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COVID-19 Restrictions Linked to Decline in Immunity to Childhood Infections
Scientists have uncovered a link between COVID-19 control measures and a surge in serious infections in children following the pandemic. The findings, which come from a large European study led by researchers at Imperial, suggest that non-pharmaceutical interventions, including lockdowns, school closures and social distancing, may have inadvertently delayed the development of young children’s immunity to specific infectious diseases, leaving them more vulnerable to severe illness.
The researchers explain that while this impact was anticipated for viral infections (such as influenza and RSV), a surge in other infections, including the bacterial infection Strep A, had not been expected.
The authors advise the need to carefully weigh the impact of restrictions on children during future pandemics and stress the importance of development and delivery of vaccines to reduce the impact of severe infections across all age groups.
The findings are published in the journal JAMA Network Open.
Kansas Reports Rise in Vaccine Exemptions for Public School Kindergarteners
More Kansas families with kindergarteners attending school last year claimed state vaccine exemptions than in previous years, and the “unfortunate melding” of science and politics may cause that number to keep rising, an infectious disease doctor said.
The number of kindergarteners with vaccine exemptions increased from 2.9% in the 2023-24 school year to 3.59% in 2024-25, according to Kansas Department of Health and Environment state vaccine data, reported in September. The percentage of kindergarteners who received the state-required vaccines to attend school remained relatively stable, rising just three-tenths of a percent, from 86.7% to 87%, data showed.
But county data breakdowns highlighted wide disparities across Kansas, with Morton County in the southwest corner of the state reporting the lowest number of kindergarteners with required vaccines at 50%. Kingman County followed with 54.1%, then Decatur County at 60%. Twenty-two Kansas counties reported vaccination rates at less than 75%.
List of Protein Powder Brands Containing Lead: Consumer Reports
Consumer Reports revealed that more than two-thirds of the 23 protein supplements it tested contained unsafe levels of lead, raising health concerns for millions of Americans who routinely consume these products as part of fitness or dietary regimens. Protein powders and shakes comprise a rapidly growing market segment, but there are currently no mandatory federal standards regulating heavy metal contamination in such supplements.
Lead contamination in food products can pose serious health risks for humans, particularly among vulnerable groups. High levels of lead exposure have been linked to health complications such as kidney dysfunction in adults and developmental delays and neurological damage in children, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
The newfound contamination is worse than it was in Consumer Reports’ last major test 15 years ago, exposing consumers to a hidden risk in pursuit of wellness goals.
Type 1 Diabetes Increased Among Young People During the Pandemic
During the COVID-19 pandemic, there was an unexpected increase in the number of cases of Type 1 diabetes in Sweden, particularly among children under five and young adult men. The infection accelerated the onset of diabetes among children between the ages of five and nine.
The researchers looked at data from a 17-year period on the incidence of Type 1 diabetes among all people under the age of 30 in Sweden. In addition, they compared the risk of developing diabetes among 720,000 individuals with positive COVID-19 tests against a control group of 3.5 million people. The findings are published in the journal Diabetologia.
“Through Sweden’s health and population registers, we have been able to follow people from 2007 to 2023 and can see that more individuals developed type 1 diabetes during the pandemic than previously. This applied particularly to children under five and young adult men,” says Dominik Dietler, a researcher at Lund University.
The number of diabetes cases increased by 12% in 2021 and 9% in 2022 compared with previous years. In 2023, the number of cases was back to a normal level. Despite this, the researchers cannot distinguish a clear connection between COVID-19 infection and diabetes, except for children between five and nine years old. They had an increased risk of Type 1 diabetes about one month after a COVID-19 infection even though their total risk did not increase.
Early-Life Exposure to Antibiotics May Affect Long-Term Growth Patterns in Children
Exposure to antibiotics within the first week of life was associated with reduced weight-for-height through five years of age, with the combination of Augmentin and gentamicin having the most pronounced effect on growth.
Researchers examined growth patterns among children exposed to antibiotics during the first week of life and evaluated the effects of different antibiotic regimens on growth.
They used data from two birth cohorts: A control group of 128 healthy, term-born infants (≥ 37 weeks of gestation), and a cohort of 147 term-born infants (≥ 36 weeks of gestation) who received antibiotics for suspected early-onset neonatal sepsis in the first week of life.
Children older than one year who received systemic antibiotics in early life had on average 0.33 lower weight-for-age z-scores than unexposed children. Across the first five years, early-life exposure to antibiotics was associated with on average 0.26 lower weight-for-height z-scores than no exposure.
Youth Phone Use Can Be Bad for Family Bonds and Mental Health
The studies suggest that electronic media use, especially among young girls, can increase family conflict as well as widen gaps in emotional sharing between parents and kids. “We’re seeing typical adolescent development in a new, emerging digital area that is tough to deal with. Introducing a smartphone earlier in life is a risk,” says Kalsea Koss, coauthor of the study and an associate professor in the department of human development and family science at the University of Georgia’s College of Family and Consumer Sciences.
“Parents may want to think about navigating when the best time to do that is. They have to be ready to set boundaries that everybody can get on board with and then enforce those.” Using data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development repository, the researchers analyzed shifting dynamics of over 11,000 families with kids for a decade, starting at age nine. They found that by age 11, youth who used screens related to more family conflict, such as arguments or subsequent criticism of the child by the parent. This trend continued through their teenage years.
“On average, kids are getting phones and using social media around 10 years old, which is super early, and even that age is going down,” says Cory Carvalho, lead author of the study and an alumnus of the University of Georgia. “As kids are becoming differentiated from their parents because of these profound neurological and biological emotional changes, we saw social media cause a variety of disagreements, trouble with resolution, fighting, and expressions of anger.”
