Category: Emerging Infectious Diseases
(NYT) Some of the worst days of Covid in the U.S. have come as winters have settled in, and surges led hospitals to overflow and caused hundreds of thousands of deaths. A comparable surge has yet to materialize on a similar timeline this winter. By now, hospitalizations in particular would have started to sharply rise. […]
Jan 17, 2023
Can you use an expired at-home COVID-19 test?
(NBC) Many of us may have stored extra at-home COVID-19 tests in case they are needed in the future, but what should you do if the kit is past its expiration date? According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, a COVID-19 testing kit should not be used if it is expired since the parts […]
Jan 17, 2023
Pregnant Women With Covid-19 Are Eight Times More Likely To Die Than Uninfected Counterparts
(Forbes) A new BMJ Global Health study warns that getting infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus at any point during pregnancy increases the mother’s risk of death by nearly eight times compared to those who remain uninfected. A group of researchers screened 137 studies and analyzed 12 studies conducted in Sweden Italy, Spain, the United States of America, […]
Jan 17, 2023
Why it’s easier to catch a cold, the flu or COVID in the winter
(Science News) When bitter winds blew and temperatures dropped, my grandmother would urge me to come inside. “You’ll catch your death of cold out there,” she’d say. Sure, freezing to death is possible in frigid temperatures. But doctors and other health experts have long stressed that being cold won’t give you a cold. Still, winter is undisputedly […]
Jan 17, 2023
Antigenic mapping of emerging SARS-CoV-2 omicron variants BM.1.1.1, BQ.1.1, and XBB.1
(The Lancet) Novel SARS-CoV-2 omicron variants, including BM.1.1.1, BQ.1.1, and XBB.1, continue to emerge at an unprecedented rate, evading pre-existing immunity from vaccination and previous infection. Quantifying the antigenic diversity of variants might assist in selecting future vaccine strains. To determine the antigenic relationships between emerging SARS-CoV-2 omicron variants, we and others used antigenic cartography, […]
Jan 17, 2023
(BMJ) Despite a growing body of research on the risks of SARS-CoV-2 infection during pregnancy, there is continued controversy given heterogeneity in the quality and design of published studies. We screened ongoing studies in our sequential, prospective meta-analysis. We pooled individual participant data to estimate the absolute and relative risk (RR) of adverse outcomes among pregnant […]
Jan 17, 2023
WHO recommends that China monitor excess COVID-19 mortality
(Reuters) The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Monday it recommended that China monitor excess mortality from COVID-19 to gain a fuller picture of the impact of the surge in cases there.
Jan 17, 2023
China Reports Nearly 60,000 Covid-Linked Deaths Since Lifting Restrictions
(NYT) The unexpected disclosure was made as the country faces mounting criticism for providing unreliable data on its latest coronavirus outbreak.
Jan 17, 2023
For long covid fatigue, a strategy called ‘pacing’ helps, but at a cost
(Washington Post) Taking a lesson from people with chronic fatigue, many patients with long covid are scaling back daily activity to cope. What is it like to live with the chronic fatigue of long covid? It feels like dragging your body through wet cement, says Judy Schaefer, 58, a once avid hiker who lives in […]
Jan 17, 2023
China’s COVID surge prompts CDC to expand a hunt for new variants among air travelers
(NPR) It’s early morning at Dulles International Airport outside Washington, D.C.,and Ana Valdez is already hard at work at one of the international gates. “Hello everybody. Welcome,” she shouts with a big smile as arriving travelers flood through two large swinging doors. “Do you like to help the CDC to find new variants for COVID?” […]
Jan 14, 2023
