Coronavirus Tidbits #269 Oct 29, 2023

Study highlights potential role of statin drug in critical COVID-19 cases

Simvastatin (Zocor), the widely available statin drug used to treat high cholesterol and triglyceride levels, has a 96% probability of improving outcomes for critically ill COVID-19 patients and a 92% chance of improving survival at 3 months, according to new results from the ongoing Randomized Embedded Multifactorial Adaptive Platform for Community Acquired Pneumonia (REMAP-CAP) trial.

The global trial began in March 2020 and is ongoing. The goal of the multicenter, international trial is to see how and if different known treatments, including essential medicines, could aid COVID-19 patients.

https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/covid-19/study-highlights-potential-role-statin-drug-critical-covid-19-cases

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Covid shots may slightly increase risk of stroke in older adults, particularly when administered with certain flu vaccines

Vaccines for Covid-19 and influenza may slightly increase the risk of strokes caused by blood clots in the brains of seniors, particularly when the two vaccines are given at the same time and when they are given to adults who are age 85 and older, according to a new study.

The safety signal was detected by experts at the US Food and Drug Administration who analyzed data from Medicare claims.

It is the second study to find an elevated risk of stroke for seniors after Covid-19 and flu vaccinations given together. The US CDC and FDA issued a public communication in January explaining that one of their near real-time vaccine safety monitoring studies—called the Vaccine Safety Datalink–had picked up a small and uncertain risk of stroke for older adults who received a dose of Pfizer’s bivalent Covid-19 vaccine and a high-dose or adjuvanted flu shot on the same day. That study triggered the FDA’s broader look at strokes after vaccination noted in the medical records of seniors on Medicare.

That said, the risk identified in the FDA’s study appears to be very small—roughly 3 strokes or transient ischemic attacks for every 100,000 doses given–and the study found it may be primarily driven by the high-dose or adjuvanted flu vaccines, which are specially designed to rev up the immune system so it mounts a stronger response to the shot.

In additional analysis of the Medicare claims data, the FDA researchers found a very slightly increased risk of stroke in adults ages 65 and older who’d only gotten a high dose flu shot. In absolute terms, the extra risk from high-dose flu shots amounted to 1-2 strokes for every 100,000 doses.

“The absolute risk is miniscule,” said Dr. Steve Nissen, a cardiologist and researcher at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio. “I mean it is trivial in comparison to the risk for people over 85 of dying from Covid.”

At least five other recent studies—many launched to try to tease out this link, have not found any additional risk of stroke after vaccination for Covid-19, influenza or both.

https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/covid-shots-may-slightly-increase-000641841.html

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Israel-Hamas war sends shock waves through scientific community

Conflict has left many labs empty or in ruins

(excerpt) At Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, most of its 242 international postdoctoral students have departed, often at the insistence of their home countries, said President Daniel Chamovitz. The university is located just 41 kilometers from the Gaza border and within reach of rockets fired by Hamas and its allies. At least 50 Ben-Gurion students, staff, and faculty were killed in the Hamas attack, university officials say, including theoretical physicist Sergey Gredeskul and mathematician Viktoria Gredeskul, who were married. Others are being held hostage by Hamas.

much of Gaza’s limited scientific infrastructure is in ruins, Awartani says. Two major institutions–the Islamic University of Gaza and Al-Azhar University–have suffered extensive damage from Israeli air strikes. “It is clear that many students and faculty are dead or wounded,” Awartani says.

https://www.science.org/content/article/israel-hamas-war-sends-shock-waves-through-scientific-community?

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Research shows small reduction in long COVID with antiviral use

in JAMA Internal Medicine researchers from the National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health describe a small reduction in post-COVID condition (PCC or long COVID) among US adults ages 65 and older who were treated with either the antiviral drug nirmatrelvir (Paxlovid) or molnupiravir (Lagevrio)...

Antivirals less protective in women

In a cohort of 313,262 participants, 51,658 took nirmatrelvir during acute infection, and 8,089 took molnupiravir. PCC incidence was 11.8% among patients receiving nirmatrelvir, 13.7% for molnupiravir, and 14.5% for neither. The absolute risk reduction was 2.7% for nirmatrelvir and 0.8% for molnupiravir.

The effect was smaller among females, Asian, Black, and Hispanic race, and patients with lower incomes. The hazard ratio for females compared to males was 0.89 compared to 0.84 for nirmatrelvir, and 0.95 compared to 0.88 for molnupiravir.

[note: Metformin seems more effective in reducing risk of LongCovid:

Outpatient treatment with metformin reduced long COVID incidence by about 41%, with an absolute reduction of 4·1%, compared with placebo.

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/article/PIIS1473-3099(23)00299-2/fulltext - Carolyn Bramante et. al.]

https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/covid-19/research-shows-small-reduction-long-covid-antiviral-use

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Researchers identify amino acid that may play a key role for predicting and treating long COVID

University of Alberta researchers have identified an amino acid--taurine--that may play a key role in predicting poor clinical outcomes and the treatment of long COVID.

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-10-amino-acid-play-key-role.html?

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