Category: Covid-19

For immediate release: February 8, 2022(22-025)Spanish

Contact: DOH Communications

Rapid antigen tests can be ordered and shipped directly to Washington households at no-cost

OLYMPIA The Washington State Department of Health (DOH) is re-opening a statewide portal that allows people to order COVID-19 rapid tests online, then have them shipped to their doorsteps. This time, 1.45 million tests will be available, serving 290,000 households.

Washington state residents can go to http://www.sayyescovidhometest.org to order one at-home test kit (up to 5 tests). Recipients will get those tests delivered at no cost, but only while supplies last. When more supplies become available, the state will open the portal again.

This is the third time the state has made tests available like this and, in the two prior openings, the system worked successfully. On Friday, Jan. 21, the state opened the portal for the first time with 1.4 million tests available for order. Within eight hours, all tests had been claimed, and approximately 340,000 households received tests. In round two, 130,000 households were served.

Tests are expected to arrive within a few days of the order being placed.

People can still get COVID-19 tests through any of the following options:

It is possible to report a positive test result from an at-home test through the states COVID-19 hotline. The state hotline, 1-800-525-0127 (then press #), is available Monday from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., and Tuesday to Sunday (and observed holidays) 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Language assistance is available.

DOH encourages all smartphone users to download or enable WA Notify for not just exposure notifications but plugging in positive results. For anyone using WA Notify at the time they test positive for COVID-19, they can record their positive test results directly into WA Notify on their devices.

If you have symptoms, you should assume you have COVID-19 even if you dont have a test to confirm it and stay home if youre sick.

Tests can be ordered here:

The DOHwebsite is your source for a healthy dose of information. Find us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. Sign up for the DOH blog,Public Health Connection.

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State re-opens COVID-19 test portal for third time - Washington State Department of Health

The mixed metrics on Covid have created a contrasting, roses-and-thorns situation for Americans. Cases are declining and the burden on hospitals is lessening even as more than 2,400 people have died every day over the past seven days.

Cases now are a third of what they were three weeks ago, when the total peaked at about 800,000 new cases per day.

The number of hospitalized patients has declined in recent weeks, though it remains higher than during the Delta wave. There are about 110,000 people currently hospitalized with Covid-19, according to JHU, a a 19% drop from last week.

New hospital admissions also are down compared to last week.

All those infections and hospitalizations have led to grim daily death tolls.

The US is now averaging 2,462 new deaths each day, according to JHU. This is a 3% increase from last week. Since the start of the pandemic, more than 900,000 people in the US have died of Covid-19.

Originally posted here:

Covid-19 cases are one-third of the peak 3 weeks ago. Here's where the US stands on other metrics - CNN

As omicron numbers drop at Denver Health, Dr. Anuj Mehta is reminded of the scene in the 1980 comedy The Blues Brothers" when John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd pile out of a battered car after a police chase.

Suddenly, all the doors pop off the hinges, the front wheels fall off and smoke pours from the engine.

And thats my fear," said Mehta, a pulmonary and critical care physician. Im worried that as soon as we stop, everythings just going to fall apart."

Across the U.S., the number of people in the hospital with COVID-19 has tumbled more than 28% over the past three weeks to about 105,000 on average, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

But the ebbing of the omicron surge has left in its wake postponed surgeries, exhausted staff members and uncertainty over whether this is the last big wave or whether another one lies ahead.

What we want to see is that the omicron surge continues to decrease, that we dont see another variant of concern emerge, that we start to come out of the other side of this, said Dr. Chris Beyrer, an epidemiologist at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

But he added: Weve been proven wrong twice already, with delta and omicron. So that adds to peoples anxiety and uncertainty and sense of like `When does this end?'"

Another reason for anxiety: COVID-19 hospitalizations aren't even all that low. They are at a level seen in January 2021, amid last winter's surge.

Hospitals limped through the omicron surge with workforces that already were depleted after many staff members quit the profession. The remaining health care workers got sick in droves. In some hospitals, office staff was assigned to help make beds.

