18 7 2 - 13
04 191 135 41 13 2 - 19
05 21 13 5 2 1 - 1
06 123 85 27 6 3 2 15
07 183 143 29 8 3 - 17
08 206 133 61 12 - - 7
09 184 128 43 11 1 1 24
10 153 101 41 11 - - 20
11 104 72 18 8 4 2 12
12 135 103 25 4 3 - 14
13 115 89 22 4 - - 6
14 113 67 37 4 5 - 3
15 152 104 31 12 4 1 12
16 176 117 47 11 - 1 26

_________________
no patents on genes, publish the GISAID sequences !