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☆ Man who had COVID-19 for 400 days finally cured after getting treated with antibodies, study says
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-16 | by ( Marianne Guenot | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

A man carried COVID-19 for more than 400 days. The patient was paucisymptomatic, meaning he did not have the symptoms typical of COVID-19, like cough, fever, or loss of smell. But doctors finally managed to cure the patient by giving him anti-COVID-19 antibodies in February 2022. Though the patient's case is characteristically long, it is not the longest-ever reported infection for COVID-19. In another case, reported in June 2021, the virus mutated more than 30 times in a patient whose immune system was weakened by HIV.

☆ Biden requests $9.25 bln for COVID, $37.7 bln for Ukraine from Congress -officials
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-15 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

WASHINGTON, Nov 15 (Reuters) - The Biden administration is asking Congress for $9.25 billion to fight COVID-19 and an additional $37.7 billion to support Ukraine in its war with Russia as part of a supplemental funding request, U.S. officials said on Tuesday. The administration is also requesting $750 million to fight other infectious diseases and will be seeking additional money for natural disaster relief, the officials said. "The Congress has an opportunity and obligation to address three additional and critical funding needs that should earn bipartisan support: protecting the American people from COVID-19 and saving lives globally; supporting the people of Ukraine; and helping communities across the Nation recover from devastating natural disasters," White House budget director Shalanda Young said in letter to House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Reporting by Jeff Mason and Doina Chiacu; editing by Jonathan OatisOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ 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.

☆ Big pharma not doing enough to improve drug access - analysis
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-15 | by ( Natalie Grover | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/2] A doctor tests a child for malaria at the Ithani-Asheri Hospital in Arusha, Tanzania, May 11, 2016. While there has been progress, there remain some gaping holes that need to be prioritised in the coming years, Access to Medicine Foundation CEO Jayasree Iyer told Reuters. The findings mirror a long-established pattern - that the pharmaceutical industry will prioritise countries where there is a market, she said. "If we consistently see that the industry leaves low income countries behind, then we're never going to solve the problem of access at scale," she said. In terms of overall rankings on the Access to Medicine Index, British drugmaker GSK (GSK.L) retained the top spot, closely followed by U.S. pharma major Johnson & Johnson (J&J) (JNJ.N).

☆ 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.

☆ White House requests $37.7 billion in new Ukraine funding, $10 billion for Covid relief
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-15 | by ( Emma Kinery | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

The White House is requesting nearly $40 billion in new funding from Congress to support Ukraine and an additional $10 billion for pandemic relief. Other House Republicans like Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene said at the beginning of the month "not another penny will go to Ukraine" under Republican leadership. The formal funding request also includes $9.25 billion for Covid-19 relief and $750 million to address other infectious diseases. The White House is requesting $2.5 billion for Covid-19 vaccine access and replenishing the Strategic National Stockpile, $5 billion for further vaccine development, $750 million for long Covid research and $1 billion to international aid combatting the virus. The White House also requested an unspecified amount for natural disaster relief to help Florida and Puerto Rico rebuild from Hurricanes Ian and Fiona.

☆ Less and late: UK gives $1 bln to global disease fight
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-14 | by ( Jennifer Rigby | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON, Nov 14 (Reuters) - The British government said on Monday it would contribute 1 billion pounds ($1.18 billion) to the Global Fund to fight AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, more than six weeks after other countries made their commitments. The total, which covers 2023-25, is 30% less than Britain pledged during the previous funding round in 2019, and below the 1.8 billion pounds requested this time. Its absence had generated surprise in global health circles when other leaders committed $14.25 billion on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in September. Other G7 countries increased their donations given the unprecedented need after the pandemic disrupted efforts to tackle other urgent health needs. The Global Fund welcomed the funding, but advocacy organisations said it was not enough.

☆ 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 rise comes as other respiratory viruses, including respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, are also spreading early and rapidly. Common winter viruses tend to peak in December and January — not October and November — though it's unclear how the early and intense spread of respiratory viruses will ultimately play out this season. It's the first time since the beginning of the Covid pandemic that run-of-the-mill respiratory viruses are again circulating widely. Other respiratory viruses, including rhinoviruses and enteroviruses, are also circulating widely, and could account for some of those illnesses. "We'll probably start seeing cases rise on the West Coast in the coming weeks," said Dr. Meredith McMorrow, a pediatrician and team lead for Enhanced Surveillance Platforms at the CDC.

