What’s new with the flu? Why are so many people getting whooping cough – even though they were vaccinated? Please join experts from Mayo Clinic and the Centers for Disease Control for a Twitter chat Dec. 12 with NBC News chief science and health correspondent Robert Bazell.
The chat will take place from 11 a.m. to noon ET Wednesday at hash tag #nbcnewshealth. Physicians taking part include:
_ Joseph Bresee, M.D., chief of the Epidemiology and Prevention Branch in CDC’s Influenza Division and a captain in the U.S. Public Health Service. Dr. Bresee’s CDC branch is responsible for influenza surveillance, working to understand influenza disease burden, helping to derive appropriate vaccine and antiviral use policies to prevent seasonal influenza, detecting and preventing avian influenza and pandemic influenza, and providing technical expertise to global public health partners.
_ Vaccinologist Gregory Poland, M.D., director of the Vaccine Research Group at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.; Mary Lowell Leary Professor of Medicine and Professor of Medicine, Infectious Diseases, and Molecular Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics at Mayo; and director of Mayo’s Program in Translational Immunovirology and Biodefense.
_ Priya Sampathkumar, M.D., of Mayo Clinic’s Division of Infectious Diseases and its Travel Clinic. Dr. Sampathkumar’s research interests include the epidemiology and control of antibiotic resistant organisms in the health care setting and health-care associated infections including pertussis infections.
_ Young Juhn, M.D., a Mayo Clinic pediatrician and head of Mayo’s Pediatric Asthma Epidemiology Research Unit. Dr. Yuhn’s research includes the finding that asthma significantly raises the risk of serious and common infections, such as community-acquired pneumonia, whooping cough and strep throat.
During the chat, we will discuss the flu season, the whooping cough outbreak, what’s new with flu and other vaccines and which seasonal shots people should get. We will also offer steps you can take to try to avoid catching or spreading the flu, a cold, whooping cough and other infectious illnesses during all of the holiday togetherness – sharing buffets, hitting packed shopping malls and sitting on crowded planes, for example.
To follow the chat and join the discussion on Twitter, use hash tag #nbcnewshealth.
