Doctors have been put on high alert about rising cases of a potentially severe respiratory virus in parts of the United States, which could signal a bad nationwide outbreak is to come. 

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned medical professionals the rising rates of respiratory syncitial virus, or RSV, in Florida and Georgia in recent weeks signal the start of the respiratory virus season.  

And the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has advised healthcare workers to brace for what could be a ‘tripledemic’ of RSV, flu, and Covid-19 cases this winter.

RSV infects the lungs and the respiratory tract and typically causes cold-like symptoms, though it can be deadly to seniors who have weaker immune systems and infants whose already-narrow airways fill with mucus, making it hard to breathe. 

RSV is the leading cause of hospitalization for infants one or younger in the US. Each year, the virus causes up to 80,000 hospitalizations and 300 deaths in children under age 5. 

And in seniors, the virus can cause up to 160,000 hospitalizations and 10,000 fatalities every year.

Treatments and preventive measures for RSV have become more widely available in just the past year, and the CDC is urging clinicians to stock up on vaccines for adults and pregnant women and monoclonal antibodies for infants when they become available.    

This summer ushered in the most substantial win for protecting babies FROM RSV, though, with the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) approval of a monoclonal antibody to protect against RSV called Nirsevimab, which will become available in October.

Nirsevimab is a single-shot monoclonal antibody that, in clinical trials, cut the chance of serious RSV infection requiring hospitalization by nearly 75 percent. 

For seniors 60 years and older, there are now two new vaccines to help fend off the virus, with one of them proving to be 80 percent effective at preventing RSV infection. 

But the vaccines for older adults are not like a traditional flu shot that is available to all who want one. Doctors must decide after consultation with their patients whether the rare, yet potentially severe health risks associated with the vaccine, such as atrial fibrillation and neurological complications, outweigh the benefit of protection. 

Regional increases early in the season, such as those currently occurring in the Southeast, offer health officials a glimpse of what may be to come for the rest of the country in the next several months. 

Agency officials monitoring disease testing results in Florida found the number of diagnostic tests coming back positive for RSV exceeded five percent for about a month. The typical test positivity rate for RSV this time of year is around three percent. 

In Georgia, the CDC observed an uptick in the number of hospitalizations due to RSV. Around two for every 100,000 children in Georgia were hospitalized for RSV during the week ending on August 5. By August 19, that rate had risen to seven hospitalizations per 100,000 children. 

The uptick in cases this time of year would not otherwise be noteworthy, as seasonal RSV, along with influenza, typically begins in early fall and peaks in the winter. 

But the last few years have been an exception to that rule thanks to pandemic-era social distancing measures like masking and isolation. Meant to stave off Covid, the measures also largely stamped out seasonal virus outbreaks as we knew them.

But when the world gradually reopened in 2021 after Covid-19 vaccines became available, seasonal viruses came back too. 

Last year’s RSV season was among the worst. 

Covid, flu, and RSV began to circulate with some overlap, garnering fears of a ‘tripledemic’. 

Now, there is renewed concern of another ‘tripledemic’, a situation in which three diseases join forces and overwhelm the healthcare system, which so far has not had the devastating consequences at the scale many epidemiologists feared. 

Still, the CDC is recommending doctors ramp up testing for RSV, as well as Covid and the flu, in schools, daycares and long-term care facilities, and stockpile the latest medicine. 

The health agency also recommends all infants under eight months born during RSV season should receive the antibody within their first week of life, while infants born outside the typical season should get Nirsevimab before the next RSV season begins. 

While the shot has been shown to be extremely effective, the CDC acknowledged not all hospitals will have it in their arsenal immediately due to high demand. 

Pregnant women can also receive a vaccine that confers immunity to their unborn babies for a continuous six months of protection after birth. 

Senior doubles dividend but logistics woes weigh on aircraft parts maker

• Senior supplies aircraft parts to companies including Boeing and Rolls-Royce 
• It saw sales grow by around £80m to £482.3m for the first six months of 2023
• The firm benefited from higher energy prices and sustained growth in air travel

By Harry Wise For This Is Money

Updated: 09:25 EDT, 31 July 2023

Some links in this article may be affiliate links. If you click on them we may earn a small commission. That helps us fund This Is Money, and keep it free to use. We do not write articles to promote products. We do not allow any commercial relationship to affect our editorial independence.

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Rescuers have found ‘five major’ parts of the destroyed Titan submersible which suffered a ‘catastrophic implosion’ 1,600ft from the bow of the Titanic, killing all five onboard.

A remotely-operated vehicle deployed by the Canadian vessel Horizon Arctic found a debris field on the ocean floor which included parts of the submersible’s tail cone and landing frame. 

Authorities said they later learned that the pieces found also included the front and back ends of its pressure hull, which is where the porthole window one of the doomed passengers would have been looking out of when the vessel imploded.

