Category: Emerging Infectious Diseases
China is flying blind as pandemic rages
(Science) Most scientists believe China’s decision to end its zero-COVID policy was long overdue. But now they have a new worry: that the country is collecting and sharing far too little data about the rough transition to a new coexistence with the virus. China abruptly dropped virtually all controls a month ago, after protests, a […]
Jan 3, 2023
Data-driven identification of post-acute SARS-CoV-2 infection subphenotypes
(Nature) The post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection (PASC) refers to a broad spectrum of symptoms and signs that are persistent, exacerbated or newly incident in the period after acute SARS-CoV-2 infection. Most studies have examined these conditions individually without providing evidence on co-occurring conditions. In this study, we leveraged the electronic health record data of […]
Jan 3, 2023
Study identifies four major subtypes of long COVID
(Cornell) The post-COVID syndrome known as long COVID has four major subtypes defined by different clusters of symptoms, according to a study led by researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine. The study, published Dec. 1 in Nature Medicine, was the largest of its kind to examine long COVID. The researchers, who represent clinicians and informaticists, used a machine-learning […]
Jan 3, 2023
SARS-CoV-2 mucosal vaccine
(Nature) Currently approved SARS-CoV-2 vaccines induce robust systemic immunity but poor immunity at the respiratory mucosa, meaning that they are highly effective against symptomatic disease but do not prevent viral transmission. In Science, Mao et al. developed a vaccine strategy that induced mucosal immune memory within the respiratory tract and reduced viral transmission. K18-hACE2 mice were […]
Jan 3, 2023
COVID Smell Loss: ‘Retraining’ Mostly Flops in Trial
(MedPageToday) Bimodal olfactory training with visual cues and the use of patient-preferred scents did not produce a clinically meaningful improvement in sense of smell among individuals with COVID-19–related olfactory loss, a 275-patient randomized trial showed. Among participants with post-COVID infection olfactory loss equally randomized to bimodal patient-preferred, bimodal physician-assigned, unimodal patient-preferred, and unimodal physician-assigned scents arms, […]
Jan 3, 2023
China stops counting cases as models predict a million or more deaths
(BMJ) China has effectively stopped counting covid cases and deaths, abandoning mass testing and adopting new criteria for counting deaths that will exclude most fatalities from being reported. The Chinese National Health Commission’s official daily briefing, which had offered detailed if uninformative statistics every day since February 2020, has not been published since 24 December. […]
Jan 3, 2023
China infection surge on agenda at WHO coronavirus meeting
(UN) In Geneva, a spokesperson for the WHO confirmed during a scheduled press briefing that Chinese scientists had been invited to participate in a meeting of the Technical Advisory Group on COVID-19. The 30-strong expert group was formed in June 2020 to advise the UN health agency and Member States on coronavirus mutations and variants. The […]
Jan 3, 2023
Features and risk factors of post-COVID-19 syndrome: Findings from a longitudinal study in Bangladesh
(The Lancet) A comprehensive study of the post-COVID syndrome (PCS) remains scarce in low-and middle-income countries. We assessed the prevalence, incidence rate, evolution over time, and risk factors of PCS among hospitalized (HS) and non-hospitalized (NHS) COVID-19 survivors. We undertook a prospective longitudinal study of COVID-19 survivors at months 1, 3, and 5 post-discharge or […]
Jan 3, 2023
‘Unique’ mix of COVID-19 variants in Australia a challenge for antiviral treatments, study finds
(Nature) Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) breakthrough infections in vaccinated individuals and reinfections in previously infected individuals have become increasingly common. Such infections highlight a broader need to understand the contribution of vaccination, including booster doses, and natural immunity to the infectiousness of individuals with SARS-CoV-2 infections, especially in high-risk populations with intense […]
Jan 3, 2023
Covid’s winter surge is poised to exceed summer peak
(Stat News) The number of people in the United States hospitalized with Covid-19 is about to surpass the figure reached during this summer’s spike, federal data show, as a confluence of factors — from the continued evolution of the coronavirus to holiday gatherings — drives transmission. Notably, the number of people hospitalized with Covid — roughly 40,000 — […]
Jan 3, 2023