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For refugees, the biggest predictor of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), health anxiety, depression, or disability during COVID-19 was if their pandemic experiences triggered memories of past trauma, according to survey results published today in the European Journal of Psychotraumatology.
The news comes as a phase 1 trial shows that a third dose of the Pfizer vaccine elicited a greater immune response against the Beta and Delta variants.
Also, WHO airs concerns about COVID-19 spread amid interrupted vaccination efforts in Afghanistan.
Neither NFL nor NCAA football games were associated with increased community cases.
The Ivory Coast yesterday launched an Ebola vaccination campaign aimed at frontline health workers and other high-risk groups, part of the response into an imported Ebola case involving a woman who had just arrived from Guinea.
China's CoronaVac COVID-19 vaccine is tied to a slight increased risk of Bell's palsy, while the Fosun/BioNTech (Pfizer/BioNTech's parallel product in China) did not show a significantly increased risk, according to a study yesterday in The Lancet Infectious Diseases. Both the researchers and a related commentary conclude that COVID-19 vaccines' benefits outweigh the risks.
For the first time since February, the US topped 900,000 cases in a week, and more kids are hospitalized than ever before.
A WHO official says the case is concerning because it was detected in Abidjan, a city of 4 million people, but it's not linked to an earlier outbreak in Guinea.
Vaccination is key to protect adult household members, an editorial on the study notes.
An analysis of hospitalized geriatric patients found that rigorous de-escalation and curtailing of antibiotics was associated with reductions in hospital readmission and mortality, US researchers reported last week in JAC-Antimicrobial Resistance.
US wildfires were associated with excess COVID-19 cases and deaths from mid-August to mid-October 2020, according to a study published late last week in Science Advances.
Also, two states with relatively high vaccination rates are seeing COVID-19 surges.
Japan and Thailand report record daily cases, and South Korea says its fourth surge hasn't peaked yet.
"The science teams have done remarkable work. It's not a science problem; it's an economics problem."
The authors say factors could include high patient numbers and underestimating airborne transmission.
Our weekly wrap-up of antimicrobial stewardship & antimicrobial resistance scans
Outpatient antibiotic use in British Columbia has declined by more than 23% over the last two decades, driven by significant decreases in pediatric use, Canadian researchers reported yesterday in JAC-Antimicrobial Resistance.
COVID-19 transmission among households was three times more likely if the household had a high living density, according to a study yesterday in Clinical Infectious Diseases. Higher living density is defined as having more than three household members but fewer than six rooms.
The next study phase includes examining raw data and stored blood samples.
Also, two states make up 30% of COVID hospitalizations, and third doses for immunocompromised people are likely.
