http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn2 ... k-yEtLUnfI
US shutdown threatens response to disease outbreaks
Viruses don't take time off when a government shuts down.
That simple fact has scientists worried this week after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) sent home 68 per cent of its workers, just as the 2013-2014 flu season approaches and dangerous infectious diseases are looming in several countries around the world.
The shutdown and resultant freezing of government funding comes as a result of a budgetary stand-off between political factions in Congress about whether to approve funding for a new national healthcare system.
"They protected you yesterday, can't tomorrow," CDC Director Thomas Frieden tweeted on Tuesday of the 8,754 staff the agency was forced to send home.
Health officials at the state and local levels aren't affected by the shutdown. They will continue to record flu cases as usual, but that information won't be evaluated at the national level until the CDC receives a new infusion of funding.
This will hinder researchers' ability to track the uptick in illness that signals the start of the flu season. And without access to CDC labs to identify which strains of the virus are circulating, new mutations could be missed.
"This affects our capacity to see if the virus is mutating or whether we have unanticipated strains out there," says William Schaffner at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, a former president of the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases.
And that could affect the deployment of vaccines later this season, which have to be well matched to circulating strains, as well as national response time to new viruses.
"What if H7N9 sharply rears its head and enters the country?" Schaffner says, referring to the deadly strain of avian flu discovered in China earlier this year.
For now the virus has shown only limited transmission among humans – but that could change.
(continued)
US shutdown threatens response to disease outbreaks
- cronus
- Black Market Analyst
- Posts: 18122
- Joined: Thu Oct 11, 2012 7:09 pm
- About me: Illis quos amo deserviam
- Location: United Kingdom
- Contact:
US shutdown threatens response to disease outbreaks
What will the world be like after its ruler is removed?
- JimC
- The sentimental bloke
- Posts: 74202
- Joined: Thu Feb 26, 2009 7:58 am
- About me: To be serious about gin requires years of dedicated research.
- Location: Melbourne, Australia
- Contact:
Re: US shutdown threatens response to disease outbreaks
A once powerful empire dying the death of 1000 cuts...
Nurse, where the fuck's my cardigan?
And my gin!
And my gin!
- cronus
- Black Market Analyst
- Posts: 18122
- Joined: Thu Oct 11, 2012 7:09 pm
- About me: Illis quos amo deserviam
- Location: United Kingdom
- Contact:
Re: US shutdown threatens response to disease outbreaks
America? I recall the name. Bankrupt and found in the gutter?JimC wrote:A once powerful empire dying the death of 1000 cuts...

What will the world be like after its ruler is removed?
- rainbow
- Posts: 13767
- Joined: Fri Jun 08, 2012 8:10 am
- About me: Egal wie dicht du bist, Goethe war Dichter
Where ever you are, Goethe was a Poet. - Location: Africa
- Contact:
Re: US shutdown threatens response to disease outbreaks
Nice people though...Scrumple wrote:America? I recall the name. Bankrupt and found in the gutter?JimC wrote:A once powerful empire dying the death of 1000 cuts...
I call bullshit - Alfred E Einstein
BArF−4
BArF−4
- cronus
- Black Market Analyst
- Posts: 18122
- Joined: Thu Oct 11, 2012 7:09 pm
- About me: Illis quos amo deserviam
- Location: United Kingdom
- Contact:
Re: US shutdown threatens response to disease outbreaks
rainbow wrote:Nice people though...Scrumple wrote:America? I recall the name. Bankrupt and found in the gutter?JimC wrote:A once powerful empire dying the death of 1000 cuts...
....nice ones got on A BOAT like their forbearer's only going the other way.

What will the world be like after its ruler is removed?
- Tyrannical
- Posts: 6468
- Joined: Thu Dec 30, 2010 4:59 am
- Contact:
Re: US shutdown threatens response to disease outbreaks
Maybe Obama should have furloughed park employees who were wasting their time putting up barricades instead?
A rational skeptic should be able to discuss and debate anything, no matter how much they may personally disagree with that point of view. Discussing a subject is not agreeing with it, but understanding it.
Who is online
Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 8 guests