Now, many hospitals are still in crisis mode, as they work to reschedule people whose hip replacements and even cancer and brain surgeries were put off during the omicron crisis to free up bed space and nurses to care for COVID-19 patients.

Even in North Dakota, which has consistently ranked near the top in the number of COVID-19 cases relative to the population, hospitals have seen a dramatic drop in virus patients. However, executives at Dakotas-based Sanford Health said their hospitals are still full.

Weve been running hard for a couple years here now, but I am not sure that I sense relief, said Dr. Doug Griffin, a vice president and medical officer for Sanford in Fargo, North Dakota. "Most of our caregivers are giving care to other patients. We still have some very, very sick people coming in for all sorts of reasons.

At the Cleveland Clinics 13 Ohio hospitals, the number of patients with COVID-19 has fallen to 280, down from an all-time pandemic high of around 1,200. Surgeries began to be delayed at the end of December, and the situation is just now returning to normal, said Dr. Raed Dweik, head of the system's respiratory institute.

The hope, he said, is that this is the last big surge and that the hospitals can begin to catch up.

Weve had our hopes dashed before that. Oh, this is the end of the pandemic and this virus,'" he said. Every time we we say something like this, its kind of laughed at us, and it comes back with a new variant."

Dr. Craig Spencer, a New York City emergency room physician, tweeted a week ago: Just worked 12 hours in the ER on a busy Monday and didnt have a single Covid patient. Not one. This aint over. But its a helluva lot better than even just a few weeks ago.

Spencer said Tuesday that he had another COVID-free shift during the overnight hours Friday and Saturday.

I am getting a somewhat random sample, of course, but just compared to a month ago, its a complete sea change, which is great," he said.

Mary Turner, who is president of the Minnesota Nurses Association and works as a COVID-19 ICU nurse, said patient numbers remain high because of all the other people who didnt go to their appointments or their follow-ups who are coming in with all the other conditions.

If there is any relief, Turner said, its being able to walk into a patients room without having to wear full protective gear.

Its like heaven" to walk in and just don a pair of gloves, she said.

At the eight-hospital Beaumont Health system in Michigan, the number of COVID-19 patients fell to 250 on Tuesday, down from last month's omicron peak of 851.

Dr. Justin Skrzynski, an internal medicine physician who runs a COVID-19 floor at Beaumont Healths hospital in Royal Oak, said patient care is about 90% back to normal and he finds reason for optimism, noting that the combination of vaccinations and immunity from infections should provide some protection.

But he noted: I think there needs to be a lot of awareness of how much a lot of health care has degenerated.

He said nurses subjected to abuse from patients have left the profession in large numbers. Costs have risen.

Right now, theres so much that were doing to prop up the health care system financially," he said, noting the billions of dollars that the federal stimulus package provided to help hospitals deal with the pandemic. "Unfortunately, once the dust settles, I think all these things are going to come due.

Hollingsworth reported from Mission, Kansas, and Kolpack from Fargo, N.D.

Continued here:

Hospitals begin to limp out of the latest COVID-19 surge - ABC News

FIFA is working with the World Health Organization (WHO) to encourage football fans, world leaders and policymakers to #ACTogether to end the COVID-19 pandemic, with a special campaign running throughout the FIFA Club World Cup 2021 in Abu Dhabi.

Football provides a unique platform to convey positive impactful messages for society, said FIFA President Gianni Infantino. Health comes first and during the FIFA Club World Cup UAE 2021, FIFA is united with all participating clubs to highlight the need for equitable access to tools to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, worldwide. Teamwork is essential, as nobody is safe until everyone is safe, and that is why we are calling again on everyone to #ACTogether.

Teamwork is essential for success on the football field and in ensuring health for all people around the world, added WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. That is why the World Health Organization is proud to work with FIFA and our ACT-Accelerator partners at the FIFA Club World Cup to promote the need to share vaccines, tests and treatments fairly to protect people from COVID-19. If we all act together, we can end the pandemic.

