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Hospitals across the country are dealing with higher cases of COVID-19, the flu and RSV. The increase is being fueled in part by holiday travel and gatherings. Meg Oliver has the latest.
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Hospitals face rising cases of respiratory illnesses - CBS News
Keep your mask handy if youre heading to a hospital or doctors appointment anytime soon.
Some Chicago-area health care systems are again requiring visitors to mask up to help mitigate recent spreading of respiratory viruses, mainly influenza, COVID-19 and RSV.
Rush announced a new policy Tuesday requiring patients, visitors and staff to wear hospital-approved face coverings in interactive settings, such as waiting areas and patient rooms. It follows similar mandates implemented last month by Cook County Health and Endeavor Health, which operates Swedish Hospital and eight others in the suburbs.
Dr. David Nguyen, an infectious disease specialist for adults and children at Rush, said the hospital made the change largely due to a sharp increase in flu cases.
The flu is actually what were really worried about, Nguyen said, noting that COVID-19 and RSV are still a concern, but those cases seemed to have plateaued.
He pointed to early in the COVID-19 pandemic when masking and social distancing appeared to have caused a remarkable interruption in flu and RSV, so the new policy aims to account for all those infections.
The number of flu patients admitted to Chicago intensive care units more than doubled from early December to the week ending Dec. 23, and emergency rooms across the state saw double the flu patients in the last two weeks of December, according to the citys Department of Public Health and the Illinois Department of Public Health.
Chicago hospitals were admitting 30 COVID-19 patients per day as of Christmas Eve, according to the city health departments latest available data.
More than half of Illinois counties are at a medium or high level of COVID-19 hospitalizations under metrics set by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, including Cook and DuPage.
The several policy moves come on the heels of Illinois Department of Public Health recommendations in mid-December for health care facilities to up their respiratory virus mitigation efforts.
We are most concerned with health care facilities in counties with elevated respiratory virus transmission and hospitalization levels and recommend masking in patient-care areas, especially in emergency departments and areas caring for patients who are immunocompromised, IDPH director Dr. Sameer Vohra said in a statement.
Most of the new mandates are especially enforced in high-risk areas, such as procedural areas, intensive care units and emergency departments.
UChicago Medicine is still adhering to its mask policy adopted in September, requiring all employees, and visitors showing symptoms, to wear masks while strongly encouraging other visitors and patients to mask up.
Northwestern Medicine follows a similar rule, only requiring masks when visitors and patients are showing symptoms such as cough, sneezing, sore throat, fever and runny nose.
Loyola Medicine requires everyone in its facilities to wear masks regardless of symptoms.
Cook County Health also updated its visitor policy last month. It allows two visitors per patient in inpatient units and one visitor per patient in the emergency trauma unit and outpatient areas.
Kate Hedlin, a spokesperson for Cook County Health, said masks are an easy way to reduce transmission.
Vaccines also are an excellent tool for us to reduce hospitalizations, severe infections and death, Hedlin said. Its never too late to get vaccinated.
COVID-19 and flu shots are recommended for everyone 6 months or older.
RSV vaccines are also available for people 60 or older, infants, young children and pregnant women.
Visit boostupcookcounty.com for help finding a vaccine.
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California's hospitals are getting busier with more COVID-19 and flu patients, some of whom are suffering from both viruses at the same time.
The simultaneous sickness is another wrinkle in an already hectic respiratory virus season. Although hospitals are not nearly as crowded as during the emergency phase of the pandemic, they are becoming increasingly so with Los Angeles County recently entering the "medium" COVID-19 hospitalization category outlined by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for the first time this winter.
"Some of these patients are testing positive for more than one virus influenza definitely likes to travel with COVID. [And] we're seeing an outbreak of RSV," said Dr. Daisy Dodd, an infectious disease specialist with Kaiser Permanente Southern California.
The viral cocktail could also include coronavirus or flu with RSV, or respiratory syncytial virus, simultaneously. Sometimes a common cold virus, like rhinovirus, is in the mix.
