Category: Emerging Infectious Diseases

Dr. Anthony Fauci Would Like to Set the Record Straight

Rolling Stone Magazine Famed immunologist who led the nation’s COVID response talks new PBS doc, Trump and Fox News, gain-of-function research, the lab-leak theory, and more EVERYONE SEEMS TO have an opinion about Dr. Anthony Fauci. For those on the left, the famed physician and immunologist who led America’s Covid-19 response under presidents Trump and Biden is a […]

Mar 21, 2023

Study finds co-infection with ‘superbug’ bacteria increases SARS-CoV-2 replication

Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry Global data shows nearly 10 per cent of severe COVID-19 cases involve a secondary bacterial co-infection – with Staphylococcus aureus, also known as Staph A., being the most common organism responsible for co-existing infections with SARS-CoV-2. Researchers at Western have found if you add a ‘superbug’ – methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus […]

Mar 21, 2023

FDA May Authorize Additional Covid-19 Booster Shots

WSJ Agency officials could make the decision on clearing another round for people at high risk within a few weeks. Federal health regulators are nearing a decision on whether to authorize a second round of the Omicron-targeted booster shots for the elderly and other people at high-risk of severe Covid-19, people familiar with the agency’s deliberations said. […]

Mar 21, 2023

Tanzania reports a Marburg outbreak, Africa’s second this year

STAT News Africa is grappling with not one, but two outbreaks of Marburg fever, a disease that causes symptoms and a death rate comparable to Ebola, its viral cousin. Health officials in Tanzania announced Tuesday that they had confirmed the country’s first-ever Marburg outbreak, involving at least eight people so far, five of whom have […]

Mar 21, 2023

Finally, a Potential Therapy to Prevent Long COVID

MedPageToday Diabetes drug found to reduce chance of long COVID in clinical trial preprint. Hi, it’s Jeremy Faust with MedPage Today. Thanks for joining me. Today, we’re going to discuss an interesting new paper called “Outpatient Treatment of COVID-19 and the Development of Long COVID Over 10 Months.” Link to related paper in The Lancet (Preprint) […]

Mar 21, 2023

The potentially deadly Candida auris fungus is spreading quickly in the U.S.

NPR The fungus Candida auris is becoming a more dangerous public health care threat, as the number of drug-resistant cases jumped in 2021, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Monday. The fungus is resistant to several antifungal medications, but the CDC said it is not seen as a threat to healthy people. Still, the […]

Mar 21, 2023

Long-covid symptoms are less common now than earlier in the pandemic

Washington Post Americans infected with the coronavirus’s omicron variant are less likely to develop symptoms typical of long covid than those who had covid-19 earlier in the pandemic, according to the largest-ever study of who is most vulnerable to being sickened — or debilitated — by the virus’s lingering effects. The analysis of nearly 5 million […]

Mar 21, 2023

The Next Stage of COVID Is Starting Now

The Atlantic What happens when everyone first gets immunity to the coronavirus as a very young kid? To be a newborn in the year 2023—and, almost certainly, every year that follows—means emerging into a world where the coronavirus is ubiquitous. Babies might not meet the virus in the first week or month of life, but […]

Mar 21, 2023

Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza A(H5N1) Virus in a Harbor Porpoise, Sweden

CDC We found highly pathogenic avian influenza A(H5N1) virus clade 2.3.4.4b associated with meningoencephalitis in a stranded harbor porpoise (Phocoena phocoena). The virus was closely related to strains responsible for a concurrent avian influenza outbreak in wild birds. This case highlights the potential risk for virus spillover to mammalian hosts. Europe and, more recently, North […]

Mar 21, 2023

Nirmatrelvir-Ritonavir Effective Against Omicron BA.4, BA.5 SARS-CoV-2 Variant

Pulmonology Advisor Real-world evidence from the Omicron period of the COVID-19 pandemic shows the benefit of nirmatrelvir-ritonavir for vaccinated outpatients and those younger than 65 years of age with non-severe COVID-19 at high risk of hospitalization or death, according to study findings published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases. Investigators sought to examine the real-world effect of […]

Mar 21, 2023