Category: Emerging Infectious Diseases
These scientists traced a new coronavirus lineage to one office — through sewage
Nature – Virologist Dave O’Connor admits that he was getting desperate when he started asking dog owners for poo samples. For much of 2022, O’Connor, at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, and his colleagues have been tracking a heavily mutated variant of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. Early this year, they discovered the variant in […]
Sep 26, 2022
Sewage monitoring indicates a surge of Covid-19 spread in Latvia
Baltic News – September’s monitoring data indicates increased concentration of the virus in sewer water in Riga, Jurmala, Liepaja and Jelgava. Measurements in Liepaja, however, show signs of stabilisation and reduced concentration of the virus. A sharp surge is reported in Ventspils, which contradicts data reported by the Disease Prevention and Control Center.
Sep 26, 2022
Lingering cardiac involvement in previously well people after mild COVID-19
Nature Medicine – Lingering cardiac symptoms, including exercise intolerance, tachycardia and chest pain, are increasingly recognized as post-acute COVID-19 sequelae1. In patients with a severe course of initial illness, accrued cardiac injury and pre-existing conditions readily explain cardiac symptoms. However, signs of cardiac injury such as elevated troponin levels and structural heart disease are rare […]
Sep 26, 2022
How COVID-19 stole our sense of smell
Chemical Engineering News – SARS-CoV-2 has left thousands with a distorted or lost sense of smell. This population is helping researchers identify what happens when smell goes wrong and what might help. Researchers are getting a clearer idea of how. This understanding and a growing awareness of olfactory disorders could help others facing smell loss […]
Sep 26, 2022
Turkish Embassy Official Dies Of Pneumonia In ‘Coronavirus-Free’ Turkmenistan
Radio Free Europe – An official of the Turkish Embassy in the Turkmen capital, Ashgabat, has died of pneumonia in the only Central Asian nation that has not officially registered a single coronavirus case. Citing unnamed officials at the Turkish embassy, Turkmen.news and the Turkish TRT Avaz media outlet reported that an adviser on religious issues, […]
Sep 26, 2022
Uganda medical workers strike at Ebola hospital
BBC – Medical interns at Uganda’s Mubende hospital have gone on strike, accusing the government of not providing them with appropriate safety kit, risk allowances and health insurance. The hospital, located some 150 km (95 miles) from the capital, Kampala, is hosting the main isolation centre for Ebola patients as the outbreak continues to spread […]
Sep 26, 2022
More Than 700 Children Have Died in a Measles Outbreak in Zimbabwe
NYT – It is driven by a decline in child immunization during the pandemic and the influence of an anti-vaccination evangelical church. As of Sept. 6, the country’s Ministry of Health and Child Care was reporting more than 6,500 cases and 704 deaths. It has not released numbers since then.
Sep 26, 2022
Clinical studies of detecting COVID-19 from exhaled breath with electronic nose
Nature – The COVID-19 pandemic has attracted numerous research studies because of its impact on society and the economy. The pandemic has led to progress in the development of diagnostic methods, utilizing the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) as the gold standard for coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 detection. Numerous tests can be used at home within 15 min or […]
Sep 26, 2022
Five things about covid we still don’t understand at our peril
Washington Post – In less than three years, researchers have published more than 200,000 studies about the virus and covid-19. That is four times the number of scientific papers written on influenza in the past century and more than 10 times the number written on measles. Still, the virus has kept many of its secrets, […]
Sep 26, 2022
Ebola Deaths Double With Outbreak Spreading in Central Uganda
Bloomberg – Two new districts reported cases of the Ebola-Sudan strain of the viral hemorrhagic illness after it was first detected in the central Mubende district on Sept. 20. At least 34 people have contracted the disease and 21 have died, the Kampala-based Ministry of Health said on Twitter late Sunday.
Sep 26, 2022