Read more: Everyone in California seems to be sick with respiratory illness. Here's why
And it's not just the very young and the very old who are getting hit with a double whammy of disease younger and middle-aged adults have also been afflicted. Dodd said she's seen some patients reporting fevers lasting more than a week.
"Now it seems like everyone has this hacking cough that doesn't want to go away," she said. "It's making them fairly sick and ... it's not very gentle."
For many of the patients who need medical attention, "they're miserable. No doubt about it."
It's hard to say why doctors are seeing a number of viral co-infections this winter, experts say.
"Is it that one lowers the immunity and allows them to catch the other one easily? Don't know the answer," Dodd said. "But we're seeing a lot of 'double whammies' going around."
Read more: A new coronavirus variant may be behind California's COVID rise
L.A. County's entry into the "medium" COVID-19 hospitalization category has prompted local public health officials to order hospitals, nursing homes and any other inpatient facility to require healthcare employees mask up while in patient-care areas. Visitors to those facilities are also required to mask up in the same areas.
When a county enters the "medium" COVID-19 hospitalization level, those at high risk of getting very sick should wear a high-quality mask such as a KF94, KN95, or N95 mask when indoors in public, the CDC says.
The agency also says that those who live with, or have social contact with, someone at high risk should consider getting a rapid COVID test before meeting with them, and consider wearing a mask when meeting with them indoors.
A negative rapid COVID test result helps reduce, though does not entirely eliminate, the risk of passing along a coronavirus infection. There is a chance that a single rapid test may not detect an infection in its initial stages.
Multiple tests over a time period, such as over two or three days, can be helpful, "especially when the people using the tests don't have COVID-19 symptoms," according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Read more: COVID, flu, RSV on the rise in California. Is another 'tripledemic' coming?
More infected people are being admitted into California's hospitals. For the week that ended Dec. 23, 3,279 coronavirus-positive patients were newly admitted statewide, up 14% from the prior week and the highest weekly tally in 10 months.
New hospitalizations remain considerably lower than last winter's peak, however. And a number of hospitals are not seeing signs of a COVID-19 surge in their intensive care units.
"Our ICUs are busy, but they're not overwhelmed with COVID," said Dr. Tevan Ovsepyan, medical director of the hospitalist program at Providence Holy Cross Medical Center in Mission Hills.
Still, the sickness season continues apace. California's level of flu-like activity which includes nonflu illnesses such as COVID-19 recently rose to "very high," one of the worst levels as defined by the CDC, for the first time this winter.
Ovsepyan said that at his hospital, there was an uptick in coronavirus-positive patients about a week and a half ago that has tapered off as of Friday. But, he said, "I don't know what the future will hold, because ... we have New Year's ... and people are getting together. So I'm sure we'll probably see a little uptick."
Other areas in California that are in the CDC's "medium" COVID-19 hospitalization category include the four-county area around the state capital Sacramento, Placer, Yolo and El Dorado counties and several counties in the rural north: Butte, Tehama and Glenn.
The rate at which lab specimens are coming back positive for the coronavirus and flu is continuing to rise in L.A. County. For the week that ended Dec. 23, the most recent available, 23% of specimens tested at surveillance labs came back positive for flu, a jump from the prior rate of 18%. As for COVID-19, 12% of specimens are coming back positive for the coronavirus, an increase from the prior week's 11%.
RSV, which can cause severe illness and death, especially among babies and older people, has plateaued at a high rate countywide, with 10% of specimens coming back positive over the most recent week. The positive test rate has stayed within 10% and 15% in recent weeks, a relatively high rate compared with the prior six years, but still below last year's terrible RSV season, when the positive test rate exceeded 20%.
For the week that ended Dec. 4, L.A. County averaged five COVID-19 deaths a day, up from an average of two in mid-November, though still below last year's numbers.
Read more: COVID-19 and flu cases are rising in California. How bad will the holiday uptick be?
In terms of severe illness and deaths, hospitals are in a better place than the terrible first winter of the pandemic and the initial Omicron wave the year after.
