Category: Emerging Infectious Diseases
Tripledemic Update: RSV, Covid And Flu
(Forbes) The United States has already plunged into one of the roughest seasons of winter illnesses in decades. After nearly three years of being sequestered, children and adults are back out in crowds, with no masks, no distancing, and viruses waiting with open arms. Well, open RNA strands, at least. We’ve rounded the bend on […]
Dec 16, 2022
U.S. Offers Free At-Home Covid Tests as Part of Winter Plan
(New York Times) With cases on the rise, the Biden administration restarted a program that has provided hundreds of millions of tests through the Postal Service. Households are now able to order four tests at covidtests.gov, with shipments beginning next week.
Dec 16, 2022
We’ve run out of cholera vaccines, WHO official says as disease surges
(Reuters) The global stockpile of cholera vaccines the World Health Organization helps manage is “currently empty or extremely low”, a WHO official said on Friday amid a resurgence of the disease around the world. The U.N. health agency says global fatality rates are rising and there are around 30 countries around the world that have […]
Dec 16, 2022
The Coronavirus May Spread From Corpses, Scientists Report
(NYT) Like a zombie in a horror film, the coronavirus can persist in the bodies of infected patients well after death, even spreading to others, according to two startling studies. The risk of contagion is mainly to those who handle cadavers, like pathologists, medical examiners and health care workers, and in settings like hospitals and […]
Dec 16, 2022
(MedPageToday) VIDEO Anthony Fauci, MD, talks about retirement, pandemics, and “The Godfather” with Jeremy Faust, MD In this exclusive video, Jeremy Faust, MD, editor-in-chief of MedPage Today, sits down for a conversation with Anthony Fauci, MD, before his departure from the NIH at the end of the year. The following is a transcript of their remarks: […]
Dec 16, 2022
Increase in invasive Group A streptococcal infections among children in Europe, including fatalities
(WHO) A number of European countries (including France, Ireland, the Netherlands, Sweden and the United Kingdom) have indicated an increase in 2022, particularly since September, in the number of cases of invasive Group A streptococcal (iGAS) disease among children under 10 years of age. During the same period, several deaths associated with iGAS disease in children […]
Dec 13, 2022
China Covid: Hospitals under strain in wave of infections
(BBC) China’s hospitals are already under so much pressure, following the country’s rapid 180-degree shift in Covid policy that doctors and nurses could be infecting patients. It seems frontline medical workers are being told to come in even if they have the virus themselves because of staff shortages.
Dec 13, 2022
Ohio Measles Outbreak Jumps to 74 Cases
(MedPageToday) Measles cases continue to rise in central Ohio, with total cases hitting 74 this week, up from about 50 reported last week, according to Columbus Public Health. Of the 74 reported cases, all have occurred in children and adolescents, with 69 cases among those younger than 5 years (18 cases in those ages 3-5 years, […]
Dec 13, 2022
How COVID-19 Immunity Works at This Point in the Pandemic
(Time) When SARS-CoV-2 was a brand-new virus, it met little resistance in immune-naïve hosts—that is, us. Vaccines, boosters, and infections have increased our immunity to varying degrees. But how much protection do each of these provide at this point in the pandemic? Here’s what researchers are learning about how the human body reacts to COVID-19 […]
Dec 13, 2022