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One in 10 people who had Omicron got long COVID: Study
About 10% of people infected with Omicron reported having long COVID, a lower percentage than estimated for people infected with earlier strains of the coronavirus, according to a study published in JAMA.
The research team looked at data from 8,646 adults infected with COVID-19 at different times of the pandemic and 1,118 who did not have COVID.
“Based on a subset of 2,231 patients in this analysis who had a first COVID-19 infection the National Institutes of Health said in a news release.
People who were unvaccinated or got COVID before Omicron were more likely to have long COVID and had more severe cases, the NIH said.
Previous studies have come up with higher figures than 10% for people who have long COVID.
For instance, in June 2022 the CDC said one in five Americans who had COVID reported having long COVID. And a University of Oxford study published in September 2021 found more than a third of patients had long COVID symptoms.
The scientists in the most recent study identified 12 symptoms that distinguished people who did and didn’t have COVID. The scientists developed a scoring system for the symptoms to set a threshold to identify people who had long COVID, the NIH said.
The symptoms were fatigue, brain fog, dizziness, stomach upset, heart palpitations, issues with sexual desire or capacity, loss of smell or taste, thirst, chronic coughing, chest pain, and abnormal movements. Another symptom was postexertional malaise, or worse symptoms after mental or physical exertion.
Scientists still have many questions about long COVID, such as how many people get it and why some people get it and others don’t.
The study was coordinated through the NIH’s RECOVER (Researching COVID to Enhance Recovery) initiative, which aims to find out how to define, detect, and treat long COVID.
“The researchers hope this study is the next step toward potential treatments for long COVID, which affects the health and wellbeing of millions of Americans,” the NIH said.
A version of this article first appeared on WebMD.com.
About 10% of people infected with Omicron reported having long COVID, a lower percentage than estimated for people infected with earlier strains of the coronavirus, according to a study published in JAMA.
The research team looked at data from 8,646 adults infected with COVID-19 at different times of the pandemic and 1,118 who did not have COVID.
“Based on a subset of 2,231 patients in this analysis who had a first COVID-19 infection the National Institutes of Health said in a news release.
People who were unvaccinated or got COVID before Omicron were more likely to have long COVID and had more severe cases, the NIH said.
Previous studies have come up with higher figures than 10% for people who have long COVID.
For instance, in June 2022 the CDC said one in five Americans who had COVID reported having long COVID. And a University of Oxford study published in September 2021 found more than a third of patients had long COVID symptoms.
The scientists in the most recent study identified 12 symptoms that distinguished people who did and didn’t have COVID. The scientists developed a scoring system for the symptoms to set a threshold to identify people who had long COVID, the NIH said.
The symptoms were fatigue, brain fog, dizziness, stomach upset, heart palpitations, issues with sexual desire or capacity, loss of smell or taste, thirst, chronic coughing, chest pain, and abnormal movements. Another symptom was postexertional malaise, or worse symptoms after mental or physical exertion.
Scientists still have many questions about long COVID, such as how many people get it and why some people get it and others don’t.
The study was coordinated through the NIH’s RECOVER (Researching COVID to Enhance Recovery) initiative, which aims to find out how to define, detect, and treat long COVID.
“The researchers hope this study is the next step toward potential treatments for long COVID, which affects the health and wellbeing of millions of Americans,” the NIH said.
A version of this article first appeared on WebMD.com.
About 10% of people infected with Omicron reported having long COVID, a lower percentage than estimated for people infected with earlier strains of the coronavirus, according to a study published in JAMA.
The research team looked at data from 8,646 adults infected with COVID-19 at different times of the pandemic and 1,118 who did not have COVID.
“Based on a subset of 2,231 patients in this analysis who had a first COVID-19 infection the National Institutes of Health said in a news release.
People who were unvaccinated or got COVID before Omicron were more likely to have long COVID and had more severe cases, the NIH said.
Previous studies have come up with higher figures than 10% for people who have long COVID.
For instance, in June 2022 the CDC said one in five Americans who had COVID reported having long COVID. And a University of Oxford study published in September 2021 found more than a third of patients had long COVID symptoms.
The scientists in the most recent study identified 12 symptoms that distinguished people who did and didn’t have COVID. The scientists developed a scoring system for the symptoms to set a threshold to identify people who had long COVID, the NIH said.
The symptoms were fatigue, brain fog, dizziness, stomach upset, heart palpitations, issues with sexual desire or capacity, loss of smell or taste, thirst, chronic coughing, chest pain, and abnormal movements. Another symptom was postexertional malaise, or worse symptoms after mental or physical exertion.
Scientists still have many questions about long COVID, such as how many people get it and why some people get it and others don’t.
The study was coordinated through the NIH’s RECOVER (Researching COVID to Enhance Recovery) initiative, which aims to find out how to define, detect, and treat long COVID.
“The researchers hope this study is the next step toward potential treatments for long COVID, which affects the health and wellbeing of millions of Americans,” the NIH said.
A version of this article first appeared on WebMD.com.
FROM JAMA
COVID caused 4.6-year drop in NYC life expectancy
Non-White demographic groups had the highest drops. Life expectancy fell to 73 years for Black New Yorkers (a 5.5-year drop from 2019) and 77.3 years for Hispanic/Latino New Yorkers (a 6-year drop.) For White New Yorkers life expectancy only fell to 80.1 years (about a 3-year drop.)
Overall, the city had a mortality rate of 241.3 deaths per 100,000 population in 2020. That’s even higher than the 228.9 deaths per 100,000 reported during the 2018 influenza pandemic, NYC Health said in a news release.
“The sharp decline in life expectancy from 2019 was largely due to the COVID-19 pandemic,” said NYC Health Commissioner Ashwin Vasan, MD.
Another factor was a 42.2% rise in unintentional drug overdoses from 2019 to 2020. Again, racial disparities were highlighted, with the drug-related death rate highest among Black New Yorkers.
The pandemic also affected the premature death rate, meaning deaths before age 65. That rate went up 48.8% from 2019 to 2020. In the 8 previous years, from 2011 to 2019, it fell 8.6%“New Yorkers’ lifespans are falling, on top of years of relative flattening before COVID, and that cannot continue,” Dr. Vasan said in a news release.
