Author: Claudinne Miller
The Viral Threat Almost No One Is Thinking About
The Atlantic Flu viruses and coronavirus started the last few pandemics. Could the next one be a paramyxovirus? Whether it begins next week, next year, or next decade, another pandemic is on its way. Researchers can’t predict precisely when or how the outbreak might begin. Some 1.6 million viruses are estimated to lurk in the world’s mammalian […]
Nov 1, 2023
What to Know About the JN.1 Variant
MedPageToday While the BA.2.86 or “Pirola” variant of SARS-CoV-2 never took off in the U.S., some researchers are now eyeing its descendant, JN.1, which may be more immune-evasive. JN.1 has yet to appear on the CDC’s variant proportions tracker, but it has started cropping up in samples in France, the U.K., and Portugal. The CDC warned in Augusto that […]
Nov 1, 2023
Children’s hospitals prepare for surge in admissions amid shortage of RSV drug
The Hill A supply shortage means a drug that can prevent respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) in infants won’t have a major immediate impact, children’s hospitals said, and they are preparing for a surge in admissions this respiratory disease season. “Widespread access [to the new antibody drug] will take time across many sectors of the pediatric […]
Nov 1, 2023
Paxlovid Probably Won’t Cut Your Odds for Long COVID: Study
HealthDay The antiviral drug Paxlovid is great at treating COVID-19 infections, but a new study casts doubt on its effectiveness at preventing symptoms associated with long COVID. Nearly 9,600 veterans given Paxlovid had about the same risk of most post-COVID side effects as vets not treated with the antiviral med, according to findings published Oct. […]
Nov 1, 2023
A chikungunya vaccine is nearing approval. Who will get it?
Science U.S. travelers at risk of getting the disease are first in line. The first vaccine against the mosquito-borne viral disease chikungunya will likely come to market next month. With the debilitating disease now afflicting more than half the countries in the world and threatening to spread further, the imminent U.S. Food and Drug Administration […]
Nov 1, 2023
Last night in NYC
As usual the annual Thriller dance at the Village Halloween parade doesn’t disappoint H/t @Meche0410 pic.twitter.com/DAYnzQXP7q — Wu Tang is for the Children (@WUTangKids) November 1, 2023
Nov 1, 2023
The Early Verdict on Flu Season Is Here. What to Expect.
WSJ There’s some good news about flu season this year. Doctors and scientists don’t expect the worst. The flu season in the Southern Hemisphere, where the cold-weather illness period wraps up as we head into ours, often serves as a harbinger of what’s to come for us. There, cases picked up a little earlier than usual in […]
Nov 1, 2023
Everything I Thought I Knew About Nasal Congestion Is Wrong
The Atlantic Having caught a cold every month since my kid started day care, I’ve devoted a lot of time recently to the indignity of unclogging my nose. I’m blowing, always. I have also struck up an intimate acquaintance with neti pots and a great variety of decongestants. (Ask for the stuff that actually works, squirreled […]
Nov 1, 2023
Masks During Pandemics Caused by Respiratory Pathogens—Evidence and Implications for Action
JAMA More than 3 years after the COVID-19 pandemic began, the use of face masks in the community remains controversial. Vaccination, treatment, population immunity, and other developments have enabled a return to a semblance of prepandemic life, but disagreement about what the evidence shows about masks—and the implications for their use—persists. SARS-CoV-2 is still a […]
Oct 31, 2023
Long-term Prognosis at 1.5 years after Infection with Wild-type strain of SARS-CoV-2 and Alpha, Delta, as well as Omicron Variants
International Journal of Infectious Diseases Knowledge is limited on how changing SARS-CoV-2 variants may translate into different characteristics and affect prognosis of patients with long COVID, especially following Omicron variants. We compared long-term prognosis of patients in a Danish Post COVID Clinic infected with wild-type strain, Alpha, Delta, or Omicron variants as well as the […]
Oct 31, 2023