Nursing homes in US states with COVID-19 vaccine mandates for healthcare workers saw a 7 percentage-point increase in staff vaccine uptake over homes in non-mandate states during a 5-month period in 2021, with no worsening of worker shortages, finds a study published late last week in JAMA Health Forum.
A systematic review and meta-analysis published yesterday in BMJ estimates that 5.6% of COVID-19 survivors may face long-lasting changes to their sense of smell or taste, adding to concerns about the overall burden of long COVID.
Over 40% of the US public health workforce plans to leave their jobs within the next 5 years, and 51% said more staff were needed to respond to COVID-19, according to findings from a 2021 survey published today in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR).
A new study published in Applied Economics Letter estimates long COVID symptoms have forced 80,000 UK residents out of employment as of March of this year.
The estimate is based on data that show 5.5% of people infected with COVID-19 will develop chronic illness symptoms that limit their activity, including shortness of breath, brain fog, and headaches.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) yesterday said it and health officials in multiple state are investigating Salmonella outbreaks tied to backyard poultry that have sickened 219 people, 1 fatally, in 38 states.
A study of 4,737 COVID-19 patients in Israel conducted during the Omicron surge concludes that Pfizer's antiviral drug Paxlovid roughly halves the risk of severe COVID-19 or death, according to findings published yesterday in Clinical Infectious Diseases.
Symptomatic COVID-19 cases are responsible for more viral transmission than asymptomatic infections, suggests an updated systematic review and meta-analysis of 130 studies published yesterday in PLOS Medicine.
While COVID-19–related thyroid inflammation usually resolves shortly after the acute illness, about half of participants in a study presented today at the 24th European Congress of Endocrinology still had thyroid abnormalities a year later. The congress is being held May 21 to 24 in Milan, Italy.
A systematic review and meta-analysis of clinical trials of antibiotic treatment for children with community-acquired pneumonia provides further support for shorter treatment duration, Finnish researchers reported yesterday in Clinical Infectious Diseases.
A related study shows how responding quickly to food illness outbreaks saves lives and significant money.
