Author: Claudinne Miller
Live Worm Removed From Woman’s Brain
MedPageToday A live, wriggling parasitic roundworm, 80 mm long, was extracted from the brain of a 64-year-old woman in Australia. The worm was a third-stage larval form of Ophidascaris robertsi and was surgically removed from the patient’s right frontal lobe, reported Sanjaya Senanayake, MBBS, of the Canberra Hospital in Australia, and co-authors in Emerging Infectious Diseases The helminth […]
Aug 29, 2023
Can COVID, Flu, and RSV Shots Be Given at the Same Time
MedPageToday Many adults ages 60 and up will be eligible for three vaccines this fall — a COVID booster the flu shot, and the new respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccine — so the big question is, can they get them all at once? Since there are no data on giving this trio of vaccines at the same time, […]
Aug 29, 2023
Who Should Get a COVID Booster This Fall?
MedPageToday While the FDA and CDC have yet to weigh in on fall COVID boosters, experts in infectious disease and public health are already discussing who should get them, and who may not need to. High-risk groups get a resounding “yes” — but when it comes to younger, healthy adults, the answer is less clear. There’s […]
Aug 29, 2023
The painful pandemic lessons Mandy Cohen carries to the CDC
NPR As COVID-19 devastated communities across the nation in spring 2020, a group of Black ministers in this racially divided city made an urgent plea for more testing in their neighborhoods. Testing at the time “was outside of communities of color,” says the Rev. Jordan Boyd, pastor of Rockwell AME Zion Church in Charlotte. For […]
Aug 29, 2023
UNMC This week Dr. Lawler provides us with recent COVID trends using wastewater data & discusses the new BA.2.86 COVID-19 variant. On current COVID-19 cases: “We’re relatively close to where we were in the summer of 2021.”
Aug 22, 2023
COVID-19 School Closures Harmed Children’s Mental Health
Psychology Today There has been much conjecture about possible detrimental long-term consequences of school closures on young children and adolescents, but now a new study published in the journal Scientific Reports provides convincing evidence that the mental health of school children was impaired by school closures during the pandemic. The study surveyed 907 adolescents and their parents […]
Aug 22, 2023
Severe COVID-19 may lead to long-term innate immune system changes
NIH Severe COVID-19 may cause long-lasting alterations to the innate immune system, the first line of defense against pathogens, according to a small study funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health. These changes may help explain why the disease can damage so many different organs […]
Aug 22, 2023
Where are the mosquitoes that spread malaria in the U.S.? Officials aren’t sure
NBC News The U.S. does not routinely track mosquitoes that spread malaria “because we haven’t been worried about them,” one expert said. Concerns over the insects, however, are growing. A ninth case of malaria diagnosed in a person who had not traveled out of the U.S. has experts on alert — and calling for more […]
Aug 22, 2023
4 Connecticut residents test positive for rare Powassan virus, which comes from tick bites
Connecticut News Four Connecticut residents have tested positive for the rare Powassan virus, marking the first cases of the year, state officials said. All four residents were hospitalized and treated; they have been released from the hospital and are recovering, the Connecticut Department of Public Health (DPH) said. Each person had reported being bitten by a […]
Aug 22, 2023
‘Don’t Kiss or Snuggle Your Turtle,’ C.D.C. Warns Amid Salmonella Outbreak
NYT Twenty-six people have been sickened in recent months in an outbreak linked to small turtles, health officials said. In recent years, health officials have warned those who have bearded dragons, hedgehogs, ducks and chickens as pets to do their part in preventing the spread of salmonella infections. Now, an outbreak of salmonella cases across 11 […]
Aug 22, 2023