Category: Emerging Infectious Diseases
Here’s How We Defeated Monkeypox and What It Means for the Next Pandemic
(Daily Beast) Five months after the world’s health agencies first sounded the alarm over a rare global outbreak of monkeypox, a sometimes fatal viral disease that’s normally endemic only in West and Central Africa, there’s finally some good news. The leading vaccines are working. Vulnerable populations—especially men who have sex with men—are getting jabbed at a healthy […]
Nov 1, 2022
Did My Strong COVID Vax Reaction Give Me Better Immunity?
(MedPageToday) Is a strong reaction to the COVID-19 vaccine a sign of a more robust immune response that ultimately brings better protection against infection, hospitalization, and death? Many are asking that question as they roll up their sleeves for yet another booster. Science doesn’t have a definitive answer, as the literature is generally mixed — […]
Nov 1, 2022
Cardiovascular disease and mortality sequelae of COVID-19 in the UK Biobank
(BMJ) To examine association of COVID-19 with incident cardiovascular events in 17 871 UK Biobank cases between March 2020 and 2021. COVID-19 cases were defined using health record linkage. Each case was propensity score-matched to two uninfected controls on age, sex, deprivation, body mass index, ethnicity, diabetes, prevalent ischaemic heart disease (IHD), smoking, hypertension and high […]
Nov 1, 2022
Covid-19 Infection Linked With Poor Cardiovascular Outcomes And Death
(Forbes) A new UK study shows that being infected with Covid-19 is linked to an increased risk of poor cardiovascular health and death. The risk is greatest within the first 30 days of infection and for those whose infection required hospitalization, but the risk also remains heightened for those who did not experience a severe infection. When […]
Nov 1, 2022
‘A silent killer’ – COVID-19 shown to trigger inflammation in the brain
(University of Queensland) Research led by The University of Queensland has found COVID-19 activates the same inflammatory response in the brain as Parkinson’s disease. The discovery identified a potential future risk for neurodegenerative conditions in people who’ve had COVID-19, but also a possible treatment. The UQ team was led by Professor Trent Woodruff and Dr Eduardo Albornoz Balmaceda from UQ’s School […]
Nov 1, 2022
A novel method to monitor COVID-19 fatality rate in real-time, a key metric to guide public health policy
(Nature) An accurate estimator of the real-time fatality rate is warranted to monitor the progress of ongoing epidemics, hence facilitating the policy-making process. However, most of the existing estimators fail to capture the time-varying nature of the fatality rate and are often biased in practice. A simple real-time fatality rate estimator with adjustment for reporting […]
Nov 1, 2022
UNMC tapped for trial of monkeypox treatment
(Nebraska Examiner) The University of Nebraska Medical Center is among more than 60 sites nationally that has been tapped for a trial study of a monkeypox treatment. The STOMP (Study of Tecovirimat for Human Monkeypox Virus) is a phase 3 trial evaluating the safety and effectiveness of the antiviral tecovirimat drug.
Nov 1, 2022
Where Will All the Sick Children Go?
(MedPageToday) A surge in viral infections among kids is straining hospital capacity across the country. On January 20 of this year, Tufts Medical Center announced it would be closing all inpatient pediatric care as of July 1. The current pediatric areas would be given over to adult services. The plan was to maintain the level 3 neonatal […]
Nov 1, 2022
Bird flu infects Iowa egg farm with 1 million chickens
(ABC News) Iowa agriculture officials say another commercial egg farm has been infected with bird flu, the first commercial farm case identified since April when a turkey farm was infected. Iowa agriculture officials said Monday that another commercial egg farm in the state has been infected with bird flu, the first commercial farm case identified […]
Nov 1, 2022
Cholera Outbreaks Surge Worldwide as Vaccine Supply Drains
(New York Times) A record number of outbreaks have been reported after droughts, floods and wars have forced large numbers of people to live in unsanitary conditions. Outbreaks have been reported in the Caribbean, Africa, the Middle East and South Asia, putting the health of millions at risk and overwhelming fragile health systems. Untreated, the […]
Nov 1, 2022
