Author: Claudinne Miller
What Is Disease X? How Scientists Are Preparing for the Next Pandemic
Washington Post It sounds like something Elon Musk might have cooked up: “Disease X.” In fact, the term was coined years ago as a way of getting scientists to work on medical countermeasures for unknown infectious threats — novel coronaviruses like the one that causes Covid-19, for example — instead of just known ones, like […]
Sep 27, 2023
Can creatine supplements help people with long COVID?
Medical News Today Among the often-mystifying, extended effects of COVID-19 is post-viral fatigue syndrome, or (PVFS). A small new study finds that dietary creatine may help alleviate its symptoms. The study found that taking dietary creatine for three months substantially improved feelings of fatigue, and by six months, had produced improvements in body aches, breathing issues, loss […]
Sep 27, 2023
Are Your Expired COVID Tests OK to Use? Find Out Here
C|Net Even if your COVID-19 test kits show they’ve expired, their shelf life could’ve been extended. With COVID-19 cases on the rise once again, you’re likely checking your at-home COVID-19 test kits to make sure they haven’t expired since you received them last year. However, even if your box shows they’re no longer good, it’s […]
Sep 26, 2023
Merck Covid drug linked to virus mutations that can spread between people, new study says
NBC News A new study released Monday said Merck’s widely used antiviral Covid pill can cause mutations in the virus that occasionally spread to other people, raising questions about whether the drug has the potential to accelerate Covid’s evolution. The findings may increase scrutiny about the usefulness of the treatment, molnupiravir, which was one of the first Covid drugs available to doctors […]
Sep 26, 2023
Scientists say some tests may be able to identify the markers of prolonged COVID symptoms in the future
ABC News While there is no specific test to determine if someone is experiencing long COVID, a new study published in Nature used blood tests to find new insight into what biological markers are associated with this collection of mysterious conditions reported by millions of Americans. Researchers used machine learning to help analyze immune markers and hormone […]
Sep 26, 2023
Long COVID Rare in U.S. Kids, Has Affected 7% of Adults
MedNewsToday More common among girls and women. Long COVID in the U.S. is rare among children and has affected roughly one in 14 adults, according to a pair of data briefs from the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS). Overall, in 2022, an estimated 1.3% of children in the U.S. ever had long COVID, and 0.5% […]
Sep 26, 2023
A Truly Amazing Vaccine Breakthrough Is Hiding in Plain Sight
The Atlantic The COVID shots—and new ones for RSV—herald a new era for designing vaccines. very fall, when the air turns chilly and the leaves red, pediatric ICUs begin preparing for the onslaught of the virus known as RSV. Not flu, not COVID, but RSV, or respiratory syncytial virus, is the No. 1 reason babies are […]
Sep 26, 2023
Contagious omicron strain replicates early in infection
Cornell Chronicle Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2019, the SARS-CoV-2 virus has produced a number of variants, including alpha, beta, delta and omicron, each with its own subvariants. New research, published Sept. 22 in Science Advances, used engineered mice to compare SARS-COV-2 omicron subvariants, and found one of them, BA.5, was more […]
Sep 26, 2023
Nipah Virus Outbreak Spreads Across India, Asian Countries as Death Toll Reaches Over 100
NatureWorldNews A Nipah virus outbreak has spread across India and several other Asian countries, as the total death toll has reached more than 100 amid nearly 300 cases, according to reports. In India’s Kerala state, some schools and offices were forced to close as local authorities imposed restrictions to mitigate or stop the spread of […]
Sep 26, 2023
What a Doctor Is Seeing in COVID-19 Today
Time Hospitalizations for COVID-19 have been on the rise since the beginning of July. Then came the identification of the heavily mutated and possibly highly-transmissible BA.2.86 variant by the global surveillance network. Such a variant has the potential to evade our vaccine- and infection-induced antibodies and cause a surge of seasonal hospitalizations. The recommendation by the FDA’s […]
Sep 26, 2023