All five onboard – including British explorer Hamish Harding, British businessman Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son Suleman – would have died instantly without ever knowing there was a problem, naval experts say.

Rear Admiral John Mauger, who led the search, said the parts that were found in the debris field were ‘consistent with a catastrophic loss of the pressure chamber’. 

The somber announcement ended a multinational search-and-rescue operation that captivated the world since the tiny tourist craft went missing in the North Atlantic four days ago.

Search and rescue officials say the five men – including French submarine expert Paul-Henri Nargeolet and OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush – likely died on Sunday before military planes using sonar buoys detected what they thought could have been SOS ‘banging’ sounds in the water. 

‘The implosion would have generated a significant, broadband sound that the sonar buoys would have picked up,’ explained Rear Admiral John Mauger of the US Coast Guard at a press conference yesterday. 

It would have been an instant death for the men, some of whom had paid £195,000 ($250,000) each to see the famous shipwreck. 

Aileen Marty, a former naval officer and professor at Florida International University, said the implosion would have happened at 1,500 miles per hour. 

‘It takes more than that – it takes about 0.25 more than that – for the human brain to even realise it’s happening. So the entire thing would have collapsed before the individuals inside would even realise there was a problem,’ Marty told CNN.

‘They died in a way that they didn’t even realise that they were about to die. Ultimately, among the many ways in which we pass, that’s painless.’

The tiny vessel carrying the crew was protected by a pressure chamber, a sealed pod that holds internal pressure significantly higher than ambient pressure, a pressurized gas system to control the internal pressure, and a supply of breathing gas for the occupants. 

Dr. Dale Molé, the former director of undersea medicine and radiation health for the US Navy, said: ‘The pressure hull is the chamber where the occupants reside. It sounds as though they had reached the bottom when the pressure vessel imploded, and usually, when it gives way, it gives way all at once. 

‘It sounds like it was the carbon fiber cylinder that gave way and resulted in the implosion.’

How the pressure chamber was breached remains unclear. But such an implosion could be due to a leak, power failure, or small fire from an electrical short circuit.   

What would have resulted would have been a violent and instantaneous implosion as the high pressure water outside flooded in, wrenching away the rear cover, landing frame, and ripping apart the sub’s hull, crushing those inside.

Molé said: ‘They would have been ripped to shreds. 

‘An implosion is when the wave of pressure is inward, whereas an explosion is when the pressure wave or the shock wave goes out from whatever the source of that is.’

He explained it like blowing up a balloon too much – the balloon will eventually pop when there is too much pressure.

In an implosion, the opposite occurs, when there is more outward pressure than the container can understand, then the insides collapse. 

Molé said: ‘When somebody stands on an empty soda can, it would support your weight, but then if you press on the sides, the can would collapse immediately.’ 

He added: ‘It’s simply where the debris and fragments and everything else goes inward because of a strong external force. In this case, it was the ocean.

‘At least at the depth of the Titanic, which is 12,500 feet, the external pressure would be 6,000 lbs per square inch. It’s that pressure that, if there were a weakness in the hull, would cause the hull to collapse and suddenly creates a shockwave. An implosion can certainly be every bit of destructive as an explosion.’

OceanGate, which has been chronicling the Titanic’s decay and the underwater ecosystem around it via yearly voyages since 2021 that included paying tourists, released a statement calling all five men killed ‘true explorers who shared a distinct spirit of adventure, and a deep passion for exploring and protecting the world’s oceans.’

It comes as it emerged that 19-year-old Suleman, who was killed in the tragic ‘implosion’ was ‘terrified’ about the trip and only joined the crew to please his dead for Father’s Day.

His heartbroken aunt, Azmeh Dawood, told NBC News that Suleman informed a relative he ‘wasn’t very up for it’ but felt compelled to please his father, who was very passionate about the 1912 shipwreck.

The older sister of Mr Dawood, who was the vice chairman of Engro Corporation, reportedly said through tears: ‘I feel disbelief. It’s an unreal situation.’

Azmeh, who like the other anxious relatives was hoping for a miracle, continued: ‘I feel like I’ve been caught in a really bad film, with a countdown, but you didn’t know what you’re counting down to.’ 

She said she ‘personally found it kind of difficult to breathe thinking of them’, adding: ‘It’s been unlike any experience I’ve ever had’.

While they might be all smiles in the air, two flight attendants have revealed that there are many downsides to their jobs.    

Aja Bailey, who has worked as cabin crew for more than eight years for both commercial airlines and private jets, says some of the tougher aspects of her work include missing every social event and altitude-induced health issues.

Meanwhile Caroline Kneitz, who worked as an Emirates flight attendant for six years, says difficult passengers were a constant stress.

