Category: COVID
UNMC Global Center for Health Security Infectious Disease Briefing Infectious Disease Briefing
By Dr. Joseph Fauver SARS-CoV-2 Variant Update
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
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
The doctor won’t see you now: Covid winters are making long hospital waits the new normal
(Washington Post) As the United States enters its third full covid winter, a top administration official is warning that the permanence of the coronavirus in the disease landscape could mean brutal and long-lasting seasonal surges of cold-weather illnesses for years to come, resulting in hospitals struggling to care for non-covid emergencies and unable to give patients timely, lifesaving treatments. Winter […]
Jan 17, 2023
The Genetic Mutation That Makes ‘Kraken’ Covid So Contagious
(Rolling Stone) A particular change in the spike protein means the virus is spreading faster than ever. There is a new, more contagious form of the novel-coronavirus. It’s got a greater ability to evade our antibodies. And it’s spreading easier than ever. You’ve read these words before, and you’ll almost certainly read them again as the Covid pandemic […]
Jan 17, 2023
Why kids are “great little vectors” for COVID-19
(AMA) Offering new revelations on the behavior of SARS-CoV-2, a National Institutes of Health (NIH) study suggests that young children and people with obesity may be significant vectors of viral transmission in households. NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) enlisted scientists from Henry Ford Health and other groups to participate in the project, which focused on […]
Jan 17, 2023
The quiet cost of covid: A million people missing work each month
(Washington Post) Some 1.5 million people missed work because of an illness last month, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The month before that, it was 1.6 million. In October, 1.3 million and in September 1.2 million. In fact, the last time there were fewer than a million Americans missing work because of an illness […]
Jan 17, 2023
Pregnant people with COVID-19 are 7 times more likely to die in childbirth
(Popular Science) The study of over 13,000 pregnancies across 12 countries found that those infected with COVID-19 were seven times as likely to die during childbirth and are more than three times more likely to be admitted to an intensive care unit during during pregnancy, compared to COVID-free pregnant people. About 2,000 patients had a […]
Jan 17, 2023
COVID was the leading cause of law enforcement deaths in 2022 for 3rd year in a row: Report
(CBS News) COVID-19 remained the leading cause of law enforcement deaths in 2022 despite the number attributed to the virus dramatically declining. A new report released Wednesday by the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund looked at preliminary data and found that 226 federal, state, tribal and local law enforcement officers died last year while in the line of […]
Jan 17, 2023
China is finally divulging covid data. The WHO says there’s more to the story.
(Washington Post) The World Health Organization is ramping up pressure on China to share key data on its latest coronavirus outbreak, using public statements and behind-the-scenes meetings to push Beijing as it tries to map the largest surge of the pandemic — even if it risks the government’s wrath. It is a stark contrast with the WHO’s […]
Jan 17, 2023