The #ACTogether branding has been a familiar sight on the pitchside perimeter boards so far during the FIFA Club World Cup, while the campaign video has been played on giant screens at the stadiums. The #ACTogether campaign calls on the world to come together to prevent the further spread of COVID-19.

Football fans are being encouraged to get vaccinated and keep following public health measures daily to prevent the spread of COVID-19.The campaign also appeals to world leaders and policymakers to support the WHOsAccess to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Acceleratorinitiative, which is aimed at providing fair access to COVID-19 vaccines, treatments and diagnostics.

FIFA and the WHO signed a memorandum of understanding in 2019 and have since worked on a range of initiatives that use the power of football to promote health throughout the world. This collaboration has become all the more important during the coronavirus pandemic.

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FIFA and WHO reiterate call on world to #ACTogether to end COVID-19 pandemic - World Health Organization

Northeastern University will begin lifting most of its remaining COVID-19 restrictions on its North American campuses as cases decline nationwide and across the campus community. Since students, faculty, and staff are required to be fully vaccinated and boosted against SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, the university is moving forward with policies that will enable the campus community to live, work, and study alongside the virus in a way thats as close to normal as possible.

Beginning immediately, the community can host in-person events and gatherings that no longer need to undergo review, except as needed to reserve space; university-sponsored travel can also resume, but those traveling will still be required to register with Northeasterns Global Safety and Security Assessment Committee, which will review plans that involve higher-risk destinations.

Also, effective Wednesday, Feb. 9, non-Northeastern guests will be allowed back in residence halls so long as they are fully vaccinated, masked, and comply with other policies from Housing and Residence Life.

Massachusetts Secretary of Education James Peyser praised the move, noting that as the science, our understanding, and the tools available to address COVID-19 continue to evolve it is critical that we give students the opportunity to engage more with their communities.

With Massachusetts status as a national leader in vaccination, it is time to navigate the careful transition into opening up our society while simultaneously employing public health mitigation strategies, Peyser said, in a statement. Northeastern Universitys announcements today represent important steps toward that goal.

Northeastern will still require indoor masking, as well as weekly surveillance testing on its U.S. campuses. University officials will continue to monitor the situation and update university policies as COVID-19 transitions from a pandemic to an endemic stage. University leaders are also evaluating possible changes to COVID-19 testing that could take effect later in the spring semester.

For Maxcy Grasso, a 21-year-old politics, philosophy, and economics major, the changes couldnt have come at a better time.

Coming back to campus I was a little worried that things would just continuously get worse, she says. But as this new variant kind of slows down, its nice to have kind of a normal semester for my final semester.

Grasso says shes especially excited about being able to hold events again. As a dancer, she says shes missed attending on-campus dance performances with friends from other schools.

David Madigan, provost and senior vice president for academic affairs at Northeastern, and Ken Henderson, Northeasterns chancellor and senior vice president for learning, and former dean of the College of Science, outlined the changes to campus protocols in an email to the community on Tuesday.

Throughout the pandemic, Northeastern health and safety protocols have been guided by the best available science, including working with our own faculty, and informed by public health guidance, Madigan and Henderson wrote. We have continually adapted our protocols as needed, keeping the holistic health and wellness of our community at the forefront of our decision making.

Changes to Northeasterns health and safety protocols come during a steep decrease in COVID-19 cases across North Americapart of what scientists and public health officials predicted would happen after the highly infectious but less deadly omicron variant reached its peak mid-January. The changes also come as local officials revisit COVID-19 protocols state by state.

While the future is still largely unknown, public health experts have suggested that the pandemic might be entering an endemic phase, meaning COVID-19 would become a permanent but manageable fixture in our lives, similar to the seasonal flu. Massachusetts, in particular, has seen a considerable drop-off in cases to the point that easing restrictions can help people return to a sense of normalcy, says Neil Maniar, director of the master of public health program, associate chair of the department of health sciences, and professor of public health practice at Northeastern.

I think these measures constitute an important step toward normalcy, Maniar says. All of the data seems to suggest that were getting around to the other side of the omicron surge, and all of that data taken together shows that we can resume some of the activities that we engaged in prior to the pandemic, while continuing to exhibit precautions like mask wearing and testing when required.

