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PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - The wind is blowing, the leaves are piling up and so are the tissues in the trash can.
Fall allergies can make you pretty miserable, but how do you know when it's allergies or when it's something more serious?
Whether it's allergies or COVID-19, the flu, or RSV, they all make you feel pretty miserable, but there are big differences.
As certain as the falling leaves, as are the allergies of the fall ravaging their victims.
"Primarily, ragweed pollen, but other other weed pollens are out there as well," said AHN Allergy Specialist Russell Traister. "So, this is definitely the big time of year for that."
Dr. Traister said those piling up wet leaves are breeding grounds for trouble.
"Sometimes, you'll get some mold accumulation and you got mold spores," he explained. "So sometimes this time of year if you're stirring up the leaves and they're moldy and wax, you can get some mold spores, and if you're allergic to those you can have some symptoms as well."
As we all know, there's the calling card for fall allergies - itchy, watery eyes, itchy runny noses, and the like.
He said you don't normally get the itching with things like the flu, COVID-19, or RSV.
"Definitely one thing that would be missing with allergies is a fever," Dr. Traister said. "So, oftentimes with COVID and sometimes the flu and other viruses, you can have a fever so that's typically not associated with allergy symptoms."
He said while it's too late to start allergy shots for the fall, there is still relief out there to be had.
"That can be like a nose spray like a steroid, nose spray like Flonase that people use, and of course your antihistamines like Zyrtec Claritin and Allegra," he said.
While it may mean the approaching of winter, the upcoming frost that's expected on Monday does bring some relief.
"That's when sort of the allergy season sort of ends," Dr. Traister said.
To be effective, Dr. Traister said you need to use those nasal sprays consistently to build up your defense over several days. As for the antihistamines, he said those are highly effective in bringing relief within an hour or so.
John Shumway joined KDKA in October 1988 as a General Assignment Reporter. During his years at KDKA, he has anchored the morning and weekend news and is currently a featured General Assignment Reporter on the station's 4, 5 and 6 p.m. newscasts.
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Allergies, RSV, flu, or COVID-19? Knowing the symptoms to know the difference - CBS News
This article is republished from The Conversation. Read the original article.
Ending pandemics is a social decision, not scientific. Governments and organizations rely on social, cultural and political considerations to decide when to officially declare the end of a pandemic. Ideally, leaders try to minimize the social, economic and public health burden of removing emergency restrictions while maximizing potential benefits.
Vaccine policy is a particularly complicated part of pandemic decision-making, involving a variety of other complex and often contradicting interests and considerations. Although COVID-19 vaccines have saved millions of lives in the U.S., vaccine policymaking throughout the pandemic was often reactive and politicized.
A late November 2022 Kaiser Family Foundation poll found that one-third of U.S. parents believed they should be able to decide not to vaccinate their children at all. The World Health Organization and the United Nations Childrens Fund reported that between 2019 and 2021, global childhood vaccination experienced its largest drop in the past 30 years.
The Biden administration formally removed federal COVID-19 vaccination requirements for federal employees and international travelers in May 2023. Soon after, the U.S. government officially ended the COVID-19 public health emergency. But COVID-19s burden on health systems continues globally.
I am a public health ethicist who has spent most of my academic career thinking about the ethics of vaccine policies. For as long as theyve been around, vaccines have been a classic case study in public health and bioethics. Vaccines highlight the tensions between personal autonomy and public good, and they show how the decision of an individual can have populationwide consequences.
COVID-19 is here to stay. Reflecting on the ethical considerations surrounding the riseand unfolding fallof COVID-19 vaccine mandates can help society better prepare for future disease outbreaks and pandemics.
Ethics of Vaccine Mandates
Vaccine mandates are the most restrictive form of vaccine policy in terms of personal autonomy. Vaccine policies can be conceptualized as a spectrum, ranging from least restrictive, such as passive recommendations like informational advertisements, to most restrictive, such as a vaccine mandate that fines those who refuse to comply.
