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☆ U.S. hospitals report rise in severe strep A infections in kids after 15 deaths in U.K.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( Aria Bendix | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

In the U.K., at least 15 children have died from invasive group A strep since mid-September. Anyone can get invasive strep A, including healthy adults, but people over 65 and those with chronic illnesses are more susceptible. Between 1,500 and 2,300 people die of the invasive infections every year. But children's hospitals in several other states — California, New York, Illinois and Minnesota — said they have not detected any increase in invasive group A strep. It is important for kids with strep to get care right away so they can start taking antibiotics like penicillin.

Children's hospitals in Arizona, Colorado, Texas and Washington told NBC News they are seeing a higher-than-average number of cases this season compared to past years. In the U.K., at least 15 children have died from invasive group A strep since mid-September. Anyone can get invasive strep A, including healthy adults, but people over 65 and those with chronic illnesses are more susceptible. Between 1,500 and 2,300 people die of these invasive infections each year. It's important for kids with strep to get care right away so they can start taking antibiotics like penicillin.

☆ The Bahamian prison where Sam Bankman-Fried is headed is notorious for its harsh conditions, with one report detailing inmates removing human waste by bucket and living with rat infestations
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-14 | by ( Erin Snodgrass | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Fox Hill is known to be overcrowded and have unsanitary conditions, per human rights reports. The sheer number of Bahamian prisoners means Fox Hill is overpopulated, and conditions at the facility suffer as a result. Fox Hill has several different housing facilities, including a female block and sections with varying levels of security. A 2021 human rights report on the Bahamas by the US State Department revealed even more about Fox Hill. Prisoners also said they have been denied prompt medical care, as well as access to psychological care while at Fox Hill.

☆ Face masks come back to forefront amid triple threat of Covid-19, flu, RSV
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-08 | by ( Jacqueline Howard | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

Local officials mulling over masksThe US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention offers specific guidance on when masking is recommended based on its Covid-19 community levels. The agency says that people may choose to wear masks at any time but that a “high-quality mask or respirator” is recommended for everyone when a county has a “high” Covid-19 community level. As of Thursday, about 5.66% of US counties have high community levels, including some places in Arizona, Wyoming, Oregon and the Dakotas. Even without a mandate, she emphasized community efforts like wearing masks inside when possible and getting Covid-19 vaccines or boosters. “We do know that 5% of the population is living in places with a high Covid-19 community level.

☆ Emerging from the COVID pandemic, again
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-07 | by ( Michele Gershberg | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Dec 7 (Reuters) - For much of the world, 2022 marked the beginning of the end of the COVID-19 pandemic. Emerging variations of the coronavirus so far remain closely related to Omicron, without radically altering its impact. "The pandemic is over," U.S. President Joe Biden said in September, referring to the changing behavior of Americans. The World Health Organization (WHO) has yet to declare an end to the COVID public health emergency introduced in January 2020. Data show that the pandemic has disrupted all kinds of healthcare, from childhood immunizations to cancer screenings read more read more .

REUTERS/Thomas PeterDec 6 (Reuters) - China's capital Beijing dropped the need for people to show negative COVID tests to enter supermarkets and offices on Tuesday, the latest in an easing of curbs across the country following last month's historic protests. "Beijing readies itself for life again" read a headline in the government-owned China Daily newspaper, adding that people were "gradually embracing" the slow return to normality. That has sparked optimism among investors for a broader reopening of the world's second biggest economy that could boost global growth. This marks the first decline in Nomura's closely-watched China COVID lockdown index since the start of October, nearly two months ago. Reporting by Ryan Woo and Bernard Orr in Beijing; Writing by John Geddie; Editing by Simon Cameron-MooreOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ As China moves away from zero-Covid, health experts warn of dark days ahead
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-06 | by ( Simone Mccarthy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

Across the country, however, some parts of residential communities and buildings designated high risk by authorities are still locked down. A QR code for Covid-19 contact tracing displayed at the entrance to a subway station in Shanghai, China, on Monday. Top health officials on November 28 announced a new plan to bolster elderly vaccination rates, but such measures will take time, as will other preparations for a surge. Minimizing the worst outcomes in a transition out of zero-Covid depends on that preparation, according to Cowling. From that perspective, he said, “it doesn’t look like it would be a good time to relax the policies.”