☆ What to do if you test positive for Covid right before a Thanksgiving or holiday gathering
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-03 | by ( Annika Kim Constantino | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

And though you might not want to think about it, testing positive for Covid just before one of those gatherings could put a real damper on your holidays. There's a short answer and a long answer, experts say. The short answer is simple: Don't go, even if you don't feel sick at all. But health officials still warn of a winter Covid surge that could wreak havoc, just like last year's winter wave of omicron cases. Here's a guide for what to do if you test positive for Covid right before a holiday gathering with loved ones:

☆ RSV vaccine for kids: Pfizer shot for pregnant women protects infants from severe illness
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-01 | by ( Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms Berkeley-Lovelace-Jr.Jpg | Berkeley Lovelace Jr. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +5 min

An experimental RSV vaccine for pregnant women from Pfizer is effective at protecting newborns against severe illness for at least six months, the company said in a press release Tuesday. The vaccine was also about 70% effective against severe infections through the first six months of life. Pfizer said in a statement that it is currently not conducting an RSV vaccine trial in infants. Pfizer's RSV vaccine could be "a major step forward so that we can attack this last really bad communicable disease of the neonatal period," Schaffner said. Aside from pregnant women, Pfizer is testing its vaccine in older adults, who are also at risk for severe RSV infections.

☆ U.S. CDC director experiences COVID rebound after taking Pfizer's Paxlovid
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-31 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Oct 31 (Reuters) - The director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Rochelle Walensky, experienced a COVID-19 rebound after completing a course of Pfizer Inc's (PFE.N) COVID-19 pill, the agency said on Monday. Walensky had experienced mild COVID-19 symptoms less than ten days ago. After completing a course of Pfizer's Paxlovid, and a period of isolation, she had tested negative for the virus, but on Sunday, she tested positive again, CDC added. Some people who took the antiviral drug have suffered from a relapse or a rebound that occurred days after the five-day treatment course had ended, studies have shown. Last month, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration asked Pfizer to test the effects of an additional course of its antiviral Paxlovid among people who had experienced a rebound in COVID-19 after treatment.

☆ New RSV vaccines may soon put an end to rough seasons
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-31 | by ( Brenda Goodman | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +15 min

The monoclonal antibody, Synagis, is given monthly during RSV season to protect preemies and other high-risk babies. In the failed RSV vaccine trial, the chemical the researchers used to deactivate the virus denatured its proteins – essentially flattening them. Four companies have RSV vaccines for adults in the final phases of human trials: Pfizer and GSK are testing vaccines for pregnant women as well as seniors. Janssen, Pfizer and GSK each appear effective at preventing infections in adults for the first RSV season after the vaccine. The vaccines for pregnant women are meant to get newborns through their first RSV season.

In the West, only about 10 people have died of monkeypox this year, figures from the U.S. CDC show. No monkeypox vaccines are publicly available in Africa. But those failures are being repeated a year on with monkeypox, the health workers consulted by Reuters said. Congo health minister Jean-Jacques Mbungani told Reuters Congo was in talks with the WHO to buy vaccines, but no formal request had been made. A WHO spokeswoman said that in the absence of available vaccines, countries should instead focus on surveillance and contact tracing.

☆ Top U.S. official urges caution with RSV, vaccine in development
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

WASHINGTON, Oct 28 (Reuters) - U.S. officials are working on a respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccine, but until one is available people should exercise caution, especially seniors and parents of young children, the nation's top infectious disease official said. A vaccine for the infectious respiratory disease will hopefully come within the next year or two, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Dr. Anthony Fauci told MSNBC in an interview. RSV is not a new virus but it is a leading cause of pneumonia in toddlers and the elderly and can lead to hospitalization or death. While there is a higher concentration of RSV impacting U.S. children at the moment, it can also be a serious disease for older adults, he added. "If you're an elderly person, you are vulnerable to the serious consequences of RSV," Fauci told MSNBC.

☆ Flu season in the US hasn't been this bad this early in more than a decade
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-28 | by ( Deidre Mcphillips | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

CNN —Flu season has ramped up early in the United States, and flu hospitalizations are worse than usual for this time of year, according to data published Friday by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It’s been more than a decade – since the H1N1 swine flu pandemic – since flu hospitalization rates have been this high at this point in the season. “We’re in a bit of a race with the virus,” he said, with the flu season starting at least a month earlier than usual. “The flu season will be with us for at least a few more months. And the flu season is ramping up amid the surge of RSV that is filling pediatric hospitals and an ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.

