Category: Emerging Infectious Diseases
Characteristics of long COVID among older adults: a cross-sectional study
International Journal of Infectious Diseases – 2333 individuals were evaluated at an average of 5 months [146 days (95% CI 142-150)] following COVID-19 onset. Mean age was 51 and 20.5% were>65 years. Older adults were more likely to be symptomatic, with most common symptoms being fatigue (38%) and dyspnea (30%). They were more likely to […]
Oct 4, 2022
Older patients more likely to report long-COVID symptoms
CIDRAP – Among patients seen at long-COVID clinics in four countries, older people were the most likely to report symptoms and have abnormal chest imaging and lung function tests, finds a study published late last week in the International Journal of Infectious Diseases. Researchers in Israel, Italy, Spain, and Switzerland followed 2,333 COVID-19 survivors for an average of […]
Oct 4, 2022
NYT – The Covid mass vaccination program in the U.S. began on Dec. 14, 2020, when a nurse at a hospital in Queens, N.Y., received a shot on live television. But more than two months later, a major health clinic based in North Birmingham, Ala. — which focused on lower-income, Black and Latino residents — […]
Oct 4, 2022
Long Covid Has Become a Parallel Pandemic
Bloomberg – There are millions of long-haulers in the US alone, and there will be millions more if we don’t develop better vaccines and treatments. The price of “living with Covid” in a free and open society is turning out to be much heftier than public health experts predicted. Even with good vaccines and treatments, […]
Oct 3, 2022
Wild Birds in North America Are Dying Like Never Before
The Atlantic – Scientists are concerned for North American wildlife as the worst avian flu outbreak since 2015 rages on. The July 5 trip was routine: From the deck of an airboat, two wildlife biologists scanned the cattail marsh—one of many seasonal wetlands in the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge—on their weekly lookout for sick or […]
Oct 3, 2022
Cholera resurfaces in Haiti as gangs imperil water and hospital access
Washington Post – At least one person has died of cholera in Haiti, officials said this week, stoking fears of an outbreak as widespread gang control over several parts of the country worsens access to fuel, clean drinking water and medical care. Two confirmed cases, one resulting in death, of the acute diarrheal illness — […]
Oct 3, 2022
Two thirds of U.S. adults don’t plan on getting COVID boosters soon
Reuters – Around two-thirds of adults in the United States do not plan to get updated COVID-19 booster shots soon, according to a survey conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF), a health policy nonprofit organization.Only a third of adults polled said they either already received the updated shots or plan to get the booster […]
Oct 3, 2022
Uganda urgently needs help to stop the Ebola outbreak in its tracks
Fortune – As of September 29, there have been 35 confirmed cases and seven confirmed deaths–with many more probable cases and a suspected fatality rate of around 50%. The outbreak has now expanded to two other districts, with 427 contacts listed for follow-up, and it will potentially spread to congested parts of downtown Kampala, the […]
Sep 30, 2022
The Pandemic’s Legacy Is Already Clear
The Atlantic/by Ed Yong – Recently, after a week in which 2,789 Americans died of COVID-19, President Joe Biden proclaimed that “the pandemic is over.” Anthony Fauci described the controversy around the proclamation as a matter of “semantics,” but the facts we are living with can speak for themselves. COVID still kills roughly as many Americans every week as died […]
Sep 30, 2022
Nature – The Omicron variant has been associated with reduced vaccine effectiveness (VE) against mild disease with rapid waning. Meanwhile Omicron has also been associated with milder disease. Protection against severe disease has been substantially higher than protection against infection with previous variants. We used a test-negative case-control design to estimate VE against hospitalisation with […]
Sep 30, 2022