Category: Infection

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — China will no longer require a negative COVID-19 test result for incoming travelers starting Wednesday, a milestone in its reopening to the rest of the world after a three-year isolation that began with the country’s borders closing in March 2020. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin announced the change at a briefing in Beijing on Monday. China in January ended quarantine requirements for its own citizens traveling from abroad, and over the past few months has gradually expanded the list of countries that Chinese people can travel to and increased the number of international flights. READ MORE: Severe floods in China killed 29 and caused tens of billions of economic losses Beijing ended its tough domestic “zero COVID” policy only in December, after years of draconian curbs that at times included full-city lockdowns and lengthy quarantines for people who were infected. The restrictions slowed the world’s second-largest economy, leading to rising unemployment and occasional instances of unrest. As part of those measures, incoming travelers were required to isolate for weeks at government-designated hotels. Residents were in some cases forcibly locked into their homes in attempts to stop the virus from spreading. Protests in major cities including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Nanjing erupted in November over the COVID curbs, in the most direct challenge to the Communist Party’s rule since the Tiananmen protests of 1989. In early December, authorities abruptly scrapped most COVID controls, ushering in a wave of infections that overwhelmed hospitals and morgues. A U.S. federally funded study this month found the rapid dismantling of the “zero COVID” policy may have led to nearly 2 million excess deaths in the following two months. That number greatly exceeds official estimates of 60,000 deaths within a month of the lifting of the curbs. During the years of “zero COVID,” local authorities occasionally imposed snap lockdowns in attempts to isolate infections, trapping people inside offices and apartment buildings. READ MORE: China’s Xi calls for measures to mitigate flooding amid economic downturn From April until June last year, the city of Shanghai locked down its 25 million residents in one of the world’s largest pandemic-related mass lockdowns. Residents were required to take frequent PCR tests and had to rely on government food supplies, often described as insufficient. Throughout the pandemic, Beijing touted its “zero COVID” policy — and the initial relatively low number of infections — as an example of the superiority of China’s political system over that of Western democracies. Since lifting the COVID curbs, the government has been contending with a sluggish economic recovery. The restrictions, coupled with diplomatic frictions with the United States and other Western democracies, have driven some foreign companies to reduce their investments in China. Associated Press news assistant Caroline Chen in Beijing contributed to this report.

Researchers at Ohio State University (OSU) have found that white-tailed deer are reservoirs for SARS-CoV-2 viruses. The experts report that a significant number of white-tailed deer across Ohio have been infected with SARS-Cov-2 and that viral variants evolve about three times faster in deer than in humans. Focus of the study Between November 2021 and March 2022, the researchers collected 1,522 nasal swaps from free-ranging deer in 83 of Ohio’s 88 counties and tested them for the virus causing COVID-19. What the researchers discovered The analysis revealed that over 10 percent of the samples were positive, and at least one positive case was found in 59 percent of the counties in which testing was conducted. Surprisingly, genomic analysis showed that at least 30 infections in deer have spilled over from humans. Interspecies transmission “We generally talk about interspecies transmission as a rare event, but this wasn’t a huge sampling, and we’re able to document 30 spillovers. It seems to be moving between people and animals quite easily,” said study co-senior author Andrew Bowman, an associate professor of Veterinary Preventive Medicine at OSU. “And the evidence is growing that humans can get it from deer – which isn’t radically surprising. It’s probably not a one-way pipeline.” These findings suggest that white-tailed deer are a reservoir for SARS-CoV-2 which enables continuing mutation, and that the virus’s widespread circulation in deer could potentially lead to its spread to other wildlife and livestock. Not just a localized problem In December 2021, Bowman and his colleagues first reported the detection of the virus in white-tailed deer in nine locations in Ohio. In the current study, they expanded monitoring in a variety of other locations. “We expanded across Ohio to see if this was a localized problem – and we find it in lots of places, so it’s not just a localized event,” Bowman explained. “Some of the thought back then was that maybe it’s just in urban deer because they’re in closer contact with people. But in rural parts of the state, we’re finding plenty of positive deer.” Besides detecting active infections, the scientists also found a significant number of blood samples containing antibodies, suggesting that an estimated 23.5 percent of deer in Ohio had already been infected with the coronavirus. Spillover events Among the 80 whole-genome sequences obtained from the samples, the researchers identified the highly contagious and virulent delta variant (the predominant human strain in the United States in the early fall of 2021), which accounted for nearly 90 percent of the sequences, and alpha, the first variant