#infectious-diseases

#infectious-diseases

The COVID-19 vaccine will be updated in hopes of targeting the strains of omicron that will be circulating later this year.Esteban Felix/AP A panel of expert advisers to the Food and Drug Administration voted unanimously Thursday to recommend that the COVID-19 vaccine be updated to target emerging subvariants of omicron.

Cases of the highly contagious disease diphtheria have risen substantially in the past year, new figures show, with three people dying from the illness.The rising number of cases were linked to increased spread among asylum seekers and to people catching it from their pets, according to the latest release from the UK Health Security Agency.

An mRNA-based flu vaccine designed to offer long-lasting protection against a broad range of influenza viruses is now in a phase I clinical trial, the National Institutes of Health announced this week.The trial brings the remarkable success of the mRNA vaccine platform to the long-standing efforts to develop a universal flu vaccine.

Mary Hynes | Las Vegas Review-Journal The U.S. government on Thursday will lift the COVID-19 public health emergency that has been in effect for more than three years.By ending the emergency phase of the public health response, That kind of puts a period at the end of the pandemic sentence, Vanderbilt University's Dr. William Schaffner, an expert on infectious diseases, said.

56 minutes ago56 minutes ago The coronavirus pandemic is over as a global health emergency, the World Health Organization said while stressing that the virus "is here to stay."The World Health Organization (WHO) on Friday said that coronavirus was no longer a global health emergency.The UN's health agency had had COVID declared as a "public health emergency of international concern," its highest level of alert, for over three years.

Imagine there's a small fire in your kitchen.Your fire alarm goes off, warning everyone nearby about the danger.Someone calls 911.You try to put the fire out yourself maybe you even have a fire extinguisher under the sink.If that doesn't work, you know how to safely evacuate.By the time you get outside, the fire truck is already pulling up.

Health officials in Europe are warning of an outbreak of botulism linked to botched weight loss procedures carried out in Turkey that aimed to paralyze stomach muscles to reduce appetite.So far, authorities have identified 67 cases-53 in Turkey, 12 in Germany, and one each in Austria and Switzerland.

In one of the most under-resourced places in Uganda, where there is just one doctor for every 25,000 people, success does not go unnoticed.Most Ugandan government health facilities focus on infectious diseases, but in Nakaseke district, about 65km from the capital Kampala, three clinics treat people with non-communicable diseases (NCDs) such as diabetes, kidney disease and chronic lung conditions.

LVIV, Ukraine Nearly two weeks after the destruction of the Kakhovka dam in southeastern Ukraine, the floodwaters are receding, but local officials are grappling with a new concern: the potential for outbreaks from waterborne disease.On Saturday, local officials in Kherson and Mykolaiv, the two regions most affected by the flooding on the Dnipro River unleashed when the dam collapsed, outlined plans to ensure safe drinking water.

Suella Braverman is facing the real danger that conditions for asylum seekers held at Manston processing facility will once again become inhumane and dangerous, the immigration watchdog has found.David Neal, the independent chief inspector of borders and immigration, said the Kent asylum centre that became overcrowded and disease-ridden last year could again become overwhelmed because ministers and officials in the Home Office are unable to say where they plan to house at least 55,000 arrivals by small boats this year.

When the patient arrives, it can barely move its body.Sometimes it can't blink.Vibrant green wings falter as the parrot triesand failsto fly.A nurse props up the bird's limp, violet-blue head on a makeshift cushion and slides a bowl of nectar in front of its bright red beak.It is just one of dozens of rainbow lorikeets being treated for a mysterious paralyzing illness at this wildlife hospital in eastern Australia.

Dezeen School Shows: bird boxes designed to be mounted under bridges and a series of prosthetics that use VR technology are included in Dezeen's latest school show by students at Zurich University of the Arts.Also included are a waterproof garment design for individuals who use wheelchairs and a piece of mobile furniture that aims to unite the functionality of kitchen and living areas.

The food inspection team at Britain's biggest container port says the lack of clarity around post-Brexit checks on imported food puts them in a "difficult position".Paperwork for European food imports will be inspected from October, with physical checks following in January.The government says it is working on the inspection guidelines.

May 24, 2023 - In the field of microbiome science, researchers have long focused on studying the bacteria that live inside and on the human body.But other types of microbes also play an important role in human health and disease, including viruses-both phage viruses that infect bacteria and eukaryotic viruses that infect human cells-and fungi.

A peanut patch showed promising results in a late-phase clinical trial in toddlers with peanut allergies, according to a new study.Researchers from the French biopharmaceutical firm DBV Technologies and institutions around the world conducted randomized double-blind trial of the Viaskin Peanut patch in children ages 1 through 3 years old who had been diagnosed with a peanut allergy, they reported Wednesday in The New England Journal of Medicine.

Healthy dogs and cats could be passing on multidrug-resistant organisms to hospitalised owners.In addition, humans could be transmitting these dangerous microbes to their pets, according to new research to be presented at this weekend's European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases in Copenhagen.

A new study has found that not even New York City's rats are immune to COVID-19.The study, published in mBio, the American Academy of Microbiology's journal, found that wild rats in the city's sewer system and elsewhere in the city have been exposed to SARS-CoV-2 and demonstrated that rats are susceptible to infection with Alpha, Delta, and Omicron variants of the virus.

On December 18, 2019, Wuhan Central Hospital admitted a patient with symptoms common for the winter flu season: a 65-year-old man with fever and pneumonia.Ai Fen, director of the emergency department, oversaw a typical treatment plan, including antibiotics and anti-influenza drugs.Six days later, the patient was still sick, and Ai was puzzled, according to news reports and a detailed reconstruction of this period by evolutionary biologist Michael Worobey.

* Institute Update
Susan A. Daniels, Ph.D. Susan A. Daniels, Ph.D. has been appointed as the HHS National Autism Coordinator and Director of the Office of National Autism Coordination (ONAC).In this position, Dr. Daniels will play a vital role in ensuring the implementation of national autism research, services, and support activities across federal agencies.

WASHINGTON Gay and bisexual men in monogamous relationships can donate blood in the U.S. without abstaining from sex, under a federal policy finalized Thursday by health regulators.The Food and Drug Administration guidelines ease decades-old restrictions designed to protect the blood supply from HIV.

WASHINGTON President Joe Biden on Monday nominated cancer specialist Dr. Monica Bertagnolli to become director of the National Institutes of Health.Bertagnolli is a cancer surgeon and researcher who last fall became the first female head of the NIH's National Cancer Institute.If confirmed by the Senate, she would become the second woman named permanent director of the NIH, one of the world's leading biomedical research agencies.

Worthy Mentoring in partnership with Nora Lee by Brandt Ricca, Four Seasons Hotel Washington, DC and Capital Pride Alliance, is raising a bottomless glass to Pride during a show-stopping, gourmet brunch for a good cause.This year's Pride Brunch features beats by the city's preeminent DJs, drag performances by iconic entertainers, and inspired LGBTQ+ activism - all under a true rainbow of colors.