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☆ F.D.A. Authorizes New Drug to Protect High-Risk Patients From Covid
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-25 | by ( Dani Blum | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The Food and Drug Administration has greenlit a new medicine to protect some of the people most at risk from Covid. The agency granted emergency use authorization for Pemgarda, a monoclonal antibody infusion, in immunocompromised people ages 12 and older. The drug is intended to protect against Covid for people who are not likely to mount an adequate immune response after vaccination. This includes those who have received stem cell or organ transplants and cancer patients taking medications that suppress the immune system. But, he said, it’s a vital group to protect: the people who most feel left behind at this stage in the pandemic.

Persons: It’s, ”, Michael Mina, Harvard epidemiologist, Ziyad Al, Aly Organizations: Drug Administration, Harvard, Veterans Affairs, Louis Healthcare

☆ The Measles Outbreak in Europe is a Warning to America - The New York Times
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-01 | by ( David Wallace-Wells | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

In 2022, there were 941 reported cases of measles in the World Health Organization’s European region. And it appears even more significant compared to recent years, when efforts to limit Covid also resulted in almost entirely eliminating measles in Europe in 2021. But as the year drew to a close, the European measles outbreak kept growing. Almost certainly, the virologist Rik de Swart of Erasmus University Medical Center in Rotterdam tells me, these official case totals are significant underestimates. The epidemiologist Bill Hanage, also at Harvard, lamented it to me as a “chronicle of an outbreak foretold.”

Persons: Rik de Swart, Michael Mina, Bill Hanage, ” Organizations: Health, Erasmus University Medical Center, Harvard Locations: Europe, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Britain, West Midlands, Rotterdam, Harvard

☆ Home tests still work to detect Covid-19, but here’s why your test may not pick up an infection
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-18 | by ( Brenda Goodman | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

That has led to speculation on social media that perhaps rapid tests have lost their ability to detect some of the newer coronavirus variants. “To date, the performance of currently marketed COVID-19 tests has not been adversely impacted by any new variants,” Merchak said in a statement. “That’s why the repeat testing 48 hours is so important.”Why rapid tests are often negative in kidsAnother real-world study of rapid tests identified another reason the tests sometimes don’t work well: operator error. In this study, negative rapid tests correctly meant that a child was healthy only 38% of the time. PCR tests showed that the infected kids had viral loads that should have been high enough to turn positive on rapid tests.

Persons: ”, Michael Mina, Mina, Todd Merchak, ” Merchak, ” Mina, won’t, “, Nathaniel Hafer, ” Hafer, Taiwan hadn’t, Dr, Sanjay Gupta, he’s Organizations: CNN, telltale, Twitter, National Institutes of Health, US Food and Drug Administration, Cell, RADx, FDA, CDC, University of Massachusetts, UMass Chan Medical, Rapid, CNN Health Locations: Taiwan

☆ Wait, Is That Rapid Test Really Expired?
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-29 | by ( Dani Blum | More About Dani Blum | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

If a test is delivered to you on a sweltering day, for example, the agency recommends bringing the package inside and waiting at least two hours before opening it. And always make sure the control line — which typically appears next to the “C” — shows up when you use a rapid test; otherwise, the test may be damaged or faulty. If you have Covid symptoms and someone you had been spending time with is now positive, test immediately. says to wait at least five days before testing because swabbing too early can give you a false negative. “Especially people who have been recently boosted,” he said, “if they get infected, they might become symptomatic 24 hours post-exposure, 48 hours post-exposure — really fast.”

Persons: Peter Chin, Sala, . Chin, Hong, Michael Mina, Harvard epidemiologist, ” Organizations: University of California, Harvard Locations: San Francisco

☆ The FDA has authorized the first combination at-home test for Covid and flu—here's what to know
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-01 | by ( Renée Onque | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Determining whether you have a cold, the flu or Covid-19 might be getting a little easier soon. On Friday, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorized the first over-the-counter combination test for Covid-19 and the flu for emergency use — which means you can now test yourself for the flu in the comfort of your home. "The Lucira COVID-19 & Flu Home Test is a single-use at-home test kit that provides results from self-collected nasal swab samples in roughly 30 minutes," the agency's statement says. People don't want to swab their noses three different times and spend $300 to test for Covid, flu and RSV. "I think getting it into people's homes, and hands, is just going to improve our ability to be our own best advocates for our health."

☆ Fact Check-Flu vaccine study unrelated to Group A Strep doesn't show increase of illness
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-19 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

Group A Streptococcus (GAS) is the name for bacteria that can cause infections like strep throat, scarlet fever and impetigo. However, the 2014 study examined different bacteria and found that while their numbers increased following the nasal flu vaccine, that did not lead to increased bacterial disease. A recent UK study has also found that while infections of influenza itself be linked to increased cases of Group A Strep, the nasal vaccine is associated with a reduction in bacterial infections. But it did not investigate group A strep bacteria; rather, the study investigated Streptococcus pneumoniae and Staphylococcus aureus, which Mina said in an email, are “very different” pathogens to group A strep. A 2014 study does not show the nasal spray flu vaccine causes Group A Strep.

☆ Rapid tests for Covid, RSV and flu are available in Europe. What's stopping them in the U.S.?
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-06 | by ( Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms Aria-Bendix-Byline-Jm.Jpg | Aria Bendix | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +7 min

But unlike Covid tests, which are available over the counter, RSV and flu tests must be performed at a doctor’s office or ordered via prescription. The rapid test from Brus' photo, however, is available in the European Union, and the manufacturer has certified that it meets the E.U. The FDA said it strongly supports at-home tests for respiratory viruses, including combination tests for flu and Covid. Unlike Covid tests, Butler-Wu said, there have been fewer opportunities to study whether rapid flu tests can be administered in the shallower part of the nose and maintain their accuracy. Butler-Wu said rapid flu tests given by medical professionals are generally about 60% sensitive, meaning they produce false negatives about 40% of the time.

Rapid tests have always been second to polymerase chain reaction, or PCR, assays when it comes to accuracy. Home-test kits have expiration datesAt-home COVID-19 test kits are one of the more convenient inventions to come out of the pandemic. Over-the-counter test kits typically have a sticker on the box indicating an expiration date and manufacturing date. One study found that false positives showed up when unexpected substances were directly applied to test kits. That is if you use the rapid test correctly and wait at least three-to-five days since a COVID-19 exposure to swab yourself.

Experts recommend isolating first, then taking at least two rapid tests, spaced a day or two apart. But if you don't use rapid tests in the right way at the right time, they won't provide accurate results. According to early studies from the UK and the US Food and Drug Administration, rapid tests still work. If you're planning to mingle, take a rapid test just as you arrive, not hours beforeA rapid COVID-19 test, the Abbott BinaxNow, administered by a health department in Livingston, Montana. 'One layer of reducing risk'A 4-year-old gets a rapid COVID-19 test in Palos Verdes Estates, California, on August 24.

Across the United States, cases of respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, and influenza are increasing. Influenza activity continues to increase in the US – the number of flu illnesses, hospitalizations and deaths so far this season nearly doubled in the past week. RSV cases are also increasing nationally, although there are regional differences in the circulation of these viruses, Romero said. In the South and Mountain West, RSV cases appear to have peaked in October. There are signs that RSV cases are slowing in the southern region of the US, but test positivity rates and cases continue to rise in other regions, especially the Midwest.

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