Category: COVID
Most people who ended up with long COVID started with a mild case, new study shows
(CBS News) Even mild COVID-19 cases can have major and long-lasting effects on people’s health. That is one of the key findings from our recent multicountry study on long COVID-19 – or long COVID – recently published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Long COVID is defined as the continuation or development of symptoms three months after the […]
Jan 10, 2023
Omicron COVID booster cuts hospitalization in over 65s, Israeli study finds
(Reuters) The Omicron-adapted COVID-19 vaccine booster developed by Pfizer Inc (PFE.N) and BioNTech SE (22UAy.DE) sharply reduced hospitalizations among older patients, Israeli researchers said on Monday, in some of the first evidence of the jab’s real-world effectiveness.
Jan 9, 2023
(FDA) FDA is closely monitoring the emergence of the XBB.1.5 subvariant, a SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant that is currently estimated to account for 28% of circulating variants in the U.S. Because of its similarity to variants that are not neutralized by Evusheld (e.g., XBB), FDA does not anticipate that Evusheld will neutralize XBB.1.5. This means that Evusheld may […]
Jan 9, 2023
People who haven’t had COVID will likely catch XBB.1.5 – and many will get reinfected, experts say
(USA Today) Variant XBB.1.5 is very contagious, meaning everyone is at risk even if you’ve already been infected. As the U.S. enters year 3 of the pandemic, here’s an update on the state of COVID. The newest COVID-19 variant is so contagious that even people who’ve avoided it so far are getting infected and the roughly 80% of […]
Jan 9, 2023
Comparative effectiveness of third doses of mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccines in US veterans
(Nature) Vaccination against SARS-CoV-2 has been effective in reducing the burden of severe disease and death from COVID-19. Third doses of mRNA-based vaccines have provided a way to address waning immunity and broaden protection against emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants. However, their comparative effectiveness for a range of COVID-19 outcomes across diverse populations is unknown. We emulated […]
Jan 3, 2023
China is flying blind as pandemic rages
(Science) Most scientists believe China’s decision to end its zero-COVID policy was long overdue. But now they have a new worry: that the country is collecting and sharing far too little data about the rough transition to a new coexistence with the virus. China abruptly dropped virtually all controls a month ago, after protests, a […]
Jan 3, 2023
Data-driven identification of post-acute SARS-CoV-2 infection subphenotypes
(Nature) The post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection (PASC) refers to a broad spectrum of symptoms and signs that are persistent, exacerbated or newly incident in the period after acute SARS-CoV-2 infection. Most studies have examined these conditions individually without providing evidence on co-occurring conditions. In this study, we leveraged the electronic health record data of […]
Jan 3, 2023
Study identifies four major subtypes of long COVID
(Cornell) The post-COVID syndrome known as long COVID has four major subtypes defined by different clusters of symptoms, according to a study led by researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine. The study, published Dec. 1 in Nature Medicine, was the largest of its kind to examine long COVID. The researchers, who represent clinicians and informaticists, used a machine-learning […]
Jan 3, 2023
(Nature) Currently approved SARS-CoV-2 vaccines induce robust systemic immunity but poor immunity at the respiratory mucosa, meaning that they are highly effective against symptomatic disease but do not prevent viral transmission. In Science, Mao et al. developed a vaccine strategy that induced mucosal immune memory within the respiratory tract and reduced viral transmission. K18-hACE2 mice were […]
Jan 3, 2023
COVID Smell Loss: ‘Retraining’ Mostly Flops in Trial
(MedPageToday) Bimodal olfactory training with visual cues and the use of patient-preferred scents did not produce a clinically meaningful improvement in sense of smell among individuals with COVID-19–related olfactory loss, a 275-patient randomized trial showed. Among participants with post-COVID infection olfactory loss equally randomized to bimodal patient-preferred, bimodal physician-assigned, unimodal patient-preferred, and unimodal physician-assigned scents arms, […]
Jan 3, 2023