of concern that was identified in humans in the spring of 2021. The investigation revealed that the genetic composition of delta variants in deer closely matched the dominant lineages found in humans during the same time period, pointing to several spillover events, and suggesting that deer-to-deer transmission followed in clusters, some of them spanning multiple counties. “There’s probably a timing component to what we found – we were near the end of a delta peak in humans, and then we see a lot of delta in deer. But we were well past the last alpha detection in humans. So the idea that deer are holding onto lineages that have since gone extinct in humans is something we were worried about,” Bowman said. According to the experts, vaccination is likely to protect people against severe diseases in case the virus will spill back into humans. For instance, an investigation of the effects of deer variants on Siberian hamsters (an animal model widely used in COVID-19 studies) provided clear evidence that vaccinated hamsters did not get as sick after infection as unvaccinated ones. Study implications Unfortunately, the variants circulating in deer are expected to continue to change at a faster rate than that seen in humans. “Not only are deer getting infected with and maintaining SARS-CoV-2, but the rate of change is accelerated in deer – potentially away from what has infected humans,” Bowman reported. Further research is needed to clarify how the virus is transmitted from humans to white-tailed deer and assess the likelihood of mutated variants to spill back into humans. Although no substantial outbreaks of deer-origin strains have occurred in humans until now, circulation among animals remains very likely. Moreover, since about 70 percent of free-ranging deer in Ohio have not been exposed to the virus yet, there is a large number of immunologically-naïve animals that the virus could spread through uninhibited. “Having that animal host in play creates things we need to watch out for. If this trajectory continues for years and we have a virus that becomes deer-adapted, then does that become the pathway into other animal hosts, wildlife or domestic? We just don’t know,” Bowman concluded. The study is published in the journal Nature Communications. — By Andrei Ionescu, Earth.com Staff Writer Check us out on EarthSnap, a free app brought to you by Eric Ralls and Earth.com. .

Vegetables are supposed to help with your health. But health officials are sounding the alarm about a large amount of veggies sold across New York State. Bags of frozen vegetables that were sold nationwide are being recalled because they might be contaminated with listeria. Vegetables Sold In New York State Recalled Over Listeria Concerns For all the news that the Hudson Valley is sharing make sure to follow Hudson Valley Post on Facebook, download the Hudson Valley Post Mobile Following Products Have Been Recalled In New York State Read More: Freezing, Stormy, Snowy and Major Blizzard Predicted For New York “The following products were distributed nationwide by the following retailers. No other products have been affected,” the FDA stated in a press release. FOOD LION Mixed Vegetables Carrots, Corn, GreenBeans & Peas, net wt. 16oz 35826005090 50183 BEST BY 18 JAN 2025 PROD OF USA FOOD LION Super Sweet Cut Yellow Corn, net wt. 16oz. 35826079855 53072 BEST BY 03 NOV 2024 PROD OF USA FOOD LION Super Sweet Cut Yellow Corn, net wt. 16oz. 35826079855 53622 BEST BY 28 DEC 2024 PROD OF USA Kroger Mixed Vegetables Carrots, Super Sweet Corn,Green Beans & Green Peas, net wt. 32 oz 11110865854 BEST IF USED BY FEB.2024 82352 SIDE ID,TIME Kroger Mixed Vegetables Carrots, Super Sweet Corn,Green Beans & Green Peas, net wt. 12 oz. 11110849625 53122 BEST IF USED BY MAY 2024 PROD OF USA Kroger Mixed Vegetables Carrots, Super Sweet Corn,Green Beans & Green Peas, net wt. 12 oz. 11110849625 53412 BEST IF USED BY JUN 2024 PROD OF USA Kroger Mixed Vegetables Carrots, Super Sweet Corn,Green Beans & Green Peas, net wt. 12 oz. 11110849625 53412 BEST IF USED BY JUN 2024 PROD OF USA Kroger Mixed Vegetables Carrots, Super Sweet Corn,Green Beans & Green Peas, net wt. 12 oz. 11110849625 BEST IF USED BY APR.2024 82942 SIDE ID, TIME Kroger Mixed Vegetables Carrots, Super Sweet Corn,Green Beans & Green Peas, net wt. 12 oz. 11110849625 BEST IF USED BY APR.2024 83012 SIDE ID, TIME Kroger Super Sweet Corn, net wt. 32 oz. 11110865786 53052 BEST IF USED BY MAY 2024 PROD OF USA Kroger Super Sweet Corn, net wt. 32 oz. 11110865786 53112 BEST BY MAY 2024 PROD OF USA Kroger Super Sweet Corn, net wt. 32 oz. 11110865786 BEST IF USED BY APR.2024 82932 SIDE ID, TIME Kroger Super Sweet Corn, net wt. 32 oz. 11110865786 BEST IF USED BY APR.2024 83012 SIDE ID, TIME Kroger Super Sweet Corn, net wt. 12 oz. 11110849618 52842 BEST IF USED BY APR 2024 PROD OF USA Kroger Super Sweet Corn, net wt. 12 oz. 11110849618 53042 BEST IF USED BY APR 2024 PROD OF USA Kroger Super Sweet Corn, net wt. 12 oz. 11110849618 53272 BEST IF USED BY MAY 2024 PROD OF USA Kroger Super Sweet Corn, net wt. 12 oz. 11110849618 53542 BEST IF USED BY JUN 2024 PROD OF USA Kroger Super Sweet Corn, net wt. 12 oz. 11110849618 50043 BEST IF USED BY JUL 2024 PROD OF USA Kroger Super Sweet Corn, net wt. 12 oz. 11110849618 50033 BEST IF USED BY JUL 2024 PROD OF USA Kroger Super Sweet Corn, net wt. 12 oz. 11110849618 BEST IF USED BY FEB.2024 82352 SIDE ID,TIME Kroger Super Sweet Corn, net wt. 12 oz. 11110849618 BEST IF USED BY APR.2024 82842 SIDE ID, TIME Signature Select Golden Corn Super Sweet, net wt. 12oz 21130090655 BEST IF USED BY FEB.22.24 S5716 TIME,SIDE ID LOOK: 20 American foods that raise eyebrows outside of the US Stacker compiled a list of 20 unusual and uniquely American foods that might raise eyebrows outside the U.S. Nearly 50 Children Have Recently Gone Missing From New York State In just a few months around 50 children from New York State and the Hudson Valley went missing The 10 Best Counties To Live In New York State Is your hometown’s county considered by Niche one of the best in New York State?