Each sort of vaccine policy also has different forms. Some recommendations offer incentives, perhaps in the form of a monetary benefit, while others are only a verbal recommendation. Some vaccine mandates are mandatory in name only, with no practical consequences, while others may trigger termination of employment upon noncompliance.
COVID-19 vaccine mandates took many forms throughout the pandemic, including but not limited to employer mandates, school mandates and vaccination certificatesoften referred to as vaccine passports or immunity passportsrequired for travel and participation in public life.
Because of ethical considerations, vaccine mandates are typically not the first option policymakers use to maximize vaccine uptake. Vaccine mandates are paternalistic by nature because they limit freedom of choice and bodily autonomy. Additionally, because some people may see vaccine mandates as invasive, they could potentially create challenges in maintaining and garnering trust in public health. This is why mandates are usually the last resort.
However, vaccine mandates can be justified from a public health perspective on multiple grounds. Theyre a powerful and effective public health intervention.
Mandates can provide lasting protection against infectious diseases in various communities, including schools and health care settings. They can provide a public good by ensuring widespread vaccination to reduce the chance of outbreaks and disease transmission overall. Subsequently, an increase in community vaccine uptake due to mandates can protect immunocompromised and vulnerable people who are at higher risk of infection.
COVID-19 Vaccine Mandates
Early in the pandemic, arguments in favor of mandating COVID-19 vaccines for adults rested primarily on evidence that COVID-19 vaccination prevented disease transmission. In 2020 and 2021, COVID-19 vaccines seemed to have a strong effect on reducing transmission, therefore justifying vaccine mandates.
COVID-19 also posed a disproportionate threat to vulnerable people, including the immunocompromised, older adults, people with chronic conditions and poorer communities. As a result, these groups would have significantly benefited from a reduction in COVID-19 outbreaks and hospitalization.
Many researchers found personal liberty and religious objections insufficient to prevent mandating COVID-19 vaccines. Additionally, decision-makers in favor of mandates appealed to the COVID-19 vaccines ability to reduce disease severity and therefore hospitalization rates, alleviating the pressure on overwhelmed health care facilities.
However, the emergence of even more transmissible variants of the virus dramatically changed the decision-making landscape surrounding COVID-19 vaccine mandates.
The public health intention (and ethicality) of original COVID-19 vaccine mandates became less relevant as the scientific community understood that achieving herd immunity against COVID-19 was probably impossible because of uneven vaccine uptake, and breakthrough infections among the vaccinated became more common. Many countries like England and various states in the U.S. started to roll back COVID-19 vaccine mandates.
With the rollback and removal of vaccine mandates, decision-makers are still left with important policy questions: Should vaccine mandates be dismissed, or is there still sufficient ethical and scientific justification to keep them in place?
Vaccines are lifesaving medicines that can help everyone eligible to receive them. But vaccine mandates are context-dependent tools that require considering the time, place and population they are deployed in.
Though COVID-19 vaccine mandates are less of a publicly pressing issue today, many other vaccine mandates, particularly in schools, are currently being challenged. I believe this is a reflection of decreased trust in public health authorities, institutions and researchersresulting in part from tumultuous decision-making during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Engaging in transparent and honest conversations surrounding vaccine mandates and other health policies can help rebuild and foster trust in public health institutions and interventions.
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COVID-19 vaccine mandates have come and mostly gone in the US ... - Route Fifty
October 19, 2023
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In a cohort of individuals with MS, a diagnosis of COVID-19 was linked to an increased risk of disability progression compared with those without, according to a presentation from ECTRIMS 2023.
Important research is ongoing trying to find environmental triggers that could cause exacerbations in MS where infections have been proposed as a possible trigger, Jan Hillert, MD, PhD, professor of neurology in the department of clinical neuroscience at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, and colleagues wrote.
Hillert and fellow researchers sought to examine the impact of COVID-19 on physical disability progression in patients with MS at Karolinska University Hospital, assessed by Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) scores.