"Omicron was just horrible. It was a terrible time, because we were just overwhelmed with COVID-positive then, and people were sick," said Ovsepyan, who is also chair of the hospital medicine department at Facey Medical Group, which has outpatient clinics in the San Fernando, Santa Clarita and Simi valleys.
Ovsepyan urged people to be responsible and stay home if sick.
And if you must leave the house and go anywhere there's a crowd and have symptoms such as sniffles, "wear a mask," Ovsepyan said.
"With time, people have had this COVID fatigue, and the fatigue of masks. That's all reasonable," Ovsepyan said. "But it's still a virus. It still causes illness. It'll be harmful for our frail patients, our elderly or people with co-morbid diagnosis ... those are the people who end up getting hospitalized."
Read more: New COVID vaccines are here: Now's the time to get one, officials say
People might initially shrug off a little sniffle or a tiny sore throat. But that can be the beginning of a full-fledged viral illness, and it would be "fabulous" if those who feel that start wearing a mask as soon as possible to protect others around them, Dodd said.
"Probably 95%, if not more, of respiratory infections, you feel it in your throat to begin with," she said.
It's likely a combination of factors that has led COVID-19 to be less deadly than it used to be, including protection provided by vaccinations and lingering immunity from infection, as well as the development of anti-COVID drugs that can be taken after infection.
But health officials worry about the lackluster utilization of those drugs, as well as lagging uptake of the latest COVID vaccines. The CDC urges virtually everyone age 6 months and older to get a fresh COVID-19 vaccination this winter, as well as the seasonal flu shot.
Read more: COVID-19 vaccines easier to get in L.A. County; shots are free at all public health centers
RSV immunizations are also available for babies, those who are pregnant and people age 60 or older.
Officials urge more widespread use of antiviral drugs such as Paxlovid that can reduce symptom severity and the risk of hospitalization and death. They're best taken early on, but many people aren't doing so, or their healthcare providers aren't prescribing them.
"There is an ample supply of COVID-19 therapeutic agents, but they have been underused," the California Department of Public Health said in a health advisory. "Lack of familiarity with new medications ... and the misperception of drug scarcity have contributed to low treatment rates, including reports of eligible patients ultimately being denied treatment."
California still offers a free telehealth service through Sesame Care, where sick people can talk to a healthcare provider by phone or online and get a prescription, if eligible. (A copay might be needed to pick up the prescription.) That service is available to Californians age 12 and up, regardless of insurance status, until February, by calling (833) 686-5051 or visiting sesamecare.com/covidca.
L.A. County residents can do the same by contacting the countys Public Health Call Center at (833) 540-0473, which is open seven days a week from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. The county says free and low-cost treatment is available for eligible patients, including those who are uninsured or on Medi-Cal.
A program funded by the National Institutes of Health, featured at test2treat.org,gives adults who test positive for COVID-19 or flu free access to telehealth care and treatment. That program is expected to run through the early summer. Adults who arent positive can still enroll to get free tests shipped to them if they are uninsured or underinsured; on Medicare or Medi-Cal; or in the healthcare system of the Department of Veterans Affairs or the Indian Health Service.
The U.S. government is also allowing residents to order free at-home COVID tests through COVIDtests.org. People are able to order four free at-home tests per household. And if they didn't already place an order between Sept. 25 and Nov. 19, they're eligible for two separate orders of four tests.
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
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Sick with COVID and the flu: Double infections hit California hard - Yahoo News
New Delhi,UPDATED: Jan 3, 2024 15:05 IST
UK health authorities have identified new symptoms associated with the latest Covid-19 sub-variant, JN.1, which include anxiety and trouble sleeping.
Previously, symptoms linked to JN.1 were mostly limited to upper respiratory tract infections, such as fever, cough, sore throat, body ache and runny nose.
However, recent data from December 2023 by the UK's Office for National Statistics (ONS) revealed two new symptoms: trouble sleeping and anxiety.
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Over 10% of individuals with Covid-19 in the UK consistently reported anxiety or excess worrying since early November, as indicated by the ONS winter Covid report.