☆ U.S., allies slam Russia for wasting U.N. Security Council time
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-27 | by ( Michelle Nichols | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

REUTERS/Eduardo MunozUNITED NATIONS, Oct 27 (Reuters) - The United States and allies slammed Russia on Thursday for wasting the time of the U.N. Security Council and spreading conspiracies by again raising its accusation that the United States has "military biological programs" in Ukraine. Russia has previously raised at least twice at the Security Council the issue of biological weapons programs in Ukraine. It has drafted a Security Council resolution to set up a commission, made up of all 15 council members, to investigate its claims. Such a move is possible - but has never been invoked - under the Biological Weapons Convention, which took effect in 1975. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield described Russia's accusations as "pure fabrications brought forth without a shred of evidence."

That there is no RSV vaccine for kids is not for lack of interest, experts say. But a trial gone wrong many years ago and a tricky target protein have made developing an RSV vaccine difficult. Researchers’ attempts to develop an RSV vaccine go back decades, according to Dr. Ofer Levy, the director of the Precision Vaccines Program at Boston Children's Hospital. In August, Pfizer announced that its experimental RSV vaccine was nearly 86% effective in preventing severe illness in adults ages 60 and older. GSK, however, said it abandoned its efforts last year to develop a pediatric RSV vaccine, because trials suggested it wasn't effective.

☆ RSV: Pandemic 'immunity gap' is probably behind surge in respiratory cases, scientists say
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-26 | by ( Jen Christensen | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

That “immunity gap” from the last few years is probably behind the “unprecedented” early surge in RSV infections this year, scientists say – and it has thrown other seasonal respiratory viruses out of whack around the world. Across the US, the number of flu cases has also been increasing a little earlier than usual. A handful of schools have seen large absences, and medical offices say they are seeing more people sick with other respiratory viruses at times that don’t fit the usual patterns. Like Covid-19, RSV and the flu spread through droplets released into the air when people cough or sneeze. The pandemic behaviors created an “immunity gap” or “immunity debt” that makes more people in the US vulnerable to diseases like RSV.

☆ Surge of viruses leaves children’s hospitals scrambling to free up beds and find room for patients
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-25 | by ( Aria Bendix | Aria Bendix Is The Breaking Health Reporter For Nbc News Digital. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +6 min

Every inpatient bed at Comer Children’s Hospital in Chicago has been full for more than six weeks. Many of the patients at Comer Children’s have RSV, or respiratory syncytial virus, which can cause lung infections. Some hospitals are sending ICU patients directly home once their cases are no longer acute, rather than to another floor. Dr. Kevin Messacar, an infectious disease specialist at Children’s Hospital Colorado, said his hospital is accepting patients from five nearby states. But suctioning can be tricky for parents, according to Dr. Elizabeth Schlaudecker, an infectious disease specialist at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital.

☆ Fact Check-Boston University hybrid COVID virus kills 80% of mice, not people
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-25 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

The authors then infected different sets of transgenic mice designed to be susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 with one of the three strains: Omicron, the ancestral virus, or the Omi-S hybrid virus (here). In the study, 100% of mice infected with the ancestral virus strain died, while 80% of those infected with Omi-S died, and none of the mice infected with Omicron died. Others shared the claim that the Omi-S had an “80% kill rate,” without specifying whether this referred to mice or humans. The ancestral virus (the viruses as they were when introduced in Europe and the US) in this mouse model kills 100% of the animals. Early in the pandemic, the fatality rate of the ancestral virus for people in a multicountry European analysis was estimated at about 4% (here).

An unseasonal early surge of respiratory viruses among babies and toddlers has caught doctors off guard and worried about the coming months. "There is no one virus that's causing pediatric respiratory viruses this fall," said Dr. Deanna Behrens, a pediatric critical care physician at Advocate Children's Hospital in suburban Chicago. CDCWhile RSV is inundating many children's hospitals, the number of pediatric flu cases is also increasing. But the fact that kids are testing positive for multiple respiratory viruses at once can blur the signs of any one virus. In addition to RSV, Combs expects the number of pediatric flu illnesses to double in the coming weeks.

☆ RSV in children: Symptoms, treatment and what parents should know
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-23 | by ( Jen Christensen | ) 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. That way, they know whether a sick child can be treated at home or needs to go to a hospital. Here’s what else parents need to know amid the surge of respiratory illnesses. When it comes to RSV, parents should be especially cautious if their children are preemies, newborns, children with weakened immune systems or neuromuscular disorders, and those under age 2 with chronic lung and heart conditions, the CDC says. And most of all, if anyone is sick – child or adult – they should stay home so they don’t spread the illness.

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