Their retrospective cohort study included 231 individuals with MS (without reported COVID-19 infection, n = 143; with reported COVID-19 infection, n = 88), as well as data on clinicodemographic variables and EDSS scores between September 2017 and February 2023 collected from the Swedish MS registry and/or electronic journal system. TakeCare. Researchers compared EDSS changes in participants with reported COVID-19 infection against those without from January 2020 to October 2021. Logistic regression models were used to calculate ORs for EDSS progression depending on status of COVID-19 infection, adjusted for relevant clinicodemographic variables.
According to results, participants with reported COVID-19 infection registered an increased risk of EDSS progression compared to those without reported COVID-19 infection (OR = 8.20; 95% CI, 1.62-41.51).
The results indicate that COVID-19 infection was associated with EDSS worsening, Hillert and colleagues wrote. However, additional studies in bigger cohorts are required for more robust conclusions.
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Hillert J, et al. The effect of COVID-19 infection on physical disability progression in MS patients at Karolinska University Hospital. Presented at: ECTRIMS 2023; Oct. 11-13, 2023; Milan.
Disclosures: Hillert reports receiving honoraria for serving on advisory boards for Biogen, Bristol-Myers-Squibb, Janssen, Merck KGaA, Novartis, Sandoz and Sanofi-Genzyme and speakers fees from Biogen, Janssen, Novartis, Merck, Sandoz, Sanofi-Genzyme and Teva,; serving as principal investigator for projects sponsored by, or received unrestricted research support from, Biogen, Bristol-Myers-Squibb, Janssen, Merck KGaA, Novartis, Roche and Sanofi-Genzyme; receiving funding for MS research from the Swedish Research Council and the Swedish Brain foundation. Please see the study for all other authors relevant financial disclosures.
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COVID-19 outbreak hits Somerset County Jail in Madison
by Ariana St Pierre, WGME
FILE -{ }Somerset County Jail (BDN file photo)
MADISON (WGME) -- Thirteen inmates are in isolation after a COVID-19 outbreak at the Somerset County Jail in Madison.
Officials from the jail told the Morning Sentinel that two staff members are also staying home.
They say the outbreak began in one of the three mens housing units over the weekend.
They add the 13 inmates, who are among 126 being held at the jail, are all in quarantine and are being treated for cold-like symptoms.
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COVID-19 outbreak hits Somerset County Jail in Madison - WGME
A Silicon Valley executive who lied to investors about inventing technology that tested for allergies and COVID-19 using only a few drops of blood has sentenced to eight years in prison and ordered to pay $24 million in restitution
October 18, 2023, 7:51 PM ET
2 min read
SAN JOSE, Calif. -- A Silicon Valley executive who lied to investors about inventing technology that tested for allergies and COVID-19 using only a few drops of blood was sentenced Wednesday to eight years in prison and ordered to pay $24 million in restitution, federal prosecutors said.
Mark Schena, 60, was convicted last year of paying bribes to doctors and defrauding the government after his company billed Medicare $77 million for fraudulent COVID-19 and allergy tests, the U.S. Department of Justice said in a statement.
Schena claimed his Sunnyvale, California-based company, Arrayit Corporation, had the only laboratory in the world that offered revolutionary microarray technology that allowed it to test for allergies and COVID-19 with the same finger-stick test kit, prosecutors said.
In meetings with investors, Schena claimed he was on the shortlist for the Nobel Prize and falsely represented that Arrayit could be valued at $4.5 billion, prosecutors said.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, from 2018 through February 2020, Schena and other employees paid bribes to recruiters and doctors to run an allergy screening test for 120 allergens ranging from stinging insects to food allergens on every patient whether they were needed or not, authorities said.
The case against Schena shared similarities with a more prominent legal saga surrounding former Silicon Valley star Elizabeth Holmes, who dropped out of Stanford University in 2003 to found a company called Theranos that she pledged would revolutionize health care with a technology that could scan for hundreds of diseases and other issues with just a few drops of blood, too.