“It is the great challenge of our time, our city, and our Department to lay out an agenda for the next era of public health, to reverse these trends, and set us out on a new path where all New Yorkers can lead healthier, longer lives,” Dr. Vasan said.
A version of this article first appeared on WebMD.com.
Non-White demographic groups had the highest drops. Life expectancy fell to 73 years for Black New Yorkers (a 5.5-year drop from 2019) and 77.3 years for Hispanic/Latino New Yorkers (a 6-year drop.) For White New Yorkers life expectancy only fell to 80.1 years (about a 3-year drop.)
Overall, the city had a mortality rate of 241.3 deaths per 100,000 population in 2020. That’s even higher than the 228.9 deaths per 100,000 reported during the 2018 influenza pandemic, NYC Health said in a news release.
“The sharp decline in life expectancy from 2019 was largely due to the COVID-19 pandemic,” said NYC Health Commissioner Ashwin Vasan, MD.
Another factor was a 42.2% rise in unintentional drug overdoses from 2019 to 2020. Again, racial disparities were highlighted, with the drug-related death rate highest among Black New Yorkers.
The pandemic also affected the premature death rate, meaning deaths before age 65. That rate went up 48.8% from 2019 to 2020. In the 8 previous years, from 2011 to 2019, it fell 8.6%“New Yorkers’ lifespans are falling, on top of years of relative flattening before COVID, and that cannot continue,” Dr. Vasan said in a news release.
“It is the great challenge of our time, our city, and our Department to lay out an agenda for the next era of public health, to reverse these trends, and set us out on a new path where all New Yorkers can lead healthier, longer lives,” Dr. Vasan said.
A version of this article first appeared on WebMD.com.
Non-White demographic groups had the highest drops. Life expectancy fell to 73 years for Black New Yorkers (a 5.5-year drop from 2019) and 77.3 years for Hispanic/Latino New Yorkers (a 6-year drop.) For White New Yorkers life expectancy only fell to 80.1 years (about a 3-year drop.)
Overall, the city had a mortality rate of 241.3 deaths per 100,000 population in 2020. That’s even higher than the 228.9 deaths per 100,000 reported during the 2018 influenza pandemic, NYC Health said in a news release.
“The sharp decline in life expectancy from 2019 was largely due to the COVID-19 pandemic,” said NYC Health Commissioner Ashwin Vasan, MD.
Another factor was a 42.2% rise in unintentional drug overdoses from 2019 to 2020. Again, racial disparities were highlighted, with the drug-related death rate highest among Black New Yorkers.
The pandemic also affected the premature death rate, meaning deaths before age 65. That rate went up 48.8% from 2019 to 2020. In the 8 previous years, from 2011 to 2019, it fell 8.6%“New Yorkers’ lifespans are falling, on top of years of relative flattening before COVID, and that cannot continue,” Dr. Vasan said in a news release.
“It is the great challenge of our time, our city, and our Department to lay out an agenda for the next era of public health, to reverse these trends, and set us out on a new path where all New Yorkers can lead healthier, longer lives,” Dr. Vasan said.
A version of this article first appeared on WebMD.com.
Pandemic hit Black children harder, study shows
Black children had almost three times as many COVID-related deaths as White children and about twice as many hospitalizations, according to a new study.
The study said that 1,556 children have died from the start of the pandemic until Nov. 30, 2022, with 593 of those children being 4 and under. Black children died of COVID-related causes 2.7 times more often than White children and were hospitalized 2.2 times more often than White children, the study said.
Lower vaccination rates for Black people may be a factor. The study said 43.6% of White children have received two or more vaccinations, compared with 40.2% of Black children.
“First and foremost, this study repudiates the misunderstanding that COVID-19 has not been of consequence to children who have had more than 15.5 million reported cases, representing 18 percent of all cases in the United States,” Reed Tuckson, MD, a member of the Black Coalition Against COVID board of directors and former District of Columbia public health commissioner, said in a news release.
“And second, our research shows that like their adult counterparts, Black and other children of color have shouldered more of the burden of COVID-19 than the White population.”
The study was commissioned by BCAC and conducted by the Satcher Health Leadership Institute of the Morehouse School of Medicine, Atlanta. It’s based on studies conducted by other agencies over 2 years.
Black and Hispanic children also had more severe COVID cases, the study said. Among 281 pediatric patients in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut, 23.3% of severe cases were Black and 51% of severe cases were Hispanic.
The study says 1 in 310 Black children lost a parent or caregiver to COVID between April 2020 and June 2012, compared with 1 in 738 White children.
Economic and health-related hardships were experienced by 31% of Black households, 29% of Latino households, and 16% of White households, the study said.
“Children with COVID-19 in communities of color were sicker, [were] hospitalized and died at higher rates than White children,” Sandra Harris-Hooker, the interim executive director at the Satcher Health Leadership Institute of Morehouse School, said in the release. “We can now fully understand the devastating impact the virus had on communities of color across generations.”
The study recommends several changes, such as modifying eligibility requirements for the Children’s Health Insurance Program to help more children who fall into coverage gaps and expanding the Child Tax Credit.
A version of this article first appeared on WebMD.com.
Black children had almost three times as many COVID-related deaths as White children and about twice as many hospitalizations, according to a new study.
The study said that 1,556 children have died from the start of the pandemic until Nov. 30, 2022, with 593 of those children being 4 and under. Black children died of COVID-related causes 2.7 times more often than White children and were hospitalized 2.2 times more often than White children, the study said.
Lower vaccination rates for Black people may be a factor. The study said 43.6% of White children have received two or more vaccinations, compared with 40.2% of Black children.
“First and foremost, this study repudiates the misunderstanding that COVID-19 has not been of consequence to children who have had more than 15.5 million reported cases, representing 18 percent of all cases in the United States,” Reed Tuckson, MD, a member of the Black Coalition Against COVID board of directors and former District of Columbia public health commissioner, said in a news release.
