Category: Emerging Infectious Diseases
Paralysis Tied to Virus in Kids Goes Off-Script, Baffling CDC
(MedPageToday) The CDC sounded the alarm on EV-D68 with a Health Alert Network Advisory in September announcing that cases were on the rise. Later that month, the agency reported surveillance dataopens in a new tab or window showing that rhinovirus, enterovirus, or both were detected in 26.4% of children and adolescents with acute respiratory illness seeking emergency […]
Jan 3, 2023
The Relationship Between Chronic Viral Infection and Long COVID
(NIH) In a small study supported by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), researchers found that chronic viral infections may influence the likelihood of someone developing Long COVID. They also found that different chronic infections were associated with the development of different Long COVID symptoms. Some viruses cause underlying chronic infections. These viruses […]
Dec 29, 2022
COVID Testing Company Missed Nearly All Positive Cases
(MedPageToday) Northshore Clinical Labs’ PCR test was ultimately found to have missed 96% of positive COVID-19 cases on a university campus in Nevada last year, but early concerns raised by state epidemiologists went unheeded as the company aggressively pursued government customers. When students from a Nevada school district began receiving conflicting test results from their […]
Dec 28, 2022
U.S. to impose new coronavirus testing requirements for travelers from China
(Washington Post) U.S. health officials Wednesday announced new testing requirements for travelers from China, a decision based in part on concerns about the lack of data coming out of that nation, which is lifting stringent zero-covid policies even as it reduces testing and reporting, making it harder for officials to identify new variants. The requirement […]
Dec 28, 2022
After years with little covid, videos show China is now getting hit hard
(Washington Post) [link to video here] Emergency departments are overflowing, with patients sleeping in hallways until they can be evaluatedor taken to a hospital room. In at least one hospital, half of doctors and nurses were absent because they had tested positive for covid. These and other alarming scenes in China’s medical facilities have been […]
Dec 27, 2022
Scientists have a theory on covid loss of smell: Damage to nasal cells
(Washington Post) Persistent loss of smell has left some covid-19 survivors yearning for the scent of their freshly bathed childor a waft of their once-favorite meal. It’s left others inured to the stink of garbage and accidentally drinking spoiled milk. “Anosmia,” as experts call it, is one of long covid’s strangest symptoms — and researchers may be one […]
Dec 27, 2022
Niger reports severe bird flu among poultry
(Zawaya) Niger has reported the highly contagious H5N1 strain of avian influenza, or bird flu, among poultry in a village in the south of the country, the Paris-based World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) said on Tuesday. The outbreak in the south of the Tahoua region killed most of a 4,920-strong flock, with the remaining […]
Dec 27, 2022
Autopsies Show COVID-19 in the Brain
(MedPageToday) Early this year, leading researchers discussed what we knew — and didn’t know — about COVID-19 and the brain. Since then, new findings have emerged about SARS-CoV-2 and the nervous system, including the results of an autopsy study that showed the presence of the virus throughout the body and brain. How can a respiratory pathogen […]
Dec 27, 2022
The epidemiology of long COVID in US adults
(Clinical Infectious Diseases) We estimated the prevalence of long COVID and impact on daily living among a representative sample of adults in the United States (US). We conducted a population-representative survey, June 30-July 2, 2022, of a random sample of 3,042 United States adults aged 18 years or older and weighted to the 2020 US […]
Dec 27, 2022
The COVID-19 virus keeps evolving. These ‘disease detectives’ are on the case
(Canadian News) The Omicron variant of the virus that causes COVID-19 was last year’s unpleasant holiday surprise. More than a year later, a loosely knit group of “disease detectives” across Canada continues to keep watch for key mutations. Officials with the World Health Organization (WHO) say Omicron is better able to pass from person to person […]
Dec 27, 2022