Category: Emerging Infectious Diseases
First polar bear to die of bird flu – what are the implications?
Gavi Avian influenza has killed a polar bear and may have infected other bears. Climate change is a threat to polar bear’s survival. Now they have a new deadly challenge facing them: bird flu. It was recently confirmed that a polar bear from northern Alaska has died from the disease. The current strain of H5N1 influenza has […]
Jan 16, 2024
How Covid-19’s symptoms have changed with each new variant
BBC With a new variant of the Sars-CoV-2 virus causing a spike in cases, it is demonstrating just how much the disease has changed since the pandemic began – and what happened to “Covid toe”. “For almost four years, I’ve managed to dodge Covid-19,” TV broadcaster Mehdi Hasan tweeted a fortnight ago. “But it finally got […]
Jan 16, 2024
Major Measles Outbreak Erupts In England As Vaccine Hesitancy Increases
Forbes In England, the Birmingham Children’s Hospital is currently grappling with a major outbreak of measles. More than 50 children have been hospitalized in the past month. Vaccine-preventable diseases such as measles and polio remain a public health threat. And with childhood vaccine hesitancy—or simply outright refusal—on the rise in the U.K., U.S. and Europe, […]
Jan 16, 2024
The Dangers of Exercise Therapy to Treat Long Covid Patients
Bloomberg The research compared responses to 8-12 minutes of high-intensity cycling in a group of long Covid patients and a group of healthy people. All 46 of the volunteers had blood and muscle biopsies taken before and after for analysis. All of the long Covid patients experienced a bout of debilitating fatigue known as post-exertional malaise. […]
Jan 16, 2024
An unprecedented flu strain is attacking hundreds of animal species. Humans could be next.
Washington Post An avian flu panzootic — a pandemic among animals — has struck some 320 bird and mammal species, including. It felt like watching one of those blockbusters about the end of the world. Like witnessing an apocalypse, but in real life. Which, in a way, it was. The beaches of Valdes Peninsula in […]
Jan 16, 2024
Treatment for acute sleeping sickness has been brutal — until now
NPR Acute sleeping sickness – the treatment is almost as horrific as the disease. But now there is encouraging news about an oral medication – one that’s also been used for chronic sleeping sickness to great success. Symptoms for both forms of sleeping sickness start with fever and aches. Then things get worse. The parasite […]
Jan 2, 2024
Four years on, long covid still confounds us. Here’s what we now know.
Washington Post Many people now view covid-19 as an almost routine inconvenience, much like flu, RSV and other seasonal infections. But four years after reports surfaced of a new respiratory illness, prompting a massive response among researchers, the disease’s aftereffects — commonly called long covid — continue to confound doctors and patients alike. “We know […]
Jan 2, 2024
Here’s How Common Long COVID Is in Children
MedPageToday Six to 12 months after COVID-19 infection, very few children developed post-COVID-19 conditions (PCCs) as defined by the World Health Organization (WHO), a prospective Canadian study found. At 6 months after being tested for SARS-CoV-2 in pediatric emergency departments (EDs), just 0.52% of children who tested positive had symptoms and changes in quality of […]
Jan 2, 2024
Maryland hospitals see increase in COVID-19, RSV, flu cases
WBAL Hospitals across Maryland are seeing an increase in patients with respiratory illnesses. Doctors said cases of the flu, COVID-19 and RSV are spiking. “Influenza is really increasing, particularly over the last two weeks,” Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health virologist Dr. Andy Pekosz said. “All of them, you’ll often feel very lousy. You’ll […]
Jan 2, 2024
COVID-19 vs Seasonal Influenza: A Comparative Analysis Reveals Alarming Trends
Infection Control Today A recent article by Yan Xie and colleagues1 presented strong data that COVID-19 is much worse than seasonal influenza. The researchers observed increased rates of delayed and long-term death and disability in US military veterans who were hospitalized with COVID-19 as compared to those hospitalized with seasonal influenza. The COVID-19 group of patients had […]
Jan 2, 2024