Holmes was convicted on four felony counts of investor fraud following a nearly four-month trial in the same San Jose, California, courtroom where Schenas trial was held. In May, Holmes entered a Texas prison where she could spend the next 11 years.
Continued here:
Influenza, COVID-19, the common cold and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) are among the respiratory viruses that will be circulating this fall and winter seasons. These highly contagious viruses cause similar symptoms, making it difficult to differentiate between them.
Those symptoms include:
Matthew Binnicker, Ph.D., director of the Clinical Virology Laboratory at Mayo Clinic, says it is possible for people to contract more than one virus at the same time.
Watch: Dr. Matthew Binnicker discusses COVID-19 and influenza.
Journalists: Broadcast-quality sound bites are available in the downloads at the bottom of the posts. Name super/CG: Matthew Binnicker, Ph.D./Laboratory Medicine and Pathology/Mayo Clinic
"We've seen patients that are unfortunate enough to contract COVID-19 and influenza," says Dr. Binnicker. "There are patients who have COVID-19 and other viruses as well, that are not infected with influenza. They typically have similar symptoms. Some of the cases have been more severe because they're infected with multiple viruses. Its not a high occurrence, but it does happen."
If someone were to develop flu-like symptoms, the first step Dr. Binnicker recommends is getting tested for COVID-19. Your healthcare provider also can order a test for influenza and RSV.
"We have lab-based PCR tests that test for influenza and respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, at the same time, and some of the tests that we have in our laboratories will also include COVID-19," says Dr. Binnicker.
"Prevention is key, and there are a number of ways that we can help to do that. The first and foremost way to prevent influenza, COVID-19, and even RSV for select groups, is vaccination," says Dr. Binnicker.
It is safe to receive the COVID-19 and flu vaccines at the same time. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently approved updated COVID-19 vaccines that are targeting the most current circulating strains of the virus.
"I'd encourage everyone to go out and get both their influenza and updated COVID-19 vaccine as soon as possible. And then recently, this year, there are new vaccines available for RSV," says Dr. Binnicker.
This year, the FDA approved the first RSV vaccine for adults over the age of 60. There are also approved RSV vaccines for infants and expecting mothers between week 32 and week 36 of pregnancy.
Along with getting recommended vaccinations, Dr. Binnicker says basic prevention measures can help keep you and your family healthy.
"Then you get to the basics, good hand hygiene. If you're sick, stay home. If you have to get out, wear a mask if you have any symptoms. Then testing so that we know what we're dealing with, and we can take good steps to prevent transmission to other people," says Dr. Binnicker.
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Can you get COVID-19 and the flu at the same time? A Mayo Clinic expert weighs in - Mayo Clinic
WASHINGTON Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic Chairman Brad Wenstrup (R-Ohio) opened todays hearing titled Strengthening Biosafety and Biosecurity Standards: Protecting Against Future Pandemics by discussing whether current oversight of high-risk laboratories in the United States and abroad are effective, sufficient, and capable of protecting Americans from current and future biological threats. Chairman Wenstrup emphasized the need for global biosecurity and biosafety standards, noting that infectious diseases such as COVID-19 and other dangerous coronaviruses do not recognize borders. Considering COVID-19 likely occurred as the result of a lab related incident in Wuhan, proactively ensuring that oversight mechanisms for high-containment laboratories are improved and modernized ahead of a future health crisis is essential. Chairman Wenstrup concluded his opening remarks by highlighting the importance of interagency coordination and cooperation among credible state actors as lawmakers begin their discussion today on biosafety and biosecurity improvements.
Below are Select Subcommittee Chairman Wenstrups remarks as prepared for delivery.
Today the Select Subcommittee is holding a hearing to examine our countrys biosafety and biosecurity standards.
Were not just examining whether theyre effective, but whether they are sufficient.
