Category: Clinical Considerations
Paediatric Inflammatory Multisystem Syndrome (PIMS-TS) following SARS-CoV-2 Infection: Diagnosis and Management
(Perth Children’s Hospital) PIMS-TS [also known as Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children associated with COVID-19 (MIS-C)] is a rare but severe complication that occurred in around 1 in 3000 children 2-6 weeks following infection with previously circulating variants of SARS-CoV-2.1 Observed PIMS-TS incidence has been lower following Omicron infection compared with earlier waves.2, 3Consider PIMS-TS in […]
Dec 13, 2022
The Covid Pandemic’s Hidden Casualties: Pregnant Women
(NYT) Many expectant women have avoided vaccination, unaware that the virus poses great risks to both fetus and mother. Of all the groups still threatened by Covid-19 — including the elderly and the immunocompromised — it is pregnant women who seem the most unaware of the risks. Covid can kill pregnant women and can result in miscarriage, preterm births and stillbirths […]
Dec 13, 2022
Severe COVID Looks Scarily Like Old Age in The Human Brain, Study Finds
(ScienceAlert) Severe COVID-19 looks scarily like old age in the human brain, according to a postmortem analysis of 54 healthy and infected individuals. The authors of the study say their research is the first to link COVID-19 to molecular signatures of brain aging. Researchers also compared their results to an uninfected individual with Alzheimer’s disease and another group of […]
Dec 12, 2022
Feeling forgetful after COVID? Study shows the virus can affect short-term memory
(The Conversation) Although it’s well known that COVID affects the respiratory system, it’s perhaps less well known that the virus can also affect cognitive function. Many people with COVID experience a phenomenon commonly called “brain fog”, which can include problems remembering, concentrating and performing daily tasks. Brain fog can also be a symptom of long COVID, […]
Dec 6, 2022
11% of COVID-19 survivors have residual lung damage, study finds
(CIDRAP) A new study in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine reveals about an 11% incidence of residual lung damage—known as interstitial lung disease—after COVID-19 hospitalization. Interstitial lung disease is a broad category of lung damage and disease defined by fibrotic scarring. The damage is often irreversible. Link to Study
Dec 5, 2022
Teens’ brains aged faster during the first year of the pandemic, study says, and stress may be to blame
(CNN) The brains of US teens have physically changed during the Covid-19 pandemic, aging faster than normal, a new study says. The young study participants also reported more severe symptoms of anxiety, depression and what scientists call internalized problems – meaning feelings of sadness, low self-esteem and fear and trouble regulating their emotions – after the first […]
Dec 5, 2022
Blood Thinner Ineffective for COVID-19 Patients: Study
(The Scientist) A clinical trial finds that the anticoagulant apixaban, which has been prescribed to help COVID-19 patients recover, is ineffective and in rare instances dangerous. New data from a clinical trial suggest that apixaban, an anticoagulant that’s widely been prescribed to promote recovery in patients with severe cases of COVID-19, doesn’t offer any discernable […]
Nov 29, 2022
Stroke and Heart Attack Risk Rises after Shingles Infection
(Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology) Researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital report that shingles, also known as herpes zoster, is associated with an almost 30% higher long-term risk of a major cardiovascular event such a stroke or heart attack. Their study “Herpes Zoster and Long‐Term Risk of Cardiovascular Disease” appears in the Journal of the American Heart […]
Nov 29, 2022
MRI Highlights Brain Blips Long After COVID Symptoms Have Subsided
(MedPageToday) A specialized type of MRI showed lingering brain abnormalities in patients up to 6 months after they recovered from COVID-19. Data from susceptibility-weighted MRI in 46 COVID-recovered patients and 30 healthy controls showed that the former had significantly higher susceptibility values in regions of the frontal lobe and brain stem, according to Vidur Mahajan, […]
Nov 29, 2022
COVID-19 Is Linked to Detectable Brain Changes, Study Shows
(Time) While the world is learning to live with COVID-19, scientists still have many unanswered questions about how the infection affects the body and brain—not just when people are sick, but over the long term as well. In a study presented at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America, researchers report on changes to […]
Nov 22, 2022