infectious diseases

Melting ice, the source of the next pandemic?

Leave a Comment / Featured, infectious diseases, News, Newsletter / chris

The next pandemic may come not from bats or birds but from matter in melting ice, according to new data. www.theguardian.com/science/2022/oct/19/next-pandemic-may-come-from-melting-glaciers-new-data-shows? Genetic analysis of soil and lake sediments from Lake Hazen, the largest high Arctic freshwater lake in the world, suggests the risk of viral spill over – where a virus infects a new host […]

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US virologists splice two monkeypox strains

Leave a Comment / Featured, infectious diseases, News, Newsletter / chris

In a US government lab in Bethesda, Maryland, virologists plan to equip the strain of the monkeypox virus that spread globally this year, causing mostly rash and flulike symptoms, with genes from a second monkeypox strain that causes more serious illness. Then they’ll see whether any of the changes make the virus more lethal to

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Scientists create a deadlier Omicron variant

Leave a Comment / covid, Featured, infectious diseases, News, Newsletter, sars-cov-2 / chris

Twitter exploded with outrage last week about a study in which scientists engineered the spike protein of Omicron—the fast-spreading but relatively mild variant of SARS-CoV-2 that’s now pervasive—into a deadlier strain of the coronavirus found in Washington state early in the pandemic. www.science.org/content/article/news-glance-climate-justice-ethical-mask-wearers-and-cdc-under-trump The objective was to learn whether the protein alone explains Omicron’s lower

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Moderna will provide 100 million COVID-19 vaccine doses to Gavi

Leave a Comment / covid, Featured, infectious diseases, News, Newsletter, sars-cov-2 / chris

Moderna Inc. will provide as many as 100 million doses of COVID-19 shots that specifically target variants for vaccine alliance GAVI to distribute in lower-income countries in 2023. Under the agreement, Moderna will supply these mRNA variant-targeting shots for GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance, at the lowest of its tiered prices. The shots will then be

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CDC votes to add COVID-19 vaccines to child immunisation schedules

Leave a Comment / covid, Featured, infectious diseases, News, Newsletter, sars-cov-2 / chris

Independent advisers of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) voted 15-0 last Thursday to add most COVID-19 vaccines offered in the US to the childhood, adolescent and adult immunization schedules. www.politico.com/news/2022/10/20/cdc-advisers-recommend-adding-covid-shots-to-routine-schedules-for-kids-adults-00062739? The immunization schedules, which are updated every autumn before going into effect the following year, consolidate all of the CDC’s vaccine

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China doubles down on “zero-COVID” strategy

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Chinese President Xi Jinping touted his country’s “zero-COVID” strategy at the just concluded Communist Party’s National Congress, dashing any hopes that China’s rigid regime of quarantines, mass testing, and lockdowns may soon come to an end. www.science.org/content/article/news-glance-climate-justice-ethical-mask-wearers-and-cdc-under-trump The strategy has crimped the economy, and public health experts say the obstacles to lifting it are now

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Study finds long-COVID eases with time

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Long COVID eases with time, according to a study that found about 1% of coronavirus patients had persistent symptoms for a year or more. In the first rigorous assessment of the magnitude of long COVID on a global scale, researchers found 6.2% of people who had COVID-19 in the pandemic’s first two years experienced at

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Pfizer quadruples price of COVID-19 vaccines

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Pfizer’s plan to quadruple US prices for its COVID-19 vaccine next year is beyond Wall Street’s expectations and will spur its revenue for years despite weaker than anticipated demand for the new booster shot so far, analysts said. www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/pfizer-covid-vaccine-price-hike-seen-giving-revenue-boost-years-2022-10-21/? The drugmaker, which developed and sells the vaccine with Germany’s BioNTech (22UAy.DE), said on Thursday evening

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BQ.1 Omicron strains increasing in prevalence

Leave a Comment / covid, Featured, infectious diseases, News, Newsletter, sars-cov-2 / chris

United States (US) health regulators on Friday estimated that BQ.1 and closely related BQ.1.1 accounted for 16.6% of coronavirus variants in the country, nearly doubling from last week, while Europe expects them to become the dominant variants in a month. The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control said the variants are likely to drive

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COVID-19 deaths rise in England and Wales

Leave a Comment / covid, Featured, infectious diseases, News, Newsletter, sars-cov-2 / chris

The number of COVID-related deaths in England and Wales increased by nearly 40% in a week and reached their highest number since August. The latest data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) shows some 400 deaths registered in the seven days to 7 October mentioned coronavirus on the death certificate. The figure climbed 39%

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