The most common Covid-19 symptoms, based on the data, include runny nose (31.1%), cough (22.9%), headache (20.1%), fatigue (19.6%), muscle pain (15.8%), sore throat (13.2%), trouble sleeping (10.8%), and anxiety (10.5%).
Notably, the once-common symptoms loss of taste and smell are currently reported in only 2 to 3% of UK cases.
These findings coincide with a global increase in Covid-19 infections, with the WHO reporting a 52% rise in new cases over the past month.
In India, there were 573 fresh cases and two deaths in the last 24 hours, with a total of 197 cases of JN.1 reported in 11 states.
The majority of JN.1 cases exhibit mild symptoms, and severity is seen in less than 10% of cases, particularly in individuals with pre-existing health conditions. The overall fatality rate is less than 2%, and deaths are infrequent, with most patients recovering at home.
JN.1, a descendant of the Omicron lineage, was first detected in September in the US and has spread to over 40 countries. It has been classification as a variant of interest (VOI) by the WHO.
The variant, derived from BA.2.86 (also known as Pirola), carries an additional L455S mutation in the spike protein, increasing its transmissibility.
Health experts have urged people about wearing masks, frequently washing hands and avoiding public gatherings to avoid infection.
(With inputs from news agencies)
Published By:
Daphne Clarance
Published On:
Jan 3, 2024
Read more from the original source:
Covid-19 JN.1 variant: These are new symptoms of the viral infection - India Today
The Provincial Public Health Laboratory of Sudurpaschim has requested the Province Health Logistics Management Centre for kits for polymerase chain reaction tests and antigen tests, as it is short in both.
Officials said testing people suspected to have the coronavirus will be halted both in the laboratory and at border points if kits are not immediately supplied.
We do not have any kits to carry out polymerase chain reaction tests, said Jharendra Bahadur Singh, information officer at the Provincial Public Health Laboratory of Sudurpaschim.
PCR kits supplied to us in the past have expired and health desks set up at border points only have around 200 antigen test kits, which is sufficient only for a day if there is a high flow of people returning from India.
Officials at the Ministry of Health and Population said that most polymerase chain reaction testing labs throughout the country lack the kits and even the health desks set up at the border points are short of a sufficient number of antigen test kits to test people returning from India.
Also, most laboratories lack trained human resources to carry out testing, as the lab technicians hired during the coronavirus pandemic were laid off following the decline in new cases of infection.
Concerns are growing about the spread of a new sub-variant of coronavirus in the country, as neighbouring India saw a surge in new cases of coronavirus infection and also witnessed an outbreak of the sub-variant JN.1 in several states. Every day, thousands of people enter Nepal from India.
India on Tuesday reported two new deaths and 573 new cases, according to media reports. The southern neighbour confirmed 197 cases of the Covid-19 sub-variant JN.1 as of Monday. Outbreaks of the new sub-variant have been reported from 10 statesKerala, Maharashtra, Jharkhand, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Odisha, Delhi, Goa and Karnataka.
Singh said swab samples of nine people returning from India, who tested positive for Covid-19, have been sent to the National Public Health Laboratory in Kathmandu for a whole genome sequencing test.
Whole-genome sequencing is a comprehensive method of analysing the entire DNA sequence of an organisms genes. Researchers believe that whole-genome sequencing of coronavirus helps track the severity and properties of the virus.
The World Health Organisation has classified JN.1 as a separate variant of interest given its rapid spread around the globe. The UN health body, however, said that based on available data, the additional public health risk posed by JN.1 is currently evaluated as low.
Health authorities in Nepal say they are closely following developments in the southern neighbour.
Several countries, including China, Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia and Singapore, have reported upticks in new coronavirus cases.
The JN.1 strain, first detected in September in the United States, is a descendant of BA.2.86, a highly mutated variant of the Omicron strain of Covid-19.
Virologists and infectious disease experts have asked Nepali authorities to step up vigilance as any virus variant or disease seen in any part of the world can easily enter the country due to the continuous movement of people.
