“We need broadly acting and efficient tools to combat the virus load in our everyday life,” said Prof Varpu Marjomki. “Vaccinations are important, but they cannot deal with many of the newly emerging serotypes early enough to be effective on their own.” The scientists had previously tested willow bark extract on enteroviruses, and found it… Read More »
Rising Infectious Disease Threats Spur Expert Calls for Pandemic Readiness
COVID-19, responsible for more than 6.8 million global fatalities (1✔ ✔Trusted SourceCOVID-19 cases, recoveries, and deaths worldwide 2023 Go to source), stands as one of the most lethal pandemics in human history. Given indications that it may not be the final pandemic, health professionals are advocating for enhanced pandemic preparedness. While nobody can predict the… Read More »
Contrasting COVID-19 Realities Demand Vigilance
In fact, the test positivity rate shot up from 0 to 42 percent in only three weeks in areas where surveillance was active, showcasing the extent and speed of spread of COVID-19 within any community. Fortunately, fatality and severe outcomes were relatively few compared to previous waves. Unfortunately, testing has dropped to extremely low levels… Read More »
COVID-19 Immunity Mitigates Recurrent Spread of Infection
This study was done by a team from the University of Geneva (UNIGE) and Geneva University Hospitals (HUG), after revisiting epidemiological data collected in Geneva. Earlier, one in three people exposed to SARS-CoV2 was infected, and as many as two in five with the . In the case of immunity conferred by vaccination, infection,… Read More »
AI Triage Platform Helps Predict Future Virus Outbreaks
“Being able to predict which patients can be sent home and those possibly needing intensive care unit admission is critical for health officials seeking to optimize patient health outcomes and use hospital resources most efficiently during an outbreak,” said senior author Vasilis Vasiliou, a professor of epidemiology at Yale School of Public Health (YSPH).The researchers… Read More »
For Whom the School Bells Toll: New Psychological Research for the New Academic Year
Tens of millions of students are filing back into classrooms, bringing with them a long list of hopes and concerns related to the academic year ahead. Besides the inevitable adjusting to new social and learning routines, students, as well as their families, teachers, and school administrators this year will be faced with challenges related to… Read More »
Unmasking the Sense of Taste During COVID-19
Several previous studies have tested patients’ smell and taste functions at different stages after COVID-19 diagnosis, with varying and conflicting results. While there is little doubt about the remains less widely acknowledged. “Our aim was to empower people worldwide by using common items available in their homes to monitor their sense of smell and taste… Read More »
New Research From Clinical Psychological Science
Changes in Daily Behaviors and Cognitions During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Associations With Suicide Crisis Syndrome and Suicidal IdeationMegan L. Rogers et al. Rogers and colleagues examined changes in the daily behaviors and cognitions of individuals with symptoms of suicide crisis syndrome (SCS) and/or suicidal ideation after the implementation of physical/social distancing mandates during the COVID-19… Read More »
Obesity, Racism and Covid: A Deadly Combination
In the earliest days of the Covid pandemic, the people who were most likely to be hospitalized or die from the virus had a few things in common. Age was the greatest risk factor for becoming very sick with Covid. Race and ethnicity also seemed to have a connection, as Covid deaths were higher among… Read More »
Obesity Puts You at Higher Risk for Severe Covid-19
Anne Dixon, a lung specialist in Vermont, vividly remembers the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, recalling a particularly upsetting patient death. “We had someone who was very young, had obesity and died from Covid. It was quite devastating,” said Dixon, professor of medicine at the University of Vermont Medical Center. It was a wake-up… Read More »
Exploring the Impact of COVID-19 on the Brain and Body
or depressive disorders may play a part in some people who are experiencing long COVID, technically known as “This perception of cognitive deficits suggests that affective issues – in this case anxiety and depression — appear to carry over into the long COVID period,” said senior author Dr. Neil Wenger, professor of medicine in the… Read More »
Preparing for the Next Pandemic
Over three years and more than 6.5 million deaths later, the Covid-19 pandemic is not over yet. As people around the world work to bring the current pandemic to an end, we must also ask ourselves: How do we prepare for the next one? Reframing the conversation around Covid In spite of the fact that… Read More »
What is COVID-19 Reinfection? | CDC
Reinfection with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, means an individual was infected, recovered, and then later became infected again. An individual can be reinfected multiple times. Reinfections are most often mild, but severe illness can occur. People who are reinfected can also spread the virus to others. Staying up to date with vaccines and starting… Read More »
It’s (Finally) Time to Stop Calling It a Pandemic: Experts
March 17, 2023 — It’s been 3 years since the World Health Organization officially declared the COVID-19 emergency a pandemic. Now, with health systems no longer overwhelmed and more than a year of no surprise variants, many infectious disease experts are declaring a shift in the crisis from pandemic to endemic. Endemic, broadly, means the… Read More »
COVID at 3 Years: Where Are We Headed?
March 15, 2023 – Three years after COVID-19 rocked the world, the pandemic has evolved into a steady state of commonplace infections, less frequent hospitalization and death, and continued anxiety and isolation for older people and those with weakened immune systems. After about 2½ years of requiring masks in health care settings, the CDC lifted… Read More »
Q&A: The Future of COVID-19
Senior writer Kara Grant co-authored this report. March 15, 2023 – As we approach the third anniversary of the COVID-19 pandemic, experts and everyday Americans wonder if we are finally at the end of what has been a painful and exhausting ordeal that’s lasted 3 years. With vaccine and booster fatigue, COVID-19 cases leveling out, and a… Read More »
Omicron Much Less Likely to Cause Long COVID, Study Finds
March 10, 2023 – Health care workers infected with the COVID-19 Omicron variant were far less likely to experience significant long COVID symptoms than those who contracted the original SARS-CoV-2 virus, according to new research out of Switzerland. The results, which will be presented at the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases conference in… Read More »
Politics, Media Erode Trust in Top Health Agencies, Survey Says
March 7, 2023 — The political wars waged over public health recommendations on how to fight the COVID-19 pandemic have had a direct effect on the trust in public health agencies such as the CDC and FDA, according to the results of a survey conducted by Harvard researchers. The study, published on March 6 in… Read More »
Long COVID Takes Toll on Already Stretched Health Care Workforce
March 6, 2023 — The impact of long COVID – and its sometimes-disabling symptoms that can persist for more than a year — has worsened health care’s already severe workforce shortage. Hospitals have turned to training programs, traveling nurses, and emergency room staffing services. While the shortage of clinical workers continues, support workers are also in… Read More »
Understanding Monoclonal Antibodies – HealthyWomen
Gretchen Klee Musa, 50, is a special education teacher in Wheaton, Illinois. She’s also a transplant recipient who has been taking immunosuppressants — drugs that weaken the immune system — to prevent her body from rejecting the transplant for more than seven years. “They make it harder to fight infections such as Covid,” Musa said,… Read More »
