Category: Emerging Infectious Diseases
Flu Hospitalizations Nearly Double Over the Last Week in the US
(Bloomberg) Influenza hospitalizations nearly doubled over the last week, adding to the already torrid season for respiratory illnesses in the US. There were 19,593 people hospitalized for influenza during the week ending Nov. 26, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday. Admission rates have reached the highest level in more than a decade, behind only […]
Dec 5, 2022
CDC expands wastewater testing for polio to Michigan and Pennsylvania
(Washington Post) The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is expanding efforts to test wastewater to detect thepolio virus in Philadelphia and the Detroit area, targeting communities at highest risk for the life-threatening and potentially disabling illness, officials said Wednesday. The expansion of wastewater monitoring for polio comes amid pressure to increase efforts to fight the disease after […]
Dec 5, 2022
New Mexico issues public health emergency order as respiratory viruses rise
(ABQ Journal) New Mexico hospitals are returning to the “hub-and-spoke” model of patient triage, which was used throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, amid a rising number of pediatric patients. Acting Health Secretary David Scrase issued a public health emergency order Thursday, citing an increasing number of pediatric patients, a shortage of hospital staff and a lack […]
Dec 5, 2022
Strep A: London child among six deaths from bacterial disease
(BBC) A pupil at a west London primary school has been confirmed as having died with Strep A bacterial disease. The child is one of six in England to have died after contracting the bug, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has said. The pupil attended St John’s School, Ealing, and died from a severe, invasive form […]
Dec 5, 2022
(CNN) The brains of US teens have physically changed during the Covid-19 pandemic, aging faster than normal, a new study says. The young study participants also reported more severe symptoms of anxiety, depression and what scientists call internalized problems – meaning feelings of sadness, low self-esteem and fear and trouble regulating their emotions – after the first […]
Dec 5, 2022
Uganda discharges last known Ebola patient, raising hopes – ministry
(Reuters) Uganda has discharged its last known Ebola patient from hospital, a senior health official said on Friday, raising hopes that an outbreak which has killed at least 56 people could be coming to an end. Officials first confirmed the outbreak in September and said it was the Sudan strain of the disease, which kills […]
Dec 2, 2022
Lingering Effects Seen With Non-COVID Respiratory Illness Too
(MedPageToday) People with acute respiratory illness during the pandemic suffered similar levels of poor well-being in the months afterward whether they tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 or not, a registry study showed. In a cohort of people who all had initial symptoms suggestive of COVID-19, those who had moderate to severe scores at 3 months on […]
Dec 2, 2022
How Qatar Provided Early Answers About COVID Immunity
(MedPage Today) While the world turns its attention to Qatar for the World Cup, the tiny Middle Eastern nation jutting into the Persian Gulf is more recognized in the medical research community for providing some of the earliest insights into vaccine efficacy, waning immunity, and reinfection during the COVID-19 pandemic. With a national healthcare system […]
Nov 29, 2022
RSV Cases May Have Peaked in the US But the Flu Is Surging
(Bloomberg) The flu is sending more children to the hospital in the US right now than it has in over a decade, just as an autumn spike in severe RSV cases is starting to recede. Severe cases of RSV, or respiratory syncytial virus, have overloaded children’s hospitals the past few months. In early November, when cases […]
Nov 29, 2022
R.S.V. Strains California Hospitals
(NYT) The Covid-19 pandemic persists, we’re in the midst of flu season and now there’s a new threat to worry about: R.S.V. Perhaps you’ve heard of the possibility of a “tripledemic,” an alarming sequel to last winter’s “twindemic” with the addition of respiratory syncytial virus, or R.S.V. It is by no means a new virus, but the […]
Nov 29, 2022