Featured Headlines
Covid was the third-leading cause of death in the U.S. in 2020, after heart disease and cancer, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The same was true last year, provisional CDC data shows. Since April, Covid deaths have stayed relatively flat, at a weekly average of around 300 to 500 per day. If the trend continues, the U.S. could expect 113,000 to 188,000 deaths a year from Covid, putting it on par with Alzheimer’s, chronic lower respiratory diseases and stroke.
Emerging Infectious Disease Headlines
Poxviruses, outbreaks, and Ebola: A Q&A with a retiring CDC expert on bad bugs – STAT
To outside eyes, the timing of Inger Damon’s departure could be seen as odd or unfortunate, given that after years of relative obscurity, poxviruses are at the center of the world’s infectious diseases radar, thanks to the ongoing monkeypox outbreak. Though the growth of case numbers had slowed, there was no sign the crisis was under control. Many challenges remain ahead.
Ebola
Uganda declares Ebola outbreak after Sudan strain found – Reuters
An outbreak of Ebola has been declared in Uganda after health authorities confirmed a case of the relatively rare Sudan strain, the health ministry and World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday. A 24-year-old man in Uganda’s central Mubende district showed symptoms and later died.
Monkeypox
Monkeypox Shots, Treatments and Tests Are Unavailable in Much of the World – NYT
High-income countries snapped up vaccines when the disease hit them, leaving none for countries that have battled the virus for years, in an echo of the Covid response.
Public Health Confirms First Death Due to Monkeypox – Los Angeles County Public Health
The Los Angeles Department of Public Health, along with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), has confirmed the first death due to monkeypox in a Los Angeles County resident. Public Health sends heartfelt condolences and wishes of healing to the family and friends mourning the loss of their loved one.
The first U.S. healthcare worker to be infected with MPX while on the job has been reported in Los Angeles County, public health officials said Tuesday, the day after the county confirmed the nation’s first MPX death.
What Are Potential Animal Reservoirs For Monkeypox? – Science Blog
Individuals infected with the monkeypox virus usually heal from the disease on their own without medical treatment, yet the questions raised reinforce the need for research to understand how the virus spreads and causes disease, which is critical to the development of new vaccines and therapeutics.
Polio
New York City declares poliovirus a public emergency disaster – NPR
(3 Min Audio) NPR’s Ayesha Rascoe speaks to Nsikan Akpan, health and science editor at WNYC/Gothamist, about the poliovirus emergency disaster declaration in New York state.
Polio 101: What it is, how it spreads and how to know if you’ve been vaccinated – Nebraska Medicine
A recent New York case of paralytic polio in an unvaccinated person has brought attention to a disease we don’t often hear about anymore. Here we will explore polio, how it spreads and what you need to know about vaccination.
Polio is officially circulating in the US again – Popular Science
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Tuesday that polioviruses found recently in Rockland County, New York, meet the World Health Organization’s (WHO) criteria for circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus (cVDPV), which means that the pathogen continues to be transmitted in the county and surrounding areas. Vaccine-derived refers to the strain’s relationship to the weakened live virus found in the oral polio vaccine.
Vaccine Headlines
Moderna Booster Shots Are in Short Supply at US Pharmacies – Bloomberg
The US government supply of Moderna’s shot is currently limited, causing appointments for the product to vary across the country, a Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. pharmacy spokesperson said in an emailed statement. CVS Health Corp. says some of its drugstores have used all of the updated shots they received from the US government, and the company is trying to get more doses.
Updated COVID booster tied to strong Omicron immune response – CIDRAP
The new bivalent (two-strain) Moderna COVID-19 vaccine booster triggered stronger neutralizing antibody responses against the highly transmissible Omicron variant at 28 days than the previously authorized booster, with no safety concerns, according to the interim results of a phase 2/3 open-label, nonrandomized study published late last week in the New England Journal of Medicine.
When should I get the omicron booster? – Washington Post
The broad protection from these updated shots — called bivalent boosters — could prevent more than 100,000 hospitalizations in the coming months, according to one estimate. But many people still have questions about who should get the new booster, the best timing for the shot and if it would be better to delay the booster until covid surges again.
New vaccine candidate shows promise in clinical trials – Medical News Today
Mosquirix, the only malaria vaccine to receive approval from the World Health Organization (WHO), has shown modest efficacy against symptomatic malaria, and there is a need for more effective malaria vaccines.
Clinical Considerations
Older people who were infected with COVID-19 show a substantially higher risk—as much as 50% to 80% higher than a control group—of developing Alzheimer’s disease within a year, according to a study of more than 6 million patients 65 and older.
