New Omicron subvariant swamping the U.S. escapes immunity from vaccination and previous infections, new studies say
Scientists have found that the newly dominant Omicron subvariants, BA.4 and BA.5, are evading vaccine and infection-acquired immunity. The subvariants recently caused a fresh wave of infections in South Africa and are pushing the U.K. to the brink of another wave of the disease. CDC data showed that BA.5 recently became the dominant subvariant […]
Most long-COVID sufferers battle neurological symptoms, including some cognitive issues never seen before
People continue to experience neurological problems six months after recovering from a COVID-19 infection, finds a recent study from the University of California San Diego. In fact, scientists say most coronavirus long-haulers battle brain-related issues. The findings are part of a long-term study tracking the progression of neurological symptoms in people with long COVID. Not only […]
Drug companies sidestepping the WHO’s technology transfer hub in Africa
Pharmaceutical company Moderna announced on 7 March 2022 that it would develop a site in Kenya to manufacture COVID-19 vaccines. The company holds much of the key intellectual property relating to the messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines. Due to their higher efficacy, mRNA vaccines are the preferred option in developed countries. They account for 92% of […]
Artificial intelligence may be the only way researchers can solve the perplexing puzzle of Long COVID. It ’s already categorizing patients and even identifying them
Long COVID may be too big a problem for humans to solve—alone, at least. Increasingly, researchers are turning to artificial intelligence to help them sort through the electronic medical records of millions of long-COVID patients in hopes of better understanding the enigmatic condition with hundreds of potential symptoms. In some cases, A.I. is helping patients: […]
Omicron Hit Rural America Harder Than Cities
The omicron wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in late 2021 and early 2022 spread like a grass fire in America’s densely populated cities but led to higher rates of death in rural counties where vaccinations are lagging. The latest study by the University of Cincinnati, published in the journal Frontiers in Medicine, revealed striking disparities in health care […]
Catching Omicron variant ‘does NOT provide immunity from reinfection’, scientists reveal – saying it helps explain the continued rise in cases
Covid sufferers who caught the Omicron variant will not be protected from catching it again, according to scientists at Imperial College London. The investigators say Omicron and its evolutions could explain why Covid cases remain higher than predicted in the UK. Earlier studies found that past illnesses with Covid provided some immunity against re-infection – […]
Can long Covid lead to death? A new analysis suggests it could
The CDC is beginning to look at death certificates that indicate more than 100 people who died had long Covid. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is analyzing more than 100 deaths that could be attributed to long Covid by looking at death certificates from across the country over the last two years, according […]
Lives Cut Short: COVID-19’s Heavy Burden on Older Latinos
The coronavirus pandemic has eaten away at the Latino edge in life expectancy in staggering fashion, and taken a disproportionate toll on older members of the community compared with whites. LOS ANGELES – In December 2020, about 10 months into the COVID-19 pandemic, Javier Perez-Torres boarded a bus from Los Angeles to Tijuana, Mexico, to […]
Doctors, nurses risked their lives to battle COVID. Now they’re facing a mental health crisis
COVID hospitalizations and deaths may be down from their surge peaks, but the nation’s hospitals and clinics still face a population in crisis: the healthcare workers themselves. Overworked medical professionals, who risked their health and their families’ well-being to help patients through the pandemic, are now dealing with a public that is increasingly distrustful in a politicized environment where hospital violence […]
Covid was vanishing last Memorial Day. Cases are five times higher now.
For the third year, Americans are greeting the unofficial start of summer shadowed by the specter of the coronavirus amid rising covid-19 cases and hospitalizations across the country. The United States is recording more than 100,000 infections a day — at least five times higher than this point last year — as it confronts the […]
