Category: Emerging Infectious Diseases
Coronavirus (booster) FAQ: Can it cause a positive test? When should you get it?
NPR – The vaccine and the tests are based upon different parts of the COVID virus. “All the vaccines in the United States use the spike genetic material,” says Kamil. “All of the home tests detect something called nucleocapsid,” a protein not found in the vaccine. But if the vaccine is going to make you […]
Oct 6, 2022
Findings suggest COVID-19 rebound not caused by impaired immune response
NIH – Findings from a small study of eight patients published in Clinical Infectious Diseases suggest that COVID-19 rebound is likely not caused by impaired immune responses. The study, led by scientists at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, aimed to define the clinical course and the […]
Oct 6, 2022
From BQ.1.1 to XBB and beyond: How the splintering of Omicron variants could shape Covid’s next phase
STAT News – The United States is in a (relative) Covid-19 lull, with cases and hospitalizations falling as the wave driven by the BA.5 lineage of the Omicron variant recedes. But as if we needed a portent of an anticipated fall and winter wave, Covid is on the rise in some European countries. What’s different, at […]
Oct 6, 2022
Here’s what might happen the second—or third—time you get Covid, experts say: ‘There’s no guarantee’
CNBC – As the weather grows colder, you may find yourself experiencing a second — or even third — round of Covid infection. That prompts a few questions: Will getting Covid again be similar to my previous experience? Will it be any different than last time? Will my symptoms be more or less severe? The answer […]
Oct 6, 2022
Breakthrough Monkeypox Cases Seen Weeks After Second Jynneos Dose
MedPageToday – Most cases of monkeypox post-vaccination occurred within 2 weeks of the first Jynneos dose, a single-center study found, but some breakthrough cases developed weeks after a second dose of the vaccine. Of 90 individuals who tested positive for monkeypox after a single dose of Jynneos at a large monkeypox testing and vaccination site, […]
Oct 6, 2022
Is the Pandemic Over? Fauci Weighs In
Med Page Today – Is the COVID-19 pandemic really over? Could the “lab leak” theory be true? Is President Biden’s chief medical advisor and the man who helped (or tried to help) America navigate and contain a deadly global outbreak now eating indoors? Anthony Fauci, MD, also the long-time director of the National Institute of […]
Oct 6, 2022
The monkeypox virus is mutating. Are scientists worried?
Nature – In some samples, large chunks of the virus’s genome have disappeared — but understanding whether the mutations affect its behaviour will be difficult. As researchers at the Minnesota Department of Health in St. Paul were sequencing samples of the monkeypox virus a few months ago, they made a surprising discovery. In one sample […]
Oct 5, 2022
Differential personality change earlier and later in the coronavirus pandemic in a longitudinal sample of adults in the United States
PLoS – Five-factor model personality traits (neuroticism, extraversion, openness, agreeableness, conscientiousness) are thought to be relatively impervious to environmental demands in adulthood. The coronavirus pandemic is an unprecedented opportunity to examine whether personality changed during a stressful global event. Surprisingly, two previous studies found that neuroticism decreased early in the pandemic, whereas there was less […]
Oct 5, 2022
Pandemic stress may have had a lasting impact on our personalities
NPR – The global coronavirus pandemic disrupted almost everything about our lives, from how we work and go to school, to how we socialize (Zoom happy hours, anyone?!), and ultimately strained trust in many of the overarching systems we depend on, from health care to government. New research suggests it may have changed Americans’ personalities, […]
Oct 5, 2022
Omicron BA.4.6 makes up nearly 13% of COVID variants circulating in U.S.
Reuters – The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Tuesday estimated that nearly 13% of the circulating coronavirus variants in the United States were of the BA.4.6 subvariant of Omicron, as of the week ended Oct. 1. The latest data showed BA.4.6, which has been slowly rising in the last few weeks, […]
Oct 5, 2022