Maniar notes that the mental health toll of the pandemic on students, faculty, and staff has been devastating, and that rolling backwith cautionsome restrictions will help alleviate those burdens.

Theres plenty of research to support the importance of in-person education, he says.

When Ishaan Desai, 18, learned of the changes, he immediately started texting his friends. The move to resume in-person activities is great, he says, because it will help students meet new people and network again.

One of the biggest takeaways for me is now we can have non-Northeastern guests in the residence halls, Desai. Everyones pretty excited about that.

While he is still looking forward to a full return to normal, James Telesmanic, 23, says the changes are a good intermediate step.

Im excited to see some normalcy because its been a while since I felt I was back in a traditional college setting, he says.

For media inquiries, please contact media@northeastern.edu.

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Northeastern Lifts Most Remaining COVID-19 Restrictions - News @ Northeastern - News@Northeastern

NOBLESVILLE, Ind. (WISH) More and more people are getting a fourth dose of COVID-19 vaccine in Indiana. On Friday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released new guidelines for people with weakened immune systems.

People who are immunocompromised, such as those who have cancer or an HIV infection, are the most vulnerable right now. So, the CDC is now recommending that they receive a fourth shot of Moderna or Pfizer at least three months after their third shot.

When I read the CDC guidelines that stated I should wait five months from a previous dose, I got online and I scheduled my appointment, said Bryan Headrick, a Noblesville resident.

On Monday, Headrick stopped by the vaccine clinic at the Hamilton County 4-H Fairgrounds for his fourth COVID-19 shot.

I have leukemia and I was diagnosed 8 years ago, Headrick said.

That means hes immunocompromised. Headrick has already tested positive two times.

For me, because I am immunocompromised, I felt that it was very important to have that fourth dose. The CDC guidelines say that my initial battery of doses would be three, so this finally is my booster, Headrick said.

The fourth shot will be their booster versus people who arent immunocompromised its a two shot series followed six months later by a third shot booster, Vice President of Medical Affairs at Franciscan Health, Dr. Christopher Doehring, said.

News 8 asked the Hamilton County Health Department how many people have gotten a fourth shot at the fairgrounds, but they say its not something they track.

Headrick says that for him, the vaccines are necessary.

I just want to stay safe from COVID and I am anticipating that it will be an annual shot, Headrick said.

Doehring says the less robust your immune system, the harder itll be to fight the disease.

Its really an approach to try and preserve as optimal of immunoprotection as you can possibly have under the limitations of being immunocompromised, Doehring said.

For anybody who got the one-shot Johnson and Johnson vaccine, Doehring says its recommended they get a booster shot at least two months later.

Read more:

Hoosiers begin to receive 4th COVID-19 shot - WISHTV.com

In response to the publication of Pfizers financial results on COVID-19 vaccine sales for last year and projections for its COVID-19 vaccine and antiviral pill this year, Oxfams Robbie Silverman said:

Pfizers results today are clear evidence of how the company has used its monopoly to enrich its shareholders at the expense of almost half the worlds population who still have no access to lifesaving vaccines.

Thousands of people in Africa are dying every day from COVID because companies like Pfizer have prioritized profits over saving lives. And its paying off for Pfizer, raking in as much as $1 million every hour in profit.

It is obscene that we have allowed pharmaceutical companies like Pfizer to put their profits before the good of humanity as the pandemic drags on. No corporations should decide who lives and who dies.

Notes to editors

The latest data (from Dec 21) available shows that just 1 percent of Pfizers vaccines have been delivered to low-income countries.

Oxfam estimates Pfizer is making over $1 million an hour profit from the vaccine alone.

Pfizer and the other drugs companies are unable to produce enough vaccines for the world. Oxfam has issued a shareholder filing calling on Pfizer to study the feasibility of transferring vaccine technology and know-how so that production can urgently ramp up around the world.