“And second, our research shows that like their adult counterparts, Black and other children of color have shouldered more of the burden of COVID-19 than the White population.”
The study was commissioned by BCAC and conducted by the Satcher Health Leadership Institute of the Morehouse School of Medicine, Atlanta. It’s based on studies conducted by other agencies over 2 years.
Black and Hispanic children also had more severe COVID cases, the study said. Among 281 pediatric patients in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut, 23.3% of severe cases were Black and 51% of severe cases were Hispanic.
The study says 1 in 310 Black children lost a parent or caregiver to COVID between April 2020 and June 2012, compared with 1 in 738 White children.
Economic and health-related hardships were experienced by 31% of Black households, 29% of Latino households, and 16% of White households, the study said.
“Children with COVID-19 in communities of color were sicker, [were] hospitalized and died at higher rates than White children,” Sandra Harris-Hooker, the interim executive director at the Satcher Health Leadership Institute of Morehouse School, said in the release. “We can now fully understand the devastating impact the virus had on communities of color across generations.”
The study recommends several changes, such as modifying eligibility requirements for the Children’s Health Insurance Program to help more children who fall into coverage gaps and expanding the Child Tax Credit.
A version of this article first appeared on WebMD.com.
Black children had almost three times as many COVID-related deaths as White children and about twice as many hospitalizations, according to a new study.
The study said that 1,556 children have died from the start of the pandemic until Nov. 30, 2022, with 593 of those children being 4 and under. Black children died of COVID-related causes 2.7 times more often than White children and were hospitalized 2.2 times more often than White children, the study said.
Lower vaccination rates for Black people may be a factor. The study said 43.6% of White children have received two or more vaccinations, compared with 40.2% of Black children.
“First and foremost, this study repudiates the misunderstanding that COVID-19 has not been of consequence to children who have had more than 15.5 million reported cases, representing 18 percent of all cases in the United States,” Reed Tuckson, MD, a member of the Black Coalition Against COVID board of directors and former District of Columbia public health commissioner, said in a news release.
“And second, our research shows that like their adult counterparts, Black and other children of color have shouldered more of the burden of COVID-19 than the White population.”
The study was commissioned by BCAC and conducted by the Satcher Health Leadership Institute of the Morehouse School of Medicine, Atlanta. It’s based on studies conducted by other agencies over 2 years.
Black and Hispanic children also had more severe COVID cases, the study said. Among 281 pediatric patients in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut, 23.3% of severe cases were Black and 51% of severe cases were Hispanic.
The study says 1 in 310 Black children lost a parent or caregiver to COVID between April 2020 and June 2012, compared with 1 in 738 White children.
Economic and health-related hardships were experienced by 31% of Black households, 29% of Latino households, and 16% of White households, the study said.
“Children with COVID-19 in communities of color were sicker, [were] hospitalized and died at higher rates than White children,” Sandra Harris-Hooker, the interim executive director at the Satcher Health Leadership Institute of Morehouse School, said in the release. “We can now fully understand the devastating impact the virus had on communities of color across generations.”
The study recommends several changes, such as modifying eligibility requirements for the Children’s Health Insurance Program to help more children who fall into coverage gaps and expanding the Child Tax Credit.
A version of this article first appeared on WebMD.com.
‘Forever chemicals’ disrupt biological processes in children: Study
Exposure to “forever chemicals” widely used in consumer products disrupts important biological processes in children and young adults, a new study says.
That could leave children vulnerable to numerous diseases later in life, including diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and cancer, the study said.
Another important finding was that the disruption appeared to be caused by a mixture of PFAS, rather than a single chemical of that type.
PFAS are known as “forever chemicals” because they don’t break down easily over time and persist in water, soil, and the body. They’re used in numerous consumer products, such as nonstick cookware, stain-resistant carpeting, cosmetics, and water-repellent clothing.
PFAS have previously been linked to a host of health issues, including decreased birth weights and immune system problems. To the study authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to evaluate which biological processes are altered by exposure to multiple PFAS, said a news release from the University of Southern California, Los Angeles.
Researchers studied blood samples from 312 children from the Study of Latino Adolescents at Risk and 137 children from the Southern California Children’s Health Study. All the children had a mixture of common PFAS in their blood, including PFOS, PFHxS, PFHpS, PFOA, and PFNA.
“While current interventions have focused on phasing out the use of individual PFAS, such as PFOS and PFOA, this research shows why the focus should be on reducing exposure to all PFAS chemicals,” said Leda Chatzi, MD, a professor of population and public health sciences at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles. Dr. Chatzi is also one of the study authors.
In October 2021, the Biden administration announced a plan to reduce the amount of PFAS released into the air, drinking and ground water, and food supply chain.
A version of this article first appeared on WebMD.com.
Exposure to “forever chemicals” widely used in consumer products disrupts important biological processes in children and young adults, a new study says.
That could leave children vulnerable to numerous diseases later in life, including diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and cancer, the study said.
Another important finding was that the disruption appeared to be caused by a mixture of PFAS, rather than a single chemical of that type.
PFAS are known as “forever chemicals” because they don’t break down easily over time and persist in water, soil, and the body. They’re used in numerous consumer products, such as nonstick cookware, stain-resistant carpeting, cosmetics, and water-repellent clothing.
PFAS have previously been linked to a host of health issues, including decreased birth weights and immune system problems. To the study authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to evaluate which biological processes are altered by exposure to multiple PFAS, said a news release from the University of Southern California, Los Angeles.
Researchers studied blood samples from 312 children from the Study of Latino Adolescents at Risk and 137 children from the Southern California Children’s Health Study. All the children had a mixture of common PFAS in their blood, including PFOS, PFHxS, PFHpS, PFOA, and PFNA.
“While current interventions have focused on phasing out the use of individual PFAS, such as PFOS and PFOA, this research shows why the focus should be on reducing exposure to all PFAS chemicals,” said Leda Chatzi, MD, a professor of population and public health sciences at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles. Dr. Chatzi is also one of the study authors.
In October 2021, the Biden administration announced a plan to reduce the amount of PFAS released into the air, drinking and ground water, and food supply chain.
