Here Are the Viruses to Worry About Right Now
As winter ends, several viruses are still continuing to rise across the U.S., according to data from WastewaterSCAN, a network of wastewater surveillance sites. Norovirus, one type of influenza, and another respiratory virus are all increasing or have recently peaked in samples from the network’s 190 wastewater treatment facilities, which are located in 41 states.
“What we’re seeing right now for the major viruses we are monitoring is that there are similar patterns across the country,” says Marlene Wolfe, assistant professor of environmental health at Emory University and one of WastewaterSCAN&...
Source: TIME: Health - March 19, 2024 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Alice Park Tags: Uncategorized healthscienceclimate Source Type: news
Could chatbots help devise the next pandemic virus?
Tech experts have been sounding the alarm that artificial intelligence (AI) could turn against humanity by taking over everything from business to warfare. Now, Kevin Esvelt is adding another worry: AI could help somebody with no science background and evil intentions design and order a virus capable of unleashing a pandemic.
Esvelt, a biosecurity expert at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, recently asked students to create a dangerous virus with the help of ChatGPT or other so-called large language models, systems that can generate humanlike responses to broad questions based on vast training sets of intern...
Source: ScienceNOW - June 14, 2023 Category: Science Source Type: news
FDA Experts Vote to Make All COVID-19 Vaccines and Boosters Bivalent
In a unanimous decision, all 21 voting members of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) vaccine committee recommended that the U.S. start using the same COVID-19 virus strain in all of the COVID-19 vaccines, including primary and booster doses.
That means the bivalent booster dose, which targets both the original SARS-CoV-2 strain and the Omicron BA.4/5 strains, would soon become the only type used for all primary shots and boosters.
The decision reflects a turning point in the pandemic. Until now, vaccine makers have tried to keep up with constantly evolving variants, but they’ve always been a few step...
Source: TIME: Health - January 27, 2023 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Alice Park Tags: Uncategorized COVID-19 healthscienceclimate Source Type: news
What you should know about getting a flu vaccine this year, according to an expert
This year's flu strain has already begun spreading across the US, according to new data from the CDC. Not since 2009, during the height of the H1N1 swine flu pandemic, have there been this many cases of influenza so early in the season. (Source: CNN.com - Health)
Source: CNN.com - Health - November 4, 2022 Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news
To thwart the next pandemic, ‘swientists’ hunt for flu viruses at U.S. hog shows
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Source: ScienceNOW - October 27, 2022 Category: Science Source Type: news
The Omicron Wave Is Receding But the Pandemic Is Far From Over
The U.S. has experienced a brutal winter wave of COVID-19, driven by the highly transmissible Omicron variant. Daily deaths are higher today than they were during the peak of last fall’s Delta wave, and have plateaued at about 2,500 per day. Many hospitals are still under huge strain and are postponing elective surgeries to free up beds for patients with COVID-19. Daily cases have been higher than during the Delta surge, despite multiple eager predictions in the past that we had reached herd immunity and that the pandemic was over.
Nevertheless, there are promising signs that we are turning a corner. New daily cases ...
Source: TIME: Health - February 15, 2022 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Gavin Yamey, Abraar Karan and Ranu Dhillon Tags: Uncategorized COVID-19 Source Type: news
Influenza A H1N1 Monovalent Vaccine (Influenza A H1N1 Monovalent Vaccine) - updated on RxList
(Source: RxList - New and Updated Drug Monographs)
Source: RxList - New and Updated Drug Monographs - November 3, 2021 Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Source Type: news
COVID-19 Is Now the Deadliest Pandemic in American History
COVID-19 has now killed about as many Americans as the 1918-19 Spanish flu pandemic did — approximately 675,000.
The U.S. population a century ago was just one-third of what it is today, meaning the flu cut a much bigger, more lethal swath through the country. But the COVID-19 crisis is by any measure a colossal tragedy in its own right, especially given the incredible advances in scientific knowledge since then and the failure to take maximum advantage of the vaccines available this time.
“Big pockets of American society — and, worse, their leaders — have thrown this away,” medical historian ...
