A pioneer is lost to us
Scott McPherson
in influenza and infectious diseases
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2 Comments
The news today is not kind to bird flu bloggers, posters and readers. Melanie Mattson, veteran blogger and one of the true pioneers in Flublogia, has died. Melanie helped found FluWiki, the first Website that combined information about avian flu with commentary from readers and experts alike. Every flu blogsite and Website owes a debt to Melanie, and all are paying respect to her memory today.
I honor her as well.
From FluWiki:
http://www.newfluwiki2.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=2588
In Memoriam - Melanie Mattson by: DemFromCT Fri Jul 11, 2008 at 07:20:17 AM EDT Melanie Mattson was one of the founding Editors of the Flu Wiki, its initial "public face," the official publisher, and our colleague. More importantly she was our friend. We are grieved to announce her unexpected death.
On her blog, Just a Bump in the Beltway, Melanie was among the first on the internet to understand and write about the significance of reported human cases of avian influenza as a potential harbinger of a pandemic. She joined forces with us to start the Flu Wiki in June 2005 where she was a dedicated and innovative practitioner of a new medium, collective information generation and dissemination. At the time of her death she was engaged in expanding what she learned from her blog and Flu Wiki to a wide range of natural disasters.
Melanie was a wonderful human being, a lovely person and a Grand Lady in every sense of that term. Melanie sometimes used salty language, could be bluntly honest and had an irreverent and earthy sense of humor, so she would no doubt be amused to be referred to as a Grand Lady. But that's what she was and still survives in the affection of those of us fortunate to have known her. She'll be missed.
Melanie (along with Greg Dworkin, Mike Coston and Sharon Sanders of FluTrackers) helped me navigate some treacherous political waters when I began posting on other flusites and when I first started this Blogsite. Her counsel was much appreciated. She will be missed.
Reader Comments (2)
Please tell me where I can find the text Dr. Mike's latest speech. Thanks.
As for history lessons, Osterholm cited the flu virus subtype H3N8.
Originally an avian virus, it jumped in 1960 to horses and circulated in them for decades, he said.
About 5 years ago it jumped from horses to dogs, and it continues to circulate in dogs in a number of areas worldwide.
"Why did it take nearly 40 years of nearly constant contact between horses and dogs before it finally made the jump to dogs?" Osterholm asked. "No one can answer that question. That should provide a rather sobering context to understanding H5N1. Three or 5 or 7 years of hypertransmission in the bird population doesn't really tell us anything about whether this could one day become a pandemic strain."
Osterholm concluded, "Unfortunately, some have read this [Vallat's comments] to mean that the final chapter has been written on our concern about pandemic flu. There's nothing that could be further from the truth. We're closer today to the onset of the next pandemic than we were yesterday, but not as close as we'll be tomorrow."
http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/cidrap/content/influenza/avianflu/news/jan1108vallat.html