A version of this article first appeared on WebMD.com.
Exposure to “forever chemicals” widely used in consumer products disrupts important biological processes in children and young adults, a new study says.
That could leave children vulnerable to numerous diseases later in life, including diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and cancer, the study said.
Another important finding was that the disruption appeared to be caused by a mixture of PFAS, rather than a single chemical of that type.
PFAS are known as “forever chemicals” because they don’t break down easily over time and persist in water, soil, and the body. They’re used in numerous consumer products, such as nonstick cookware, stain-resistant carpeting, cosmetics, and water-repellent clothing.
PFAS have previously been linked to a host of health issues, including decreased birth weights and immune system problems. To the study authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to evaluate which biological processes are altered by exposure to multiple PFAS, said a news release from the University of Southern California, Los Angeles.
Researchers studied blood samples from 312 children from the Study of Latino Adolescents at Risk and 137 children from the Southern California Children’s Health Study. All the children had a mixture of common PFAS in their blood, including PFOS, PFHxS, PFHpS, PFOA, and PFNA.
“While current interventions have focused on phasing out the use of individual PFAS, such as PFOS and PFOA, this research shows why the focus should be on reducing exposure to all PFAS chemicals,” said Leda Chatzi, MD, a professor of population and public health sciences at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles. Dr. Chatzi is also one of the study authors.
In October 2021, the Biden administration announced a plan to reduce the amount of PFAS released into the air, drinking and ground water, and food supply chain.
A version of this article first appeared on WebMD.com.
FROM ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH PERSPECTIVES
COVID infection provides immunity equal to vaccination: Study
People who’ve been infected with COVID reduced their chances of hospitalization and death by 88% over 10 months compared to somebody who hasn’t been infected, according to the study, published in The Lancet.
The natural immunity provided by infection was “at least as high, if not higher” than the immunity provided by two doses of Moderna or Pfizer mRNA vaccines against the ancestral, Alpha, Delta, and Omicron BA.1 variants, the researchers reported.
But protection against the BA.1 subvariant of Omicron was not as high – 36% at 10 months after infection, wrote the research team from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington.
They examined 65 studies from 19 countries through Sept. 31, 2022. They did not study data about infection from Omicron XBB and its sub-lineages. People who had immunity from both infection and vaccination, known as hybrid immunity, were not studied.
The findings don’t mean people should skip the vaccines and get COVID on purpose, one of the researchers told NBC News.
“The problem of saying ‘I’m gonna get infected to get immunity’ is you might be one of those people that end up in the hospital or die,” said Christopher Murray, MD, DPhil, director of the IHME. “Why would you take the risk when you can get immunity through vaccination quite safely?”
The findings could help people figure out the most effective time to get vaccinated or boosted and guide officials in setting policies on workplace vaccine mandates and rules for high-occupancy indoor settings, the researchers concluded.
This was the largest meta-analysis of immunity following infection to date, NBC News reports.
A version of this article originally appeared on WebMD.com.
People who’ve been infected with COVID reduced their chances of hospitalization and death by 88% over 10 months compared to somebody who hasn’t been infected, according to the study, published in The Lancet.
The natural immunity provided by infection was “at least as high, if not higher” than the immunity provided by two doses of Moderna or Pfizer mRNA vaccines against the ancestral, Alpha, Delta, and Omicron BA.1 variants, the researchers reported.
But protection against the BA.1 subvariant of Omicron was not as high – 36% at 10 months after infection, wrote the research team from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington.
They examined 65 studies from 19 countries through Sept. 31, 2022. They did not study data about infection from Omicron XBB and its sub-lineages. People who had immunity from both infection and vaccination, known as hybrid immunity, were not studied.
The findings don’t mean people should skip the vaccines and get COVID on purpose, one of the researchers told NBC News.
“The problem of saying ‘I’m gonna get infected to get immunity’ is you might be one of those people that end up in the hospital or die,” said Christopher Murray, MD, DPhil, director of the IHME. “Why would you take the risk when you can get immunity through vaccination quite safely?”
The findings could help people figure out the most effective time to get vaccinated or boosted and guide officials in setting policies on workplace vaccine mandates and rules for high-occupancy indoor settings, the researchers concluded.
This was the largest meta-analysis of immunity following infection to date, NBC News reports.
A version of this article originally appeared on WebMD.com.
People who’ve been infected with COVID reduced their chances of hospitalization and death by 88% over 10 months compared to somebody who hasn’t been infected, according to the study, published in The Lancet.
The natural immunity provided by infection was “at least as high, if not higher” than the immunity provided by two doses of Moderna or Pfizer mRNA vaccines against the ancestral, Alpha, Delta, and Omicron BA.1 variants, the researchers reported.
But protection against the BA.1 subvariant of Omicron was not as high – 36% at 10 months after infection, wrote the research team from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington.
They examined 65 studies from 19 countries through Sept. 31, 2022. They did not study data about infection from Omicron XBB and its sub-lineages. People who had immunity from both infection and vaccination, known as hybrid immunity, were not studied.
The findings don’t mean people should skip the vaccines and get COVID on purpose, one of the researchers told NBC News.
“The problem of saying ‘I’m gonna get infected to get immunity’ is you might be one of those people that end up in the hospital or die,” said Christopher Murray, MD, DPhil, director of the IHME. “Why would you take the risk when you can get immunity through vaccination quite safely?”
The findings could help people figure out the most effective time to get vaccinated or boosted and guide officials in setting policies on workplace vaccine mandates and rules for high-occupancy indoor settings, the researchers concluded.
This was the largest meta-analysis of immunity following infection to date, NBC News reports.
A version of this article originally appeared on WebMD.com.
FROM THE LANCET
Possible bivalent vaccine link to strokes in people over 65
who got the shot, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration said in a joint news release.
The release did not recommend people change their vaccine practices, saying the database finding probably did not represent a “true clinical risk.” The CDC said everybody, including people over 65, should stay up to date on their COVID vaccines, including the bivalent booster.
The news release said the Vaccine Safety Datalink (VSD), “a near real-time surveillance system,” raised a safety concern about the Pfizer/BioNTech booster.