CNN — Covid-19 was never just another cold. We knew it was going to stick around and keep changing to try to get the upper hand on our immune systems. But we’ve changed, too. Our B cells and T cells, keepers of our immune memories, aren’t as blind to this virus as they were when we first encountered the novel coronavirus in 2020. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has screened blood samples and estimates that 97% of people in the US have some immunity to Covid-19 through vaccination, infection or both. Then there’s science: We have updated vaccines and good antivirals to lean on when cases start to rise. Masks still work. Rapid tests are in stores. We now know to filter the air and to ventilate our spaces. Those strategies, plus our hard-won immunity, had helped bring our national numbers of infections, hospitalizations and deaths down to levels that felt almost forgettable. Almost. Now that Covid-19 infections have started to rise again, it feels like people all over the country are testing positive, and it’s hard to know how to react. The government has been dialing back its response since the end of the public health emergency in May. Good Covid-19 data is hard to come by and harder to interpret. So if people are less likely to be hospitalized or die from a Covid-19 infection now, has the danger passed? Is there still reason to worry if you do catch the infection for a second, third or fourth time? Experts say it’s less risky to catch Covid-19 than it used to be, but there are still good reasons not to treat it casually. “At this point, the risk is lower because of our prior immunity, whether for severe outcomes or for long Covid,” said Dr. Megan Ranney, an emergency physician and dean of the Yale School of Public Health. “Covid is still more dangerous than the flu, but its level of danger is becoming less,” she said, noting that we’re still very early in our human experience with the coronavirus, even four years in, and there are still things we don’t know. “But for it to behave like other respiratory viruses in terms of seasonality and surges is entirely expected,” she added. It would be “really weird” for Covid to disappear or for it not to cause illnesses, hospitalizations and deaths. “It is still a virus,” Ranney said. But a somewhat predictable waxing and waning of infections doesn’t make Covid-19 something to turn our backs on. Our immune systems are better at spotting danger After more than three grueling years, nearly all Americans have some immunity against Covid-19. That means our immune systems – as long as they’re healthy and working as they should – will remember most forms of the coronavirus when it next comes our way. That process takes some time to get going, however. That lag may give the virus enough of a window to get a foothold in our nasal passages or lungs, and we get sick. We may feel crummy for a few days, but then our B cells and T cells get their antibody production up and running. Eventually, they shut the virus down, and we get better. That’s what should happen. But for many, their immune system just doesn’t kick in as quickly or as vigorously as it should. Immune function drops off naturally with age. About 1 in 4 Americans is over the age of 60, according to census data. Then there are certain medications and health conditions that suppress immune function. About 3% of the U.S. population – 7 million people – is severely immunocompromised, according to the National Institutes of Health. This is a group taking medications to protect organ transplants or who are getting powerful drugs for cancer treatment, for example. Then there’s individual variability. Through genetic bad luck, some people may just be at higher risk of serious reactions to Covid-19 infections, and they probably wouldn’t know it. Taken together, that’s a sizeable pool of people who benefit greatly from having antibodies at the ready to take on the coronavirus as fast as possible. Vaccines get those antibodies in place and ready to work as soon as they’re needed. Sometimes, people are so immunocompromised that vaccines can’t help them much, either. They benefit from preventive shots containing Covid-fighting antibodies that are built to stick around the body for a few months. Until this year, there was such a preventive product available, Evusheld. But the virus has evolved so much that Evusheld lost its potency, and in January, the FDA revoked its authorization. Since then, people who have very low immune function haven’t had anything to protect them from infection or severe disease. But that could change. The government announced this week that it’s funding the development of a new preventive antibody through the drug company Regeneron. Trials of that drug are expected to start this fall, according to the US Department of Health and Human Services. While nearly all of us have immune systems that can recognize key parts of the virus now, even that memory to the infection fades over time. The longer it has been since you’ve been infected or vaccinated, the more forgetful your immune system becomes. Those B cells and T cells, “they’re going to be a little slower to respond. They’re not they’re not as primed and ready to go,” Ranney said. Your strongest immunity will be in the two weeks to two months after you get your vaccines. That means it’s smart to try to get your shots shortly before Covid is expected to be on the upswing. Just like for flu, experts expect the worst of Covid to hit in the fall and winter. CDC Director Dr. Mandy Cohen said that even though cases are going up now, most people will be better off waiting a few weeks to get the newly updated Covid-19 vaccines rather than trying to get one of the older bivalent

