Four years after the coronavirus broke out, the World Health Organization has confirmed what was widely believedthe coronavirus spreads through the air, Fast Company reports.
The confirmation comes after years of debate and some experts warning there was an overemphasis on measures like handwashing to stop the virus at the beginning of the pandemic, rather than focusing on ventilation.
The WHO and around 500 experts also agreed for the first time what it means for a disease to spread through the air.
The Geneva-based U.N. health agency released a technical document on the topic on Thursday. The document is the first step towards working out how to better prevent this kind of transmission, both for existing diseases like measles and for future pandemic threats, according to the organization.
Almost 500 experts contributed to the documents findings, including physicists, public health professionals, and engineers, many of whom disagreed bitterly over the topic in the past.
Read the full story.
Dutch medical scientists are warning about the risk of viruses mutating over long periods in infected immunocompromised people.
Forthcoming research from the group relates to a previously reported case of a 72-year-old Dutch man who was infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus for a record 613 days before dieing from a blood disorder.
The research, which is not yet published or peer-reviewed, will this week be presented at a global congress of the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases.
They tracked the evolution of the virus within the mans system, while he was administered the antivirals sotrovimab, sarilumab and dexamethasone.
Samples taken between February 2022 and September 2023 noted more than 50 mutations in the viruss genetic sequence. Evidence of immune escape was also observed in the form of changes multiple changes to the virus spike protein.
During the period of infection, the virus evolved resistance to sotrovimab.
In their presentation, the 6 researchers will argue that immunocompromised patients need close monitoring, not only for their own health outcomes but also for signs of viral change that could spread beyond the patient.
They report that in this case the highly mutated, drug-resistant variant was not passed to anyone else.
This case underscores the risk of persistent SARS-CoV-2 infection in immunocompromised individuals as unique SARS-CoV-2 viral variants may emerge due to extensive intra-host evolution, the researchers write.
Though they note this is an extreme case, they report also monitoring other prolonged infections ranging from a month to 2 years in length.
Prolonged infections in immunocompromised patients are much more common compared to the general community, they say However, from the viewpoint of the general public, prolonged infections remain rare as the immunocompromised population is only a very small percentage of the total population.
A Covid-19 patient with a weakened immune system incubated a highly mutated novel strain over 613 days before succumbing to an underlying illness, researchers in the Netherlands found.
The patient, a 72-year-old man with a blood disorder, failed to mount a strong immune response to multiple Covid shots before catching the omicron variant in February 2022. Detailed analysis of specimens collected from more than two dozen nose and throat swabs found the coronavirus developed resistance to sotrovimab, a Covid antibody treatment, within a few weeks, scientists at the University of Amsterdams Centre for Experimental and Molecular Medicine said. It later acquired over 50 mutations, including some that suggested an enhanced ability to evade immune defenses, they said.
This year is not yet one-third over, yet measles cases in the United States are on track to be the worst since a massive outbreak in 2019. At the same time, anti-vaccine activists are recklessly sowing doubts and encouraging vaccine hesitancy. Parents who leave their children unvaccinated are risking not only their health but also the well-being of those around them.
Measles is one of the most contagious human viruses more so than the coronavirus and is spread through direct or airborne contact when an infected person breathes, coughs or sneezes. The virus can hang in the air for up to two hours after an infected person has left an area. It can cause serious complications, including pneumonia, encephalitis and death, especially in unvaccinated people. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, one person infected with measles can infect 9 out of 10 unvaccinated individuals with whom they come in close contact.
But measles can be prevented with the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine; two doses are 97 percent effective. When 95 percent or more of a community is vaccinated, herd immunity protects the whole. Unfortunately, vaccination rates are falling. The global vaccine coverage rate of the first dose, at 83 percent, and second dose, at 74 percent, are well under the 95 percent level. Vaccination coverage among U.S. kindergartners has slipped from 95.2 percent during the 2019-2020 school year to 93.1 percent in the 2022-2023 school year, according to the CDC, leaving approximately 250,000 kindergartners at risk each year over the past three years.
The virus is slipping through the gaps. According to the World Health Organization, in 2022, 37 countries experienced large or disruptive measles outbreaks compared with 22 countries in 2021. In the United States, there have been seven outbreaks so far this year, with 121 cases in 18 jurisdictions. Most are children. Many of the outbreaks in the United States appear to have been triggered by international travel or contact with a traveler. Disturbingly, 82 percent of those infected were unvaccinated or their status unknown.
The largest toll has been in Illinois, followed by Florida. But when an outbreak hit the Manatee Bay Elementary School in Broward County in early March, Floridas top public health official, state Surgeon General Joseph A. Ladapo, did not follow the standard recommendation that parents of unvaccinated children keep them home for 21 days to avoid getting the disease. Instead, Dr. Ladapo said, Florida would be deferring to parents or guardians to make decisions about school attendance. This means allowing children without protection to go to school. Dr. Ladapos letter was an unnecessarily reckless act of pandering to an anti-vaccine movement with increasing political influence.
