Author: Claudinne Miller
UNMC Global Center for Health Security Infectious Disease Briefing Infectious Disease Briefing
By Dr. Joseph Fauver SARS-CoV-2 Variant Update
Jan 24, 2023
A New Report Outlines a Vision for National Wastewater Surveillance
(New York Times) The Covid-19 pandemic demonstrated the promise of tracking pathogens in sewage. Now, the nation needs to act on it, experts say. Wastewater surveillance provided valuable public health information during the Covid-19 pandemic and merits “further development and continued investment,” according to a new report released by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine […]
Jan 24, 2023
How your first brush with COVID warps your immunity
(Nature) The immune system responds more strongly to the strain of a virus that it first met, weakening response to other strains. Can this ‘imprinting’ be overcome? During the summer of 2022, with the Omicron coronavirus variant running rampant, friends and relatives of immunologist Bob Seder kept asking him if they should postpone their COVID-19 […]
Jan 24, 2023
Long Covid Is Keeping Significant Numbers of People Out of Work, Study Finds
(New York Times) An analysis of workers’ compensation claims in New York found that 71 percent of claimants with long Covid needed continuing medical treatment or were unable to work for six months or more. Long Covid is having a significant effect on America’s work force, preventing substantial numbers of people from going back to […]
Jan 24, 2023
F.D.A. Outlines a Plan for Annual Covid Boosters
(New York Times) n advance of a scientific meeting on Thursday, officials proposed offering new shots to Americans each fall, a strategy long employed against the flu. Americans may be offered a single dose of a Covid vaccine each fall, much as they are given flu shots, the Food and Drug Administration announced on Monday.
Jan 24, 2023
COVID-19 Infection May Induce Fetal Brain Hemorrhages, Scientists Warn
(Science Alert) There are already plenty of reasons to worry about COVID-19, but there’s another to add to the list: There’s evidence of the virus in fetal brain tissue in instances of pregnant people passing the infection to their children. So it’s not just the effects of the illness on our bodies that are of concern, but also […]
Jan 24, 2023
(Fortune) The H5N1 strain of avian flu responsible for the deaths of tens of millions of birds in the U.S. in recent months, and countless more worldwide, poses an existential threat to the poultry industry in the U.S.—and a potentially widespread human health threat, experts say. The strain—first identified in domestic waterfowl in China in […]
Jan 24, 2023
Assessment of Efficacy and Safety of mRNA COVID-19 Vaccines in Children Aged 5 to 11 Years
(JAMA Pediatrics) Are messenger RNA (mRNA) COVID-19 vaccines safe and effective in children aged 5 to 11 years? In this systematic review and meta-analysis including 17 studies with 10 935 541 vaccinated and 2 635 251 unvaccinated children aged 5 to 11 years, COVID-19 vaccination was associated with lower risks of SARS-CoV-2 infection, symptomatic COVID-19, hospitalization, and multisystem inflammatory […]
Jan 24, 2023
Bird Flu Warning: Its Spreading, Mutating, and Infecting Mammals
(Infection Control Today) As many of us remain focused on COVID-19 and its immunosuppressive augmentation of other infectious diseases, mother nature is not sitting still. I was again reminded of this fact when I attempted to purchase a dozen eggs for over $6. The average price in the United States was over $4 in December 2022. […]
Jan 23, 2023