Pandemic News and Research

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A pandemic is a global disease outbreak. During a pandemic, transmission can be anticipated in the workplace, not only from patient to workers in health care settings, but also among co-workers in general work settings. A pandemic would cause high levels of illness, death, social disruption, and economic loss. Everyday life would be disrupted because so many people in so many places become seriously ill at the same time. Impacts could range from school and business closings to the interruption of basic services such as public transportation and food delivery.

Improving public health communication in African epidemics: Lessons learned and future directions

During epidemics of Ebola, COVID-19, Zika and other public health emergencies, effective communication of public health messages is crucial to control the spread of disease, maintain public trust, and encourage compliance with health measures.

25 Apr 2024

Racial disparities found in delayed COVID-19 testing among healthcare workers

At the height of the pandemic, timely access to COVID-19 testing was crucial for curbing the spread of the disease and informing treatment decisions.

25 Apr 2024

Putting genomic surveillance of pathogens at the forefront of future pandemic preparedness

The Covid-19 pandemic turned the world upside down. In fighting it, one of our most important weapons was genomic surveillance, based on whole genome sequencing, which collects all the genetic data of a given microorganism.

25 Apr 2024

Bivalent COVID-19 vaccine boosts immunity but needs to be updated

A major bivalent COVID-19 vaccine induces production of neutralizing antibodies against the coronavirus that circulated at the start of the pandemic as well as subvariants of omicron, albeit less abundantly, according to a Brazilian study reported in the Journal of Medical Virology.

25 Apr 2024

154 million lives saved: Landmark study highlights power of vaccination

A major landmark study to be published by The Lancet reveals that global immunization efforts have saved an estimated 154 million lives – or the equivalent of 6 lives every minute of every year – over the past 50 years.

25 Apr 2024

New tARC-seq method enhances precision in tracking SARS-CoV-2 mutations

A tARC-seq approach to precisely determine SARS-CoV-2 mutation frequency.

24 Apr 2024

Repurposed nasal antibiotic neomycin shows promise in preventing and treating respiratory viral infections

Intranasal administration of neomycin sulfate in murine models shows promise as a prophylactic and therapeutic agent against respiratory viruses like influenza A and SARS-CoV-2 by inducing interferon-stimulated gene (ISG) expression, independent of microbiota and interferon activation.

24 Apr 2024

Global study reveals mismatch in COVID-19 treatment guidelines with WHO standards

Study assesses global discrepancies in COVID-19 management guidelines across WHO member states, revealing that many national guidelines do not fully align with WHO recommendations, especially in lower-resource countries.

23 Apr 2024

Innovative peptide-based hydrogel therapy for virus prevention

Vaccines remain the gold standard of protection against dangerous pathogens, but take considerable time and vast resources to develop.

23 Apr 2024

Research highlights best window for paxlovid administration in COVID-19 patients

Researchers have described the optimal timing for COVID-19 patients to take the antiviral, Paxlovid, to get the most benefit from the treatment, according to a study published April 16 in eLife.

23 Apr 2024

Analysis finds significant variations in national COVID-19 treatment recommendations

National clinical guidelines for the treatment of COVID-19 vary significantly around the world, with under-resourced countries the most likely to diverge from gold standard (World Health Organization; WHO) treatment recommendations, finds a comparative analysis published in the open access journal BMJ Global Health.

23 Apr 2024

Cost becomes a significant factor in smoking cessation efforts

Health concerns are still the primary motive for more than half of those who say they want to stop smoking in England, but cost is now a key factor for more than 1 in 4, finds an analysis of national survey responses, published in the open access journal BMJ Public Health.

23 Apr 2024

U-M launches interprofessional digital wellness class for sixth graders

Sixth grader Sera Bergman confesses she spends a significant amount of time watching reels—and enjoys it, like most kids her age.

23 Apr 2024

New QR4 algorithm outperforms previous models in predicting cardiovascular disease risk

A new cardiovascular risk prediction algorithm.

23 Apr 2024

Unsheltered people are losing Medicaid in redetermination mix-ups

On a cold February morning at the Flathead Warming Center, Tashya Evans waited for help with her Medicaid application as others at the shelter got ready for the day in this northwestern Montana city.

23 Apr 2024

California legislators debate froot loops and free condoms

California state lawmakers this year are continuing their progressive tilt on health policy with dozens of proposals including a ban on a Froot Loops ingredient and free condoms for high schoolers.

23 Apr 2024

Rising costs fuel quit-smoking surge in England amid health advice dip

Researchers investigate the factors that motivate smokers to quit smoking to ultimately determine the influence of COVID-19 on smoking cessation.

23 Apr 2024

Study discovers hidden mechanism behind rapid COVID variants

The SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID has the unsettling ability of often generating variants of itself. Other viruses also mutate, but as SARS-CoV-2 quickly spread throughout the entire human population during the pandemic, killing millions, the virus' dynamic evolution posed a serious problem: it repeatedly challenged our bodies' immune response fighting the virus and hindered the process of getting updated vaccines ready.

23 Apr 2024

Healthy plant-based diets cut mortality risks for Spain's seniors

A study spanning 12 years reveals that moderate adherence to a healthful pro-vegetarian diet significantly reduces mortality risks from cardiovascular disease and all causes among Spanish adults over 65.

23 Apr 2024

Does diabetes increase the risk of long COVID?

A recent study in eClinicalMedicine assesses whether individuals with diabetes are more susceptible to developing long COVID, analyzing a UK cohort to explore the prolonged impact of SARS-CoV-2 infection in this population.

22 Apr 2024