Author: Claudinne Miller
What to know about Nipah virus amid outbreak in India
ABC News India’s southern state of Kerala is currently facing an outbreak of the rare, but potentially serious Nipah virus with at least two deaths so far, according to local reports. Health officials have closed schools and offices in Kerala and hundreds of residents are being tested. Despite Nipah virus’s high fatality rate and no specific treatments […]
Sep 19, 2023
Pfizer forecasts 24% COVID vaccination rate in US this year
Retuers Pfizer expects 24% of the U.S. population, or about 82 million people, to receive COVID-19 shots this year, CFO David Denton said at a conference on Monday, reiterating the vaccine maker’s estimates from earlier this year. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has authorized updated COVID vaccines from Pfizer and its partner BioNTech as well as […]
Sep 19, 2023
New COVID variant BA.2.86 spotted in 10 states, though highly mutated strain remains rare
CBS News People across at least 10 states have now been infected by BA.2.86, a highly mutated variant of the virus that causes COVID-19 that authorities have been closely tracking. According to data tallied from the global virus database GISAID, labs have reported finding BA.2.86 in samples from Colorado, Maryland, Michigan, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia and […]
Sep 19, 2023
How evasive and transmissible is the newest omicron offshoot, BA.2.86, that causes COVID-19?
The Conversation 1. What is BA.2.86 and how is it related to earlier variants? BA.2.86, nicknamed Pirola, is a highly mutated new omicron sublineage of SARS-CoV-2 that was first detected in Denmark in July 2023. The World Health Organization announced that, as of Sept. 6, 2023, BA.2.86 has been detected in 11 countries. A variant is […]
Sep 12, 2023
‘Heart-breaking’ news as avian flu ravages seabird colonies at sites across Wales
WhalesOnline Avian flu has devastated seabird colonies at sites across Wales this summer, according to the National Trust. It said more than 7,000 seabirds had died of the disease at five of its sites across the UK in 2023. Only one of its sites was affected in 2022. In Wales, the worst-affected was in Anglesey where more […]
Sep 12, 2023
Cascades of red wine flood a city’s streets in Portugal after huge tanks rupture
NPR There is so much surplus red wine in Portugal, it’s flooding the streets. That’s one way of deciphering the incredible scene that unfolded in São Lourenço do Bairro, a small town where millions of liters of wine recently overwhelmed the roads. The roughly 2.2 million liters of wine (some 581,000 gallons) poured out of […]
Sep 12, 2023
What We Lost: Public Trust in the Medical Information Discourse Over the Pandemic
Contagion One of the most damaging aspects of the pandemic is that misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines and therapies created unnecessary hospitalizations and deaths. “We always cite the statistic that about 200,000 people died in 2021 alone after the COVID-19 vaccines were available,” said Katrine Wallace, PhD, research epidemiologist and an assistant professor of epidemiology and […]
Sep 12, 2023
COVID boosters are back: what scientists say about whether to get one
Nature Many countries heading into autumn are targeting high-risk people for vaccinations, leaving lower-risk people uncertain about the right choice. Across the Northern Hemisphere, public-health officials are rushing to roll out autumn COVID-19 vaccination campaigns to guard against a fresh batch of SARS-CoV-2 variants. In England, officials moved the start date for administering an updated booster […]
Sep 12, 2023
India: Nipah confirmed in 3 people in Kerala state
Outbreak News Today Health Minister Veena George says Pune Virology Institute informed that 3 people have been confirmed with Nipah virus in the state. Nipah virus has been confirmed in a 9-year-old who is under treatment in a private hospital in Kozhikode, 25-year-old mother’s brother and 40-year-old who died yesterday. In addition to this, the […]
Sep 12, 2023
Effect of SARS-CoV-2 prior infection and mRNA vaccination on contagiousness and susceptibility to infection
Nature The immunity conferred by SARS-CoV-2 vaccines and infections reduces the transmission of the virus. To answer how the effect of immunity is shared between a reduction of infectiousness and an increased protection against infection, we examined >50,000 positive cases and >110,000 contacts from Geneva, Switzerland (June 2020 to March 2022). We assessed the association […]
Sep 12, 2023