Author: Claudinne Miller
Why Mpox Vaccines Aren’t Flowing to Africans in Desperate Need
NYT Drugmakers have supplies ready to ship that are necessary to stop a potential pandemic. But W.H.O. regulations have slowed access. There are no vaccines for mpox available in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the epicenter of a global health emergency declared last week, even though the country first asked for the shots two years […]
Sep 3, 2024
How Does Mpox Spread, and Who Is Most at Risk?
NYT This month, the World Health Organization declared mpox a global health emergency. The virus, formerly known as monkeypox, is spreading quickly in parts of Africa, particularly the Democratic Republic of Congo. The outbreak there has been fueled by a new version of the virus that has also been discovered in Sweden and Thailand. The fast-evolving situation has led to anxiety and […]
Sep 3, 2024
Very Demure, Very Mindful
The only appropriate definition of Demure in the brief history of demure memes. This is Jane Bennet, the beloved sister of Elizabeth Bennet. If you have never met the Bennets, watch the original 1995 BBC series Pride & Prejudice.
Aug 28, 2024
FDA Could Soon Limit Use of Only Drug for COVID Prevention
MedPageToday Pemivibart may have reduced activity against growing variant KP.3.1.1, agency warns. Pemivibart (Pemgarda) should only be used for pre-exposure prophylaxis of COVID-19 in immunocompromised patients when the combined national frequency of SARS-CoV-2 variants with substantially reduced susceptibility to the drug is less than or equal to 90%, the FDA announced on Monday. The agency […]
Aug 28, 2024
Avian flu has infected dairy cows in more than a dozen states – a microbiologist explains how the virus is spreading
The Conversation The current strain of avian flu, H5N1, is responsible for the culling of millions of domestic birds and has sickened more than a dozen farmworkers in 2024, most recently in Colorado. The Conversation U.S. asked immunologist and microbiologist Jenna Guthmiller from the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus to explain the historical roots of H5N1, its mode of […]
Aug 28, 2024
Children Dying of Mpox Are Not First in Line for a Vaccine
Bloomberg Children account for over 80% of fatal mpox cases in Congo, Bavarian Nordic shot is missing from pediatric vaccine plan. Children account for over 80% of mpox deaths in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, yet the first shots to arrive in the country won’t be given to the youngest and most vulnerable patients. A new […]
Aug 28, 2024
Africa has almost 4,000 new mpox cases in a week, but the wait for vaccines continues
AP Africa is seeing a rapid increase in mpox cases with nearly 4,000 reported in the past week, the continent’s public health body said Tuesday as it repeated a plea for long-awaited vaccines whose arrival this week in the most affected country, Congo, has been delayed. Eighty-one deaths from mpox were reported in Africa in the past […]
Aug 28, 2024
Promising Mpox Drug Fails in Trials as Virus Spreads
Wired AS MPOX CONTINUES to spread in Central Africa, a promising antiviral drug to treat the infection has failed to improve patients’ symptoms in a trial in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the epicenter of the outbreak. In the trial, the drug tecovirimat, also known as TPOXX, did not alleviate the characteristic blisterlike rash seen in […]
Aug 28, 2024
Extreme heat and rain are fueling rising cases of mosquito-borne diseases
Science News When it rains, it pours. And when it pours, mosquitoes pop up. A series of storms slammed the northeastern United States on August 18, unleashing torrents of rain and causing flash floods across parts of New York and Connecticut. In Oxford, Conn., a potentially record-breaking rainfall of roughly 38 centimeters (15 inches) fell in […]
Aug 28, 2024
What to Know About the Rare Mosquito-Borne Illness Eastern Equine Encephalitis
NYT The disease has caused one death in New Hampshire and the virus has also been identified in humans in neighboring states, health officials said. One person has died in New Hampshire after contracting the mosquito-borne virus Eastern equine encephalitis, and two others in the Northeast have been infected this summer with the rare disease. […]
Aug 28, 2024