And whether they can protect us from biological threatsboth domestically and abroad.
And what actions should be taken if these standards are insufficient, or outdated and need to be modernized.
This hearing is timely and forward looking.
On Monday, the public comment period ended on proposed changes to oversight policies of federally funded dual use research of concern and gain-of-function research of concern.
No one knows these proposed changes better, than our witness, Dr. Gerry Parker.
As we move forward, we must make sure that our standards and capabilities can effectively respond and assess risks related to new research and biotechnologiesincluding those capable of unleashing new pandemics.
In addition to pandemics, we must be prepared for a future public health attackincluding the release of a biological weapon.
This is necessary to protect American lives andbecause infectious diseases dont recognize borderslives of those around the world.
In the earliest stages of the pandemic, scientists and public health authorities raced to understand the novel coronavirusto understand how it spread, who was at risk, and, most importantly, its origins.
Did it come from a natural spillover, transferred from a bat to an intermediate source to human?
Or was it the result of a laboratory or research related accident? In other words, did it come from a lab?
While theres mounting evidence supporting the lab leak theory, we may never know with 100 percent certainty the origins of COVID-19. Especially when transparency is denied.
However, we do know some things for certain:
That in early 2018before COVID-19 emergedthe U.S. State Department had serious biosafety concerns about the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
Specifically, they warned that there was a serious shortage of appropriately trained technicians and investigators needed to safely operate the high-containment laboratory concerns that continued through 2019 and into 2020.
They also warned that the WIV was conducting coronavirus research under inadequate biosafety levels, using reverse genetic engineering techniques to hide their work, and creating chimeric coronaviruses to test infectivity to humans.
Worse yet, we know now the American taxpayer was likely paying for it and we know, based on emails uncovered by this Subcommittee, that Dr. Fauci, himself, knew there was gain of function research happening in Wuhan before the pandemic broke out.
We know that this wouldnt be the first time that a lab leak occurred:
We know that Smallpox escaped a laboratory in the UK in 1978;
We know that the former Soviet Union accidentally released anthrax from a military research facility;
We know that two separate lab related incidents led to the release of SARS from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention in 2004;
Finally, we know that the United States isnt immune to leaks:
Theres been lab related accidents involving H1N1, H5N1, smallpox, Tuberculosis and Zikasome as recently as 2016.
These lab leaks can occur for a multitude of reasons.
They can occur because of mishandled biological materials, escaped aerosols, laboratory design flaws, or human errorwhich can be as simple as failing to correctly wear protective equipment or accidentally puncturing a glove.
Such an accident could easily have occurred in Fresno County, California where we know a Chinese company operated an illegal laboratory where it conducted dangerous experiments involving COVID-19 and other viruses.
Inside this lab, authorities found hundreds of mice that had been genetically modified to catch and carry the COVID-19 virus.
Troublingly, as we already know. These lab-related incidentsif not containedcan cause predictable but disastrous consequences.
Desiring more laboratory safety and more oversight isnt to chill the scientific community from engaging in research, but to ensure were taking every precaution necessary to protect the public from escaped pathogensof which, we cannot control, nor fully understand the consequences until its too late.
Its critically important that these issues be addressed proactively.
Scientists that are conducting their work safely and with the proper precautions should not have any concerns about more oversight on bad labs. This oversight should be welcomed.
In recent years, theres been significant advancements in biotechnologyor dual-use technologythat makes it far easier to develop and genetically engineer dangerous viruses.
Advancements that could make a genetically altered virus indistinguishable from a naturally occurring virus.
This is one reason increased oversight into the experiments being conducted and the viral holdings of labs is vital to preventing a pandemic.
Theres also been a proliferation of high-containment labs throughout the world.
Left unchecked, this makes it conceivable, if not probable, that another pandemic could occur in the future because of a lab-related incident.
This is a matter of public health and national security that requires interagency coordination and international cooperation.
