Children and adults at one Philadelphia public school were potentially exposed to a staffer with a documented case of monkeypox but the staffer is recovered and now back at school.
The exposure happened at Richmond Elementary School, where a teacher with a confirmed case of the virus works.
Monkeypox, sometimes known as mpox, is spread through skin-to-skin contact with an infected person who has sores or scabs. Symptoms including fever, headache, muscle aches, and rash that can range from mild to very painful appear a week to two weeks after exposure. Though not a sexually transmitted disease, mpox is most often spread through sexual contact. There have been no reported cases or symptoms among Richmond students or staff.
READ MORE: Are you at risk of getting monkeypox? Heres everything you need to know.
People with mpox are contagious until their rashes scab over and the scabs fall off.
Out of an abundance of caution, the Philadelphia Department of Public Health notified select members of your school community of a potential low-level exposure to mpox, said a letter from the Richmond principal sent to staff Friday. It is very unlikely that people with low-level exposure will develop mpox. If you did not receive a notification letter from the Philadelphia Department of Public Health, you have no exposure risk.
The principal, in the letter, said the school has taken the necessary precautions to protect students and staff.
Kendra McDow, the districts chief medical officer, stressed in an interview that the risk of transmission was minimal. She praised the staffer for coming forward earlier in February, and said once officials were notified of the staffers health status, they immediately notified the city health department, which conducted an investigation. The staffer remained out of the building during the contagion period.
Oz Hill, the districts chief operating officer, said officials were in contact with the city to discuss cleaning protocols, and that our routine standard cleaning certainly doubled down to ensure that all supplies in the school were adequately stocked and the staff was certainly familiar and appropriately trained.
According to city health department data, four cases of mpox were reported a week in Philadelphia in January. Altogether, 587 cases have been reported since June 2022.
James Garrow, a spokesperson for the city health department, said officials are still seeing sporadic cases in the city, one or two per week, if that, but nothing like we had a couple years ago when we saw dozens and dozens. We continue to do efforts to encourage folks who would be at high risk to get vaccines.
More than 8,000 first doses of the mpox vaccine have been administered in recent years.
Garrow stressed that the Richmond case was a very low-risk type of situation and said the health department worked closely with the district.
Recent research demonstrates that blocking the attachment of virus particles to cell surface molecules in infant mice can significantly reduce the transmission of influenza A. This finding opens the door to new preventative strategies against seasonal flu, potentially supplementing existing vaccines and treatments with methods that target the hosts ability to spread the virus.
Researchers have long understood that certain viruses and bacteria initiate infections by initially attaching to sugar molecules present on the cell surfaces lining the sinuses and throats of mammals, including humans. For example, viral particles can bind to these molecules, known as sialic acids, or SAs, in a manner similar to keys fitting into locks.
Now, a new study in infant mice shows that keeping virus particles from attaching to SAs limits more than just the entry of influenza A viral infections, but also hinders their exit (shedding) and transmission from mouse to mouse. Such infections are the main cause of the seasonal flu that kills more than 36,000 Americans annually. While vaccines to guard against infection and symptom treatments exist, they are not foolproof, scientists say, and more strategies are needed to prevent infection from spreading.
Led by researchers from NYU Grossman School of Medicine, the study team stripped away, or desialylated, SA receptors by placing directly into mouse nasal cavities a neuraminidase enzyme known to loosen the acids ability to remain attached to cell surfaces. The infant mice were then infected with influenza A. Results showed treatment with the neuraminidase enzyme dramatically cut mouse-to-mouse transmission rates by more than half (from 51% to 100% ) in a half-dozen influenza strains tested.
Publishing in the American Society for Microbiology journal mBio, the work was conducted in infant mice, which unlike those even a few months older or adult mice, were found by the research team to have many sialic acids in the upper portion of their respiratory tract. Specifically, the team blocked two SAs, technically called alpha-2,3 SA and alpha-2,6 SA receptors (the locks). These are known to be widely present in the human respiratory tract, which researchers say makes infant mice a strong comparable model for studying the spread of the infectious disease in children, who are also recognized as important drivers of flu transmission among people.
If further experiments in humans prove successful, desialylating neuraminidase enzymes may prevent the flu from spreading, said Ortigoza, said lead study investigator and infectious disease specialist Mila Ortigoza, MD, PhD.