“Rapid-response investigation of the signal in the VSD raised a question of whether people 65 and older who have received the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine, Bivalent were more likely to have an ischemic stroke in the 21 days following vaccination compared with days 22-44 following vaccination,” the news release said.
Ischemic strokes are blockages of blood to the brain, often caused by blood clots.
“Although the totality of the data currently suggests that it is very unlikely that the signal in VSD (Vaccine Safety Datalink) represents a true clinical risk, we believe it is important to share this information with the public, as we have in the past, when one of our safety monitoring systems detects a signal,” the release said.
No higher likelihood of strokes linked to the Pfizer bivalent vaccine had been found by Pfizer/BioNTech, the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System maintained by the CDC and the FDA, or other agencies that monitor reactions of vaccines, the news release said. No safety issues about strokes have been identified with the Moderna bivalent vaccine.
CNN, citing a CDC official, reported that about 550,000 seniors who got Pfizer bivalent boosters were tracked by the VSD, and 130 of them had strokes within 3 weeks of getting the shot. None of those 130 people died, CNN said. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to share the data.
The issue will be discussed at the January meeting of the FDA’s Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee.
In a joint statement, Pfizer and BioNTech said: “Neither Pfizer and BioNTech nor the CDC or FDA have observed similar findings across numerous other monitoring systems in the U.S. and globally and there is no evidence to conclude that ischemic stroke is associated with the use of the companies’ COVID-19 vaccines.”
Bivalent boosters contain two strains of vaccine – one to protect against the original COVID-19 virus and another targeting Omicron subvariants.
A version of this article first appeared on WebMD.com.
who got the shot, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration said in a joint news release.
The release did not recommend people change their vaccine practices, saying the database finding probably did not represent a “true clinical risk.” The CDC said everybody, including people over 65, should stay up to date on their COVID vaccines, including the bivalent booster.
The news release said the Vaccine Safety Datalink (VSD), “a near real-time surveillance system,” raised a safety concern about the Pfizer/BioNTech booster.
“Rapid-response investigation of the signal in the VSD raised a question of whether people 65 and older who have received the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine, Bivalent were more likely to have an ischemic stroke in the 21 days following vaccination compared with days 22-44 following vaccination,” the news release said.
Ischemic strokes are blockages of blood to the brain, often caused by blood clots.
“Although the totality of the data currently suggests that it is very unlikely that the signal in VSD (Vaccine Safety Datalink) represents a true clinical risk, we believe it is important to share this information with the public, as we have in the past, when one of our safety monitoring systems detects a signal,” the release said.
No higher likelihood of strokes linked to the Pfizer bivalent vaccine had been found by Pfizer/BioNTech, the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System maintained by the CDC and the FDA, or other agencies that monitor reactions of vaccines, the news release said. No safety issues about strokes have been identified with the Moderna bivalent vaccine.
CNN, citing a CDC official, reported that about 550,000 seniors who got Pfizer bivalent boosters were tracked by the VSD, and 130 of them had strokes within 3 weeks of getting the shot. None of those 130 people died, CNN said. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to share the data.
The issue will be discussed at the January meeting of the FDA’s Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee.
In a joint statement, Pfizer and BioNTech said: “Neither Pfizer and BioNTech nor the CDC or FDA have observed similar findings across numerous other monitoring systems in the U.S. and globally and there is no evidence to conclude that ischemic stroke is associated with the use of the companies’ COVID-19 vaccines.”
Bivalent boosters contain two strains of vaccine – one to protect against the original COVID-19 virus and another targeting Omicron subvariants.
A version of this article first appeared on WebMD.com.
who got the shot, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration said in a joint news release.
The release did not recommend people change their vaccine practices, saying the database finding probably did not represent a “true clinical risk.” The CDC said everybody, including people over 65, should stay up to date on their COVID vaccines, including the bivalent booster.
The news release said the Vaccine Safety Datalink (VSD), “a near real-time surveillance system,” raised a safety concern about the Pfizer/BioNTech booster.
“Rapid-response investigation of the signal in the VSD raised a question of whether people 65 and older who have received the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine, Bivalent were more likely to have an ischemic stroke in the 21 days following vaccination compared with days 22-44 following vaccination,” the news release said.
Ischemic strokes are blockages of blood to the brain, often caused by blood clots.
“Although the totality of the data currently suggests that it is very unlikely that the signal in VSD (Vaccine Safety Datalink) represents a true clinical risk, we believe it is important to share this information with the public, as we have in the past, when one of our safety monitoring systems detects a signal,” the release said.
No higher likelihood of strokes linked to the Pfizer bivalent vaccine had been found by Pfizer/BioNTech, the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System maintained by the CDC and the FDA, or other agencies that monitor reactions of vaccines, the news release said. No safety issues about strokes have been identified with the Moderna bivalent vaccine.
CNN, citing a CDC official, reported that about 550,000 seniors who got Pfizer bivalent boosters were tracked by the VSD, and 130 of them had strokes within 3 weeks of getting the shot. None of those 130 people died, CNN said. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to share the data.
The issue will be discussed at the January meeting of the FDA’s Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee.
In a joint statement, Pfizer and BioNTech said: “Neither Pfizer and BioNTech nor the CDC or FDA have observed similar findings across numerous other monitoring systems in the U.S. and globally and there is no evidence to conclude that ischemic stroke is associated with the use of the companies’ COVID-19 vaccines.”
Bivalent boosters contain two strains of vaccine – one to protect against the original COVID-19 virus and another targeting Omicron subvariants.
A version of this article first appeared on WebMD.com.
New Omicron subvariant is ‘crazy infectious,’ COVID expert warns
“It’s crazy infectious,” said Paula Cannon, PhD, a virologist at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles. “All the things that have protected you for the past couple of years, I don’t think are going to protect you against this new crop of variants.”
XBB.1.5 is spreading quickly in the United States. It accounted for 27.6% of cases in the country in the week ending on Jan. 7, up from about 1% of cases at one point in December, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It’s especially prevalent in the Northeast, now accounting for more than 70% of the cases in that region.