Sarah Dransfield in the UK | SDransfield@oxfam.org.uk | +44 (0)7884 114825

For updates, please follow @NewsFromOxfam and @Oxfam

Please support Oxfam's Coronavirus Response Appeal.

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Oxfam reaction to the publication of Pfizer's financial results on COVID-19 vaccine sales for last year and projections for its COVID-19 vaccine and...

A welcome sign at the Office of Childrens Services Child Welfare Academy. (Photo by Jeff Chen/Alaska Public Media)

For many of the roughly 3,000 foster children in Alaska, finding a stable home has never been harder.

Children are sleeping in offices, in OCS offices, because they test positive for COVID, and theres no one available to take them, said Amanda Metivier, interim director of the Child Welfare Academy, a University of Alaska Anchorage organization that provides training for people working with foster youth.

Alaska has long struggled to have enough foster homes for the children and teenagers who need them, but the pandemic has made the problem even worse. Fewer families are volunteering to foster for a variety of reasons, from fear of COVID-19 spread to pandemic-driven financial challenges, said Metivier.

On top of that, the state Office of Childrens Services which places kids in foster homes has long had trouble filling open jobs and has a high rate of staff turnover. Its all resulting in more Alaska children staying in shelters during a pandemic instead of with families in foster homes.

Theyre sleeping in hotels, and staff are doing shifts for 40-50 hours to stay with children in a hotel until they can find a family setting for them to stay in, Metivier said. More than ever, young people are staying in shelters.

One of those young people was 17-year-old Jesse Herrera. She stayed at the Covenant House youth shelter in Anchorage for a month last year, until she found a foster home.

And before that, it also wasnt easy.

Since the age of four, Herrera has bounced around the foster care system between California and Alaska, experiencing failed adoptions, group homes and treatment facilities. She said typically teenagers in foster care have behavioral issues and trauma from their experiences and are less likely to find homes than younger kids.

The biggest thing for me is Im also trans, and a teenager, Herrera said. So a lot of people dont want teenagers, but also a trans youth, so there were no homes that would take me so they had to place me at Covenant House.

Herrera eventually found her own way to a foster family in Anchorage after visiting the home of a friends foster mother.

I went there for a weekend to spend time with my best friend and hang out, and returned back to the facility at Covenant House, and they said I had to leave because I was gone for too long, Herrera said. She said, Get in the truck. Lets go. Youre staying with me now. The caregiver that she is, she took me in out of her own heart.

While Herrera said she got lucky in finding her foster mother, thousands of other Alaska kids remain stuck without a stable home. Metivier said the number of children in the foster care system has been pretty stable during the pandemic, but the number of foster homes has declined dramatically.

There are roughly 3,000 children in the foster care system.

But by the end of last year, there were just over 650 licensed homes that could take any child down from more than 1,100 the year before, according to the Office of Childrens Services. That drop doesnt take into account the licensed homes that arent taking in new kids because of things like stress and worries over COVID-19 spread.

According to some foster care advocates, the problems at OCS go beyond a lack of families and started well before the pandemic. And for one foster parent, those problems prompted him to leave the system.

I think theres a lack of training. I think its a lack of a qualified workforce. Its a systematic failure, said Jason England.

England moved to the Lingit community of Klawock on Prince of Wales Island in 2014. He met his wife, whos Lingit and the two became licensed foster parents in 2018. He said the demand was immediate.

We get the phone call, Youre licensed. Here you go, everythings good. It was literally a couple days later, we had three kids in foster care, England said.

England had done work at the local school and was familiar with the three kids they were siblings and related to his wife. But the transition was difficult, he said. The only OCS case worker on Prince of Wales at the time told England he had an emergency in Hydaburg, so England would have to pick up the kids.

It was definitely awkward, England said. Going into their house, getting their stuff, the mom sitting there, them crying. And that was the beginning of this journey.

England said having to pick up the foster children highlights another problem with OCS: There arent enough workers. England has had eight different OCS case workers in his roughly three years as a foster parent. Theres rarely more than one to cover Prince of Wales cases, he said

Prince of Wales is the size of Rhode Island, he said. And youre expecting one person to cover that?