Vaccine hesitancy is being encouraged by activists who warn of government coercion, using social media to amplify irresponsible claims. An article published March 20 on the website of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.s Childrens Health Defense organization is headlined, Be Very Afraid? CDC, Big Media Drum Up Fear of Deadly Measles Outbreaks. The author, Alan Cassels, claims that the news media is advancing a a fear-mongering narrative, and adds, Those of us born before 1970 with personal experience pretty much all agree that measles is a big meh. We all had it ourselves and so did our brothers, sisters and school friends. We also had chicken pox and mumps and typically got a few days off school. The only side effect of those diseases was that my mom sighed heavily and called work to say she had to stay home to look after a kid with spots.
Today, he adds, Big media and government overhyping the nature of an illness, which history has shown us can be a precursor to some very bad public health policies such as mandatory vaccination programs and other coercive measures.
This is just wrong. The CDC reports that, in the decade before the measles vaccine became available in 1963, the disease killed 400 to 500 people, hospitalized 48,000 and gave 1,000 people encephalitis in the United States every year and that was just among reported cases.
The elimination of measles in the United States in 2000, driven by a safe and effective vaccine, was a major public health success. Although the elimination status still holds, the U.S. situation has deteriorated. The nation has been below 95 percent two-dose coverage for three consecutive years, and 12 states and the District below 90 percent. At the same time, the rest of the world must also strive to boost childhood vaccination rates, which slid backward during the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the WHO, low-income countries with the highest risk of death from measles continue to have the lowest vaccination rates, only 66 percent.
The battle against measles requires a big not a meh effort.
The Washington Post
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New research offers promising signs for long COVID sufferers, with a significant portion of patients showing improvement in immune system function after two years.
This data comes from Australia's ADAPT study, which has been tracking COVID-19 patients since the pandemic's early days. Back in 2022, the study found evidence of lingering immune system problems in long COVID patients eight months after infection. This finding resonated with many patients who had struggled to get their condition recognised.
Since then, our understanding of long COVID's effects on various organs and body functions has grown considerably. There's also been progress in detecting long COVID through blood tests, raising hopes for potential treatments.
The latest ADAPT data adds to this optimism. "Blood markers suggesting abnormal immune function have mostly resolved" in a significant portion of the study group after two years, says Dr Chansavath Phetsouphanh, the study's lead author. These markers reflect various aspects of the immune system's response, including antibodies to the virus and cells that fight off infections.
While these improvements are encouraging news for many, some patients haven't seen any change. Researchers believe these cases could have different underlying causes, not all related to the immune system. The ADAPT study's rich data will be crucial in further exploring these variations.
It's important to note that this study focused on a specific group and may not apply to everyone with long COVID, such as those vaccinated, infected with later variants, or who had severe illness.
Professor Anthony Kelleher, who directs the study, emphasises the positive outlook: "For most people with long COVID, symptoms and immune markers improve over time. We'll keep researching why some don't improve and how to help them."
This research offers a glimmer of hope for long COVID sufferers. While some may continue to experience challenges, many appear to be on a path to recovery.
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The World Health Organization (WHO) for the first time has reached a consensus on the definition of airborne disease transmission.
According to a report by news agency Reuters, this unified understanding aims to prevent the confusion experienced during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, which some scientists believe led to loss of life .
Released by the Geneva-based U.N. health agency, a technical document on the topic was made public on Thursday. It marks the first step towards devising strategies to effectively prevent such transmission, encompassing existing diseases like measles and potential pandemic threats in the future.
The document concludes that the term through the air can appropriately describe infectious diseases wherein the primary transmission mode involves pathogens traveling through or being suspended in the air. This aligns with established terminology like waterborne diseases, which are widely comprehended across various disciplines and by the general public. Nearly 500 experts, spanning disciplines such as physics, public health, and engineering, contributed to crafting the definition. Among them were individuals who had previously held stark disagreements on the subject.
Historically, agencies have demanded substantial evidence before classifying diseases as airborne, prompting the implementation of stringent containment measures. However, the new definition emphasizes the importance of considering not only the level of proof but also factors such as the risk of exposure and the severity of the disease.
Previous disputes often revolved around categorizing infectious particles as either droplets or aerosols, based on their size. However, the new definition departs from this distinction. In the initial stages of the COVID-19 outbreak in 2020, approximately 200 aerosol scientists voiced public concerns that the WHO had not adequately alerted the public to the potential airborne transmission of the virus. They argued that this oversight resulted in an overemphasis on measures such as handwashing for virus prevention, neglecting the importance of ventilation.