Researchers have discovered that the chikungunya virus can transmit directly from one cell to another through structures called intercellular long extensions (ILEs). This discovery may explain the virus’s resilience against antibodies and could pave the way for new treatments. The virus restructures infected cells to protect against antibody attacks. Scientists at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine have discovered that the <span class="glossaryLink" aria-describedby="tt" data-cmtooltip=" virus A virus is a tiny infectious agent that is not considered a living organism. It consists of genetic material, either DNA or RNA, that is surrounded by a protein coat called a capsid. Some viruses also have an outer envelope made up of lipids that surrounds the capsid. Viruses can infect a wide range of organisms, including humans, animals, plants, and even bacteria. They rely on host cells to replicate and multiply, hijacking the cell's machinery to make copies of themselves. This process can cause damage to the host cell and lead to various diseases, ranging from mild to severe. Common viral infections include the flu, colds, HIV, and COVID-19. Vaccines and antiviral medications can help prevent and treat viral infections. ” data-gt-translate-attributes=”[{“attribute”:”data-cmtooltip”, “format”:”html”}]”>virus causing chikungunya fever can spread directly from cell to cell—perhaps solving the longstanding mystery of how the virus, now emerging as a major health threat, can manage to escape antibodies circulating in the bloodstream. The findings, recently published in the journal Nature Microbiology, suggest potential pathways for the creation of vaccines or treatments against chikungunya fever, a debilitating and increasingly common mosquito-borne disease. A Possible Explanation for Prolonged Infections “Previously, chikungunya virus was thought to spread in the body by infecting a cell, replicating within that cell, and then sending new copies of the virus into the bloodstream that then infect new cells,” said study leader Margaret Kielian, Ph.D., professor of cell biology and the Samuel H. Golding Chair in Microbiology at Einstein. “However, we’ve found that the virus can also hijack a host cell’s cytoskeleton—the proteins that support cells and maintain their shape. The virus causes the infected cell to send out long thin extensions that make contact with uninfected neighboring cells, enabling the virus to safely and efficiently travel from one cell to another.” Dr. Kielian and her colleagues have named these virus-induced structures intercellular long extensions, or ILEs. “This mode of viral transmission may not only shield some copies of the virus from the host’s immune response, but it may also explain why symptoms of chikungunya infection can persist for many months or years,” added first author Peiqi Yin, Ph.D., a postdoctoral fellow in Dr. Kielian’s lab. In addition to fever, chikungunya infections often lead to chronic and debilitating arthritis. The virus is spread to humans by the bite of infected mosquitoes, which become infected by feeding on people who already have the virus. Over the past 15 years, chikungunya virus has become an important and increasingly widespread human pathogen. Multiple outbreaks have caused millions of human infections in numerous areas including the Americas, Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Caribbean. The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases lists chikungunya virus as a Category B Pathogen, the second-highest priority for organisms posing threats to national security and public health. Confirming a Cell Structure’s Role Dr. Kielian and colleagues discovered the presence of ILEs in chikungunya-infected cells several years ago, but it wasn’t clear whether the structures facilitated cell-to-cell viral transmission. The study described in the Nature Microbiology paper was designed to answer that question. The first part of the study involved the use of cultured mouse cells. The researchers exposed the cells to chikungunya virus that expressed a fluorescent reporter protein, allowing them to observe that infectious virus particles were indeed being transmitted from cell to cell via ILEs. Cell-to-cell transmission occurred even in the presence of high quantities of neutralizing antibodies that were added to the culture medium. To confirm this mode of cell-to-cell transmission in living animals, the researchers studied chikungunya infection in mice. Mice that were first inoculated with neutralizing antibodies and were then directly injected with chikungunya virus did not become infected. However, antibody-treated mice that were then injected with virus-infected cells (rather than just the virus) did develop chikungunya infections that were resistant to the neutralizing antibodies. “Together, these studies show that ILEs shield chikungunya virus from neutralizing antibodies and promote intercellular virus transmission, both in vitro and in vivo,” said Dr. Yin. The mouse studies were conducted by Thomas E. Morrison, Ph.D., and his group at the University of Colorado School of Medicine in Aurora. Short-Circuiting the Connections In a final set of studies, the researchers determined that certain antiviral antibodies were able to block ILEs from forming and to prevent cell-to-cell transmission. “If we can generate the production of such antibodies in human patients, or develop other methods to stop ILE