Author: Claudinne Miller
H5N1 Bird Flu in Mammals Sparks Fears of Virus Spreading Among Humans
Washington Post The strain of avian influenza, or bird flu, known as H5N1 has proved to be alarmingly adept at jumping continents and species. First discovered in 1996 in geese bred on a farm in southern China, the virus has rampaged through populations of captive, commercial birds in recent years, prompting governments to order the […]
Sep 20, 2023
Real-world HPAI vaccination trial underway
PoultryWorld The Dutch government, together with Wageningen University & Research, Utrecht University and Royal GD, have started their first real-world avian influenza vaccination trial. Some 1,800 day-old layer chicks received a vaccination against highly pathogenic avian influenza in mid-September and will be monitored for the coming 18 months to establish protection and transmission of the virus. The field trial […]
Sep 20, 2023
Does the risk of getting long Covid increase each time you get reinfected?
STAT More than three years into the coronavirus pandemic, fewer and fewer people are experiencing their first Covid-19 infections. But as cases climb, those who’ve had the virus before may wonder: What are their chances of developing long Covid — and does the risk increase with each reinfection? Fatigue and brain fog may be the first […]
Sep 20, 2023
Report highlights the skyrocket, peak of highly cited COVID-19 research studies
CIDRAP A new survey of highly cited COVID-19 research papers shows the scientific literature on the novel coronavirus rose at an astronomical pace, from just 14 studies in January and February 2020 to 1,292 studies in November to December 2021. The study is published in JAMA Network Open. The cross-sectional study surveyed global publications from January 2020 […]
Sep 19, 2023
USDA Grant Explores COVID Virus in Wildlife
wildlife.org Researchers will test 58 species to monitor the potential for spillback to humans A new U.S. Agriculture Department grant will fund researchers to test wildlife for the presence of the virus that causes COVID-19. The $4.5 million grant will allow researchers to collect samples from 58 species—chipmunks, squirrels, mice, moose (Alces alces), raccoons (Procyon […]
Sep 19, 2023
Slovenia: Stork at Ljubljana zoo diagnosed with bird flu
STA The country’s veterinary authority has confirmed highly contagious avian influenza of the subtype H5N1 in a white stork at the Ljubljana zoo, after the same subtype was confirmed in two dead swans in the municipality of Ljubljana last week.
Sep 19, 2023
Are Seniors Prepared for Co-circulating Respiratory Viruses
Precision Vaccinations For the first time, seniors can prepare to defend themselves against co-circulating influenza, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), and the betacoronavirus that causes COVID-19. Vaccines can provide life-saving protection against all three viral respiratory diseases, says the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). With the fall season’s increasing number of cases, now is an […]
Sep 19, 2023
Supercomputer simulation attacks problem of drug-resistant bacteria
Los Alamos National Laboratory Understanding molecular processes can improve the antibiotics and vaccines that fight disease A first-ever, atom-by-atom supercomputer simulation shows how antibiotics kill bacteria and illustrates other processes of the molecular machinery in living cells. The research opens fresh pathways to improving antibiotics, designing new ones to fight drug-resistant bacteria and developing vaccines […]
Sep 19, 2023
The Pandemic Was a Time Machine
NYT Recently I came across perhaps the most mind-bending chart about the pandemic I’d seen over three-plus years. Originally published two years ago in The British Medical Journal, it shows how Covid affected age-standardized mortality in England and Wales — a statistic that controls for demographic change in measuring death rates, so that a country doesn’t look […]
Sep 19, 2023
New Jersey Failed Veterans at Pandemic-Ravaged Nursing Homes, U.S. Says
NYT A scathing Justice Department report found that care at the state facilities was so poor that it violated residents’ constitutional rights and led to a rash of deaths. The care given to military veterans at two state-run nursing homes in New Jersey ravaged by the coronavirus was so poor that it violated residents’ constitutional […]
Sep 19, 2023