Author: Claudinne Miller

Duke-NUS’ influenza expert assesses how worried we should be about H5N1

Duke The current outbreak of a highly contagious strain of H5N1 avian influenza has been called the worst in history. By January 2023, poultry farmers in the US had slaughtered almost 60 million birds infected or at risk of being infected with H5N1, with a similar number being culled in Europe while in Japan, farmers set […]

Apr 4, 2023

Pfizer, Moderna and more look to combine COVID and flu vaccine markets

Fierce Pharma When Pfizer, BioNTech and Moderna swooped in to save the day with pandemic mRNA vaccines, few people—if any—were thinking about the long-term structure of the COVID-19 vaccine market. Now, as vaccination rates decline and government contracts dry up, that future is becoming clearer. While COVID-19 took a back seat to other topics during […]

Apr 4, 2023

1.5 Million People in Japan Are Living as ‘Recluses’ After Covid

Bloomberg About 1.5 million people of working age in Japan are estimated to be living as recluses, with some 20% citing the Covid pandemic for their withdrawal, a government survey showed.  Hikikomori, as they are called in Japanese, are defined as those who rarely leave their room or house, and only to shop at a […]

Apr 4, 2023

Covid-19 Surveillance Testing and Resident Outcomes in Nursing Homes

NEJM Despite widespread adoption of surveillance testing for coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) among staff members in skilled nursing facilities, evidence is limited regarding its relationship with outcomes among facility residents. METHODS Using data obtained from 2020 to 2022, we performed a retrospective cohort study of testing for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) among […]

Apr 4, 2023

Less COVID testing of nursing home staff linked with higher resident death rates

Harvard School of Public Health Related Study in NEJM Nursing homes in the U.S. that conducted more COVID-19 testing of their staff early in the pandemic experienced fewer COVID cases and deaths among residents, according to a study co-authored by Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health’s Michael Barnett. The study was published March 23 in the New England Journal […]

Apr 4, 2023

Understanding neurological complications of COVID-19

NIH Although SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, was initially identified as a respiratory virus, its effects on the nervous system have been profound. There were reports in the initial phases of the pandemic that the virus was contributing to large, severe strokes in individuals, including younger people typically at lower risk for such events. […]

Apr 4, 2023

Concerns about exercise as a treatment for long COVID

Nature Advocates say an NIH trial of exercise for long COVID could harm participants. Plus, split-site doctorates boost African research and hibernating dormice glow under ultraviolet light. Patients and patient advocates are calling on the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) to reconsider its decision to include exercise trials in its RECOVER initiative, which aims […]

Apr 4, 2023

What to Know About the New XBB.1.16 COVID-19 Variant

Time The World Health Organization (WHO) is monitoring a new COVID-19 subvariant called XBB.1.16, which has been circulating throughout India for a few months and is causing a new surge of cases there. The Times of India reported on Apr. 3 that more than 3,600 new COVID cases had been recorded in the country since the previous […]

Apr 4, 2023

Palantir’s Plan to Decipher the Mysteries of Long Covid

Wired Magazine he tech giant is helping researchers and clinicians decipher vast amounts of data generated by people with persistent symptoms. AT LEAST 65 million people are still suffering from long Covid, the mysterious cocktail of symptoms that persist in some patients more than 12 weeks after an initial infection. Researchers are still working to understand this […]

Apr 4, 2023

Emory researchers discover key pathway for COVID organ damage in adults

Emory University Even after three years since the emergence of COVID-19, much remains unknown about how it causes severe disease, including the widespread organ damage beyond just the lungs. Increasingly, scientists are learning that organ dysfunction results from damage to the blood vessels, but why the virus causes this damage is unclear. Now a multidisciplinary […]

Apr 4, 2023