While current approaches with vaccines and treatments target the virus, ours is the first study to demonstrate that treating the host, either infected mice or potentially infected humans, to prevent them from transmitting the virus to another host could be another effective strategy for combating pervasive infectious diseases, said Ortigoza, who is also an assistant professor in the Departments of Medicine and Microbiology at NYU Langone.
Ortigoza cautions that extensive clinical research is needed before neuraminidases can be considered for approval as a treatment in humans. She says the team already has plans for more experiments to examine why infants are more susceptible to infection from respiratory viruses and whether blocking sialic acids in children can also prevent the spread of influenza.
Reference: Inhibiting influenza virus transmission using a broadly acting neuraminidase that targets host sialic acids in the upper respiratory tract by Mila B. Ortigoza, Catherina L. Mobini, Hedy L. Rocha, Stacey Bartlett, Cynthia A. Loomis and Jeffrey N. Weiser, 11 January 2024, mBio. DOI: 10.1128/mbio.02203-23
Funding support for this study was provided by National Institutes of Health grants P30CA016087, S10OD021747, K08AI141759, and R01AI150893. Ansun Biopharma of San Diego, Calif., provided the experimental neuraminidase drug used in these experiments but was otherwise not involved in the study.
In addition to Ortigoza, other NYU Langone researchers involved in this study are Catherina Mobini; Hedy Rocha; Stacey Bartlett, PhD; Cynthia Loomis, MD, PhD; and Jeffrey Weiser, MD. Weiser is the Jan T. Vilcek Professor of Molecular Pathogenesis in the Department of Microbiology at NYU Langone Health and chair of the department.
Peru has reported an outbreak of the highly pathogenic bird flu virus on a laying hens farm in the department of La Libertad in the northwestern part of the country, the Paris-based World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) said on Tuesday.
The virus killed 4,000 birds and the rest of the 27,000-strong flock were slaughtered, WOAH said, citing a report from the Peruvian authorities.
By: Savannah Koplon
This winter, influenza, COVID and RSV cases have surged across the United States. And were not done with it.
It seems as if everyone knows someone who has a runny nose, a fever or a cough, or who has had to call out of work for themselves or to take care of a sick child.
While hospitalizations are steady for the time of year, they are rapidly increasing due to spread of severe illness, said Dr. Rachael Lee, University of Alabama at Birmingham chief health care epidemiologist. It is important to refrain from going to hospital emergency departments to avoid continued overstressing of the communitys resources.
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Feb 20, 2024, 1:43pmUpdated 23h ago
By: News 12 Staff
The peak of flu season may now be over in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Virus levels around the U.S. remain what the CDC considers high.
According to the health agency, flu hospitalization rates this month are about half of the December peak. The CDC also says COVID hospitalization rates are a third lower.
However, new data show medical visits for respiratory illness are above the baseline set in November.
As a primary care physician, I administer vaccines on a regular basis, from flu to tetanus to pneumonia to shingles.
I bring these vaccines out during doctors visits, and I discuss the pros and cons with my patients while the vaccines are being displayed.
I am completely open about potential side effects.
The core vaccine conversation between doctor and patient is a risk/benefit analysis.
Its a discussion, one in which the patient decides.
One of the big mistakes made by the Biden administration with the COVID vaccines is not having this discussion.
Rather than keeping expectations realistic telling folks that the vaccine would lessen the severity of COVID, instead of preventing a patient from getting it the administration forced as many as it could to get the jab through mandates.
Instead of being upfront that there was a slight risk of side effects, the administration put pressure on social-media companies to censor any discussion.
Now we have research data from the Global Vaccine Data Network that details exactly what risks accompany the COVID vaccines.
Morning Report delivers the latest news, videos, photos and more.
The study found what has been shown previously in smaller studies that side effects from the vaccines are mostly mild, but they arent non-existent.
The study showed an association between the MRNA vaccines and rare myocarditis, and between the Oxford Astra Zeneca vaccine which was never approved for use in the United States and pericarditis, Guillain Barre Syndrome and other neurological complications.
The Moderna MRNA vaccine was also associated with a slight increased risk of brain swelling.
Conspiracy theorists will take this as vindication.
It isnt, for the simple reason that the study also determined that the risk of a neurological problem from COVID was more than 600 times higher than from the vaccine.
But such was the mistake of the Biden administrations squashing of dissent that any discussion of side effects makes them look like liars.