It’s spreading across the globe, too. Maria Van Kerkhove, PhD, technical lead of the World Health Organization, has called XBB.1.5 is “the most transmissible subvariant that has been detected yet.”
Ashish Jha, MD, the White House COVID-19 response coordinator, tweeted a few days ago that the spread of XBB.1.5 is “stunning” but cautioned that it’s unclear if the symptoms of infection will be more severe than for previous variants.
“Whether we’ll have an XBB.1.5 wave (and if yes, how big) will depend on many factors including immunity of the population, people’s actions, etc.,” he tweeted.
He urged people to get up to date on their boosters, wear a snug-fitting mask, and avoid crowded indoor spaces. He noted that people who haven’t been infected recently or haven’t gotten the bivalent booster likely have little protection against infection.
The symptoms for XBB.1.5 appear to be the same as for other versions of COVID-19. However, it’s less common for people infected with XBB.1.5 to report losing their sense of taste and smell, USA Today reported.
A version of this article first appeared on WebMD.com.
“It’s crazy infectious,” said Paula Cannon, PhD, a virologist at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles. “All the things that have protected you for the past couple of years, I don’t think are going to protect you against this new crop of variants.”
XBB.1.5 is spreading quickly in the United States. It accounted for 27.6% of cases in the country in the week ending on Jan. 7, up from about 1% of cases at one point in December, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It’s especially prevalent in the Northeast, now accounting for more than 70% of the cases in that region.
It’s spreading across the globe, too. Maria Van Kerkhove, PhD, technical lead of the World Health Organization, has called XBB.1.5 is “the most transmissible subvariant that has been detected yet.”
Ashish Jha, MD, the White House COVID-19 response coordinator, tweeted a few days ago that the spread of XBB.1.5 is “stunning” but cautioned that it’s unclear if the symptoms of infection will be more severe than for previous variants.
“Whether we’ll have an XBB.1.5 wave (and if yes, how big) will depend on many factors including immunity of the population, people’s actions, etc.,” he tweeted.
He urged people to get up to date on their boosters, wear a snug-fitting mask, and avoid crowded indoor spaces. He noted that people who haven’t been infected recently or haven’t gotten the bivalent booster likely have little protection against infection.
The symptoms for XBB.1.5 appear to be the same as for other versions of COVID-19. However, it’s less common for people infected with XBB.1.5 to report losing their sense of taste and smell, USA Today reported.
A version of this article first appeared on WebMD.com.
“It’s crazy infectious,” said Paula Cannon, PhD, a virologist at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles. “All the things that have protected you for the past couple of years, I don’t think are going to protect you against this new crop of variants.”
XBB.1.5 is spreading quickly in the United States. It accounted for 27.6% of cases in the country in the week ending on Jan. 7, up from about 1% of cases at one point in December, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It’s especially prevalent in the Northeast, now accounting for more than 70% of the cases in that region.
It’s spreading across the globe, too. Maria Van Kerkhove, PhD, technical lead of the World Health Organization, has called XBB.1.5 is “the most transmissible subvariant that has been detected yet.”
Ashish Jha, MD, the White House COVID-19 response coordinator, tweeted a few days ago that the spread of XBB.1.5 is “stunning” but cautioned that it’s unclear if the symptoms of infection will be more severe than for previous variants.
“Whether we’ll have an XBB.1.5 wave (and if yes, how big) will depend on many factors including immunity of the population, people’s actions, etc.,” he tweeted.
He urged people to get up to date on their boosters, wear a snug-fitting mask, and avoid crowded indoor spaces. He noted that people who haven’t been infected recently or haven’t gotten the bivalent booster likely have little protection against infection.
The symptoms for XBB.1.5 appear to be the same as for other versions of COVID-19. However, it’s less common for people infected with XBB.1.5 to report losing their sense of taste and smell, USA Today reported.
A version of this article first appeared on WebMD.com.
The right indoor relative humidity could ward off COVID
The “sweet spot” associated with reduced COVID-19 cases and deaths is 40%-60% indoor relative humidity, an MIT news release said. People who maintained indoor relative humidity outside those parameters had higher rates of catching COVID-19.
Most people are comfortable with 30%-50% relative humidity, researchers said. An airplane cabin has about 20% relative humidity.
Relative humidity is the amount of moisture in the air, compared with the total moisture the air can hold at a given temperature before saturating and forming condensation.
The study was published in The Journal of the Royal Society Interface. Researchers examined COVID-19 data and meteorological measurements from 121 countries from January 2020 through August 2020, before vaccines became available to the public.
“When outdoor temperatures were below the typical human comfort range, they assumed indoor spaces were heated to reach that comfort range. Based on the added heating, they calculated the associated drop in indoor relative humidity,” the MIT news release said.
The research teams found that when a region reported a rise in COVID-19 cases and deaths, the region’s estimated indoor relative humidity was either lower than 40% or higher than 60%, the release said.
“There’s potentially a protective effect of this intermediate indoor relative humidity,” said Connor Verheyen, the lead author and a PhD student in medical engineering and medical physics in the Harvard-MIT Program in Health Sciences and Technology.
Widespread use of the 40%-60% indoor humidity range could reduce the need for lockdowns and other widespread restrictions, the study concluded.
“Unlike measures that depend on individual compliance (for example, masking or hand-washing), indoor RH optimization would achieve high compliance because all occupants of a common indoor space would be exposed to similar ambient conditions,” the study said. “Compared to the long timelines and high costs of vaccine production and distribution, humidity control systems could potentially be implemented more quickly and cheaply in certain indoor settings.”
A version of this article first appeared on WebMD.com.
The “sweet spot” associated with reduced COVID-19 cases and deaths is 40%-60% indoor relative humidity, an MIT news release said. People who maintained indoor relative humidity outside those parameters had higher rates of catching COVID-19.
Most people are comfortable with 30%-50% relative humidity, researchers said. An airplane cabin has about 20% relative humidity.
Relative humidity is the amount of moisture in the air, compared with the total moisture the air can hold at a given temperature before saturating and forming condensation.