HONG KONG, Dec 5 (Reuters) - China may announce 10 new COVID-19 easing measures as early as Wednesday, two sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters, supplementing 20 unveiled in November that set off a wave of COVID easing steps nationwide. Management of the disease may be downgraded as soon as January, to the less strict Category B from the current top-level Category A of infectious disease, the sources said on Monday, speaking on condition of anonymity. China will allow home quarantine for some of those testing positive, among the supplementary measures set to be announced, two sources told Reuters last week. COVID-19 could be downgraded to Category B management or even Category C, the expert told Yicai. read moreWriting by Ryan Woo; Editing by Alison Williams and Clarence FernandezOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Conditions for China to downgrade its management of COVID-19 maturing - state media
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-05 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Thomas PeterBEIJING, Dec 5 (Reuters) - Conditions for China to downgrade its management of COVID-19 as a serious contagious disease improving as the coronavirus weakens, state media outlet Yicai reported, among the first to float the idea. Category A diseases in China include bubonic plague and cholera, while SARS, AIDS and anthrax fall under Category B. Infectious diseases such as COVID-19 that have strong pathogenicity, a high fatality rate and strong infectivity are classified as Class A or Class B but managed as Class A. COVID-19 could be downgraded to Category B management or even Category C, the expert told Yicai. Any adjustment to the management of infectious diseases by the National Health Commission, China's top health authority, requires the approval of the State Council, or cabinet.

☆ RSV, flu and colds: How to tell when your child is too sick for school
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( Madeline Holcombe | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

Almost all children catch RSV at some point before they turn 2, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says. Here’s how to assess when to keep your child home from school and when to visit the pediatrician, according to experts. Ideally, public health professionals would like it if no child showing symptoms were sent to school or day care, where they could potentially spread infections Schaffner said. Again, here is where schools may have different policies and it becomes important to check with written information, a school administrator or school nurse, Wen said. “Parents should know that treating RSV and other respiratory infections is the bread and butter of pediatricians and emergency physicians,” Wen said.

☆ A 26-story pig skyscraper in China will slaughter 1 million animals a year, report says
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-26 | by ( Hannah Williams | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

China's skyscraper pig farm aims to tackle the country's growing pork demands, The Guardian reports. The Guardian reported the new tower in China is the largest "single-building pig farm in the world." Statements on the company's WeChat account analyzed by The Guardian reveal the farm-in-the-sky will house more than 600,000 animals. Animals are automatically fed via buttons in a central control room, and the pigs' waste is used to generate heating and power. Hubei Zhongxin Kaiwei Modern Farming, the company behind the development, has already sent 3,700 sows to the farm, The Guardian reported.

☆ What Covid taught scientists and the public about the flu
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-21 | by ( Caroline Hopkins | Nbc News Contributor Caroline Hopkins Is A Health | Science Journalist Who Covers Cancer Treatment For Precision Oncology News. She Is A Graduate Of The Columbia University Graduate School Of Journalism. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +10 min

Flu transmission can be stoppedThe 2020-2021 flu season — the first full flu season of the Covid pandemic — defied Tedros’ message. ‘Nonpharmaceutical interventions’ workBefore Covid, experts put limited stock in so-called nonpharmaceutical — that is, nonvaccination — strategies for preventing flu transmission. Although the airline case study taught the research community about airborne flu transmission, she said the general public’s appreciation for these risks has increased because of Covid. In that study, the researchers compared mild Covid infections with mild flu infections in mice and humans and found that the brain effects were similar around seven days post-infection. Asymptomatic flu infections may be underappreciatedThe Covid pandemic put a spotlight on the extent and risk of asymptomatic infections.

WASHINGTON — The Biden administration on Thursday sidestepped calls from pediatric groups who have been urging the government to declare a public health emergency in response to the surge in respiratory illnesses in children. As of Wednesday, 78% of pediatric hospital beds were full nationwide, with seven states reporting capacity levels above 90%, according to an NBC News analysis of data from the Department of Health and Human Services. Biden has encouraged people to get the flu shot and the updated Covid booster. “We’re already seeing a rise in the flu and RSV and other respiratory illnesses, especially among young children,” Biden said last month at the White House. We’ve made these updated vaccines easy to get and available for free at tens of thousands of convenient locations.”The Covid public health emergency, which has been extended several times since the pandemic first hit, is set to expire in January.