Source: TIME: Health - September 20, 2021 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Carla K. Johnson / Associated Press Tags: Uncategorized COVID-19 healthscienceclimate wire Source Type: news
COVAX Was a Great Idea, But Is Now 500 Million Doses Short of Its Vaccine Distribution Goals. What Exactly Went Wrong?
In January 2020, world leaders and industry titans gathered in Switzerland for the World Economic Forum’s annual Davos conference. Much of the conversation centered around the mysterious new coronavirus that had emerged in Wuhan, China, a month earlier, and had at that point infected nearly 300 people in four countries.
Two of the conference’s attendees were Dr. Seth Berkley, CEO of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, and Dr. Richard Hatchett, CEO of the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI). Over scotch and nachos one night, Berkley and Hatchett got to talking about worst-case scenarios. “&lsquo...
Source: TIME: Health - September 9, 2021 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Jamie Ducharme Tags: Uncategorized COVID-19 healthscienceclimate Source Type: news
The FDA ’s New Guillain-Barre Warning For the J & J Vaccine Reflects a Small Increased Risk of the Illness
As millions of people get vaccinated against COVID-19, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are closely monitoring reports of side effects and adverse events among people getting immunized. On July 12, the FDA added a warning about the risk of Guillain-Barre to the single-dose Janssen/Johnson & Johnson vaccine. Anyone who receives the shot moving forward will get an updated fact sheet informing them of the small but increased risk. There have not been significant reports of the syndrome linked to the two other vaccines authorized in the U.S., made by Pfize...
Source: TIME: Health - July 13, 2021 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Alice Park Tags: Uncategorized COVID-19 Source Type: news
Vaccines grown in eggs induce antibody response against an egg-associated glycan
(University of Chicago Medical Center) Researchers have found that viral vaccines grown in eggs, such as the H1N1 flu vaccine, produce an antibody response against a sugar molecule found in eggs, which could have implications for the effectiveness of these vaccines. (Source: EurekAlert! - Infectious and Emerging Diseases)
Source: EurekAlert! - Infectious and Emerging Diseases - July 1, 2021 Category: Infectious Diseases Source Type: news
Lessons from the last pandemic point the way toward universal flu vaccines
(University of Chicago Medical Center) A new study from the University of Chicago and Scripps Research Institute shows that during the last great pandemic--2009's H1N1 influenza pandemic--people developed strong, effective immune responses to stable, conserved parts of the virus. (Source: EurekAlert! - Medicine and Health)
Source: EurekAlert! - Medicine and Health - June 4, 2021 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Source Type: news
Broadly neutralizing antibodies against pandemic flu point to new vaccine targets
(American Association for the Advancement of Science) A new study reveals that B cells can produce antibodies against the H1N1 influenza virus that also neutralize various other influenza strains, marking a development that could inform research into potential universal flu vaccines. (Source: EurekAlert! - Infectious and Emerging Diseases)
Source: EurekAlert! - Infectious and Emerging Diseases - June 2, 2021 Category: Infectious Diseases Source Type: news
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This brief examines the U.S. COVID-19 pandemic experience to date and analyzes two prior vaccination programs: for flu in 2019 and for H1N1 in 2009–2010.
(Source: The Commonwealth Fund: Newsroom)
Source: The Commonwealth Fund: Newsroom - May 6, 2021 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Source Type: news
Will Trust in the Johnson & Johnson Vaccine Recover? Europe ’s AstraZeneca Experience Suggests Not
When the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended stopping use of the Johnson & Johnson/Janssen COVID-19 vaccine on April 13, they declared the action a “pause”—a brief intermission as the government investigates a possible link between the vaccine and blood clots in a small number of recipients. The agencies may lift that recommendation as soon as this week, and vaccination with the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna shots has continued.
However temporary it might be, a recent YouGov/Economist survey suggests that the J&J pause has already hurt U.S. pu...
Source: TIME: Health - April 20, 2021 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tara Law Tags: Uncategorized COVID-19 Source Type: news
