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University of Nebraska Medical Center

Category: Emerging Infectious Diseases

Three years into the COVID pandemic, where is Nebraska headed?

Omaha World Herald After three years, COVID-19’s grip on Nebraska — and the nation as a whole — has eased significantly. During the first year, roughly 200,000 cases were confirmed in Nebraska. Thanks to a huge omicron spike, the second year brought even more cases — nearly 270,000, according to Centers for Disease Control and […]

Mar 22, 2023

Weekly Update by Dr. Lawler

UNMC GCHS Weekly Update

Mar 22, 2023

Surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 in the environment and animal samples of the Huanan Seafood Market

Preprint AbstractEmerging in December 2019, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) eventually became a pandemic and has posed a tremendous threat to global public health. However, the origins of SARS-CoV-2, the causative agent of COVID-19, remain to be determined. It has reported that a certain number of the early case clusters had a contact history with Huanan […]

Mar 22, 2023

Wuhan Market Samples Contained Covid and Animal Mixtures, Report Says

New York Times In a much-anticipated study, experts described a swab that was positive for the coronavirus and contained loads of genetic material from raccoon dogs. On Jan. 12, 2020, Chinese investigators combing a market for clues about the outbreak of a mysterious new illness in the city of Wuhan swabbed a cart. It was […]

Mar 21, 2023

Foxes in Germany test positive for H5N1 bird flu

BNO news Four foxes in Germany have tested positive for H5N1 bird flu, local officials say, just weeks after red foxes in France succumbed to the same illness, which is affecting a growing number of mammals. The four foxes all died in Lower Saxony, a state in northwest Germany. Two were found dead in the […]

Mar 21, 2023

A Major Clue to COVID’s Origins Is Just Out of Reach

The Atlantic A key set of data could shore up the case for a purely animal origin. So why aren’t scientists sharing it? Last week, the ongoing debate about COVID-19’s origins acquired a new plot twist. A French evolutionary biologist stumbled across a trove of genetic sequences extracted from swabs collected from surfaces at a […]

Mar 21, 2023

COVID-origins study links raccoon dogs to Wuhan market: what scientists think

Nature Some scientists say the analysis provides new evidence supporting the hypothesis that the virus that causes COVID-19 spilled over from an animal — but falls short of definitive proof. Raccoon dogs, bamboo rats, palm civets: these are just some of the animals whose DNA has been found in swabs taken from the Huanan Seafood […]

Mar 21, 2023

First birds, now mammals: how H5N1 is killing thousands of sea lions in Peru

Guardian Avian flu has decimated the marine creatures on the country’s Pacific coastline and scientists fear it could be jumping from mammal to mammal. t first, it appears to be dead. Its head lies in the sand, and a small tide pool has formed around it. Its shoulder blades jut out and its coffee and […]

Mar 21, 2023

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