Some of her least pleasant memories include witnessing a drunk man beat his wife and a man who she told to stop smoking blowing e-cigarette smoke in her face. 

Take a flight down to learn more of their insights around what goes on as a flight attendant, behind the scenes.

Health concerns

Aja says being constantly exposed to high altitudes can lead to various health concerns such as dehydration and exhaustion, so it’s ‘important to prioritize your health in this industry.’

She once had to get an IV drip because she was ‘super dehydrated.’ The globetrotter explained: ‘With the job you can be so busy sometimes that you forget to drink water and eat. It’s not like a nine to five job where you get a lunch break. 

‘When you take back to back trips sometimes there is no break in-between. Now I have to tell myself to stop, have a granola bar, have a protein bar… I’ll pack a protein shake and just something to nibble on throughout my journeys.’

Difficult passengers

Caroline says she had a number of difficult passengers during her time as a flight attendant, which made the job very stressful at times. 

Some of her least pleasant experiences included a passenger blowing an e-cigarette into her face after being asked to stop smoking and one time she witnessed a drunk guy beating his wife in the middle of a full flight. 

Then, she remembers many passengers complaining about the food, either ‘expecting restaurant quality meals or recipes that don’t even exists.’

She adds: ‘Once a boy came up to me and demanded to be given a burger!’

The seatbelt sign was ‘another classic’, Caroline says, and ‘by far the highest point of contention between crew and their passengers.’

She explains: ‘A crew WILL have at least one argument per flight about this with a passenger. At our company that meant quite often taking a trip to the manager’s office, reports and possible implications on your record.’ 

Even families can prove difficult in certain situations, Caroline says. 

She recounted one particular incident: ‘One family insisted on a baby stroller service which is only available at our home base. 

‘So after the plane landed and people disembarked, they insisted to the point that they refused to get off the plane. Eventually security needed to be called to remove the family.’

Dealing with peoples’ mess

Many passengers leave lots of mess behind them, the ladies say, but Caroline says the worst she had to deal with was human feces. 

Recalling the unpleasant incident, she said: ‘Once our flight was delayed out from Dhaka, Bangladesh, because certain seats were soiled in feces and we did not have sufficient spare covers. 

‘It was like the entire interior needed an overhaul after a four hour flight. 

‘As people leave lots of mess in their seats, especially crumbs and food debris, it is very common to request for a cover change once passengers have disembarked. It can get pretty gross.’

Heavy workloads and multitasking  

To be a flight attendant, both women say you need to be like a ‘Swiss army knife’, as you are expected to do so many different tasks. 

Caroline added: ‘There’s a term we used as a nickname for air stewardesses, ‘octo stew’, because of the idea we would need octopus arms to get things done.’

Aja says on private jets you have even more responsibilities as often you are working alone. 

She explains: ‘Private jet flight attendants are responsible for a wide range of tasks, including cleaning, stocking, and preparing meals, which can be very physically demanding.’ 

Medical emergencies

Another role both women had to unexpectedly take during their time in the skies was ‘medic.’

Both say they have witnessed lots of medical emergencies. Aja said the most stressful situation she encountered was when a passenger passed out she had to administer CPR. 

Meanwhile, Caroline said she witnessed many old people suffering heart attacks but two of the most traumatic incidents she dealt with was the death of a four-year-old on the way from Dubai to Munich due to a high fever and a lady suffering a miscarriage from Australia to Dubai.

‘She was in dire pain for about 14 hours and bleeding like crazy,’ Caroline said.

One of the more bizarre medical emergencies she encountered was a woman who couldn’t get a ring off her finger as it had swelled so much. As a result they had to perform an emergency landing to save her finger.

Missing big life events

Both women say that due to their work, they missed many social events, from birthdays to weddings to family gatherings. 

Aja says this is something she has accepted but it can be hard at times. 

She mused: ‘I’ve missed every big event due to my career. 

‘I’ve missed weddings, I’ve missed thanksgivings, Christmases, lots of birthdays. It just comes with the job and the territory. 

‘People typically fly on holidays and they want to see their families. So flight attendants and pilots are typically working during those big, special days.’ 

Low and irregular pay

On the pay side of things, both Aja and Caroline say salaries can vary wildly.

According to job side Indeed.com, the average base salary for a flight attendant in the U.S. is $39,448.

When she started out in the industry, Aja said her pay was ‘not livable for the year’ and her training – which took two months – was unpaid. 

Now, on private jets the perks are much better but the shifts can be irregular so she must have cash saved in case jobs don’t come in. 

Meanwhile, Caroline said her salary was much better as she worked for a Middle East airline. 

She revealed: ‘Pay for Middle Eastern airlines is good because it’s tax free and living expenses fully covered. So you’re making about $3,000 a month which isn’t bad.’