The study was published in The Journal of the Royal Society Interface. Researchers examined COVID-19 data and meteorological measurements from 121 countries from January 2020 through August 2020, before vaccines became available to the public.
“When outdoor temperatures were below the typical human comfort range, they assumed indoor spaces were heated to reach that comfort range. Based on the added heating, they calculated the associated drop in indoor relative humidity,” the MIT news release said.
The research teams found that when a region reported a rise in COVID-19 cases and deaths, the region’s estimated indoor relative humidity was either lower than 40% or higher than 60%, the release said.
“There’s potentially a protective effect of this intermediate indoor relative humidity,” said Connor Verheyen, the lead author and a PhD student in medical engineering and medical physics in the Harvard-MIT Program in Health Sciences and Technology.
Widespread use of the 40%-60% indoor humidity range could reduce the need for lockdowns and other widespread restrictions, the study concluded.
“Unlike measures that depend on individual compliance (for example, masking or hand-washing), indoor RH optimization would achieve high compliance because all occupants of a common indoor space would be exposed to similar ambient conditions,” the study said. “Compared to the long timelines and high costs of vaccine production and distribution, humidity control systems could potentially be implemented more quickly and cheaply in certain indoor settings.”
A version of this article first appeared on WebMD.com.
The “sweet spot” associated with reduced COVID-19 cases and deaths is 40%-60% indoor relative humidity, an MIT news release said. People who maintained indoor relative humidity outside those parameters had higher rates of catching COVID-19.
Most people are comfortable with 30%-50% relative humidity, researchers said. An airplane cabin has about 20% relative humidity.
Relative humidity is the amount of moisture in the air, compared with the total moisture the air can hold at a given temperature before saturating and forming condensation.
The study was published in The Journal of the Royal Society Interface. Researchers examined COVID-19 data and meteorological measurements from 121 countries from January 2020 through August 2020, before vaccines became available to the public.
“When outdoor temperatures were below the typical human comfort range, they assumed indoor spaces were heated to reach that comfort range. Based on the added heating, they calculated the associated drop in indoor relative humidity,” the MIT news release said.
The research teams found that when a region reported a rise in COVID-19 cases and deaths, the region’s estimated indoor relative humidity was either lower than 40% or higher than 60%, the release said.
“There’s potentially a protective effect of this intermediate indoor relative humidity,” said Connor Verheyen, the lead author and a PhD student in medical engineering and medical physics in the Harvard-MIT Program in Health Sciences and Technology.
Widespread use of the 40%-60% indoor humidity range could reduce the need for lockdowns and other widespread restrictions, the study concluded.
“Unlike measures that depend on individual compliance (for example, masking or hand-washing), indoor RH optimization would achieve high compliance because all occupants of a common indoor space would be exposed to similar ambient conditions,” the study said. “Compared to the long timelines and high costs of vaccine production and distribution, humidity control systems could potentially be implemented more quickly and cheaply in certain indoor settings.”
A version of this article first appeared on WebMD.com.
FROM THE JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY INTERFACE
RSV causes 1 in 50 deaths in children under age 5: European study
But RSV – formally known as respiratory syncytial virus – is also a problem in high-income nations. In those countries, 1 in 56 otherwise healthy babies are hospitalized with RSV during their first year of life, said the study, which was published in the Lancet Respiratory Medicine.
Researchers looked at the health records of 9,154 infants born between July 1, 2017, and July 31, 2020, who were treated at health centers across Europe. Previous studies have concentrated on babies with preexisting conditions, but this one looked at otherwise healthy children, researchers said.
“This is the lowest-risk baby who is being hospitalized for this, so really, numbers are really much higher than I think some people would have guessed,” said study coauthor Louis Bont, MD, a professor of pediatric infectious diseases at Wilhelmina Children’s Hospital at University Medical Center Utrecht in the Netherlands, according to CNN. He is also chairman of the ReSViNET foundation, which aims to reduce RSV infection globally.
The study said more than 97% of deaths from RSV occur in low-income and middle-income countries. The study concluded that “maternal vaccination and passive [immunization] could have a profound impact on the RSV burden.”
In developed nations, children who get RSV usually survive because they have access to ventilators and other health care equipment. Still, just being treated for RSV can have long-range negative effects on a child’s health, Kristina Deeter, MD, chair of pediatrics at the University of Nevada, Reno, told CNN.
“Whether that is just traumatic psychosocial, emotional issues after hospitalization or even having more vulnerable lungs – you can develop asthma later on, for instance, if you’ve had a really severe infection at a young age – it can damage your lungs permanently,” she said of the study. “It’s still an important virus in our world and something that we really focus on.”
The Lancet study was published days after the CDC warned public health officials that respiratory viruses, including RSV, are surging among children across the country.
A version of this article first appeared on WebMD.com.
But RSV – formally known as respiratory syncytial virus – is also a problem in high-income nations. In those countries, 1 in 56 otherwise healthy babies are hospitalized with RSV during their first year of life, said the study, which was published in the Lancet Respiratory Medicine.
Researchers looked at the health records of 9,154 infants born between July 1, 2017, and July 31, 2020, who were treated at health centers across Europe. Previous studies have concentrated on babies with preexisting conditions, but this one looked at otherwise healthy children, researchers said.
“This is the lowest-risk baby who is being hospitalized for this, so really, numbers are really much higher than I think some people would have guessed,” said study coauthor Louis Bont, MD, a professor of pediatric infectious diseases at Wilhelmina Children’s Hospital at University Medical Center Utrecht in the Netherlands, according to CNN. He is also chairman of the ReSViNET foundation, which aims to reduce RSV infection globally.
The study said more than 97% of deaths from RSV occur in low-income and middle-income countries. The study concluded that “maternal vaccination and passive [immunization] could have a profound impact on the RSV burden.”
In developed nations, children who get RSV usually survive because they have access to ventilators and other health care equipment. Still, just being treated for RSV can have long-range negative effects on a child’s health, Kristina Deeter, MD, chair of pediatrics at the University of Nevada, Reno, told CNN.
