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F.D.A. Authorizes Updated Covid Booster Shots for Children 5 to 11

12 Oct 2022

Federal regulators on Wednesday broadened access to updated coronavirus booster shots to include children as young as 5, hoping to bolster protection against the now-dominant version of the virus.

Long COVID

09 Aug 2022

What Is Long COVID? Many people recover fully within a few days or weeks after being infected with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. But others have symptoms that linger for weeks, months, or even years after their initial diagnosis. Some people seem to recover from COVID-19 but then see their symptoms return, or they develop new symptoms within a few months. Even people who had no symptoms when they were infected can develop symptoms later. Either mild or severe COVID-19 can lead to long-lasting symptoms. Long COVID, long-haul COVID, post-COVID-19 condition, chronic COVID, and post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 (PASC) are all names for the health problems that some people experience within a few months of a COVID-19 diagnosis. Symptoms of long COVID may be the same or different than symptoms of COVID-19. Long COVID can also trigger other health conditions, such as diabetes or kidney disease.

Studying Long COVID Might Help Others With Post-Viral Fatigue Ailments

08 Aug 2022

For people with myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), “fatigue” doesn’t just mean being a little tired. It means a brain like molasses, a body exhausted and weak, and legs like jelly. If you are just tired, a typical remedy is to get some exercise or move around a bit to get blood flowing. But for people with ME/CFS, exercise does just the opposite. Physical or mental exertion can debilitate them, requiring recovery time that lasts for days, months, or years. Resting does not help. This symptom, known as post-exertional malaise, is one of the defining features of the disease, and it is poorly understood.

COVID-19 Boosters This Fall to Include Omicron Antigen, but Questions Remain About Its Value

11 Jul 2022

Probably many people who watched or participated in the June 28 virtual US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advisory committee meeting about updating COVID-19 vaccines could agree on 1 point, made by the agency’s Peter Marks, MD, Ph.D: “It is science at its hardest.” More New Online Views 8,944 Citations 0 25 Medical News & Perspectives July 8, 2022 COVID-19 Boosters This Fall to Include Omicron Antigen, but Questions Remain About Its Value Rita Rubin, MA Article Information JAMA. Published online July 8, 2022. doi:10.1001/jama.2022.11252 related articles icon Related Articles Probably many people who watched or participated in the June 28 virtual US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advisory committee meeting about updating COVID-19 vaccines could agree on 1 point, made by the agency’s Peter Marks, MD, PhD: “It is science at its hardest.” The SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant is shown as green dots budding from a vero mammalian kidney epithelial cell 36 hours after infection. The SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant is shown as green dots budding from a vero mammalian kidney epithelial cell 36 hours after infection. Steve Gschmeissner/sciencesource.com The FDA convened its Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee (VRBPAC) to discuss whether to add an Omicron component to boosters for the fall. In order to have enough doses by early October, “we will need to very rapidly move to let companies know what that selection will be,” Marks reminded the panelists. (How many doses will be enough isn’t clear—as of June 30, only 51.1% of fully vaccinated US adults aged 18 years or older had received 1 booster shot, while only 27% of fully vaccinated adults aged 50 years or older, for whom a second booster is recommended, had received 2, according to government data.)

COVID-19 Vaccines for Kids Under 5: What Parents Need To Know

19 Jun 2022

After multiple delays, very young children are finally eligible for COVID-19 vaccination. In mid-June, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted emergency use authorization (EUA) to Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine for children ages 6 months to 5 years, as well as to Moderna's vaccine for kids ages 6 months to 6 years. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) soon after recommended the vaccines, which should become available early next week.

SARS-CoV-2 infection triggers pro-atherogenic inflammatory responses in human coronary vessels

28 Sep 2023

Patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) present increased risk for ischemic cardiovascular complications up to 1 year after infection. Although the systemic inflammatory response to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection likely contributes to this increased cardiovascular risk, whether SARS-CoV-2 directly infects the coronary vasculature and attendant atherosclerotic plaques remains unknown. Here we report that SARS-CoV-2 viral RNA is detectable and replicates in coronary lesions taken at autopsy from severe COVID-19 cases. SARS-CoV-2 targeted plaque macrophages and exhibited a stronger tropism for arterial lesions than adjacent perivascular fat, correlating with macrophage infiltration levels. SARS-CoV-2 entry was increased in cholesterol-loaded primary macrophages and dependent, in part, on neuropilin-1. SARS-CoV-2 induced a robust inflammatory response in cultured macrophages and human atherosclerotic vascular explants with secretion of cytokines known to trigger cardiovascular events. Our data establish that SARS-CoV-2 infects coronary vessels, inducing plaque inflammation that could trigger acute cardiovascular complications and increase long-term cardiovascular risk.

Long-Term Dysfunction of Taste Papillae in SARS-CoV-2

06 Sep 2023

Abstract BACKGROUND We sought to determine whether ongoing taste disturbance in the post-acute sequelae of coronavirus disease 2019 is associated with the persistent virus in primary taste tissue. CONCLUSIONS Our data show a temporal association in patients between functional taste, taste papillae morphology, and the presence of SARS-CoV-2 and its associated immunological changes. (Funded by Intramural Research Program/National Institute on Aging/National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases/National Institutes of Health; ClinicalTrials.gov numbers NCT03366168 and NCT04565067.)

Uninsured and Not Immune — Closing the Vaccine-Coverage Gap for Adults

20 Jul 2023

The U.S. Covid-19 vaccination strategy was simple: get safe and effective vaccines into arms as quickly as possible by making them free and accessible. This strategy worked: more than 670 million Covid-19 vaccine doses had been administered to more than 270 million Americans by the end of the national public health emergency.

Strategic Masking to Protect Patients from All Respiratory Viral Infections

06 Jul 2023

The end of the public health emergency in the United States is a richly symbolic milestone in the course of the SARSCoV-2 pandemic. During the height of the pandemic, the virus killed millions of people worldwide, upended lives, and radically altered health care. One of the most visible changes in health care was the introduction of universal masking, a measure designed to reduce SARS-CoV-2 transmission in health care facilities by applying source control and exposure protection to everyone in the facility. With the end of the public health emergency, however, many health care centers in the United States are now stopping universal masking and reverting to requiring masking in only limited circumstances (e.g., when health care workers are caring for patients with potentially contagious respiratory infections).

Development of a Definition of Postacute Sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 Infection

25 May 2023

Key Points Question What symptoms are differentially present in SARS-CoV-2–infected individuals 6 months or more after infection compared with uninfected individuals, and what symptom-based criteria can be used to identify postacute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection (PASC) cases? Findings In this analysis of data from 9764 participants in the RECOVER adult cohort, a prospective longitudinal cohort study, 37 symptoms across multiple pathophysiological domains were identified as present more often in SARS-CoV-2–infected participants at 6 months or more after infection compared with uninfected participants. A preliminary rule for identifying PASC was derived based on a composite symptom score. Meaning A framework for identifying PASC cases based on symptoms is a first step to defining PASC as a new condition. These findings require iterative refinement that further incorporates clinical features to arrive at actionable definitions of PASC.