We should start preparing for any untoward situation. For that, surveillance measures should be stepped up, said Dr Sher Bahadur Pun, chief of the Clinical Research Unit at Sukraraj Tropical and Infectious Disease Hospital.
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Most Covid-19 labs across country lack testing kits as threat increases - The Kathmandu Post
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The Himalayan nation of Nepal is all set to destroy four million doses of the Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine, procured from China in April 2021, according to a report inEpardafas. Sinovac's destruction has been necessitated on the recommendation of the vaccine advisory committee which said the China-made vaccine is not fit for use as a booster dose as well as a regular dose.
The vaccines were procured from China during the peak of the first wave in 2021. However, they have been sitting in central storage of the Health Services Department for over 2.5 years now.
Dr Abhiyaan Gautam, the head of the vaccination branch under the Ministry of Health and Population, Family Welfare Division, said the technical limitations of the vaccine prevented it from being utilised.
Nepal received two shipments of four million Sinovac vaccines on April 25 and 27, 2021 but the majority opted for the likes of Moderna, Covishield and Pfizer.
The vaccine advisory committee recommended that it should not be used for booster doses, but we could not administer Sinovac even as a first or second dose," said Dr Gautam.
Watch |Gravitas: China's ambassador to Nepal foul mouths India
While the vaccines remained unused, the Nepalese government attempted to return the consignment. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs took several diplomatic initiatives but each time, Beijing refused to take back the vaccines. To cut losses, Kathmandu attempted to sell the vaccine to other countries but even then, the strategy failed.
"Three or four times there was a diplomatic initiative from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to take back the vaccine. But tireless efforts for one year were not successful," added Dr Gautam.
It was during former prime minister Sher Bahadur Deuba's reign as the prime minister that Nepal bought the vaccines from China. There was furore surrounding the decision with many within the party criticising Deuba for picking China, notorious for producing sub-standard vaccines.
Also read |China Covid outbreak: Experts urge caution on use of Sinovac nasal spray
Notably, in February 2021, leaked documents of correspondence between Nepal's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Chinese Embassy in Kathmandu revealed that Beijing had put pressure on the Himalayan country to accept its COVID-19 vaccine without its efficiency and efficacy being established.
(With inputs from agencies)
Read more:
Key Takeaways
Moderna Inc. (MRNA) shares soared 15% Tuesday as the vaccine maker got two pieces of positive news.
First, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Stephane Bancel said he believes the company would experience sales growth in 2025. In a letter to shareholders Tuesday, Bancel said the company is optimistic as it expects the launch of Modernas respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccine candidate this year and could potentially launch of a combination flu/COVID-19 shot as early as 2025.
Along with Bancels comments, Moderna shares got a lift Tuesday when brokerage firm Oppenheimer & Co. upgraded the stock to "outperform," arguing that Moderna could develop ways to use its mRNA technique to fight diseases beyond COVID-19 over the next few years.
Analysts at Oppenheimer led by Hartaj Singh wrote they believe the company will have five new products on the market by 2026.
Currently, Moderna's COVID-19 vaccines are its only commercially available products. Over the next two years, the company said it will focus on increasing revenue and profitability in part by targeting commercial execution.
Sales struggled as fewer people opted to get COVID-19 vaccinations or booster shots in 2023. That sent shares tumbling more than 40% last year, making it one of the stocks in the S&P 500 that struggled the most.
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Moderna Stock Surges on Optimism of Bringing More Products to Market - Investopedia
A Connecticut man has pleaded guilty to offenses related to his receipt of COVID-19 relief funds, according to federal authorities.
John Matava, 59, of Coventry, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Kari A. Dooley in Bridgeport to one count of wire fraud affecting a financial institution, which carries a possible sentence of up to 30 years in prison, and to one count of making an illegal monetary transaction, which carries a possible sentence of up to 10 years in prison, according to federal authorities. Dooley scheduled sentencing for March 29.
