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A pathogen that is not yet known to cause disease in people could begin infecting humans in vast numbers, say expertsIt is just over four years since the novel coronavirus – which came to be known as Covid-19 – first emerged in the Chinese city of Wuhan. The rapid outbreak of the disease sparked a pandemic, claiming millions of lives and devastating economies the world over. Now experts are working to prevent a future global health crisis by sharpening their focus on an as yet unknown threat, often termed as Disease X. At a World Economic Forum discussion in Davos...

Tens of thousands of Americans are hospitalized with COVID-19 every week. Thousands die from it every month. And yet, an antiviral treatment proven to lessen the chances of severe outcomes is going underused. The drug, Paxlovid, is lauded by experts as a powerful tool that can prevent hospitalization and death from COVID-19. But the high price and doctors’ hesitation to prescribe the pills mean the five-day treatment isn’t getting to everyone who would benefit from it. “When you read in your local newspaper that in this hospital, they’ve got this many COVID patients, most of those are preventable hospitalizations,” said...

On the one hand, mask mandates are back. On the other hand, the Associated Press says that's all a conspiracy theory. On the other other hand, Covid hospitalizations are up - and there's a scary new variant from... (hurls dart at map of the world) Denmark and... (hurls second dart, backward over shoulder) Israel. On the other other other hand, that eighth shot is sure to work:Resident liberal & former Democratic Rep. Harold Ford Jr. tells the rest of @TheFive cast that his next Covid shot, which he plans to get, will be his 7th, and he's had Covid 3...

Comprehensive panels of "reversion mutations" found in general circulation look like an experiment On August 5th 2023 a Japanese research team published a pre-print that appears to contain the most important and shocking revelations of the covid era. Atsuki Tanaka and Takayuki Miyazawa, of Osaka Medical University and Kyoto University, wanted to trace the historical evolution of the omicron variant of SARS-CoV2 by studying viral sequences found "in the wild" and deposited in public databases. In doing this they found around 100 separate omicron subvariants that could not conceivably have arisen through natural processes. The existence of these variants seems...

New York health officials are advising people to wear masks when in crowded public areas, as coronavirus cases are expected to spike following Labor Day weekend. While no official social distancing or mask restrictions were set in place, New York City health commissioner Dr. Ashwin Vasan told the Daily Mail that people should follow precautions when celebrating the end of summer, as the city’s hospitalization rate for the coronavirus rose by five percent this week compared to the previous week; 502 patients infected with the virus were admitted to hospitals.

On the one hand, mask mandates are back. On the other hand, the Associated Press says that's all a conspiracy theory. On the other other hand, Covid hospitalizations are up - and there's a scary new variant from... (hurls dart at map of the world) Denmark and... (hurls second dart, backward over shoulder) Israel. On the other other other hand, that eighth shot is sure to work: snip I take it most of the above is just prepping the battlefield for next year's presidential election. But, as you know, I am more interested in the news that doesn't make the...

The federal government has started purchasing COVID-19 equipment and hiring advisors on "safety protocols” amidst speculation the Biden White House will reinstate pandemic-era lockdowns and mandates, War Room can reveal. The unearthed government contracts from entities including the Department of Defense (DOD) show millions in taxpayer funds being used to purchase COVID-19 equipment such as test kits. Some of the contracts, which are traceable via the federal government’s spending database, are even scheduled to begin in future months such as September and October. The DOD, for example, gave Hologic Sales and Service LLC a $1.5 million contract beginning on October...

Health authorities say they're closely tracking the spread of three new COVID-19 variants now spreading around the country. Levels of COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths for now remain far below previous peaks seen during past summer and winter waves of the virus, but have been climbing steadily for several weeks. Public health officials have said that they're well-equipped for the latest seasonal uptick in the virus, with COVID-19 tests and forthcoming vaccines expected to work for the variants on the rise around the country. But the appearance of a new "highly mutated" variant has raised questions among virus trackers about what...

In May, the COVID-19 emergency was officially declared over — but the coronavirus remains a lethal threat, according to an increasingly concerned medical community. The latest data from the New York state Department of Health, released Aug. 2, shows that COVID cases spiked by 55% since the prior week, with an average of 824 reported cases per day across the state. And hospital admissions for the disease increased by 22% compared to the previous week, which translates to more than 100 admissions a day. Meanwhile, a new variant — dubbed EG.5, or eris — has arisen as the dominant strain,...

The program is the first in the country to continuously monitor sewage from airplanesInternational travelers can now contribute valuable data to COVID-19 surveillance efforts in the United States from above the clouds. San Francisco International Airport has launched a new program to test airplane wastewater for variants of SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for COVID-19, the airport announced May 9. The program is the first in the country to continuously monitor sewage from airplanes, after previous studies demonstrated the potential value of this work. Airplane wastewater is a key source for COVID-19 surveillance because international travelers frequently bring new variants into...