One of Long COVID’s Worst Symptoms Is Also Its Most Misunderstood – The Atlantic
Brain fog isn’t like a hangover or depression. It’s a disorder of executive function that makes basic cognitive tasks absurdly hard. Long-haulers with brain fog say that it’s like none of the things that people—including many medical professionals compare it to. It is more profound than the clouded thinking that accompanies hangovers, stress, or fatigue.
Can Long COVID Researchers Learn From ME/CFS? – MedPageToday
There are a dizzying array of case definitions for long COVID that vary in terms of what to name this condition, the duration of symptoms, the types of symptoms, and the medical comorbidities. The field of myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) has encountered comparable problems as they developed case definitions over the past 3 decades. In this commentary, we will show how lessons learned from ME/CFS can help with identifying a variety of conceptually distinct medical comorbid conditions. This is a challenging task for those who are overseeing the large national COVID study, RECOVER, with over 8,500 participants currently enrolled and a goal of 40,000 participants by the end of the year.
Official Reporting for Sept 21, 2022
World Health Organization
Weekly Epi Update August 24, 2022 (latest release)
New Cases: 388,016
Confirmed Cases: 609,247,113
Deaths: 6,503,894
Johns Hopkins
Confirmed Cases: 612,536,053
Deaths: 6,528,152
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
Total cases: 95,494,560 (+54,831 New Cases) ⬆︎
Total deaths: 1,048,301 (+360 New Deaths) ⬆︎
Science and Tech
Why are so many viruses popping up again? – Washington Post
Several factors help explain why we’re hearing so much about viral outbreaks. Shifts in migration and travel patterns, global eating habits and the effects of climate change have created new opportunities for microbes to spread. Better testing and monitoring methods also mean we’re detecting these outbreaks sooner than in the past.
18 U.S. Labs Join Forces To Battle Infectious Diseases – Texas A&M
Leading experts from research universities and federal agencies gathered at Texas A&M to discuss how to better protect the nation from high-consequence pathogens that harm livestock and wildlife.
In the setting of the current global monkeypox outbreak, clinicians are on now alert to identify, isolate, and treat individuals infected with the virus that causes it. Investigators recently developed a clinical decision support system to help with this effort, and they tested its initial performance in a large integrated healthcare system.
WHO ‘strongly advises against’ use of two COVID treatments – Reuters
Psychological and Sociological Impact
Stress, anxiety and depression may increase the risk of long Covid, study finds – NBC News
People who were experiencing psychological distress before getting Covid were more likely to have long-lasting symptoms than those who were not, according to new research. Link to JAMA Psychiatry Study
COVID deaths: more than 10 million children lost a parent or carer – Nature
Roughly 10.5 million children worldwide have a parent or carer who died from COVID-19, according to a modelling study1. The figure is a dramatic increase on earlier estimates. India, Indonesia and Egypt were the countries most affected; other regions throughout Africa and southeast Asia were also badly hit.
Published Research
Post-Ebola Symptoms 7 Years after Infection: The natural history of Long Ebola – Clinical Infectious Diseases
Nirmatrelvir–Ritonavir and Viral Load Rebound in Covid-19 – NEJM
Misinformation, Disinformation, and Conspiracy Theories
A Recipe for Danger: Social Media Challenges Involving Medicines – FDA
Don’t Cook Chicken in NyQuil…
Facebook’s anti-vax carrot emoji, explained – Mashable
This is why your uncle has carrot emojis in his Twitter handle. To avoid censorship for the spread of COVID-19 misinformation, anti-vax groups on Facebook have begun coding their messages with the carrot emoji, according to a report from the BBC. The emoji is used in place of the word “vaccine” to avoid the wrath of Facebook’s automated moderator algorithms.
Food Supply Disruption, Vaccine Disinformation, Is Another Front for Russian Falsehoods – NYT
Disinformation experts agree that there is a main driver for these falsehoods: Russia. Propaganda from the Kremlin. Russia is trying to deflect its responsibility for disrupting the world food supply through its invasion of Ukraine. And they warn that these conspiracy theories will only find a more receptive audience as Russia’s invasion continues to pressure the global markets for food and energy and, as is expected, keeps prices elevated through the winter.
Coping with COVID
Just when I thought I was a “superdodger” COVID finally found me. My husband brought it home from the grocery store (we think). It went for my lungs immediately, skipping the “mild” version like most people who have had the vaccine series have been reporting. I had a virtual appointment with my doctor on day three, and was prescribed molnupiravir. I was hoping to get Paxlovid, but molnupiravir did the job. I was breathing better within 48 hrs, and watched/slept through the entire series of The Crown on Netflix. Here it is 10 days after the first symptoms hit, and I’m still not 100%. Despite the headlines in recent days declaring “its over”, COVID is very much still circulating, and it very much sucks. I don’t mind being the social weirdo who still wears a mask in crowded public places.