The truth is that COVID MRNA vaccines have side effects, including rarely myocarditis, but studies have also shown that they decrease the risk of myocarditis from COVID itself.
The benefits of the vaccines far outweigh the risks, particularly for older Americans.
Its a discussion not a demand we should have had from the beginning.
A discussion that would have been easier had the White House asked primary-care doctors to be the ones to discuss and administer the vaccine.
The vaccine mandates only helped to sow distrust in government, and lowered vaccine acceptance in general.
Which is devastating because vaccines for children, particularly for measles and mumps, have saved millions of lives.
Plus, the public drive to squash any criticism of the vaccine along with downplaying side effects helped lead to a blossoming of conspiracy theories, anger and confusion.
This should be a real lesson for any administration going forward.
Marc Siegel, MD, is a clinical professor of medicine and medical director of Doctor Radio at NYU Langone Health and a Fox News medical analyst.
One of the largest assessments of its kind, spanning 99 million people and investigating reports of adverse reactions following COVID-19 vaccination, found that instances of Guillain Barre Syndrome, myocarditis, pericarditis and cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST) were at least 1.5 times more than expected following inoculation with mRNA and ChadOX1 vaccines. This is in line with previous observations by the World Health Organization and the European Medicines Agency, and was what led to these being classified as rare side effects following the vaccination for COVID-19.
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The data set did not include patients from India. However, a majority of Indians were administered the ChAdOX1 or Covishield vaccines during the pandemic. The need for rapid development and administration of vaccines saw a range of new approaches to vaccination, namely, the use of synthetic viral particles or protein constructs being administered following shortened testing programmes.
Guillain-Barre syndrome is a disorder in which the immune system attacks the nerves. While rarely fatal, it can cause muscular damage and mean prolonged treatment. CVST refers to blood clots in the brain. Myocarditis and pericarditis are inflammation of the heart tissue. All of these are serious conditions and potentially fatal.
The Global Covid Vaccine Safety Project, which made the assessment, compiled electronic healthcare data on adverse events related to COVID-19 vaccines from participants across multiple sites, including Argentina, New South Wales and Victoria in Australia, British Columbia and Ontario in Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, New Zealand, and Scotland.
The analysis involved computing the so called OE ratios or observed versus expected ratios. This means first healthcare providers, having a baseline expectation of how many adverse events are likely given a certain number of vaccinated people, and comparing it with the number of events actually reported to health systems. Expectations are formed based on experience with the rates of vaccination, and reactions observed historically. However, COVID-19 vaccination was an outlier event that saw billions of vaccines administered over a relatively short span. Ratios greater than 1.5 or, in other words, 50% more adverse-reaction reports than what is expected, are considered potential safety signals or necessitating a thorough investigation.
OE ratios >1.5 were observed for Guillain-Barr syndrome and cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (3.23) following the first dose of ChAdOx1 vaccine. Acute disseminated encephalomyelitis showed an OE ratio of 3.78 following the first dose of mRNA-1273 vaccine. The OE ratios for myocarditis and pericarditis following BNT162b2 (Pfizer/BioNTech), mRNA-1273 (Moderna), and ChAdOx1 (Oxford/AstraZeneca/Serum Institute of India) were significantly increased with ratios>1.5, notes the study, published this month in the peer-reviewed journal Vaccine.
As on December 6, 2022 a total of 92,003 Adverse Events Following Immunisation (AEFI) have been reported in India since the start of the COVID-19 vaccination, the Union Health Ministry told Parliament. This is about 0.009% of Indians who took COVID-19 vaccines.
An affidavit by the government to the Supreme Court claimed that compared with India, nearly 0.2% of the people in the United States who received COVID-19 vaccines showed AEFI, as did 0.7% in the U.K.
These ratios are, however, significantly influenced by the strength of the adverse event reporting system in countries. This can significantly vary among countries. There have been studies that show the baseline rate in European states is higher than Asia. This is a combination of both a better reporting system as well as physiological factors. Studies done in one country may not easily translate to another, Chandrakant Lahariya, physician and health policy expert, said.
While our study confirmed previously identified rare safety signals following COVID-19 vaccination and contributed evidence on several other important outcomes, further investigation is warranted to confirm associations and assess clinical significance, the study by the Global Covid Vaccine Safety Project said.
Results of a recent peer-reviewed study on COVID-19 vaccines show a slight increase in risks for certain adverse effects up to a month and a half after taking the vaccine.