☆ As measles outbreak sickens children in Ohio, local health officials seek help from CDC
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-17 | by ( Jacqueline Howard | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

CNN —A growing measles outbreak in Columbus, Ohio, has sickened dozens of unvaccinated children and hospitalized nine of them, and local public health officials are seeking assistance from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. One child is 6 years old.”Health officials with Columbus Public Health and Franklin County Public Health have been investigating these cases and tracing any contacts who may have been exposed to the measles virus. In the 1950s, researchers isolated the measles virus in a patient’s blood, and in the 1960s, they were able to transform that virus into a vaccine. As of October 28, a total of 33 measles cases have been reported this year in five jurisdictions across the United States, according to the CDC. “So the possibility that someone carrying measles virus coming into the country could spread into an unvaccinated population is always there.”

☆ These transformative leaders in healthcare are dealing with an unprecedented era of politics in the medical industry amid the COVID-19 pandemic
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-15 | by ( Rebecca Torrence | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Sign up for our newsletter to get the latest healthcare news and analysis — delivered weekly to your inbox. But while the peak of the pandemic appears to be in the rearview, the healthcare industry has continued to be governed by political forces. This year, healthcare focused on transgender people and abortion rights has come under attack. Other healthcare professionals are using federal power to prevent the spread of infectious diseases other than COVID-19. Social stigma from the monkeypox outbreaks has mildly echoed the intense social and political stigma of HIV, which Daskalakis has focused on for the majority of his career.

☆ RSV hospitalization rate for seniors is 10 times higher than usual for this point in the season
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-15 | by ( Jen Christensen | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

In the years before the Covid-19 pandemic, hospitalization rates for seniors were about 10 times lower at this point in the season. Based on best estimates, there are between 10,000 and 15,000 adult deaths in the United States from RSV each year and around 150,000 hospitalizations for RSV, Falsey said. Adults with weakened immune systems need to be careful in RSV season. Doctors’ offices have swab tests that can determine whether an illness is flu, RSV or Covid. Protective measures for this busy RSV season will sound familiar: Wash your hands frequently, disinfect surfaces, and wear a mask in crowded spaces.

☆ Flu season already hitting hard across half of the US
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-11 | by ( Deidre Mcphillips | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

CNN —About half of the US – 22 states, along with Washington, DC, New York City and Puerto Rico – is reporting high or very high respiratory illness activity, as flu season sweeps through the country weeks earlier than usual. “Among the people who study flu, there’s a little saying: ‘If you’ve seen one flu season, well, you’ve seen one flu season,’ ” said Dr. William Schaffner, a professor in the Division of Infectious Diseases at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and medical director of the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases. Although the numbers are especially high for this time of year, experts say the trends are otherwise following an expected pattern, and the early arrival of flu season doesn’t necessarily mean it will last longer or be more severe. It’s not like we’re seeing a lot of hospitalizations without a lot of illness.”Flu activity has been highest in the South, CDC data shows. And millions fewer flu vaccines have been distributed this season than at this point in previous years.

☆ Thanksgiving is two weeks away. Get your updated Covid-19 shot now, health officials warn
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-10 | by ( Jacqueline Howard | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

CNN —With Thanksgiving just two weeks away, people who are eligible for an updated Covid-19 vaccine booster but still haven’t received the shot will need to roll up their sleeves Thursday to get as much protection as possible before the holiday. After getting the updated Covid-19 vaccine, that biological process can take about 10 to 14 days. Health officials say it’s fine to get the updated Covid-19 booster and flu vaccine at the same time. The vaccine candidate contains components of the companies’ updated Covid-19 booster and their investigational flu vaccine. Moderna is also developing a combined flu and Covid-19 mRNA vaccine and another combination vaccine targeting flu, Covid-19 and RSV.

The recently authorized booster vaccine protects against the original SARS-CoV-2 virus and the more recent omicron variants, BA.4 and BA.5. But there's a new batch of so-called "Scrabble" variants circulating globally. But experts still expect the shots to ramp up your immunity against all Covid variants, to some degree. The Scrabble variants are descendants of omicronThe new variants are descendants of omicron, which is a promising initial sign for the boosters. That can "restore a level of immunity and patch up the holes that some of these new Scrabble variants have found," she explains.