By July 2020, the WHO acknowledged emerging evidence of airborne transmission, yet its then chief scientist, Soumya Swaminathan, who initiated the process to establish a definition, later admitted that the organization should have taken a more assertive stance much earlier. Jeremy Farrar, who succeeded Swaminathan, emphasized that the new definition encompassed more than just COVID-19. He acknowledged that at the outset of the pandemic, there was a dearth of evidence, and experts, including those at the WHO, operated in good faith. Farrar, who at the time served as head of the Wellcome Trust charity and advised the British government on the pandemic, highlighted that achieving consensus among experts from diverse fields would pave the way for discussions on crucial matters like ventilation in various settings, ranging from hospitals to schools.
He drew a parallel to the realization regarding the transmission of blood-borne viruses such as HIV or hepatitis B by healthcare workers not wearing gloves during procedures. Farrar remarked, When I started out, medical students, nurses, doctors, none of us wore gloves to take blood. Now it is unthinkable that you wouldnt wear gloves. But that came because everyone agreed on what the issue was, they agreed on the terminology [The change in practice] came later.
(With inputs from Reuters)
St Marys Vaccination Hub is getting ready to open its doors to the public as the Covid-19 spring vaccination programme gets underway.
People aged 75 years and older, residents in care homes and young people aged 6 months and over with severe immunosuppression will be offered a dose of Covid-19 vaccine this spring.
There are several ways to get a spring vaccination. Many people will be invited directly via their GP practice.
But if you are eligible, you dont need to wait to be invited, you can book using the National Booking System, by calling 119, or using the NHS App, until 30 June.
St Marys Vaccination Hub will offer a walk-in service from Monday 22 April, however booking an appointment using the National Booking Service is advised to help keep waiting times down.
Sue Lightfoot, Clinical Lead, Hospital Vaccination Centre, said:
If youre at increased risk of illness from Covid-19, getting a vaccination gives you good protection and helps to reduce your risk of getting seriously ill and needing hospital care or much worse.
The vaccine also reduces your risk of catching and spreading the virus and protects against the different strains of Covid that are circulating in our communities.
Were looking forward to welcoming our Island community back to the Vaccination Hub at St Marys this spring as well as the roving clinics that we will be running at various community venues around the Island in June.
From 22 April until 30 May, the Hub will be openon Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursdayfrom 7:45am to 5:45pm (closed on Bank Holidays).
From 1 June until 27 June, the Hub will be open on Tuesday and Thursday, 7:45am to 1:45pm.
If youre not sure if you have a condition that means youre eligible for the vaccination, or you need help with booking an appointment, the NHS Hampshire and Isle of Wight Covid Vaccination Helpline team will be able to help via 0300 561 0018.
Edwin J. Torres, NJ Governor's Office / Flickr cc
The ability to quickly walk or drive to US COVID-19 vaccination sites in the first 2 years of the pandemic ranged widely by jurisdiction and urban or rural area, which may have led to missed opportunities for uptake, according to a newstudy in Emerging Infectious Diseases.
Researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) assessed the accessibility of COVID-19 vaccination sites from December 2020 to March 2022.
The authors noted that the major barriers to vaccine coverage are transportation costs, opportunity costs, and time to travel to vaccination sites, per a previous governmental analysis. "The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has provided recommendations to jurisdictions with regard to the planning of convenient COVID-19 vaccination sites especially those with populations of homebound persons or persons living in remote places," they wrote.
Of the 131,951 total vaccination sites, 57,064 were pharmacies, 35,728 were medical practices, 10,606 were community health sites, 5,222 were hospitals, and 23,331 were of unknown or other type.
Nearly half of all physically able vaccine seekers (46.6%) could walk to COVID-19 vaccination siteswithin 15 minutes, while 74.8% could make the journey in 30 minutes, 82.8% could be there in 45 minutes, and 86.7% could do so within 60 minutes.
Walking time variations across jurisdictions and between urban/rural areas indicate that potential gains could have been made by improving walkability or making transportation more readily available.
In socially vulnerable areas, accessibility by walking was greater, at 55.3%, 81.1%, 86.7%, and 89.4%, respectively. Fifteen-minute walking accessibility in noncore urban areas ranged from 27.2% to 65.1%.
By car, accessibility ranged from 27.2% by 15 minutes to 52.7% by 60 minutes in noncore urban areas and 65.1% to 97.7%, respectively, in large cities.
"Knowledge of the functional proximity to vaccine sites for different populations is essential for effective planning and for ensuring equity of health resource access in public health emergencies," the researchers wrote. "Walking time variations across jurisdictions and between urban/rural areas indicate that potential gains could have been made by improving walkability or making transportation more readily available."
