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A study yesterday in JAMA Network Open tracked excess mortality caused by both influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) in the United States from 1999 to 2018 and found that RSV caused more deaths in infants, while both viruses caused substantial mortality in elderly Americans.
Oxygen supplies are needed for the nation's 1,700 hospitalized COVID-19 patients and other critically ill patients.
"When the number of patients with COVID-19 exceeds hospital resources, young, healthy Americans die who otherwise would have lived," a study author says.
Also, 3 preprint studies offer new clues that suggest a Wuhan market was the original source of SARS-CoV-2.
An investigation led by Canadian Food Inspection Agency scientists has identified a new and highly divergent lineage of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19 in white-tailed deer (WTD) in that country. The findings, which are not peer-reviewed, are published as a preprint study on bioRxiv.
Federal health officials have announced 45 more high-pathogenic H5 avian flu detections in waterfowl, including the first involving wild birds in Alabama, Maine, and New Jersey in the recent spread of the virus. Also, officials reported two more outbreaks involving other types of birds in New York.
One study finds no link, and the other shows a marginally higher incidence in Pfizer recipients.
New guidance eases indoor mask use for most parts of the nation, according to new baseline measures.
More than 5 million children have lost a parent or caregiver during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a modeling study published yesterday in The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health.
World Health Organization (WHO) flu vaccine strain selection advisors met this week to recommend the strains to include for the Northern Hemisphere's 2022-2023 flu season, swapping out the components for the H3N2 and influenza B Victoria lineage strains.
Our weekly wrap-up of antimicrobial stewardship & antimicrobial resistance scans
A study of influenza-associated antibiotic prescribing in California suggests that increasing influenza vaccination coverage could have a modest benefit for reducing antibiotic prescribing, researchers reported today in Epidemiology & Infection.
Severe COVID in moms was linked to pre-labor C-section, preterm birth, stillborn birth, and infant intensive care.
Fully 40% of patients who rely on prescription drugs suspect that supply chain disruptions will put them at risk.
Efforts are under way to overhaul the nation's COVID-19 strategy.
Mortality rates among children born with congenital Zika syndrome up to 3 years of age were more than 11 times higher than those without Zika, researchers reported today in the New England Journal of Medicine.
A seroepidemiologic survey of 7,010 people in Gauteng province, South Africa, before the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant outcompeted the Delta strain shows that 80% of those older than 50 years had antibodies against the virus, with most seropositivity likely generated by previous infection.
The risk is 1 case in 1 million vaccinated, compared with 200 in 1 million unvaccinated adolescents.
The WHO says the more transmissible BA.2 Omicron subvariant is now dominant in 18 nations.
A study conducted at five acute care hospitals adds further evidence of the role the hospital environment plays in Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI), researchers reported today in the American Journal of Infection Control.
Two independent UK studies published yesterday in PLOS Medicine find only a very slight risk of blood clots in the brain after receipt of the AstraZeneca/Oxford COVID-19 vaccine and none after the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine. Both studies were led by University of Edinburgh researchers.
