Category: Corona Virus

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.

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WHO confirms: COVID spreads through the air - Greater Baton Rouge Business Report

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.

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COVID virus mutated in Dutch man, raising importance of proper immunocompromised care - Cosmos

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.

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Covid Patient Dies After Record 613-Day Infection Spawned New Mutations - Bloomberg

Representational Image.

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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Long COVID Sufferers Report Improvement in Immune System Two Years After Infection! | Weather.com - The Weather Channel

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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NATIONAL VIEW: Measles is more contagious than the coronavirus, and it's back - Odessa American

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R.I. COVID-19 cases increased by 138 last week, with 3 deaths - Providence Business News

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)

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WHO defines airborne diseases to prevent another COVID-like situation; Focuses on exposure risk and disease severity - The Financial Express

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100 scientists spend two years renaming viruses after Covid mistakes - Business Standard

Four years ago in the spring of 2020, physicians and patients coined the term "long COVID" to describe a form of the viral infection from which recovery seemed impossible. (And the old nickname "long-haulers" seems so quaint now.)

What started as a pandemic that killed nearly 3 million people globally in 2020 alone would turn into a chronic disease causing a long list of symptoms from extreme fatigue, to brain fog, tremors, nausea, headaches, rapid heartbeat, and more.

Today, 6.4% of Americans report symptoms of long COVID, and many have never recovered.

Still, we've come a long way, although there's much we don't understand about the condition. At the very least, physicians have a greater understanding that long COVID exists and can cause serious long-term symptoms.

While physicians may not have a blanket diagnostic tool that works for all patients with long COVID, they have refined existing tests for more accurate results, said Nisha Viswanathan, MD, director of the University of California Los Angeles Long COVID Program at UCLA Health.

Also, a range of new treatments, now undergoing clinical trials, have emerged that have proved effective in managing long COVID symptoms.

Catecholamine testing, for example, is now commonly used to diagnose long COVID, particularly in those who have dysautonomia, a condition caused by dysfunction of the autonomic nervous system and marked by dizziness, low blood pressure, nausea, and brain fog.

Very high levels of the neurotransmitter, for example, were shown to indicate long COVID in a January 2021 study published in the journal Clinical Medicine.

Certain biomarkers have also been shown indicative of the condition, including low serotonin levels. A study published this year in Cell found lower serotonin levels in patients with long COVID driven by low levels of circulating SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes the condition.

Still, said Viswanathan, long COVID is a disease diagnosed by figuring out what a patient does not have by ruling out other causes rather than what they do. "It's still a moving target," she said, meaning that the disease is always changing based on the variant of acute COVID.

Dysautonomia, and especially the associated brain fog, fatigue, and dizziness, are now common conditions. As a result, physicians have gotten better at treating them. The vagus nerve is the main nerve of the parasympathetic nervous system that controls everything from digestion to mental health. A February 2022 pilot study suggested a link between vagus nerve dysfunction and some long COVID symptoms.

Vagus nerve stimulation is one form of treatment which involves using a device to stimulate the vagus nerve with electrical impulses. Viswanathan has been using the treatment in patients with fatigue, brain fog, anxiety, and depression results, she contends, have been positive.

"This is something tangible that we can offer to patients," she said.

Curative treatments for long COVID remain elusive, but doctors have many more tools for symptom management than before, said Ziyad Al-Aly, MD, a global expert on long COVID and chief of research and development at the Veterans Affairs St. Louis Health Care System.

For example, physicians are using beta-blockers to treat postural tachycardia syndrome (POTS), a symptom of long COVID that happens when the heart rate increases rapidly after someone stands up or lies down. Beta-blockers, such as the off-label medication ivabradine, have been used clinically to control heart rate, according to a March 2022 study published in the journal HeartRhythm Case Reports.

"It's not a cure, but beta-blockers can help patients manage their symptoms," said Al-Aly.

Additionally, some patients respond well to low-dose naltrexone for the treatment of extreme fatigue associated with long COVID. A January 2024 article in the journal Clinical Therapeutics found that fatigue symptoms improved in patients taking the medication.

Al-Aly said doctors treating patients with long COVID are getting better at pinpointing the phenotype or manifestation of the condition and diagnosing a treatment accordingly. Treating long COVID fatigue is not the same as treating POTS or symptoms of headache and joint pain.

It's still all about the management of symptoms and doctors lack any US Food and Drug Administrationapproved medications specifically for the condition.