Authorities, citing court documents and statements made in court, said that, in April 2020, Matava applied to Celtic Bank for a $100,000 PPP loan for J.M. Builders LLC.
The application submission included several false representations, including that J.M. Builders LLC had eight employees and an average monthly payroll of $40,000; that the monies would be used for payroll, lease, mortgage, interest and utilities; and that the business owner was not subject to pending formal criminal charges, federal authorities said in a statement. At the time of the PPP loan application, there were no records of payroll or employees with the Connecticut Department of Labor for J.M. Builders LLC, and Matava was subject to criminal charges in two pending cases related to arrests in 2017 and 2018.
Authorities said Celtic Bank on April 22, 2020 disbursed $100,000 to a bank account for J.M. Builders LLC on which Matava was the signatory.
The account was opened on April 21, 2020, and had a balance of $0 immediately prior to the loan funds being disbursed, authorities said in the statement. Then, between April 2020 and January 2021, Matava used the funds primarily for personal expenditures, including $3,498 to pay a dog breeder, $4,777 for payments to an RV superstore in Connecticut, and legal fees, including a $2,000 retainer, for four court cases in Rockville.
Matava again in 2021 sought $100,000 in additional PPP funds from Celtic Bank, and included with the application several additional false statements and fraudulent tax documents, according to federal authorities, noting Celtic Bank then denied the application.
Matava was arrested on January 7, 2023. Following his plea, Matava is free on $60,000 bond, but is in home detention, pending sentencing, according to federal authorities.
The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation.
Authorities also noted (shared here as presented by the U.S. Attorneys Office):
Individuals with information about allegations of fraud involving COVID-19 are encouraged to report it by calling the Department of Justices National Center for Disaster Fraud Hotline at 866-720-5721, or the NCDF Web Complaint Form at:https://www.justice.gov/disaster-fraud/ncdf-disaster-complaint-form.
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Letcia Soares stepped off the plane in Brazil feeling traumatized and vulnerable. It was 2021 and she was returning home from Canada, where the final year of her postdoc in disease ecology had been marred by long COVID. The condition left her with searing migraines, intense fatigue, body aches and a variety of other ailments that came and went unpredictably, but never improved. Soares decided to return home where she felt she would have better access to medical support if she were disabled and unemployed.
Having encountered dismissive physicians in Canada, she hoped she would be better supported at home. But her arrival brought fresh disappointment. More than a year into the COVID-19 pandemic, Soares physicians, friends and family in Brazil had still not heard of long COVID. People asked me whether long COVID is an illness of the global north, says Soares, who now works from Salvador, Brazil, at the Patient-Led Research Collaborative, an international advocacy and research organization focused on long COVID and associated conditions. They had never heard of it here.
By some estimates, more than four million people in Brazil have long COVID. Yet researchers say the reaction that Soares encountered is common in many low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Much of the worlds research on long COVID is conducted in wealthy regions, and data on the prevalence or severity of the condition in other locales are more limited (see Dearth of research). The main story about long COVID in low- and middle-income countries is that there are relatively few studies, says Theo Vos, an epidemiologist at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation in Seattle, Washington. But wherever people have looked at it, they find it.
Source: J. V. A. Franco et al. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 19, 9915 (2022)
Evidence so far suggests that the prevalence of long COVID in LMICs could be similar to that of wealthier countries although, in both settings, the numbers vary a lot. One review1 found that between 8% and 41% of people who had a SARS-CoV-2 infection but werent hospitalized had symptoms. But a dearth of research on the condition in less-wealthy countries creates a double curse. An absence of information about prevalence and risk factors leaves advocates hamstrung: few physicians acknowledge that long COVID exists. The lack of data also hampers efforts to search for the mechanisms of the condition and tailor treatments. You need data for action, says Waasila Jassat, a public-health specialist at Genesis Analytics, a consultancy firm in Johannesburg, South Africa. You need evidence to advocate for services, and you cannot just use data from other countries.
