Coronavirus Tidbits 281, February 11, 2024

https://twitter.com/JPWeiland/status/1756098652735418579?s=20

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Review of Long Covid in Children:

https://publications.aap.org/pediatrics/article/doi/10.1542/peds.2023-062570/196606/Postacute-Sequelae-of-SARS-CoV-2-in-Children?

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'An estimated 5.8 million children have had symptoms of long COVID, study shows' 'The Columbia study indicates that fatigue and malaise are the most common manifestations of pediatric long COVID..'

https://www.newsday.com/news/health/coronavirus/long-covid-children-study-columbia-i88fc0ev

New analysis reveals many excess deaths attributed to natural causes are actually uncounted COVID-19 deaths

Published in the journal PNAS, the study compared reported COVID-19 deaths to excess deaths due to non-COVID natural causes, such as diseases and chronic illnesses, and found that increases in non-COVID excess deaths occurred at the same time or in the month prior to increases in reported COVID-19 deaths in most US counties.

Focusing on excess deaths by natural causes rather than all-cause excess death estimates provides a more accurate understanding of the true number of deaths attributable to COVID-19,

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-02-analysis-reveals-excess-deaths-attributed.html

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COVID-19 behind thousands of excess US deaths, analysis shows A total of 162,886 of these excess natural-cause deaths (90% PI, 14,276 to 308,480) were not reported as COVID-19.

https://cidrap.umn.edu/covid-19/covid-19-behind-thousands-excess-us-deaths-analysis-shows

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COVID-19 vaccination in pregnancy was not associated with any increased risks in newborn infants.

On the contrary, the study of nearly 200,000 newborns in Sweden and Norway showed that babies born by women who chose to be vaccinated were less likely to suffer serious complications, including death. The mortality rate was only half as high in babies whose mothers had been vaccinated.

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-02-covid-vaccine-pregnant-women-safe.html

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Supreme Court to weigh whether Covid misinformation is protected speech

[This could be a nightmare with the next outbreak and no ability to combat misinformation]

https://www.statnews.com/2024/02/06/supreme-court-covid-misinformation-public-health-free-speech/?

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Covid Challenge Study - 

Direct intranasal challenge of #SARSCoV2 in young, healthy volunteers spotlights the importance of early mucosal IgA immune response and T cells (CD8+) for virus clearance https://science.org/doi/10.1126/sciimmunol.adj9285…

[Raises question to me of ethics and adequacy of the informed consent]

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Vaccine advisory committee in shambles

eight vacancies on what in recent years has been a 15-person panel. 4 of the remaining have terms expiring in June.

Read more about the ACIP (Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices) here.

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Immune response, not acute viral infections, responsible for neurological damage

For years, there has been a long-held belief that acute viral infections like Zika or COVID-19 are directly responsible for neurological damage, but researchers from McMaster University have now discovered that it's the immune system's response that is behind it.

The research, published on Feb. 5, 2024, in Nature Communications, was led by Elizabeth Balint, a Ph.D. student at McMaster, and Ali Ashkar, a professor with the Department of Medicine and the Canada Research Chair in Natural Immunity and NK Cell Function.

"We were interested in trying to understand why so many viral infections are associated with neurological diseases," says Balint. "Our evidence suggests that it's not the virus itself that causes the damage, but a unique population of T cells, which are part of the immune system, that are actually responsible for the damage."

"What was interesting in our study is that although we did find some T cells specific for Zika, we identified cells that weren't functioning like a normal T cell and were killing lots of cells that weren't infected with Zika."

These cells are called NKG2D+CD8⁺ T cells and researchers say their aggressive response is responsible for neurological damage suffered from infections beyond just Zika, like COVID-19 and even septic shock.

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-02-immune-response-acute-viral-infections.html

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Good news re Census Bureau!

Another advocacy win! After pushback from disability and Long COVID advocates, the Census Bureau halted survey changes that would artificially reduce disability numbers by 40%, and limit access to resources for housing, schools, program benefits etc.

https://apnews.com/article/census-disabilities-american-community-survey-27ef3422add65df9d6b1ad8798fefede

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Other:

Maryland and Ohio confirm new measles cases

Two states—Maryland and Ohio—reported more measles cases, part of an ongoing rise in detections related to an overall increase in global activity.

The Maryland Department of Health reported an infection in a Montgomery County resident who had recently traveled internationally. In a statement, officials warned the public about possible exposures at Washington's Dulles International Airport, an apartment complex in Silver Springs, and a hospital emergency department.

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CDC: Acute flaccid myelitis cases low since 2018, for reasons unknown

In 2014, 2016, and 2018, the United States saw an uptick in enterovirus-D68 (EV-D68) infections and a subsequent rise in acute flaccid myelitis (AFM) cases, a severe neurologic condition that can result in paralysis.

The pandemic likely disrupted the biannual pattern of infection in 2020, but an uptick in EV-D68 respiratory illnesses in 2022 did not lead to a matching increase in AFM cases, according to findings in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. AFM cases have remained low since 2018, for reasons unknown,

https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/acute-flaccid-myelitis/cdc-acute-flaccid-myelitis-cases-low-2018-reasons-unknown

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Vending machines help Brits self-test for STIs

...are an effective and acceptable means of reaching people who rarely or never get tested, find the results of a year-long pilot, published in the journal Sexually Transmitted Infections. The machines dispensed rapid HIV tests and self sampling kits for other STIs.

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-02-vending-machines-brits-stis.html

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xylazine, a veterinary medication, is adulterating the illicit opioid supply.

The drug is reported to increase euphoria and can cause sedation, low blood pressure, and slower than normal heart rate. These symptoms can persist after treatment with naloxone. There is no antidote to the effects of xylazine.

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-02-veterinary-drug-newly-illicit-opioid.html#google_vignette