HONG KONG — Analysis of Covid-19 cases in Beijing suggests that no new variants emerged from China’s recent outbreak, according to a study published Wednesday. Facing rare mass unrest after nearly three years of strict “zero-Covid” policies, the Chinese government dropped most restrictions on Dec. 7. The sudden change unleashed the coronavirus over the winter on a population of 1.4 billion people who had barely been exposed to it, raising fears that the outbreak could produce a new variant of concern and leading dozens of countries, including the United States, to impose testing and other curbs on travelers from China....

A study reports the discovery of a compound efficient in the treatment of SARS-CoV-2 that could be broadly applied to treat different variants of the virus. The researchers discovered that the compound piperlongumine (PL), extracted from the long pepper, the natural ingredient used most extensively in Indian medical systems, has a potent antiviral effect in the treatment of SARS-CoV-2 in mice. "We found that PL delays disease progression and reduces lung inflammation in a mouse model mimicking SARS-CoV-2 infection," says Gonçalo Bernardes. "The action of this compound in the organism, which was previously studied in the treatment of cancer, is...

The names of the COVID-19 variants are getting longer. The current version is omicron-XBB.1.5, and it is credited with a spike in hospitalizations during late December in New York City that is now moving throughout the Northeast. Coincidentally, this is the country’s most highly vaccinated and boosted region. According to an analysis by Eric Topol, executive vice president of the Research Department of Molecular Medicine at the Scripps Institute, XBB.1.5 has mutations that lead to immune escape and possesses a distinct growth advantage against the previous dominant omicron variant, BQ.1. More great news includes a study published in Cell that...

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revealed Friday it is now tracking a new COVID-19 variant of concern around the U.S. known as XBB, which has grown to make up an estimated 3.1% of new infections nationwide. The strain's prevalence has grown furthest so far in the Northeast, according to the agency's weekly estimates. More than 5% of infections in the regions spanning New Jersey through Maine are linked to XBB, in this week's "Nowcast" from the CDC.

Which subvariants are circulating right now? And what is the ‘nightmare variant’? According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the BA.5 subvariant, which powered the summertime COVID-19 surge, still causes just under half of infections across the country. But two other subvariants are growing rapidly and are expected to outcompete BA.5 very soon: BQ.1 and BQ.1.1. As of last Friday, BQ.1 accounted for 14% of COVID-19 infections in the United States, while BQ.1.1 accounted for 13.1%. Another variant, called BA.4.6, has also gained some ground since August. It now accounts for 9.6% of cases. BF.7, BA.5.2.6, BA.2.75 and...

As winter inches closer, Dr. Fauci is sounding the alarm about a pair of “pretty troublesome” Covid variants. The two descendants of omicron’s BA.5 subvariant, called BQ.1 and BQ.1.1, both have dangerous “qualities or characteristics that could evade some of the interventions we have,” Fauci told CBS News on Friday. The two sublineages are responsible for more than 10% of all current U.S. cases, according to the latest Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data — just one week after they weren’t even significant enough to list. There’s no guarantee that the two strains will eventually overtake BA.5 as the...

Pfizer CEO Bails On EU Testimony After Report Highlights 'Secretive' Vaccine Deal Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla has bailed on an appointment to testify before the European Parliament's special committee, where he was expected to face tough questions over secretive vaccine deals ... Bourla was scheduled to appear before the panel on Oct. 10, alongside key officials involved in the EUs vaccine procurement process, in order to discuss how to respond to future pandemics. According to the report, "Other pharmaceutical executives have addressed the committee, including the CEO of Moderna and senior officials from AstraZeneca and Sanofi." Bourla? Not so much....

Short answer: Probably not.Longer answer: Probably not, and even if it has, it might not be dangerous enough to do real damage given how much immunity the population now has.I wrote about the new Omicron subvariants, BA.4 and BA.5, a few weeks ago. Early indications are that they’re more contagious than the current dominant subvariant in the U.S., BA.2.12.1, which is more contagious than the original Omicron, which was itself insanely contagious. Worse, because natural immunity from Omicron appears to last only a few months, a prior infection is no real defense to BA.4 and BA.5. In fact, the two...

GENEVA, May 17 (Reuters) - A senior World Health Organization official said on Tuesday that high levels of transmission of the coronavirus among unvaccinated people, such as in North Korea, creates a higher risk of new variants. The isolated country, a WHO member, is grappling with its first acknowledged COVID-19 outbreak, fuelling concerns over a major crisis due to a lack of vaccines and medical infrastructure.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says it does not have documents backing its claim that COVID-19 vaccines do not cause variants of the virus that causes COVID-19.The CDC’s website calls it a myth that the vaccines cause variants.“FACT: COVID-19 vaccines do not create or cause variants of the virus that causes COVID-19. Instead, COVID-19 vaccines can help prevent new variants from emerging,” the website states.“New variants of a virus happen because the virus that causes COVID-19 constantly changes through a natural ongoing process of mutation (change). As the virus spreads, it has more opportunities to change. High...