Long COVID is a complex condition brought on by infection with SARS-CoV-2. It has been linked to more than 200 symptoms, from brain fog or fatigue that makes it difficult to work, to debilitating pain and muscle weakness. The severity of the condition can vary, and for many people symptoms come and go; there are days when they can function as they did before or nearly so, only to find that their condition comes roaring back a day later. By some definitions, the condition includes any symptoms that appear or persist for more than three months after the initial infection.
Long COVID research risks losing momentum we need a moonshot
All of this makes the burden of long COVID difficult to measure, even in resource-rich countries. Its even harder to compare across studies, because different research groups might focus on various definitions and symptoms, or survey different groups of people.
LMICs a heterogeneous collection of more than 130 nations face even more challenges. Many have been undermined economically by a legacy of colonialism and exploitation. Health-care systems vary widely among these countries, but resources are strained in many of them relative to wealthier countries. It is already difficult to find resources for research, and thats compounded by the lack of centralized health data, says Jassat. In Brazil, for example, more than one-third of all workers are informally employed, meaning that there is no systematic way to track how many days of work people miss due to illness.
People are quietly dropping out of society, says Emma-Louise Aveling, a global public-health researcher at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston, Massachusetts, who has interviewed health-care workers and people with long COVID in Brazil for her research.
Scientists have been trying to pin down the number of people with the condition. Worried that the burgeoning COVID-19 pandemic could worsen or lead to new cases of chronic illnesses, cardiologist Nizal Sarrafzadegan at the Isfahan University of Medical Sciences in Iran launched a long-term study in March 2020. Her team found that 60% of individuals who were hospitalized with COVID-19 in Iran had symptoms a year after their infection2.
In South Africa, Jassat and her colleagues followed 3,700 people for 6 months in a study3 of COVID-19 outcomes and found that 39% still had at least one symptom 6 months after their initial infection. People who were hospitalized owing to COVID-19 were more likely to be affected than those who were not: 46.7% versus 18.5%.
People hospitalized with COVID-19 are more likely to be affected by long COVID.Credit: Rodger Bosch/AFP/Getty
In a 2020 study, geriatricians Murilo Dias and Mrlon Aliberti at the University of So Paulo, Brazil, and their colleagues found that one in three people admitted for COVID-19 to a hospital in So Paulo still had at least one symptom a year after they were discharged4. Thats a huge problem for the health system, says Aliberti.
Even so, that problem does not include cases of long COVID that arise after mild SARS-CoV-2 infection. Soares says that most long-COVID studies in Brazil do not address this gap, and it can be particularly hard to do so when few physicians are aware of the condition, how to diagnose it or who might be at particular risk.
Another reason to study long COVID in different contexts is that the condition might manifest differently from place to place. Many researchers suspect that there are multiple mechanisms underlying long COVID. The risk of the condition might be influenced by genetic and environmental factors, says Olufemi Erinoso, a public-health researcher at the University of Nevada in Reno, who has studied long COVID in Lagos, Nigeria. We need to have a global approach to the disease to understand how genetics might affect the outcomes.
To really grasp the mechanism of long COVID, researchers need study participants with diverse genetic backgrounds so that they can work out which cellular pathways are involved and how they might vary in different people. And the more researchers know about those pathways, the more potential targets theyll have for medicines to treat long COVID. Not being able to approach the disease in a global, concerted effort is a major impediment to a better understanding and a better therapy for everyone, says Akiko Iwasaki, an immunologist at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut.
Long COVID: answers emerge on how many people get better
One trend that looks to be consistent worldwide is that the number of people who develop long COVID seems to be tapering off with the SARS-CoV-2 variants over the past two years. In South Africa, Jassat and her colleagues found a lower incidence of long COVID among those infected with the Omicron variant, compared with the Beta or Delta variants of the virus3. UK researchers similarly found that Omicron infections were less likely than were Delta infections to lead to long COVID5. The world has long since moved on from Omicron, but researchers suspect that growing levels of immunity from vaccination and infection could also be reducing the number of people at risk of developing long COVID across the globe, says paediatrician Daniel Munblit at Imperial College London, who has studied long COVID in children in Moscow.