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Researchers looked for 13 adverse events of special interest that occurred up to 42 days after the Moderna, Pfizer-BioNTech and AstraZeneca vaccines were administered.
Researchers conducting the study, which was published in the journal Vaccine, looked at the medical records of nearly 100 million people vaccinated across eight countries.
The adverse events the scientists looked for included Guillain-Barr syndrome, Bells palsy, convulsions, myocarditis and pericarditis.
Results of the study showed a significant increase in cases of Guillain-Barr syndrome among those who received the AstraZeneca vaccine within 42 days of it being administered, and instances of acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (ADEM), an inflammation of the brain and spinal cord, in those who got their first dose of Modernas vaccine, according to the study.
Rare cases of myocarditis, or an inflammation of the heart, were identified in the first, second and third doses of Pfizer-BioNTechs and Modernas mRNA vaccines.
The highest rate for myocarditis 6.1 times more than expected was seen after the second Moderna dose.
Those conducting the study stressed that the risks of developing the conditions after having COVID-19 greatly outweigh the risks of experiencing the conditions because you get vaccinated.
The odds of all of these adverse events is still much, much higher when infected with SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19), so getting vaccinated is still by far the safer choice, CEO of biotechnology company Centivaix Jacob Glanville, who is not involved in the study, told Forbes.
There have been 13.5 billion COVID-19 vaccines administered worldwide since the start of the pandemic, according to Our World in Data.
According to Forbes, the Global COVID Vaccine Safety project, which conducted the study, is supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Department of Health and Human Services. Several of the authors received financial support from or have relationships with government agencies, including the CDC, the New Zealand Ministry of Health and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, which they disclosed as potential conflicts of interest in reporting the studys results.
A new study based on 4,605 participants in the Michigan COVID-19 Recovery Surveillance Study shows that the prevalence of long COVID symptoms at 30 and 90 days post-infection was 43% to 58% lower among adults who were fully vaccinated before infection.
The study appeared yesterday in the Annals of Epidemiology.
The 30- and 90-day timeframes were meant to compare two different definitions of long COVID. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defines the condition as new or persistent symptoms 4 weeks after infection, while the World Health Organization definition defines it as 12 or more weeks after infection.
"By assessing both 30-day and 90-day long COVID, we increased the number of studies with which our results can be compared, facilitating discussion regarding consistency of estimates. It also acknowledges the importance of both outcomes," the authors wrote. "Whether symptoms persist for at least 30 or at least 90 days, both have the potential to cause significant disruption to daily life."
All study participants had a confirmed COVID-19 case confirmed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing from March 1, 2020 and May 31, 2022. Participants were asked whether they had recovered from COVID-19 to their usual state of health, and if they had, how long it took them to regain their health.
Overall, 32.2% of adults with PCR-confirmed COVID-19 reported 30-day long COVID and 17.5% reported 90-day long COVID in the study.
The prevalence of 30-day long COVID was 43% lower among the vaccinated group (prevalence ratio [PR], 0.57; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.49 to 0.66). The adjusted prevalence of 90-day long COVID was 58% lower among the vaccinated group (PR, 0.42; 95% CI, 0.34 to 0.53).
In several secondary analyses, the authors looked at prevalence after factoring in Delta-strain infections and comorbidities. In both cases, vaccinated participants were at least 40% less likely to have long COVID.
Overall, vaccinated participants were more likely to be White, older, more formally educated, more likely to be retired, and more likely to have private health insurance coverage at their COVID-19 onset, the authors found. They were also more likely to be urban residents.
These findings support the growing evidence that COVID-19 vaccination may be an important tool to reduce the burden of long COVID.
"These findings support the growing evidence that COVID-19 vaccination may be an important tool to reduce the burden of long COVID, providing evidence that can inform public health messaging regarding the benefits of COVID-19 vaccines," the authors concluded.
FILE - A droplet falls from a syringe after a health care worker was injected with the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine (AP Photo/David Goldman, File)
Dr.Jim Adams, Chief Medical Officer of Northwestern Medicine, joins Lisa Dent to discuss the latest global study on the COVID-19 vaccine and its rare link to occurrences of heart, brain and blood disorders.
Better knowledge means better health for you and your family. Turn toNorthwesternMedicine at nm.org/healthbeatnews for health tips, research and more.
