Nov 17th, 2021 - Editor's note: Find the latest COVID-19 news and guidance in Medscape's Coronavirus Resource Center. Patients on dialysis are known to be at notably higher risk of contracting SARS-CoV-2 and dying from COVID-19 than the general population, and now, for the first time, a large nationwide study pinpoints further specific risk factors for infection and mortality in this population, which in fact, ...

Nov 17th, 2021 - Editor's note: Find the latest COVID-19 news and guidance in Medscape's Coronavirus Resource Center. With deer hunting season underway or starting in states across the U.S., people should wear a mask and gloves when handling deer to prevent coronavirus transmission, experts say. A recent study by researchers at Penn State University found that more than 80% of the deer sampled during last year'...

Nov 17th, 2021 - Growing reports that white-tailed deer have been infected with SARS-CoV-2 and that some have become ill with COVID-19, along with continuing infections and illness in zoo animals and pets, is giving rise to concern among some experts that animals may become reservoirs for the development of new variants or even direct animal-to-human transmission. So far, it has mostly been humans who have infe...

Nov 16th, 2021 - Editor's note: Find the latest COVID-19 news and guidance in Medscape's Coronavirus Resource Center. Vaccination against SARS-CoV-2 infection can protect patients with liver cirrhosis from decompensation, hospitalization, and death, but getting those patients to accept vaccination can be challenging. A retrospective study was conducted regarding the factors associated with failure of patients w...

Nov 16th, 2021 - CHICAGO (Reuters) - The Delta variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus now accounts for nearly all of the coronavirus infections globally, fueled by unchecked spread of the novel coronavirus in many parts of the world. So far, vaccines are still able to defend against serious disease and death from Delta, but scientists remain on alert. Here is what we know: DELTA - STILL DOMINANT The Delta variant, fir...

Nov 16th, 2021 - The fatality rate for COVID-19 in children and adolescents in England was five per 100,000 during the first year of the pandemic, however this increased to almost 90 per 100,000 among children with life-limiting neuro-disabilities. The figures were revealed through an in depth study published in Nature Medicine which used detailed clinical data in the National Child Mortality Database (NCMD) to...

Nov 16th, 2021 - Editor's note: Find the latest COVID-19 news and guidance in Medscape's Coronavirus Resource Center. A new study that followed 131 children with cancer who were infected with SARS-CoV-2 shows that most (79%) did well and had only asymptomatic or mild disease. However, others developed severe symptoms; 49 children (37%) were hospitalized, 15 (11%) required admission to the intensive care unit (I...

Nov 15th, 2021 - NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - In patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) who contracted COVID-19 infection, anti-tumor necrosis factor (anti-TNF) therapies were associated with more favorable outcomes than corticosteroids or mesalamine in a systematic review and analysis. "What was surprising was that patients with mild-to-moderate disease, who are typically treated with mesalamine compoun...

Nov 15th, 2021 - The number of suspected adverse events (AEs) reported in the European Union/European Economic Area (EU/EEA) up to the end of October stands at 749,979 out of almost 575 million doses, according to the latest data from the European Medicines Agency (EMA). The figure suggests a rate of 1.3%, although this may not reflect the true prevalence as the reports related to suspected AEs, and there is al...

Nov 15th, 2021 - Find the latest COVID-19 news and guidance in Medscape's Coronavirus Resource Center. JOHN WHYTE: Are you confused about whether you should get a COVID vaccine booster shot? Let me help try to unpack it for you. Why do some people need boosters? Although COVID-19 vaccination remains effective in preventing severe disease, more and more data suggest vaccination is less effective at preventing in...

Nov 12th, 2021 - (Reuters) - The risk of measles outbreaks is high after more than 22 million infants missed their first vaccine doses during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) warned. Reported measles cases fell by more than 80% last year compared with 2019, but a higher number of children missing their vaccine doses ...

Nov 12th, 2021 - (Reuters) - Europe's drug regulator has recommended adding a rare type of spinal inflammation called transverse myelitis as a side-effect of Johnson & Johnson's single-dose COVID-19 vaccine. Reports of this serious neurological illness were also at the heart of trial halts in the early stages of development for both AstraZeneca and J&J's shots, which are based on similar technology. On October ...

Nov 12th, 2021 - The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted orphan drug designation approval of miltefosine (Profounda, Inc) for the treatment of invasive candidiasis. This condition includes the potentially life-threatening candidemia, which is among the most common bloodstream infections in hospitalized patients in the United States. Miltefosine, a broad-spectrum antimicrobial phospholipid drug ori...

Nov 12th, 2021 - Editor's note: Find the latest COVID-19 news and guidance in Medscape's Coronavirus Resource Center. NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Smokey Bear taught kids the importance of preventing wildfires. McGruff the Crime Dog warned them not to talk to strangers. And in 1972, Big Bird lined up on "Sesame Street" to receive a measles vaccine as part of a campaign to get more youngsters inoculated against the d...

Nov 12th, 2021 - Editor's note: Find the latest COVID-19 news and guidance in Medscape's Coronavirus Resource Center. Back in the 18th century, it was a wonder how anyone ever survived a trip to the doctor. Many didn't. England's drug stores were stocked with bulls' penises, frogs' lungs, and powdered Egyptian mummy, which was evidently used against tuberculosis. Syphilis, known as the "Great Pox," was treated ...

Nov 12th, 2021 - These are the global coronavirus stories you need to know about this week. In the UK, despite criticism from the doctors' union the British Medical Association (BMA), the Government is making the COVID-19 jabs mandatory for NHS staff in England from April. The move follows compulsory vaccination in England’s care sector. This is coming at a time that a majority of health leaders are worried abo...

Nov 12th, 2021 - Find the latest COVID-19 news and guidance in Medscape's  Coronavirus Resource Center. People with sleep-disordered breathing or sleep-related hypoxia — low oxygen levels during sleeping — are no more likely than other adults to get infected with SARS-CoV-2 and develop COVID-19. However, if infected, they are at a 31% higher risk of getting hospitalized or dying from the illness, new research r...

Nov 11th, 2021 - JOHN WHYTE: Welcome, everyone. I'm Dr. John Whyte, chief medical officer at WebMD. And you're watching Coronavirus in Context. Today, we're joined by the acting commissioner of the US Food and Drug Administration, Dr. Janet Woodcock. Dr. Woodcock, thanks for taking time this afternoon. JANET WOODCOCK: Great to be here. JOHN WHYTE: Let's start off with the issue that everyone is talking about, v...

Nov 11th, 2021 - A new study indicates that among UK health care workers (HCWs), those from ethnic minority backgrounds, those residing in more deprived areas, younger individuals and females had a lower likelihood of taking up COVID-19 vaccination. The findings were published in  PLoS Medicine. It is well known that HCWs as well as ethnic minority groups have a higher risk of COVID-19 infection and adverse out...

Nov 11th, 2021 - Recent research suggests that some pediatric patients who develop neuropsychiatric symptoms from COVID-19 may have intrathecal antineural SARS-CoV-2 autoantibodies, which may hint at central nervous system (CNS) autoimmunity in these patients. "Overall, these findings indicate that severe neuropsychiatric symptoms can occur in the setting of pediatric COVID-19, including patients who lack many ...