This is good news, with one small downside: new studies of long COVID could struggle to recruit participants. This year, Tariro Makadzange, executive director of the research organization Charles River Medical Group in Harare, and her colleagues had trouble including the condition in a study because they found so few fresh cases.
In the United States and Europe, large-scale efforts have begun the search for long-COVID treatments. The US National Institutes of Health is running the US$1.15-billion Researching COVID to Enhance Recovery (RECOVER) programme, some of which is directed at finding long-COVID therapies. In the United Kingdom, a consortium of 30 hospitals and universities is also looking for treatments under the STIMULATE-ICP programme.
But whether any resulting treatments could transfer to lower-income settings is an open question, says infectious-disease specialist Luis Felipe Reyes at the University of La Sabana in Bogot. He predicts a re-run of the inequalities that plagued the distribution of COVID-19 vaccines. Wealthier countries hoarded doses and some types, such as the mRNA vaccines, were particularly difficult for many lower-income countries to use because they were expensive to produce and difficult to transport at the low temperatures they require.
Are repeat COVID infections dangerous? What the science says
The rich countries are finding the treatments for these problems, but those solutions might not be transferable, Reyes says.
For now, treatments for long COVID often involve careful rehabilitation and, ideally, a collaborative team of specialists in different fields. Such intensive monitoring and care is difficult even for wealthy nations, let alone for countries with more strained health-care systems, says Kimberly Konono, a vaccine specialist at Charles River Medical Group. But even with limited resources, some LMICs have options that are not available in wealthier nations. For example, the public health-care system in Brazil includes a network of community health workers who are embedded in neighbourhoods and often know the occupants well. This network could be used to improve awareness, diagnosis and treatment of long COVID in these regions, says Aveling.
But even that approach relies on health-care systems taking the condition seriously, which hasnt always happened with some other post-viral illnesses. Similar conditions can follow after other viral infections, including some tropical diseases. These have long been neglected, says anthropologist Jean Segata at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul in Porto Alegre, Brazil, particularly when they affect marginalized communities. Often, these patients complain that they are not taken seriously by doctors, who tell them its nothing and that it will pass soon, he says. The lack of recognition for their suffering becomes an additional source of frustration and distress for long-COVID patients in impoverished countries.
Soares, who has been working with Aveling and others to characterize the impact of long COVID in Brazil, can see the effect of this: long COVID and other post-viral illnesses are effectively invisible. We need to show with data that people are going through these symptoms and the challenge that needs to be addressed, Soares says. Then she sighs. I wish that we didnt have to.
Continued here:
Long COVID is a double curse in low-income nations here's why - Nature.com
Covid-19 update: The National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC)'s Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP) has reported five Covid-related deaths in the country in the last 24 hours. Until January 2, 2024, 511 cases of the JN.1 series variant had been reported from 11 states.
According to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, 602 new cases were registered in the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of cases to 4,50,15,136.
The active caseload was 4,440, a 125-case decrease since Tuesday.
In the last 24 hours, 722 people were recovered, bringing the total number of recovered cases to 4,44,77,272.
Kerala had two deaths in the last 24 hours, according to the state distribution. The deceased were identified as a 66-year-old male with Chronic Liver Disease, Multiple Organ Dysfunction Syndrome (MODS), and Sepsis and a 79-year-old female with coronary artery disease (CAD), type 2 diabetes (T2DM), and Sepsis.
In the last 24 hours, Karnataka reported one Covid death. Covid claimed the life of a 45-year-old male from Vijayanagar with hypertension (HTN).
One Covid death was reported in Punjab. The deceased was a 62-year-old male with Pulmonary Kochs, Lung injury, and MODS.
In the last 24 hours, one person died as a result of Covid in Tamil Nadu. A 74-year-old man with Interstitial Lung Disease, CAD, diabetes, and hypertension died.
The reconciliation of mortality figures in Bihar is currently underway.
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Covid-19 update: India reports 511 cases of JN.1 variant till Jan 2 - PTC News