England said none of his OCS concerns had to do with the kids he was watching. Though he is done being a foster parent, England was able to get the children who were in his care back home to their mother. He said not having to deal with OCS anymore has reduced his stress.

The last child that we had went home Jan. 21, England said. Ive seen him, he still comes over and watches football with me. And I had my blood pressure checked a couple days ago, and Im down 20 points.

State OCS director Kim Guay said the number of foster families in the state has been declining for the past five years, stretching back to before COVID-19 hit. She said staff turnover is normally around 30%, but the pandemic has made it worse. Now it sits at roughly 60%.

As a result, the department sometimes has to ask more of their foster parents, said Guay.

Thats kind of the nature of our job, is constantly trying to reprioritize whats needed, she said. Whats an emergency, what can be moved.

Guay said not everyone whos being hired as an OCS case worker has a background in social work or a similar field because of a small pool of qualified applicants. That has led to OCS shifting focus to more on-the-job training.

The department is also trying to provide foster parents with more support, said Guay. Its working to create forums for them to discuss issues, as well as a new hotline to get foster parents directly in contact with OCS instead of waiting for their case workers to be available.

Gov. Mike Dunleavy also announced a program in December called the People First Initiative, which would provide millions of dollars in funding to areas including public safety and foster care.

He did make this announcement to really invest in child welfare, said Metivier with the UAA organization. I dont know that thats reflected in the current state operating budget and what hes proposed. So Im interested to see whats to come.

Guay said more information on the funding should be available in the coming weeks. She said recruiting new foster families and OCS workers is a priority, as is keeping the foster families who are already licensed.

She says her message to foster parents is: Please hang in there.

We need you, and this work cant be done without you, she said. And its not that OCS needs you. The kids in this state need our foster parents, and we need them to be strong and healthy.

Already, withgrant funding from the Anchorage Assembly, Metivier and UAAs Child Welfare Academy have produced ads to try to recruit new foster families.

Through social media, putting it out at public gatherings, doing things like coffee sleeves, pizza inserts, you name it, Metivier said. Theres a huge call to the community to sign up to be a foster parent.

As for Herrera in Anchorage, who is in one of those ads, shes thriving in her new foster home since moving in last May.

It made me feel like I was loved and cared for, Herrera said. My depression was rough, and if I wasnt in this home, I dont think Id be here today.

Herrera turns 18 in March and will age out of the system. Her goals include getting an MBA or J.D. degree, so she can help advocate for the thousands of children that live the same struggles she did.

Correction: An earlier version of this story said Amanda Metivier was assistant director of the Child Welfare Academy. She is the interim director.

Continued here:

The COVID-19 pandemic is leaving more children in Alaska's foster care system without stable homes - KTOO

PENNSYLVANIA, USA The Pennsylvania Department of Health confirms 3,593additional positive cases of COVID-19, bringing the statewide total to 2,703,408on Tuesday, February 7.

There were 196new deaths identified by the Pennsylvania death registry. The statewide total of deaths attributed to COVID-19 is 41,781, according to the department.

Editor's Note:On Tuesday, the Department of Health corrected an error that included some duplicate case numbers on Monday.

Monday's statewide total should have been 2,144 new cases.

View the CDC COVID data trackerhere.

Watch more stories about the coronavirus pandemic on WNEP's YouTube page

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Here are the latest COVID-19 numbers in Pennsylvania for Tuesday, February 8 - WNEP Scranton/Wilkes-Barre

An FDA-approved drug that has been in clinical use for more than 70 years may protect against lung injury and the risk of blood clots in severe COVID-19 and other disorders that cause immune-mediated damage to the lungs, according to a preclinical study from researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine and Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.

The researchers, whose report appears Feb. 8 in JCI Insight, found that the drug disulfiram protected rodents from immune-mediated lung injury in two separate models of this type of injury: infection with the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus that causes COVID-19, and a lung failure syndrome called TRALI that in rare cases occurs after blood transfusion.

