Coronavirus & Monkeypox Tidbits #214 10/9/22

Covid:

WHO and its partners are tracking more than 300 Omicron subvariants.

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France warns over incoming eighth Covid wave

French officials have raised the alarm over the eighth wave of the Covid-19 virus, as winter approaches, Reuters reported on Tuesday. "We are in this eighth wave," said Brigitte Autran, a member of the government's vaccination strategic board, pointing out that all indicators are up. The last figures showed an increase in the number of new daily confirmed cases, recording a seven-day average of 41,661 new positive cases.

https://euobserver.com/tickers/156209?utm_source=euobs&utm_medium=email

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Will there be a COVID winter wave? 

Emerging variants and waning immunity are likely to push infections higher in the northern hemisphere as influenza also makes a comeback.

Evidence is building that the northern hemisphere is on course for a surge of COVID-19 cases this autumn and winter. New immune-evading strains of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, behaviour changes, and waning immunity mean that many countries could soon see large numbers of COVID infections — and potentially hospitalizations — say scientists.

Nature explores the factors that might drive a COVID-19 wave — and what countries can do to blunt the effects with the new generation of vaccines that target Omicron.

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-03157-x

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"We have plenty still to understand about long COVID, particularly in the vaccinated population, but Al-Aly estimates that 8% to 12% of vaccinated people with breakthrough infections may die due to long COVID.

2/

— Yaneer Bar-Yam (@yaneerbaryam) October 8, 2022

"An analysis of over 150,000 COVID-19 survivors ..found that people with coronavirus are at increased risk of developing neurologic sequelae–including strokes, cognition and memory problems, seizures, movement disorders, and many other issues–in the first year after infection.3/

"The risks of developing these long-term complications were apparent even in people who did not require hospitalization during their initial infection. “The results show the profound long-term consequences of COVID-19,” 4/

"According to the researcher’s estimate, COVID is responsible for more than 40 million new neurologic cases. A key caveat: The study period mostly predated vaccines. 5/

"However, Al-Aly says, “We know that vaccines minimally reduce and do not eliminate long COVID risk.” Indeed, a large study found that vaccines were only about 15% effective at preventing long COVID. 6/...

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Ohio and Florida data show more Republican excess COVID-19 deaths

New statistics from Ohio and Florida published by the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) show that Republicans have suffered more COVID-related excess deaths than Democrats, adding to the literature that demonstrates the link between political party affiliation, vaccination uptake, and COVID-19 mortality.

To conduct the study, researchers linked voter registration data in Ohio and Florida to mortality data to assess the individual-level association between political party affiliation and excess mortality.

The data show that the excess COVID-19 death rate for Republicans was 5.4 percentage points, or 76%, higher than the excess death rate for Democrats, and it increased after vaccines became widely available. After the introduction of vaccines, the excess death rate gap between Republicans and Democrats widened from 1.6 percentage points (22% of the Democrat excess death rate) to 10.4 percentage points (153% of the Democrat excess death rate).

Sep 30 NBER working paper

https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2022/10/covid-19-scan-oct-04-2022

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Saline Nasal Irrigation After Covid-19 Diagnosis Reduces Hospitalization

A new study from the Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University has found that irrigating your nose twice a day with a saline solution after testing positive for Covid-19 can decrease your chances of hospitalization and death in higher-risk patients.

Participants in the study who performed nasal irrigation were more than eight times less likely to be hospitalized than the national rate. Only 1.3% of study participants who used nasal irrigation were hospitalized after testing positive for Covid-19. While 9.47% of Covid patients from a national CDC dataset who did not use nasal irrigation were hospitalized.

Irrigating your sinuses is a simple practice anyone can implement at home using a neti pot, sinus rinse bottle, or syringe bulb available at a pharmacy or retailer like Target or Walmart. You can buy pre-made mixes or simply mix a half-teaspoon of salt and a half-teaspoon of baking soda in a cup of boiled and then cooled or distilled water. The water needs to be boiled or distilled to ensure it is sanitary. Many people often use these devices to clear up allergies, colds, or sinus infections.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/williamhaseltine/2022/10/03/saline-nasal-irrigation-after-covid-19-diagnosis-reduces-hospitalization/?sh=15a67d9f323c

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Paywalled, but: #Molnupiravir, Merck’s Covid-19 pill, was no better than placebo in lowering the risk of hospitalization https://t.co/VOyXHXpCgf via @statnews

— Judy Stone (@DrJudyStone) October 8, 2022

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We knew about how #SARSCoV2 blocks our defenses by its mutations (immune escape) and inhibiting interferon. Now a new mechanism, mimicking a protein, described @Nature https://t.co/oKQxK6PgK8@PennEpiInst @KorbLab https://t.co/t5Pbj2emWN@ProfVolkerThiel pic.twitter.com/nu79A5Ef4u

— Eric Topol (@EricTopol) October 5, 2022

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the bits of DNA that are the gene to be expressed have to be unwound, so Histones are part of the regulation of genes being expressed.

— STEMLORD (@upulie) October 6, 2022

One of the genes encoded by SARS-CoV-2 mimics these histones. It can stop the DNA being rewound correctly; and alters the epigenome - which is a bunch of modifications that alter gene expression and a genetic memory of say, things that happen to some cells.

Because this gene mimics histones, this can alter the ability of the cell/body to express other genes effectively, making it doubly harder to deal with the infection. It's a diabolical virus, up there with HIV for sheer host disruptive genius.

Monkeypox:

The monkeypox virus is mutating. Are scientists worried?

In some samples, large chunks of the virus’s genome have disappeared — but understanding whether the mutations affect its behaviour will be difficult.

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-03171-z

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Monkeypox studies suggest ways to reduce viral spread https://t.co/meO8z0Ew6L via @medical_xpress

— Judy Stone (@DrJudyStone) October 8, 2022

Ebola:

CDC issues Ebola alert for clinicians, officials announce airport screening

Travelers will need to be routed through one of five airports for enhanced screening. The locations are Newark, Atlanta, Chicago, or Washington, DC.

Influenza:

https://twitter.com/michaelzlin/status/1578659654086770688?s=20&t=0qeJe7s43fUAac4k07Uuqw

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As of 01oct2022 (thats a week ago)
Georgia and DC hardest, Texas as well

Outpatient Respiratory Illness Visits in 2022 are significantly higher than this week in 2021

Outpatient Respiratory visits are more than double a traditional year (not good)

Consider discussing flu vax pic.twitter.com/afhi1ZHypY

— JusDayDa (@JusDayDa) October 8, 2022

Other: Cholera

in Syria, Lebanon, Haiti, other...