We are holding this hearing today to look at our current standards and circumstances to help prepare for a future pandemic.
To determine what went wrong and to recommend how to do it better.
I look forward to a strong, on topic, discussion today.
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In a recent study published in Natures Scientific Reports, a team of scientists investigated factors such as cardiopulmonary fitness, body composition, and long-term symptoms associated with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) sequelae in individuals who had recovered from severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infections.
Study:Body composition and cardiorespiratory fitness of overweight COVID-19 survivors in different severity degrees: a cohort study. Image Credit:Billion Photos/Shutterstock.com
A large body of evidence suggests that COVID-19 is not only a respiratory disease but a multisystem syndrome. Like many other viral diseases, the end of acute SARS-CoV-2 infections is characterized by persistent COVID-19 symptoms that impact the cardiovascular, pulmonary, neurocognitive, muscular, and digestive systems.
These symptoms are collectively known as long coronavirus disease (long COVID) or post-acute sequelae of COVID-19 (PASC) and can vary significantly across environmental and lifestyle-related factors such as age, ethnicity, sex, comorbidities, and hospitalization factors.
Two broad categories have emerged in the classification of long COVID one pertaining to the tissue damage that impacts major organs such as lungs, heart, and neurological tissue, and the other related to the chronic inflammation that results in autoimmunity, dysbiosis, viral persistence, and lymphopenia.
Studies have shown that individuals with higher fat mass, neuropathies, myopathies, and lower cardiopulmonary fitness are at increased risk of being admitted to intensive care units due to severe COVID-19.
Therefore, understanding how overweight individuals are impacted by various long COVID symptoms is essential for developing effective treatment and rehabilitation strategies.
In the present study, the team aimed to evaluate cardiopulmonary fitness, body composition, and persistent long COVID symptoms of individuals who had SARS-CoV-2 infections and compare the symptoms with the severity of the infection. They also examined the hemodynamic and cardiopulmonary recovery after a stress test during the one-year follow-up.
The participants were categorized according to the severity of COVID-19 into mind, moderate, and critically ill or severe, and detailed information about medication use, medical history, hospitalization and respiratory support requirements, and persistent long COVID symptoms was collected.
The test included individuals between the ages of 18 and 65 years who had a positive COVID-19 diagnosis based on a positive reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test.
The participants were also overweight or obese according to their body mass index (BMI). They had to have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine and be medically cleared to undergo the stress test. Reduced mobility or any disabling neurological disorders were grounds for exclusion.
Baseline assessments included anthropometric and body composition measurements and a Bruce test to determine the systolic and diastolic blood pressures, heart rate, and oxygen saturation. Self-reported medical history, SARS-CoV-2 infection characteristics, lifestyle habits, persistent long COVID symptoms, and physical activity levels were also recorded.
Bioelectrical impedance analysis was used to evaluate body composition measures such as body mass, lean mass, skeletal muscle mass, fat mass, fat-free mass, and body fat, and these values, along with height measurements, were used to calculate the BMI.
An adapted Bruce test was used to monitor vital signs such as heart rate, oxygen saturation, and blood pressure during the stress test. These assessments were repeated after a year.
The results reported that the long-term symptoms most prevalent after COVID-19 in overweight or obese individuals were memory deficits, lack of concentration, fatigue, and dyspnea, in that order.
The Bruce test indicated that oxygen saturation was significantly lower for close to 5 minutes, and the diastolic blood pressure was significantly higher in the critically ill group than in the mild group.
The body composition measures also showed a time effect, with individuals in the critically ill or severe COVID-19 group showing an increase in skeletal muscle mass, lean mass, and fat-free mass after a year.
The cardiopulmonary fitness did not seem to differ significantly across groups, and the respiratory quotient of the critically ill group was higher after a year compared to itself. However, the hemodynamic responses after exercising remained worse in individuals in the critically ill group.
The higher fat mass values in the critical or severe cases compared to the mild cases indicated adiposity, which was attributed to low-grade inflammation.