formation, that could be especially helpful in combatting the chronic symptoms of chikungunya infection,” said Dr. Kielian. “We’re currently studying different ways to do this.” Reference: “Chikungunya virus cell-to-cell transmission is mediated by intercellular extensions in vitro and in vivo” by Peiqi Yin, Bennett J. Davenport, Judy J. Wan, Arthur S. Kim, Michael S. Diamond, Brian C. Ware, Karen Tong, Thérèse Couderc, Marc Lecuit, Jonathan R. Lai, Thomas E. Morrison and Margaret Kielian, 17 August 2023, Nature Microbiology.DOI: 10.1038/s41564-023-01449-0 The research was supported by grants from the <span class="glossaryLink" aria-describedby="tt" data-cmtooltip=" National Institutes of Health The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. Founded in 1887, it is a part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The NIH conducts its own scientific research through its Intramural Research Program (IRP) and provides major biomedical research funding to non-NIH research facilities through its Extramural Research Program. With 27 different institutes and centers under its umbrella, the NIH covers a broad spectrum of health-related research, including specific diseases, population health, clinical research, and fundamental biological processes. Its mission is to seek fundamental knowledge about

Hospitalizations are still low but are on the rise in recent weeks, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A late-summer wave of coronavirus infections has touched schools, workplaces and local government, as experts warned the public to brace for even more Covid-19 spread this fall and winter. Hospitalizations have increased 24 percent in a two-week period ending Aug. 12, according to the most recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Wastewater monitoring suggests a recent rise in Covid infections in the West and Northeast. In communities across the United States, outbreaks have occurred in recent weeks at preschools, summer camps and office buildings. Public health officials said that the latest increase in Covid hospitalizations is still relatively small and the vast majority of the sick are experiencing mild symptoms that are comparable to a cold or the flu. And most Americans, more than three months after the Biden administration allowed the 2020 declaration calling the coronavirus a public health emergency to expire, have shown little willingness to return to the days of frequent testing, mask wearing and isolation. But for Americans who have become accustomed to feeling the nation has moved beyond Covid, the current wave could be a rude reminder that the emerging New Normal is not a world without the virus. “We’re in almost the best place we’ve been in the pandemic since it began,” said Michael T. Osterholm, the director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota. “But we are caught in the very uncomfortable area of having left the fog of the pandemic war and trying to understand what the sunrise on a normal post-Covid world looks like.” In cities across the country, the remnants of coronavirus restrictions still remain, even if they are no longer observed. Retail stores may have signs in the windows requesting that patrons wear masks, but no one inside is wearing them. Years-old stickers asking customers to stand six feet apart in line are faded, worn and ignored. The occasional storefronts in major cities advertise free Covid-19 testing, though the spaces inside are empty. And the virus is still disrupting work, school and politics: A Covid outbreak tied to a City Council meeting in Nashville this month left more than a dozen people infected, including council members, city employees and at least one reporter. One of the people who tested positive for Covid, Freddie O’Connell, a City Council member who is in a Sept. 14 runoff election for mayor, said it was a stark reminder that the virus had once again taken hold in the community. “All year long, there have been many Covid spikes in my personal network, but it hasn’t felt like this, where all of a sudden we’re back to events that we used to hear about in 2020, where suddenly dozens of people in one fell swoop all get it,” Mr. O’Connell said in an interview from his home, where he had been marooned for a five-day quarantine. “I haven’t really had to think about the phrase ‘superspreader event’ in a long time.” A patient’s Covid-19 and flu tests being prepped in Oregon City, Ore.Mason Trinca for The New York Times As students have returned to school in recent days, most administrators have signaled that they are not planning to return to stricter rules surrounding masks and testing, typically only asking parents to keep their children home when they are sick. In Chicago, where Covid-related hospitalizations are still extremely low but have crept up in recent weeks, the public school district promised to provide free rapid Covid tests to students and staff but did not intend to resume testing in schools. Even in the face of rising Covid infections, there is a balance that should be struck in schools now, said Hedy N. Chang, the executive director of Attendance Works, a national group that promotes solutions to chronic absenteeism. “We got trained to stay home for every sign of illness during the pandemic,” she said. “We actually have to shift norms again, to being judicious and thoughtful about when we keep kids home, and only keeping them home if we think it’s truly a problem.” Dr. John M. Coleman, a pulmonary and critical care doctor at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, said he expected Covid infections to continue to increase this fall and winter, but he noted that the most recent strains of the virus were less severe than those that circulated