Category: Emerging Infectious Diseases
The monkeypox virus is mutating. Are scientists worried?
Nature – In some samples, large chunks of the virus’s genome have disappeared — but understanding whether the mutations affect its behaviour will be difficult. As researchers at the Minnesota Department of Health in St. Paul were sequencing samples of the monkeypox virus a few months ago, they made a surprising discovery. In one sample […]
Oct 5, 2022
PLoS – Five-factor model personality traits (neuroticism, extraversion, openness, agreeableness, conscientiousness) are thought to be relatively impervious to environmental demands in adulthood. The coronavirus pandemic is an unprecedented opportunity to examine whether personality changed during a stressful global event. Surprisingly, two previous studies found that neuroticism decreased early in the pandemic, whereas there was less […]
Oct 5, 2022
Pandemic stress may have had a lasting impact on our personalities
NPR – The global coronavirus pandemic disrupted almost everything about our lives, from how we work and go to school, to how we socialize (Zoom happy hours, anyone?!), and ultimately strained trust in many of the overarching systems we depend on, from health care to government. New research suggests it may have changed Americans’ personalities, […]
Oct 5, 2022
Omicron BA.4.6 makes up nearly 13% of COVID variants circulating in U.S.
Reuters – The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Tuesday estimated that nearly 13% of the circulating coronavirus variants in the United States were of the BA.4.6 subvariant of Omicron, as of the week ended Oct. 1. The latest data showed BA.4.6, which has been slowly rising in the last few weeks, […]
Oct 5, 2022
Warning Signs About the First Post-pandemic Winter
The Atlantic – It may not be as bad as last year’s … but it certainly won’t be good. This fall, unlike the one before it, and the one before that, America looks almost like its old self. Schools and universities are in session; malls, airports, and gyms are bustling with the pre-holiday rush; handwashing […]
Oct 5, 2022
Rising cases of variants BQ.1 and XBB could make COVID drugs all but useless, study finds
Salon – As colder weather sets in, public health experts are keeping a close eye on COVID-19 variants that could spell doom and gloom this winter, just like omicron did last year. Yet these nascent variants that are rapidly spreading abroad have an evil twist that omicron lacked: an ability to evade the drugs that […]
Oct 5, 2022
EU provides immediate support to Uganda
EU Commission – As the Ugandan authorities have identified over 40 cases of Ebola Virus Disease in the past weeks, the EU has mobilised an initial €200,000 in emergency funding to support the Uganda Red Cross. The funding is part of an urgent request launched by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent […]
Oct 5, 2022
Long COVID: Scientists find 20 blood protein ‘signatures’ that may point to risk
Med News Today – Researchers published their findings comparing blood samples from healthcare workers who had contracted SARS-CoV-2 and healthcare workers who had not. They found that blood protein levels within six weeks of contracting SARS-CoV-2 could predict long COVID incidence. “These changes in the blood that we observe shortly after infection indicate how the […]
Oct 4, 2022
FDA – FDA added important information to the authorized Fact Sheets for Evusheld (tixagevimab co-packaged with cilgavimab) to inform health care providers and individuals receiving Evusheld of the increased risk for developing COVID-19 when exposed to variants of SARS-CoV-2 that are not neutralized by Evusheld. Detailed neutralization data can be found in the revised authorized Fact […]
Oct 4, 2022
At Long Last, Can Malaria Be Eradicated?
New York Times – Two new vaccines may finally turn back an ancient plague. But in unexpected ways, their arrival also complicates the path to ending the disease. A more powerful malaria vaccine, developed by the Oxford team that created the AstraZeneca Covid vaccine, may be just a year or two away. Many experts believe […]
Oct 4, 2022