As we learn more about the underlying biology of these lung injuries, we may be able to specifically target the processes that are damaging the lung tissue, said senior co-author Dr. Robert Schwartz, an associate professor of medicine in the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology at Weill Cornell Medicine and a hepatologist at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center.

Both types of lung injury are now known to be driven in part by immune cells formation of web-like structures called neutrophil extracellular traps, or NETs. These can trap and kill infectious organisms, but can also be harmful to lung tissue and blood vessels, causing the accumulation of fluid in the lungs (edema) and promoting the development of blood clots. Disulfiram blocks one of the steps in NETs formation.

The study was a collaboration between Dr. Schwartzs research group and a group led by Dr. Mikala Egeblad, professor and cancer center co-leader at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.

Serendipity has attached to disulfiram almost from the start of its history as a medicine. The compound was originally used in the production of rubber, and was later investigated as an anti-parasite treatment. Incidental observations that people taking it became mildly sick whenever they drank alcohol led to its FDA approval in 1951 as a deterrent to alcohol consumption for people with alcohol use disorder.

Scientists found in 2020 that disulfiram also inhibits part of the inflammatory process that can lead to NET formation by white blood cells called neutrophils. The finding prompted the testing of disulfiram as a NET blocker. NETs will damage the tissue, but since disulfiram interferes with gasdermin D, a molecule needed to produce NETs, no NETs are formed after disulfiram treatment, Dr. Egeblad said.

After confirming in lab-dish experiments that disulfiram does greatly reduce the formation of NETs by human and mouse neutrophils, the researchers tested it in models of TRALI and COVID-19, two diseases that are known to feature extensive neutrophil invasion of the lungs, NET formation and often fatal lung damage.

In a mouse model of TRALI, disulfiram treatment a day before and then again three hours before induction of the syndrome allowed 95 percent of the animals to survive, compared to just 40 percent of those not treated with the drug. The findings showed that disulfiram, apparently by reducing NET formation, blocked the progressive damage to lung tissue and vessels that occurred in untreated mice, and in so doing allowed lung function to stabilize and recover relatively quickly after initial damage. By contrast, an inhaled drug called DNase 1, which has been investigated as a potential TRALI treatment, had no significant effect in improving the mouse survival rate even when administered minutes before TRALI induction.

In earlier collaborative work published in the Journal of Experimental Medicine, autopsy results suggested that NETs were present in severe COVID-19 patients and raised a novel possibility.

Currently there arent any good treatment options for COVID-related lung injury, so disulfiram appears to be worth investigating further in this regard, particularly in severe COVID-19 patients, Dr. Schwartz said.

Next the researchers tested disulfiram in a golden hamster model of COVID-19. This form of COVID-19 is less severe than what is seen in the worst human cases, but disulfiram treatment a day before or a day after infection with SARS-CoV-2 led to clearly favorable outcomes: less NET formation, less scar-like tissue formation (fibrosis) in the lungs, and gene activity changes suggesting a significant reduction in the harmful inflammatory response without impairment of antiviral immunity.

By comparison, the standard severe-COVID-19 treatment dexamethasone, an immune-suppressing steroid drug, did less to protect lung tissue from disease-related changes, and led to higher levels of SARS-CoV-2 in the lungs.

Disulfirams strong inhibitory effect on NET formation and its improvement of disease outcomes in different rodent models highlight the potential for its use and for the future development of even better inhibitors of NET formation in a variety of diseases, Dr. Schwartz said. Other researchers have begun small clinical trials of disulfiram in COVID-19 patients, although the results of those trials have not yet been published, he noted.

Many Weill Cornell Medicine physicians and scientists maintain relationships and collaborations with external organizations to foster scientific innovation and provide expert guidance. Weill Cornell Medicine and its faculty make this information available to the public to ensure transparency. External relationship information is available on the faculty profile of Dr. Robert Schwartz.

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Old Drug May Have New Trick: Protecting Against COVID-19 Lung Injury - Weill Cornell Medicine Newsroom