early in the pandemic. People who are hospitalized for Covid now tend to have pre-existing conditions or suppressed immune systems that make them more susceptible to severe symptoms, he said. “Moving forward, we have to learn to live cohesively with Covid,” Dr. Coleman said. “Covid is always going to be around.” Particularly for people who already have health risks, he said, it is crucial to receive the new booster this fall, wash hands frequently and wear a mask if feeling unwell. Throughout the summer, public health officials have stressed prevention and treatment in the face of an increase in cases. The Cambridge, Mass., health department said in a statement this month that it saw outbreaks at nursing homes in the city and urged the public to stay up-to-date on vaccinations. But some institutions have responded to the recent increase in Covid infections by reinstating pandemic-era rules. In keeping with an order from the health department in Los Angeles County, the movie studio Lionsgate recently sent a memo to staff members informing them that because of a Covid outbreak among employees, they would be required to wear masks in the office again. (The health department notified the studio on Friday that because it had reported no new cases, the requirement was lifted.) Morris Brown College, a small private school in Atlanta, announced this month that it would require face masks on campus again. The school banned parties and large gatherings on campus for two weeks and said that temperature checks would be administered to

Patients with an infection before liver transplant had excellent survival outcomes despite requiring more complex post-transplant care. “The risk of poor outcomes because of the persistence/recurrence of infections after liver transplant (LT) is a main barrier in the decision to proceed or not to LT in patients with cirrhosis and infections,” Salvatore Piano, MD, PhD, and colleagues wrote. “In fact, infections increase morbidity and mortality in the early post-transplant period, and use of immunosuppression may limit the ability of the host to counteract the pathogens. For these reasons, international guidelines state that active infections should be adequately treated before LT. However, the optimal timing of LT in patients surviving an episode of infection as well as their prioritization on LT waiting list is still to be established.” Further, studies that examined post-LT outcomes among patients who survived an infection have conflicting results, according to Dr. Piano and colleagues. While some studies demonstrate no difference in survival for patients with versus without pre-LT infections, others indicate a higher risk for sepsis-related mortality in those with pre-LT infections, particularly if complicated by septic shock. For a study published in JHEP Reports, the researchers examined the influence of bacterial infections within the 3 months preceding LT on post-transplant outcomes and the impact of time from infection improvement/resolution to LT on post-transplant outcomes. The single-center study, conducted from 2012 to 2018, categorized patients undergoing an LT into two groups: (1) patients surviving a bacterial infection in the 3 months prior to LT (study group) and (2) patients with no infection preceding LT (control group). Dr. Piano and colleagues obtained data on post-LT outcomes, including complications, new infections, and survival. LT Survival Comparable With or Without Infection The study included 466 LT recipients, most of whom (n=358) who were in the control group rather than the study group (n=108). Median age was comparable in the control group versus the study group (58 vs 56). More than 70% of patients in each group were men. Hepatocellular carcinoma occurred more often in the control group compared with the study group. The most common cirrhosis etiology was hepatitis C virus for the control group and alcohol for the study group. Following LT, there were higher incidences in the study group of new bacterial (57% vs 20%; P<0.001) and fungal infections (14% vs 5%; P=0.001) and septic shock (8% vs 2%; P=0.004) than in the control group. Several factors served as independent predictors of post-LT infections, including the Model for End-stage Liver Disease (MELD) score (P=0.002), alcohol-related cirrhosis (P=0.011), and bacterial infection before LT (P<0.001). Survival rates were comparable between the study group and control group at 1 year (88% vs 89%) and 5 years (76% vs 75%; Figure). In our series, patients surviving an infectious episode within 3 months before LT had a higher incidence of new infections, both bacterial and fungal, a higher incidence of septic shock, and required longer ICU and in-hospital care,” Dr. Piano and colleagues wrote. “Therefore, although survival is excellent, post-transplant care is more complex in patients undergoing LT after a bacterial infection.” Determining LT Timing After Infection Historically, it has been unclear how long clinicians should wait before proceeding with LT among those with infections, Dr. Piano and colleagues note. “An important finding of our study is that, in patients with pre-LT infection, time elapsed from infection improvement/resolution to transplantation did not affect patient outcome. Patients who underwent LT within 7 days [of] infection improvement/resolution had rates of post-operative complications comparable with those of patients who underwent LT beyond 7 days from infection improvement/resolution.” This finding has direct implications for clinicians, they continue. “As soon as bacterial infection is controlled, it is safe to proceed with LT. This is a novel finding, as no previous study assessed a safe time interval from infection improvement/resolution to LT.”