“Whether that is just traumatic psychosocial, emotional issues after hospitalization or even having more vulnerable lungs – you can develop asthma later on, for instance, if you’ve had a really severe infection at a young age – it can damage your lungs permanently,” she said of the study. “It’s still an important virus in our world and something that we really focus on.”
The Lancet study was published days after the CDC warned public health officials that respiratory viruses, including RSV, are surging among children across the country.
A version of this article first appeared on WebMD.com.
But RSV – formally known as respiratory syncytial virus – is also a problem in high-income nations. In those countries, 1 in 56 otherwise healthy babies are hospitalized with RSV during their first year of life, said the study, which was published in the Lancet Respiratory Medicine.
Researchers looked at the health records of 9,154 infants born between July 1, 2017, and July 31, 2020, who were treated at health centers across Europe. Previous studies have concentrated on babies with preexisting conditions, but this one looked at otherwise healthy children, researchers said.
“This is the lowest-risk baby who is being hospitalized for this, so really, numbers are really much higher than I think some people would have guessed,” said study coauthor Louis Bont, MD, a professor of pediatric infectious diseases at Wilhelmina Children’s Hospital at University Medical Center Utrecht in the Netherlands, according to CNN. He is also chairman of the ReSViNET foundation, which aims to reduce RSV infection globally.
The study said more than 97% of deaths from RSV occur in low-income and middle-income countries. The study concluded that “maternal vaccination and passive [immunization] could have a profound impact on the RSV burden.”
In developed nations, children who get RSV usually survive because they have access to ventilators and other health care equipment. Still, just being treated for RSV can have long-range negative effects on a child’s health, Kristina Deeter, MD, chair of pediatrics at the University of Nevada, Reno, told CNN.
“Whether that is just traumatic psychosocial, emotional issues after hospitalization or even having more vulnerable lungs – you can develop asthma later on, for instance, if you’ve had a really severe infection at a young age – it can damage your lungs permanently,” she said of the study. “It’s still an important virus in our world and something that we really focus on.”
The Lancet study was published days after the CDC warned public health officials that respiratory viruses, including RSV, are surging among children across the country.
A version of this article first appeared on WebMD.com.
FROM LANCET RESPIRATORY MEDICINE
Man with COVID finally tests negative after 411 days
according to experts in the United Kingdom.
The man was treated with a mixture of neutralizing monoclonal antibodies, King’s College London said in a news release.
The man, 59, tested positive in December 2020 and tested negative in January 2022. He had a weakened immune system because of a previous kidney transplant. He received three doses of vaccine and his symptoms lessened, but he kept testing positive for COVID.
To find out if the man had a persistent infection or had been infected several times, doctors did a genetic analysis of the virus.
“This revealed that the patient’s infection was a persistent infection with an early COVID variant – a variation of the original Wuhan variant that was dominant in the United Kingdom in the later months of 2020. Analysis found the patient’s virus had multiple mutations since he was first infected,” King’s College said.
The doctors treated him with a Regeneron treatment that is no longer widely used because it’s not effective against newer COVID variants.
“Some new variants of the virus are resistant to all the antibody treatments available in the United Kingdom and Europe. Some people with weakened immune systems are still at risk of severe illness and becoming persistently infected. We are still working to understand the best way to protect and treat them,” Luke Snell, MD, from the King’s College School of Immunology & Microbial Sciences, said in the news release.
This is one of the longest known cases of COVID infection. Another man in England was infected with COVID for 505 days before his death, which King’s College said was the longest known COVID infection.
A version of this article first appeared on WebMD.com.
according to experts in the United Kingdom.
The man was treated with a mixture of neutralizing monoclonal antibodies, King’s College London said in a news release.
The man, 59, tested positive in December 2020 and tested negative in January 2022. He had a weakened immune system because of a previous kidney transplant. He received three doses of vaccine and his symptoms lessened, but he kept testing positive for COVID.
To find out if the man had a persistent infection or had been infected several times, doctors did a genetic analysis of the virus.
“This revealed that the patient’s infection was a persistent infection with an early COVID variant – a variation of the original Wuhan variant that was dominant in the United Kingdom in the later months of 2020. Analysis found the patient’s virus had multiple mutations since he was first infected,” King’s College said.
The doctors treated him with a Regeneron treatment that is no longer widely used because it’s not effective against newer COVID variants.
“Some new variants of the virus are resistant to all the antibody treatments available in the United Kingdom and Europe. Some people with weakened immune systems are still at risk of severe illness and becoming persistently infected. We are still working to understand the best way to protect and treat them,” Luke Snell, MD, from the King’s College School of Immunology & Microbial Sciences, said in the news release.
This is one of the longest known cases of COVID infection. Another man in England was infected with COVID for 505 days before his death, which King’s College said was the longest known COVID infection.
A version of this article first appeared on WebMD.com.
according to experts in the United Kingdom.
The man was treated with a mixture of neutralizing monoclonal antibodies, King’s College London said in a news release.
The man, 59, tested positive in December 2020 and tested negative in January 2022. He had a weakened immune system because of a previous kidney transplant. He received three doses of vaccine and his symptoms lessened, but he kept testing positive for COVID.
To find out if the man had a persistent infection or had been infected several times, doctors did a genetic analysis of the virus.
“This revealed that the patient’s infection was a persistent infection with an early COVID variant – a variation of the original Wuhan variant that was dominant in the United Kingdom in the later months of 2020. Analysis found the patient’s virus had multiple mutations since he was first infected,” King’s College said.
The doctors treated him with a Regeneron treatment that is no longer widely used because it’s not effective against newer COVID variants.
“Some new variants of the virus are resistant to all the antibody treatments available in the United Kingdom and Europe. Some people with weakened immune systems are still at risk of severe illness and becoming persistently infected. We are still working to understand the best way to protect and treat them,” Luke Snell, MD, from the King’s College School of Immunology & Microbial Sciences, said in the news release.
This is one of the longest known cases of COVID infection. Another man in England was infected with COVID for 505 days before his death, which King’s College said was the longest known COVID infection.
A version of this article first appeared on WebMD.com.