Category: Emerging Infectious Diseases
The trajectory of COVID-19 cardiopulmonary disease: insights from an autopsy study of community-based, pre-hospital deaths
(ERS Publications) Post mortem examination of lung and heart tissue has been vital to developing an understanding of COVID-19 pathophysiology; however studies to date have almost uniformly used tissue obtained from hospital-based deaths where individuals have been exposed to major medical and pharmacological interventions.
Dec 27, 2022
How our pandemic toolkit fought the many viruses of 2022
(Popular Science) COVID-19 caused headlines again this year, but it was matched by a slew of other newsworthy viruses: the adenoviruses suspected to be behind the rise in hepatitis cases in early spring, the outbreak of mpox—formerly known as monkeypox—in the summer, an early surge in respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), and a peak in influenza cases following the Thanksgiving holiday season. […]
Dec 27, 2022
Cholera Returns With a Vengeance
(MedPageToday) OPINION – It has been a bad year for cholera, the fecally transmitted scourge once depicted as a supernatural reaper wielding a giant scythe. When the artwork above, “Le Choléraopens in a new tab or window,” first appeared in 1912, cholera’s pathophysiology was still a mystery, but its clinical wrath wasn’t. By then, it […]
Dec 27, 2022
5 big questions we still need to answer about long covid (Opinion)
(Washington Post) We are nearly three years into the covid-19 pandemic, and the debate about the need for health measures such as vaccine and mask mandates is as hot as ever. One big reason for that: long covid. What even is “long covid”? Broadly speaking, the condition refers to any symptoms persisting weeks to months after […]
Dec 27, 2022
COVID isn’t just infecting you—it could be reactivating viruses that have been dormant in your body for years
(Fortune) You had COVID a few months ago and recovered—but things still aren’t quite right. When you stand up, you feel dizzy, and your heart races. Even routine tasks leave you feeling spent. And what was once a good night’s sleep no longer feels refreshing. Long COVID, right? It may not be so simple. A […]
Dec 27, 2022
As Covid Deaths Climb, Even Seniors Skip the Latest Booster
(NYT) Nearly all Americans over 65 got their initial Covid vaccines. But that immunity is waning, and this time, the government is offering far less support for new shots.
Dec 27, 2022
Epidemics That Weren’t: How Countries Shut Down Recent Outbreaks
(NYT) Some of the most fragile health systems in the world can teach us ways to respond to public health threats early and effectively. When Ebola swept through the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo in 2018, it was a struggle to track cases. Dr. Billy Yumaine, a public health official, recalls steady flows of people […]
Dec 27, 2022
Long COVID: Could mono virus or fat cells be playing roles?
(AP) A British historian, an Italian archaeologist and an American preschool teacher have never met in person, but they share a prominent pandemic bond. Plagued by eerily similar symptoms, the three women are credited with describing, naming and helping bring long COVID into the public’s consciousness in early 2020.
Dec 27, 2022
Three years on, the pandemic — and our response — have been jolting. Here’s what even the experts didn’t see coming
(STAT – by Helen Branswell) People who study infectious diseases and who work in public health have long known a bad pandemic would one day come. They knew such an event would overwhelm hospitals, strain supply chains, and place stresses on society that we would be ill-equipped to meet. Countries like the United States have […]
Dec 27, 2022
Increase in Pediatric Invasive Group A Streptococcal Infections
(CDC) The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is issuing this Health Alert Network (HAN) Health Advisory to notify clinicians and public health authorities of a recent increase in pediatric invasive group A streptococcal (iGAS) infections. In November 2022, CDC was notified of a possible increase in iGAS infections among children at a hospital […]
Dec 27, 2022