Category: Uncategorized
Could the Next Pandemic Start at the County Fair?
New York Times Since 2011, there have been more human swine flu cases reported in the United States than anywhere else in the world. Most have occurred at farm-animal showcases. It was showtime at the youth swine exhibition, and the pig barn was bustling. The competitors, ages 3 to 21, were practicing their walks for […]
Aug 1, 2023
The CDC sees signs of a late summer COVID wave
NPR Yet another summer COVID-19 wave may have started in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “After roughly six, seven months of steady declines, things are starting to tick back up again,” Dr. Brendan Jackson, the CDC’s COVID-19 incident manager, tells NPR. The amount of coronavirus being detected in wastewater, the […]
Aug 1, 2023
Scientists, Under Fire From Republicans, Defend Fauci and Covid Origins Study
NYT Two virologists testified that they remained convinced that the coronavirus was natural in origin and that Dr. Anthony S. Fauci did not exert influence over a study they wrote. Two world-renowned virologists appeared on Capitol Hill on Tuesday and delivered a pointed defense of their findings that the coronavirus pandemic was natural in origin, […]
Jul 11, 2023
‘The Risk Is Staggering,’ Report Says of Disease From U.S. Animal Industries
NYT The nation uses an enormous number of animals for commercial purposes, and regulations do not adequately protect against outbreaks, experts concluded. The United States is home to an enormous array of animal industries — including industrial agriculture, fur farming and the exotic pet trade — that pose a significant risk of creating infectious disease […]
Jul 11, 2023
Deer spread COVID to humans multiple times, researchers find
CBS News Americans have transmitted COVID-19 to wild deer hundreds of times, an analysis of thousands of samples collected from the animals revealed, and people have also caught and spread mutated variants from deer at least three times. The analysis published Monday stems from the first year of a multiyear federal effort to study the virus as it […]
Jul 11, 2023
What Do We Know About the EU.1.1 COVID Variant?
MedPageToday It’s a descendant of XBB.1.5, but it “isn’t setting off any red flags for me,” expert says. The CDC is tracking a handful of new COVID variants, including the EU.1.1 variant, which now makes up an estimated 1.7% of U.S. COVID cases. EU.1.1 is an XBB sublineage related to the XBB.1.5 variant that currently accounts for […]
Jun 27, 2023
In pandemic’s wake, only 57% of doctors would choose medicine again
AMA Early in the pandemic, physician experiences were largely influenced by geography, specialty and personal COVID-19 experiences. But a year into the pandemic, the environment was different because physicians were facing staffing shortages, anti-science aggression, incivility and new dimensions of moral distress. All of this may have had an impact on professional fulfillment, which can […]
Jun 14, 2023
Medical Express Better access to vaccines could have prevented more than 50% of COVID-19 deaths in 20 lower income countries, according to a new paper in Nature Communications co-authored by Northeastern professor Alessandro Vespignani. The estimation that “thousands and thousands” of lives were lost to vaccine inequity was a “punch in the stomach,” says Vespignani, director of […]
Jun 14, 2023
MicroRNA May Explain Individual Differences in COVID-19 Severity
Neuroscience News Researchers uncovered an association between specific microRNAs and COVID-19 severity in a group of 259 unvaccinated patients. The team identified these microRNAs as crucial factors related to a weakened immune response and ICU admission. This study provides the first genomic picture of blood microRNAs in COVID-19 patients from the Middle East, North Africa, […]
Jun 13, 2023
Does COVID-19 damage the brain?
Harvard Health How does COVID-19 damage the brain, and can the damage be permanent? A. When the pandemic started in early 2020, doctors didn’t know much yet about COVID and did not think it affected the brain. Boy, were we wrong! We now know that, unfortunately, COVID can damage the brain in many ways. When people […]
Jun 6, 2023