Category: COVID
A novel method to monitor COVID-19 fatality rate in real-time, a key metric to guide public health policy
(Nature) An accurate estimator of the real-time fatality rate is warranted to monitor the progress of ongoing epidemics, hence facilitating the policy-making process. However, most of the existing estimators fail to capture the time-varying nature of the fatality rate and are often biased in practice. A simple real-time fatality rate estimator with adjustment for reporting […]
Nov 1, 2022
Covid uses our proteins against us. A new strategy seeks to block that.
(Washington Post) With the United States headed into its third full winter of the pandemic amid fears that new variants will evade immunity from vaccines and prior infections, some scientists are seeking ways to blunt the coronavirus’s slippery evolution by blocking the human proteins it uses against us. If the strategy works, it has the potential […]
Nov 1, 2022
Chinese authorities race to contain new waves of ‘dire and complicated’ outbreaks
(South China Morning Post) Covid flare-ups in Guangzhou have authorities ramping up restrictions, mass testing to contain infections. New variants are spreading faster, forcing parts of the country to endure chaotic Covid curbs. Authorities in Guangzhou said they faced a “dire and complicated” outbreak as the number of Covid-19 cases rose sharply reporting more than […]
Nov 1, 2022
China rolls out first inhalable COVID vaccine
(Reuters) In what is believed to be a world first, China’s commercial capital of Shanghai this week introduced a new type of COVID-19 vaccine that is inhaled rather than administered via injection. Chinese regulators approved the vaccine, produced by Chinese pharmaceutical firm CanSino Biologics for use as a booster in September. And now the first […]
Oct 28, 2022
U.S. government to test Pfizer’s Paxlovid for long COVID
(Reuters) The U.S. National Institutes of Health’s $1 billion RECOVER Initiative has picked Pfizer Inc’s (PFE.N) antiviral drug Paxlovid as the first treatment it will study in patients with long COVID, organizers of the study said on Thursday. The complex medical condition involves more than 200 symptoms ranging from exhaustion and cognitive impairment to pain, fever and […]
Oct 28, 2022
Recurrence of Symptoms Following a 2-Day Symptom Free Period in Patients With COVID-19
(JAMA) Recurrence of symptoms after finishing treatment for COVID-19 with nirmatrelvir-ritonavir (Paxlovid) has become increasingly recognized.1–3 The biological underpinning of this phenomenon is unclear, and its etiology may be multifactorial, including rapid clearance of nirmatrelvir coupled with delayed immune responses or possible development of drug resistance.1–3 The contribution of treatment to symptom rebound needs to be differentiated […]
Oct 28, 2022
It’s a Bad Time to Be a Booster Slacker
(The Atlantic) And just like that, with the passing of Labor Day, fall was upon us. Seemingly overnight, six-packs of pumpkin beer materialized on grocery shelves, hordes of city dwellers descended upon apple orchards—and America rolled out new COVID boosters. The timing wasn’t a coincidence. Since the beginning of the pandemic, cases in North America […]
Oct 27, 2022
Neurologic, neurocognitive symptoms of COVID-19 persist for 1 year after diagnosis
(Healio Neurology) Persistent neurocognitive impairment, depression and anxiety were frequently reported in individuals with mild COVID-19 infection in Lima, Peru, according to a poster at ANA 2022. “Given the fact that this population has a different background, different culture and socioeconomic status, the outcomes aren’t necessarily going to be the same as those from high-income […]
Oct 27, 2022
Cardiovascular disease and mortality sequelae of COVID-19 in the UK Biobank
(BMJ) Objective To examine association of COVID-19 with incident cardiovascular events in 17 871 UK Biobank cases between March 2020 and 2021. Methods COVID-19 cases were defined using health record linkage. Each case was propensity score-matched to two uninfected controls on age, sex, deprivation, body mass index, ethnicity, diabetes, prevalent ischaemic heart disease (IHD), smoking, hypertension and high […]
Oct 25, 2022
People who caught mild Covid had increased risk of blood clots, British study finds
(NBC) Patients with mild Covid, defined as those not hospitalized, were 2.7 times more likely to develop blood clots, according to the study published in the British Medical Journal on Monday. Patients hospitalized with Covid were 27 times more likely to develop blood clots, 21 times more likely to suffer heart failure and 17 times […]
Oct 25, 2022