Research reveals that Ohio’s white-tailed deer carry the COVID-19 virus, with the virus variants evolving three times faster in deer than in humans. The implications for potential cross-species transmission in the future remain unclear. Study finds deer are virus reservoirs, promoting ongoing mutation. New research has found that white-tailed deer across Ohio have been infected with the <span class="glossaryLink" aria-describedby="tt" data-cmtooltip=" virus A virus is a tiny infectious agent that is not considered a living organism. It consists of genetic material, either DNA or RNA, that is surrounded by a protein coat called a capsid. Some viruses also have an outer envelope made up of lipids that surrounds the capsid. Viruses can infect a wide range of organisms, including humans, animals, plants, and even bacteria. They rely on host cells to replicate and multiply, hijacking the cell's machinery to make copies of themselves. This process can cause damage to the host cell and lead to various diseases, ranging from mild to severe. Common viral infections include the flu, colds, HIV, and COVID-19. Vaccines and antiviral medications can help prevent and treat viral infections. ” data-gt-translate-attributes=”[{“attribute”:”data-cmtooltip”, “format”:”html”}]”>virus that causes <span class="glossaryLink" aria-describedby="tt" data-cmtooltip=" COVID-19 First identified in 2019 in Wuhan, China, COVID-19, or Coronavirus disease 2019, (which was originally called "2019 novel coronavirus" or 2019-nCoV) is an infectious disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). It has spread globally, resulting in the 2019–22 coronavirus pandemic. ” data-gt-translate-attributes=”[{“attribute”:”data-cmtooltip”, “format”:”html”}]”>COVID-19. Alarmingly, the results also show that viral variants evolve about three times faster in deer than in humans. Scientists collected 1,522 nasal swabs from free-ranging deer in 83 of the state’s 88 counties between November 2021 and March 2022. More than 10% of the samples were positive for the <span class="glossaryLink" aria-describedby="tt" data-cmtooltip=" SARS-CoV-2 Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is the official name of the virus strain that causes coronavirus disease (COVID-19). Previous to this name being adopted, it was commonly referred to as the 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV), the Wuhan coronavirus, or the Wuhan virus. ” data-gt-translate-attributes=”[{“attribute”:”data-cmtooltip”, “format”:”html”}]”>SARS-CoV-2 virus, and at least one positive case was found in 59% of the counties in which testing took place. Genomic Analysis and Findings Genomic analysis showed that at least 30 infections in deer had been introduced by humans – a figure that surprised the research team. “We generally talk about interspecies transmission as a rare event, but this wasn’t a huge sampling, and we’re able to document 30 spillovers. It seems to be moving between people and animals quite easily,” said Andrew Bowman, associate professor of veterinary preventive medicine at The Ohio State University and co-senior author of the study. “And the evidence is growing that humans can get it from deer – which isn’t radically surprising. It’s probably not a one-way pipeline.” The combined findings suggest that the white-tailed deer <span class="glossaryLink" aria-describedby="tt" data-cmtooltip=" species A species is a group of living organisms that share a set of common characteristics and are able to breed and produce fertile offspring. The concept of a species is important in biology as it is used to classify and organize the diversity of life. There are different ways to define a species, but the most widely accepted one is the biological species concept, which defines a species as a group of organisms that can interbreed and produce viable offspring in nature. This definition is widely used in evolutionary biology and ecology to identify and classify living organisms. ” data-gt-translate-attributes=”[{“attribute”:”data-cmtooltip”, “format”:”html”}]”>species is a reservoir for SARS-CoV-2 that enables continuing mutation, and that the virus’s circulation in deer could lead to its spread to other wildlife and livestock. The study is published today (August 28, 2023) in the journal <span class="glossaryLink" aria-describedby="tt" data-cmtooltip=" Nature Communications <em>Nature Communications</em> is a peer-reviewed, open-access, multidisciplinary, scientific journal published by Nature Portfolio. It covers the natural sciences, including physics, biology, chemistry, medicine, and earth sciences. It began publishing in 2010 and has editorial offices in London, Berlin, New York City, and Shanghai.  ” data-gt-translate-attributes=”[{“attribute”:”data-cmtooltip”, “format”:”html”}]”>Nature Communications. Previous Observations and Expansions Bowman and colleagues previously reported detection of SARS-CoV-2 infections in white-tailed deer in nine Ohio locations in December 2021, and are continuing to monitor deer for infection by more recent variants. “We expanded across Ohio to see if this was a localized problem – and we find it in lots of places, so it’s not just a localized event,” Bowman said. “Some of the thought back then was that maybe it’s just in urban deer because they’re in closer contact with people. But in rural parts of the state, we’re finding plenty of positive deer.” Beyond the detection of active infections, researchers also found through blood samples containing antibodies – indicating previous exposure to the virus – that an estimated 23.5% of deer in Ohio had been infected at one time or another. Variant Analysis The 80 whole-genome sequences obtained from the collected samples represented groups of various viral variants: the highly contagious delta variant, the predominant human strain in the United States in the early fall of 2021 that accounted for almost 90% of the sequences, and alpha, the first named variant of concern that had circulated in humans in the spring of 2021. The analysis revealed that the genetic composition of delta variants in deer matched dominant lineages found in humans at the time, pointing to the spillover events, and that deer-to-deer transmission followed in clusters, some spanning multiple counties. “There’s probably a timing component to what we found – we were near the end of a delta peak in humans, and then we see a lot of delta in deer,” Bowman said. “But we were well past the last alpha detection in humans. So the idea that deer are holding onto lineages that have since gone extinct in humans is something we were worried about.” The study did suggest that COVID-19 vaccination is likely to help protect people against severe disease in the event of a spillover back to humans. An analysis of the

Topline Researchers have discovered dozens of white-tailed deer infected with the virus that causes Covid-19 in Ohio, suggesting that spillover of the virus between humans and animals is less rare than previously believed, according to a study published Monday in the journal Nature Communications—news that comes as doctors are tracking a new Covid-19 variant in humans. Key Facts Scientists collected 1,522 nasal swabs from free-ranging deer in 83 of Ohio’s 88 counties between November 2021 and March 2022, tested those swabs and found more than 10% of the samples were infected with coronavirus, according to the study. Additionally, the researchers found, by analyzing the genetic material of the virus, that at least 30 of those infections had been introduced to the deer by humans. They also found, by examining blood samples to detect antibodies that would indicate previous exposure to coronavirus, that an estimated 23.5% of deer in Ohio had been infected with the virus at one point in time. Researchers said they’d initially thought the infections would be mostly limited to deer living in urban parts of the state that have lots of contact with people, but at least one positive case was found in a deer in 59% of the counties in which testing took place, many of which were rural. Andrew Bowman, co-senior author of the study and an associate professor of veterinary preventive medicine at Ohio State University, said that this is “probably not a one-way pipeline” and that “the evidence is growing that humans can get it from deer” too, though the study did suggest that the Covid-19 vaccines helps protect against spillover of the virus from deer to humans. The researchers said their findings suggest the white-tailed deer serves as a “reservoir” for coronavirus and that the virus can both mutate quicker in deer, but also that strains of the virus—like the original alpha strain that began the Covid-19 pandemic or the delta strain which was largely replaced by the omicron strain in late 2021—are surviving in deer populations, despite no longer being seen in humans. What To Watch For How the virus might spread among other animals. The researchers said their findings suggest the virus could spread from deer to other wildlife or to livestock. More research might be needed to determine exactly whether this is happening. Tangent This news comes as doctors are tracking a new variant of coronavirus in humans: BA.2.86. Doctors have discovered this new highly mutated strain of Covid-19 in the U.S., Switzerland, South Africa, Israel, Denmark and the U.K., Reuters reported. It’s an offshoot of the omicron variant, but it has 35 mutations compared to XBB.1.5, which has been the dominant variant of Covid-19 through most of 2023. That’s a similar amount of mutations that the omicron variant had when it emerged in late 2021 and spurred a massive wave of infections. However, a dozen scientists around the world told Reuters that while it’s important to monitor BA.2.86, this new strain is unlikely to cause a similarly devastating wave because of the large immune defenses people around the world have built up from vaccines and prior infection. Further Reading COVID-19 virus is evolving rapidly in white-tailed deer (Nature Communications)

Specialty