Still, a number of large clinical trials currently underway may change that, said David F. Putrino, PhD, who runs the long COVID clinic at Mount Sinai Health System in New York City.

Two clinical trials headed by Putrino's lab are looking into repurposing two HIV antivirals to see whether they affect the levels of circulating SARS-CoV-2 virus in the body that may cause long COVID. The hope is that the antivirals Truvada and maraviroc can reduce the "reactivation of latent virus" that, said Putrino, causes lingering long COVID symptoms.

Ongoing trials are looking into the promise of SARS-CoV-2 monoclonal antibodies, produced from cells made by cloning a unique white blood cell, as a treatment option. The trials are investigating whether these antibodies may similarly target viral reservoirs that are causing persistence of symptoms in some patients.

Other trials are underway through the National Institutes of Health (NIH) RECOVER initiative in which more than 17,000 patients are enrolled, the largest study of its kind, said Grace McComsey, MD.

McComsey, who leads the study at University Hospitals Health System in Cleveland, said that after following patients for up to 4 years researchers have gathered "a massive repository of information" they hope will help scientists crack the code of this very complex disease.

She and other RECOVER researchers have recently published studies on a variety of findings, reporting in February, for example, that COVID infections may trigger other autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and type 2 diabetes. Another recent finding showed that people with HIV are at a higher risk for complications due to acute COVID-19.

Still, others like Al-Aly and Putrino felt that the initiative isn't moving fast enough. Al-Aly said that the NIH needs to "get its act together" and do more for long COVID. In the future, he said that we need to double down on our efforts to expand funding and increase urgency to better understand the mechanism of disease, risk factors, and treatments, as well as societal and economic implications.

"We did trials for COVID-19 vaccines at warp speed, but we're doing trials for long COVID at a snail's pace," he said.

Al-Aly is concerned about the chronic nature of the disease and how it affects patients down the line. His large-scale study published last month in the journal Science looked specifically at chronic fatigue syndrome triggered by the infection and its long-term impact on patients.

He's concerned about the practical implications for people who are weighted down with symptoms for multiple years.

"Being fatigued and ill for a few months is one thing, but being at home for 5 years is a totally different ballgame."

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4 Years In, a Sobering Look at Long COVID Progress - Medscape

ANN ARBOR, MI - JULY 30: Michigan Stadium, the largest stadium in the United States, and second largest stadium in the world, home of the Michigan Wolverines football team and women's lacrosse team in Ann Arbor, Michigan on July 30, 2019. (Photo B

FOX 2 (WJBK) - The NCAA has handed down penalties for the University of Michigan's football program Tuesday in connection to coronavirus recruiting violations.

Penalties include three years of probation, fine, and recruiting restrictions, the NCAA announced. According to a release, Michigan and five people who currently - or previously worked for the football program have reached an agreement with NCAA enforcement staff on recruiting violations and coaching activities by non-coaching staff members that happened in the football program.

"A Committee on Infractions panel has approved the agreement. One former coach did not participate in the agreement, and that portion of the case will be considered separately by the Committee on Infractions, after which the committee will release its full decision," the announcement said.

The agreed-upon violations involve in-person recruiting contacts during a COVID-19 dead period, impermissible tryouts, and the program exceeding the number of allowed countable coaches when non-coaching staff members engaged in on- and off-field coaching activities "including providing technical and tactical skills instruction to student-athletes."

The decision also involved the school's agreement that the violations "demonstrated a head coach responsibility violation and the former football head coach failed to meet his responsibility to cooperate with the investigation."

The school agreed it did not stop or recognize the "impermissible recruiting contacts" and did not make sure that the football program adhered to rules for non-coaching staff members.

"The committee will not discuss further details in the case to protect the integrity of the ongoing process, as the committee's final decision including potential violations and penalties for the former coach is pending.

"By separating the cases, the Division I Committee on Infractions publicly acknowledges the infractions case and permits the school and the participating individuals to immediately begin serving their penalties while awaiting the committee's final decision on the remaining contested portion of the case. That decision will include any findings and penalties for the former coach. This is the fourth case where the committee has used multiple resolution paths."

Former Michigan star, current staffer Denard Robinson arrested for OWI in Ann Arbor

The penalties in this case include three years of probation for the school, a fine and recruiting restrictions with the "Level I-Mitigated classification for the school. "

The participating individuals also agreed to one-year show-cause orders consistent with the Level II-Standard and Level II-Mitigated classifications of their violations.

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Michigan football penalized by NCAA for coronavirus recruiting violations - FOX 2 Detroit