Given that the prevalence of persistent long-term COVID symptoms was not substantially different across the three groups, the authors believe that a treatment and recovery approach consisting of regular physical activity and balanced nutrition is essential for all long COVID patients.
To summarize, the findings reported that overall cardiopulmonary fitness did not vary significantly based on the severity of COVID-19. Body composition assessments indicated increased adiposity associated with low-grade inflammation in critically ill COVID-19 patients.
However, the prevalence of long COVID symptoms did not vary according to COVID-19 severity, with memory deficits, difficulty concentrating, fatigue, and dyspnea being the most prevalent symptoms.
Journal reference:
Augusto, V., Sordi, A. F., Lemos, M. M., Fernandes, Benedetti, V., Silva, B. F., Ramos, P., ValdsBadilla, P., Mota, J., & Branco, B.H.M. (2023). Body composition and cardiorespiratory fitness of overweight COVID-19 survivors in different severity degrees: a cohort study. Scientific Reports, 13(1), 17615. doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598023447388. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-023-44738-8
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Do overweight individuals exhibit reduced cardiopulmonary fitness ... - News-Medical.Net
Having a COVID-19 infection is associated with an increased risk of developing the rare disorder called Guillain-Barr syndrome within the next six weeks, according to a study published in the October 18, 2023, online issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. The study also found that people who received the mRNA vaccine from Pfizer-BioNTech were less likely to develop the disorder in the next six weeks than people who did not receive the mRNA vaccine.
Guillain-Barr syndrome is a rare autoimmune disorder in which the immune system attacks nerve cells. Symptoms start with weakness in the hands and feet and may progress to paralysis. Although it can be life-threatening, most people recover with few remaining problems. An exact cause of Guillain-Barr syndrome is unknown but it can occur after gastrointestinal or respiratory infections. Researchers note it occurs in up to 20 out of every one million people per year, and only in extremely rare cases does it follow certain vaccinations.
These findings further highlight the benefits of ongoing vaccination programs with mRNA-based vaccines. The results have important clinical and public health implications."
Anat Arbel, MD, study author, Lady Davis Carmel Medical Center in Haifa, Israel
The study involved over 3 million people in Israel with no previous diagnosis of Guillain-Barr. They were followed from January 1, 2021, until June 30, 2022. During that time, 76 people developed Guillain-Barr. Each person with Guillain-Barr was matched to 10 people who did not have the syndrome, or 760 people.
Then researchers looked to see whether participants had a COVID infection or a COVID vaccine during the six weeks prior to the diagnosis of Guillain-Barr or the same time period for their matched participants.
Researchers determined that people with a recent COVID infection were six times more likely to develop Guillain-Barr than those without a recent infection. A total of 12% of the people with Guillain-Barr had a recent COVID infection, compared to 2% of the people who did not have Guillain-Barr.
In addition, 11% of those with Guillain-Barr had a recent vaccination with a mRNA vaccine, compared to 18% of those who did not have Guillain-Barr.
They also found that people with a recent mRNA vaccination were more than 50% less likely to develop Guillain-Barr than those without a recent mRNA vaccination.
"While Guillain-Barr is extremely rare, people should be aware that having a COVID infection can increase their risk of developing the disorder and receiving an mRNA vaccine can decrease their risk," Arbel said.
A limitation of the study was that since not all participants had tests for COVID, it is possible that some people may have been classified with no evidence of COVID infection when they had an infection with no or mild symptoms.
The study does not prove that COVID infection increases the risk of Guillain-Barr or that mRNA vaccination decreases the risk. It only shows an association.
Source:
Journal reference:
Bishara, H., et al. (2023) Association Between Guillain-Barr Syndrome and COVID-19 Infection and Vaccination: A Population-Based Nested Case-Control Study. Neurology. doi.org/10.1212/WNL.0000000000207900.
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COVID-19 infection associated with increased risk of developing ... - News-Medical.Net