☆ The world is heading toward a climate catastrophe and countries want the US and other top offenders to pay up — but the GOP likely won't let that happen
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-27 | by ( Ayelet Sheffey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Recent reports from the United Nations found the world is failing to meet climate goals, and it could be catastrophic. Some developing countries are calling on the top offenders, like the US and China, to pay reparations. GOP Sen. Ron Johnson recently called climate change "bullshit," and even centrist Democrats, like Sen. Joe Manchin, expressed hesitancy with the scale of climate funding President Joe Biden proposed in his Inflation Reduction Act, which ended up including $400 billion in climate investments. As Politico reported, other countries like Scotland and Denmark have already made small pledges to fight climate change, as well. "The climate crisis is killing us," Guterres said in a statement.

☆ How concerned should you be about Covid-19 ‘Scrabble' variants? Here's what we know so far
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-25 | by ( Renée Onque | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Though BA.5 still accounts for most U.S. Covid-19 cases, percentages are rising for the other omicron variants circulating throughout the country, per the CDC. "The ones that are particularly concerning are BQ.1 and another related one called BQ.1.1. Internationally, another concerning variant, XBB, which first emerged in Singapore and hasn't been detected in the U.S., is being closely watched worldwide as it spreads quickly in other countries. The new variants were coined the "Scrabble" variants by Peter Hotez, co-director of the Center for Vaccine Development at Texas Children's Hospital, during an interview with the Houston Chronicle. The nickname refers to the letters that are used to define the variants like B, X and Q, which would rack up many points in a game of Scrabble.

Chickenpox vaccines have virtually wiped out severe complications and deaths in American children from the highly contagious virus, a new report finds. Chickenpox —which is caused by the varicella-zoster virus, a type of herpes virus — was considered just a normal part of growing up until the vaccine became available in 1995. The chickenpox vaccine implementation is “a tremendous achievement,” said the study’s lead author, Dr. Mona Marin, a medical epidemiologist at the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Disease. An estimated 90.3% of children have been vaccinated against chickenpox by age 2, according to the CDC. The CDC recommends two doses of chickenpox vaccine for children, teens and adults who have never had the disease.

☆ An early rise in respiratory viruses in children is overwhelming some hospitals
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-20 | by ( Chris Boyette | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —A surge in respiratory illnesses among children is beginning to put a strain on hospitals. In addition, hospitals are seeing a rise in cases of respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, a common cold virus that can be associated with severe disease in young children and older adults. Connecticut Children’s Hospital in Hartford is over capacity due to children admitted for RSV, WTNH reports. We’ve never seen this before, and it’s creating challenges,” Dr. Juan Salazar, executive vice president and physician-in-chief at Connecticut Children’s Hospital told WVIT. The rise in cases is also coming earlier in the year than doctors would usually expect.

☆ Fact Check-Guillain-Barré syndrome, Bell’s palsy, acute flaccid myelitis and transverse myelitis are not polio ‘renamed’
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-19 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +9 min

Guillain-Barré syndrome, Bell’s palsy, acute flaccid myelitis and transverse myelitis are not polio “renamed”, despite claims posted online. It was NEVER eradicated, it's been renamed several times, Guillian Barre, Bells Palsy, Acute Flaccid Myelitis, Transverse Myelitis... Any neurological disorder has been renamed polio.”A similar post can be found here. Though primarily seen following an acute infection, GBS can also be a rare side effect of vaccination (here). Four medical syndromes with symptoms that can include muscle weakness and paralysis are not “polio renamed”, as claimed on social media. Poliovirus infection, while extremely rare, can lead to some of these syndromes, but the syndromes themselves also have other, more common causes and distinct symptoms.

☆ Surge in cases of RSV, a virus that can severely sicken infants, is filling hospital beds
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-15 | by ( Aria Bendix | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +9 min

He tested positive for respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, a common virus that causes lung infections. Aesop was moved to a pediatric ICU on Tuesday after his heart and breathing rates soared. Many RSV patients in Massachusetts are being transferred to nearby states, she added. At Comer Children's Hospital in Chicago, hospital and ICU beds have been full for over a month. He said the volume of RSV patients is "two to three times what we've ever experienced."

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