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COVID Vaccination Technology May Be Used as First Heart Attack ‘Cure’
COVID vaccine technology is now being used to repair damaged organs of heart attack victims.
A team of scientists at King’s College London has identified mRNA’s — key genetic code — which produce proteins that can generate healthy heart cells.
The same technology used in the Pfizer and Moderna jabs delivers the mRNA to the heart muscle directly following a heart attack, where up to one billion heart cells die when blood supply to the central organ is stopped.
Lawsuit: Hospital Director Fired After Virus Patient Concern
A former director at a West Virginia hospital has filed a lawsuit alleging that he was fired after he raised concerns about the safety of patients who were on ventilators and receiving other respiratory care services during a surge of COVID-19 cases.
Mustard, then 63, alleges he was terminated after he reported concerns about the quality of medical care being provided as the number of patients requiring respiratory care increased during the pandemic. Mustard was “highly outspoken” about the need for more staff in the respiratory services department “in order to provide an adequate level of care to its patients and the community,” the lawsuit reads.
The suit states he was not warned that his job was in jeopardy or given a reason for the termination, which came less than one month after he received an “exceptional” performance review that included an incentive bonus of more than $6,000.
Novavax Says Vaccine Targeting COVID and Flu Shows Promising Results in Early Data
Novavax on Wednesday said its vaccine targeting both COVID-19 and the flu triggered an immune response similar to its stand-alone shots against each virus, in an early indication that a combination vaccine targeting both viruses could prove effective though further study is necessary.
Chief Medical Officer Filip Dubovsky, during a call with reporters, said the company’s early phase clinical trial found that up to 25 micrograms of the COVID formulation combined with up to 35 micrograms of the flu formulation triggered a promising level of protective antibodies.
Participants in the phase one trial had a median age of 59 and all of them had previously received COVID vaccines. Novavax is presenting the data at the World Vaccine Congress in Washington, DC, on Wednesday.
A New Version of Omicron Is Gaining a Foothold in the U.S., CDC Finds
Another Omicron subvariant is gaining traction in the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Tuesday.
The subvariant, called BA.2.12.1, is an offshoot of the BA.2 version of Omicron. While BA.2 remains the dominant variant in the U.S., BA.2.12.1 now accounts for roughly 1 in 5 new cases nationwide.
The majority of cases in the U.S. — around 75% — are still caused by BA.2., which has been the country’s dominant variant since late March.
New York Gov. Hochul Warns of ‘Rising Tide’ of COVID Cases as Omicron Subvariants Drive Spike in Infections
Two mutated strains of the highly transmissible Omicron variant of COVID-19 are the main culprits behind a “rising tide” of infections in New York, Gov. Kathy Hochul said Wednesday.
“We did identify two subvariants of Omicron, which is driving the current spike in cases,” Hochul said during a press event in Syracuse. “We’re taking this very seriously,” the Democratic governor said. “You don’t know, every single variant that comes, is it going to be worse than the last one?”
But Hochul stressed that state health experts have seen no evidence that the new strains are more severe than others, and so far they are not expecting a repeat of the massive, Omicron-fueled surge in cases during the winter months.
Better Ventilation Can Prevent COVID Spread. But Are Companies Paying Attention?
Americans are abandoning their masks. They’re done with physical distancing. And, let’s face it, some people are just never going to get vaccinated. Yet a lot can still be done to prevent COVID infections and curb the pandemic.
A growing coalition of epidemiologists and aerosol scientists say that improved ventilation could be a powerful tool against the coronavirus — if businesses are willing to invest the money.
“The science is airtight,” said Joseph Allen, director of the Healthy Buildings program at Harvard University’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health. “The evidence is overwhelming.”
It’s Getting Even Harder to Tell How Many Americans Have the Coronavirus
Coronavirus case counts have never been a perfect tally, but the numbers are becoming even less reliable.
The culprits? The proliferation of at-home tests (which often aren’t reported to the government); the halting of surveillance testing, including at some colleges; and the unwinding of some community testing sites in several states and cities are all playing a role.
The undercount of infections comes as health officials across the country are grappling with understanding the impact of the BA.2 subvariant — and preparing to track even more transmissible forms of Omicron. While infection rates can be useful indicators, some federal officials and public health experts say they’re increasingly focused on other metrics, such as hospitalizations and tracking the virus in sewer water.
The Official Count of COVID Shots in Older Adults Is Distorted. What’s Going On?
In many states, everyone over the age of 65 — and then some — has gotten at least one shot to vaccinate against COVID-19, according to counts by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Analysis by researchers at Northeastern and partner institutions indicates that the CDC counts, when compared with census data, show that 117% of older adults in Massachusetts, and 140% of older adults in New Hampshire, have gotten a shot. Indeed, data for 26 states, including all of New England, would indicate that more than 100% of people above age 65 have gotten at least one shot.
How is that possible? The short answer is, that it’s not.
Older People Who Get COVID Are at Increased Risk of Getting Shingles
People 50 and older who have had a mild case of COVID-19 are 15% more likely to develop shingles (herpes zoster) within six months than are those who have not been infected by the coronavirus, according to research published in the journal Open Forum Infectious Diseases. The risk, however, was found to be even greater for older people who were hospitalized because of a more severe COVID case, making them 21% more likely to develop shingles than those who did not have COVID.
The findings stem from data on roughly 2 million people — nearly 400,000 diagnosed with COVID-19 and 1.6 million who had no coronavirus infection.
Shingles is an outbreak of a painful rash or blisters on the skin, most often occurring on one side of the torso. It is caused by the varicella-zoster virus, which causes chickenpox. After someone has chickenpox, usually as a child, the varicella-zoster virus remains in their body and can become active again years or decades later, this time causing shingles. Most often, this happens after age 50.
Putting Hospitalized COVID Patients on Their Belly May Not Be a Good Idea After All
U.S. News & World Report reported:
Placing hospitalized COVID-19 patients on their stomachs is helpful if they’re on a mechanical ventilator, but a new study suggests it’s not a good idea for patients who are not intubated.
“Awake” COVID patients — as opposed to ventilated patients who are kept sedated — did not benefit from lying on their stomachs while struggling for breath, according to clinical trial results published online on April 18 in JAMA Internal Medicine.
In fact, awake COVID-19 patients asked to prone did somewhat worse short-term than those left on their backs, said lead researcher Dr. Todd Rice, an associate professor of allergy, pulmonology and critical care medicine at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn. Their blood oxygen levels were lower, and they tended to remain sicker, Rice said.
