Author: Claudinne Miller
Tripledemic Update: RSV, Covid And Flu
(Forbes) The United States has already plunged into one of the roughest seasons of winter illnesses in decades. After nearly three years of being sequestered, children and adults are back out in crowds, with no masks, no distancing, and viruses waiting with open arms. Well, open RNA strands, at least. We’ve rounded the bend on […]
Dec 16, 2022
U.S. Offers Free At-Home Covid Tests as Part of Winter Plan
(New York Times) With cases on the rise, the Biden administration restarted a program that has provided hundreds of millions of tests through the Postal Service. Households are now able to order four tests at covidtests.gov, with shipments beginning next week.
Dec 16, 2022
Two Doctors Known for COVID Misinfo Now Reinstated on Twitter
(MedPageToday) Two physicians accused of spreading COVID misinformation who were previously banned from Twitter are back on the platform. Robert W. Malone, MD, a self-described “skeptic of mRNA vaccines” who has argued that Pfizer and Moderna inoculations against the virus worsen infections, tweeted opens in a new tab or window on Dec. 12, ” I’m back…Welcome to […]
Dec 16, 2022
We’ve run out of cholera vaccines, WHO official says as disease surges
(Reuters) The global stockpile of cholera vaccines the World Health Organization helps manage is “currently empty or extremely low”, a WHO official said on Friday amid a resurgence of the disease around the world. The U.N. health agency says global fatality rates are rising and there are around 30 countries around the world that have […]
Dec 16, 2022
Chemosensory deficits are best predictor of serologic response among individuals infected with SARS-CoV-2
(PLoS) Smell and taste alteration are closely linked to infection with SARS-CoV-2 and may be associated with a more indolent disease course. Serologic response rates among individuals with mild disease remains limited. We sought to identify whether chemosensory changes associated with COVID-19 were predictive of a serologic response.
Dec 16, 2022
The Coronavirus May Spread From Corpses, Scientists Report
(NYT) Like a zombie in a horror film, the coronavirus can persist in the bodies of infected patients well after death, even spreading to others, according to two startling studies. The risk of contagion is mainly to those who handle cadavers, like pathologists, medical examiners and health care workers, and in settings like hospitals and […]
Dec 16, 2022
Farewell, Fauci
(MedPageToday) VIDEO Anthony Fauci, MD, talks about retirement, pandemics, and “The Godfather” with Jeremy Faust, MD In this exclusive video, Jeremy Faust, MD, editor-in-chief of MedPage Today, sits down for a conversation with Anthony Fauci, MD, before his departure from the NIH at the end of the year. The following is a transcript of their remarks: […]
Dec 16, 2022
H5N1 pathogenesis studies in mammalian models
(Virus Research) H5N1 influenza viruses are capable of causing severe disease and death in humans, and represent a potential pandemic subtype should they acquire a transmissible phenotype. Due to the expanding host and geographic range of this virus subtype, there is an urgent need to better understand the contribution of both virus and host responses […]
Dec 5, 2013
H5N1 Hybrid Viruses Bearing 2009/H1N1 Virus Genes Transmit in Guinea Pigs by Respiratory Droplet
(Science) Currently, there is anxiety that the avian H5N1 influenza virus will reassort with the highly transmissible and epidemic H1N1 subtype to trigger a virulent human pandemic. Y. Zhang et al. (p. 1459, published online 2 May) used reverse genetics to make all possible reassortants between a virulent bird H5N1 with genes from a human pandemic H1N1. Virulence was […]
May 2, 2013
Airborne Transmission of Influenza A/H5N1 Virus Between Ferrets
(Science) Highly pathogenic avian influenza A/H5N1 virus can cause morbidity and mortality in humans but thus far has not acquired the ability to be transmitted by aerosol or respiratory droplet (“airborne transmission”) between humans. To address the concern that the virus could acquire this ability under natural conditions, we genetically modified A/H5N1 virus by site-directed […]
Jun 22, 2012