Category: Emerging Infectious Diseases
Record number of deaths in US from cardiovascular disease early in pandemic: Report shows
(ABC News) New data from the American Heart Association highlights the major impact COVID-19 had on cardiovascular health and death rates during the first year of the pandemic. At least 928,741 Americans died from cardiovascular disease-related causes in 2020, the annual statistical report revealed. That represents the largest one-year increase since 2015 and tops the previous high of […]
Jan 27, 2023
Mink-farm outbreak shows bird flu can spread between mammals
(Nature) A new variant of H5N1 influenza could pose an increased risk to people and wild animals. An outbreak of avian influenza on a mink farm in Spain provides the strongest evidence so far that the H5N1 strain of flu can spread from one infected mammal to another. The outbreak of H5N1 flu, described in […]
Jan 24, 2023
Do I need another booster? The CDC director answered your questions.
(Washington Post) With another covid winter upon us, a new variant, XBB.1.5, is dominating the latest coronavirus surge in the United States. Although hospitalizations have started to decline, public health experts warn the country still faces elevated levels of the coronavirus and other respiratory viruses. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, answered reader questions […]
Jan 24, 2023
Covid, flu, RSV declining in hospitals as ‘tripledemic’ threat fades
(Washington Post) So manypatients sick with RSV had inundated Connecticut Children’s Medical Center that they had to be treated in hallways and playrooms. Facing their busiest season in memory last fall, hospital leaders floated a plan to enlist the National Guard to set up tents outside. Doctors braced for a dire winter — a looming disaster some […]
Jan 24, 2023
COVID-19 Patients Retain Elevated Risk of Death for 1.5 Years After Acute Infection
(Contagion) New research definitively linked COVID-19 infection to a heightened risk of cardiovascular disease and death—both short- and long-term. The study, published in Cardiovascular Research, evaluated the association between COVID-19 and development of cardiovascular disease and mortality. “COVID-19 patients were more likely to develop numerous cardiovascular conditions compared to uninfected participants, which may have contributed to their higher risks […]
Jan 24, 2023
Declaration of the End of the Ebola Outbreak in Uganda
(US Embassy Uganda) The Ugandan government, in coordination with the World Health Organization (WHO), declared the end of the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) outbreak in Uganda on January 11, 2023. Concurrently, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) rescinded its Level 2 Travel Health Notice related to Ebola in Uganda. The United States terminated […]
Jan 24, 2023
The next worrisome coronavirus variant could come from China — will it get detected?
(Nature) Fears that the massive surge of coronavirus infections in China could immediately spark the emergence of a troubling new variant are unfounded, say researchers. But that could change in the coming months as more people in the country acquire some natural immunity from infection. More widespread immunity could drive the virus SARS-CoV-2 to evolve […]
Jan 24, 2023
Younger generations suffered from worst mental illness during COVID-19
(HealthEuropa) Mental illness was more common in younger generations compared to older age groups during the COVID-19 pandemic. A new study by University College London (UCL) explored how five different birth cohort studies which followed participants born in 1946, 1958, 1970, 1989-90 and 2000-02 coped with mental illness during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Jan 24, 2023
Child dies from Nipah virus in Rajshahi
(Bangladesh news) Sowad drank date juice on Friday morning and felt fever and convulsions. As he fell unconscious, the family members admitted him to the hospital in the afternoon, said Rajshahi Medical College Hospital Intensive Care Unit in-charge Abu Hena Mostafa Kamal. He said that they transferred Sowad to the ICU on Saturday morning as […]
Jan 24, 2023
Don’t wait for an Ebola outbreak to vaccinate people against it
(Nature) Uganda’s most recent Ebola outbreak should be a wake-up call to the world. Last October, just 3 weeks into the outbreak, the disease spread to Kampala, a well-connected city of 1.5 million people. From there, it might easily have entered other countries. As the incident manager at the Ugandan Ministry of Health, I coordinated […]
Jan 24, 2023