Coronavirus Tidbits #228 1/15/23

Covid:

US extends COVID health emergency

Health officials in the United States extended the COVID-19 public health emergency again, as the world closely watches developments there with XBB.1.5 and looks for clarity on China's evolving surge.

Cases and deaths are still rising. The 7-day average for new daily COVID-19 cases is 67,514, up 17% compared to a week ago, according to Washington Post tracking. By the same measure, deaths are up 8%, while hospitalizations are down 9%.

As schools resume after the holidays, some are ordering temporary mask mandates due to elevated levels of COVID and other respiratory viruses, ABC News reported.

More than 82% of XBB.1.5 sequences are from US

Along with BQ.1 subvariants, XBB.1.5 is one of the most immune evasive variants to date, the WHO said. So far, there is no evidence that illnesses involving the subvariant are more severe, and XBB.1.5 doesn't carry mutations that are known to increase severity.

https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/covid-19/who-weighs-omicron-xbb15-subvariant-us-extends-covid-health-emergency

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How Are Bivalent COVID Vaccines Stacking Up Against Omicron?

...Other US studies have shown the risk of hospitalisation was reduced by at least 38% in people who received a bivalent booster compared to those who had received two or more doses of the original vaccines. In adults over 65 the additional protection was as high as 73%.

Meanwhile, recent research suggests the bivalent boosters will offer protection against emerging omicron subvariants. Serum samples from people who received the BA.5-containing bivalent boosters had better neutralising activity against all omicron subvariants (especially BA.2.75.2, BQ.1.1, and XBB) than those who received either one or two regular boosters.

https://globalbiodefense.com/2023/01/12/how-are-bivalent-covid-vaccines-stacking-up-against-omicron/

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Covid and Sperm count

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Covid mortality:

New study out showing COVID-19 patients at one year had a much higher all cause mortality compared to those without COVID-19, 17.8% vs 4%.

https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0279333

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Long Covid:

A comprehensive review of #LongCovid has just been published https://nature.com/articles/s41579-022-00846-2… Phenomenal work by @ahandvanish @LisaAMcCorkell @juliamv @NatureRevMicro

https://rdcu.be/c3m45 w/o paywall

China: 

(Reuters) -The peak of China's COVID-19 wave is expected to last two to three months. Infections are expected to surge in rural areas as hundreds of millions travel to their home towns for the Lunar New Year holidays, which officially start from Jan. 21,

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Other:

Drop in routine vaccine coverage among US kindergarten students

In a report published today in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), researchers from the CDC said national coverage with state-required vaccines fell to 93% among kindergarten students during the 2021-22 school year, down from 94% in 2020-21 and 95% in 2019-20. Coverage with the MMR (measles, mumps, and rubella), DTaP (diptheria, tetanus, and acellular pertussis), polio, and varicella vaccines fell in most states.

Another report showed that the pandemic had less of an effect on vaccine coverage in younger children... "persistent and widening disparities" were observed for children living beneath the federal poverty level, uninsured children, Black and Hispanic children, and kids in rural areas.

https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/childhood-vaccines/another-drop-routine-vaccine-coverage-among-us-kindergarten-students

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FDA no longer needs to require animal tests before human drug trials

Science  BYMEREDITH WADMAN   10 JAN 2023

according to legislation signed by President Joe Biden in late December 2022. The change—long sought by animal welfare organizations—could signal a major shift away from animal use after more than 80 years of drug safety regulation.

In place of the 1938 stipulation that potential drugs be tested for safety and efficacy in animals, the law allows FDA to promote a drug or biologic—a larger molecule such as an antibody—to human trials after either animal or nonanimal tests. Drake’s group and the nonprofit Animal Wellness Action, among others that pushed for changes, argue that in clearing drugs for human trials the agency should rely more heavily on computer modeling, “organ chips,” and other nonanimal methods that have been developed over the past 10 to 15 years.

But pro-research groups are downplaying the law, saying it signals a slow turning of the tide—not a tsunami that will remake the drug approval process overnight.

https://www.science.org/content/article/fda-no-longer-needs-require-animal-tests-human-drug-trials

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WOAH report highlights continued use of antibiotics for animal growth

...The first of a planned annual report from the Observatory of WOAH looks at whether, and how, member states are implementing international standards for disease prevention and control, animal welfare, and veterinary public health.

With regard to antimicrobial use in animals, it shows that, of the 155 member states that submitted data for 2020 and 2021, 40 indicated using antimicrobials as growth promoters, which is deemed not to be responsible use. In addition, 21 reported using antimicrobials that have been defined by the World Health Organization as highest priority critically important antimicrobials for human medicine.

https://cidrap.umn.edu/antimicrobial-stewardship/woah-report-highlights-continued-use-antibiotics-animal-growth