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UrduResearchers have shed new light on how viral evolution, population immunity, and the co-circulation of other flu viruses shape seasonal flu epidemics.
Tag: Epidemic
Pandemic Prevention Consortium Announces New Leadership Team
STOP Spillover, a project funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and led by Tufts University, has announced that the interim leadership team that was put in place in March 2023 will take on a permanent role for the next two years of the project.
U.S. Drug Overdose Deaths More Than Quadrupled from 1999 to 2020
Regardless of race, age, geography or urbanization, drug overdose deaths in the U.S. more than quadrupled from 1999 to 2020, causing 1,013,852 deaths. The rates increased 4.4 times from 6.9 per 100,000 in 1999 to 30 per 100,000 in 2020.
Scientists unpick how lung cells induce immune response to influenza
Researchers from Trinity College Dublin have discovered some new and surprising ways that viral RNA and influenza virus are detected by human lung cells, which has potential implications for treating people affected by such viruses.
Harvard Medical School Media Immersion: Boston, June 8-9, 2023
Application deadline: March 31
UNC Researchers Tackle the E-cigarette or Vaping Product Use–associated Lung Injury (EVALI) Epidemic
Although doctors and researchers sympathize with smokers wanting to quit smoking, scientists are discovering that vaping might not be a healthier alternative to smoking, especially in adolescents. E-cigarette products have recently been linked to a new, serious lung condition known as E-cigarette or Vaping Product Use-associated Lung Injury, or EVALI, which primarily affects youth and young adults. In 2019, the illness was declared an epidemic by the CDC.
The Interplay Between Epidemics, Prevention Information, and Mass Media
When an epidemic strikes, more than just infections spread. As cases mount, information about the disease, how to spot it, and how to prevent it propagates rapidly among people in affected areas as well.
Researchers from NAU, Washington tackling an elusive Valley Fever vaccine
Researchers from Northern Arizona University and the University of Washington School of Medicine in collaboration with the Washington National Primate Research Center received a five-year, $7.5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to fund a groundbreaking project that they hope will result in a safe and effective vaccine for Valley Fever.
Improving air quality, health screenings, and public health messaging—research points to better strategies for managing future epidemics
Improving air quality, health screenings, and public health messaging—research points to better strategies for managing future epidemics
Alarming Rising Trends in Suicide by Firearms in Young Americans
Researchers explored suicide trends by firearms in white and black Americans ages 5 to 24 years from 1999 to 2018. From 2008 to 2018, rates of suicide by firearms quadrupled in those ages 5 to 14 years and increased by 50 percent in those ages 15 to 24 years. Suicide deaths by firearms were more prevalent in white than black Americans – a marked contrast with homicide by firearms, which are far more prevalent in black than white Americans.
New Research Maps COVID-19 Dispersal Dynamics in New York’s First Wave of Epidemic
Study Suggests Borough of Queens Was Major Hub of COVID-19 Dispersal
Laurie Garrett, Pulitzer Prize-Winning Journalist, Named 2021 Senator Frank R. Lautenberg Award Recipient by the Rutgers School of Public Health
Laurie Garrett, a Pulitzer-Prize-winning journalist, has been named the 2021 Senator Frank R. Lautenberg Awardee by the Rutgers School of Public Health. She will serve as the School’s speaker at their 38th graduation ceremony, which will virtually launch on May 14, 2021.
Novel Coronavirus Circulated Undetected Months before First COVID-19 Cases in Wuhan, China
Using molecular dating tools and epidemiological simulations, researchers at UC San Diego School of Medicine estimate that the SARS-CoV-2 virus likely circulated undetected for two months before the first human cases of COVID-19 were described in Wuhan, China in late-December 2019.
Houston Methodist expert notes COVID-19 precautions lead to historic drop in flu cases
A silver lining is emerging amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Influenza numbers are way down – 98 percent down, according to the CDC. Locally, during flu season last year, Houston Methodist’s system of eight hospitals saw 250 to 450 flu cases per week. This year the hospital system has seen only 2 to 5 flu cases per week so far. The numbers tell a striking story. Handwashing, masking and social distancing work.
Recommendations for the Overdose Epidemic in the COVID-19 Pandemic
A new report from researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health offers recommendations aimed at federal, state, and local policymakers to address the opioid epidemic during the pandemic.
Random Effects Key to Containing Epidemics
To control an epidemic, authorities will often impose varying degrees of lockdown. In the journal Chaos, scientists have discovered, using mathematics and computer simulations, why dividing a large population into multiple subpopulations that do not intermix can help contain outbreaks without imposing contact restrictions within those local communities. When infection numbers are high, random effects can be ignored. But subdividing a population can create communities so small that the random effects matter.
Gaps in early surveillance of coronavirus led to record-breaking US trajectory
Research from the University of Notre Dame provides insight into how limited testing and gaps in surveillance during the initial phase of the epidemic resulted in so many cases going undetected.
Veterinary expert available to discuss new swine flu strain
Dr. Phillip Gauger is an associate professor of veterinary diagnostic and production animal medicine at Iowa State University. Gauger is available for media interviews regarding the new strain of swine flu with potential to infect humans. Gauger’s areas of expertise…
Widespread facemask use could shrink the ‘R’ number and prevent a second COVID-19 wave – study
• Cambridge-led modelling looks at population-level facemask use.
• The more people use facemasks in public, the smaller the ‘R’.
• Even basic homemade masks significantly reduce transmission at a population level.
• Researchers call for information campaigns – “my mask protects you, your mask protects me” – that encourage the making and wearing of facemasks.
Modeling COVID-19 Data Must Be Done With Extreme Care
As the virus causing COVID-19 began its devastating spread, an international team of scientists was alarmed by the lack of uniform approaches by various countries’ epidemiologists. Data modeling to predict the numbers of likely infections varied widely and revealed a high degree of uncertainty. In the journal Chaos, the group describes why modeling and extrapolating the evolution of COVID-19 outbreaks in near real time is an enormous scientific challenge that requires a deep understanding of the nonlinearities underlying the dynamics of epidemics.
Mount Sinai Study Finds First Cases of COVID-19 in New York City are Primarily from European and US Sources
First definitive molecular epidemiology study of SARS-CoV-2 in New York City to describe the route by which the virus arrived
Rutgers Expert Available to Discuss How to Help Free Market Fight Coronavirus
New Brunswick, N.J. (March 25, 2020) – Stephen K. Burley, director of the RCSB Protein Data Bank headquartered at Rutgers University–New Brunswick, is available for interviews on how to help the free market fight the coronavirus. His viewpoint is published in the journal Nature. “Had drug…
Physicists test coronavirus particles against temperature, humidity
One of the biggest unknowns about coronavirus is how changing seasons will affect its spread. Physicists from the University of Utah have received a NSF grant to create individual coronavirus particles without a genome. They’ll test how the structure of the coronavirus withstands changes in humidity and temperature.
COVID-19 Expert Panel Live Event Series – Media Invited to Attend and Submit Questions, 2 PM EDT Thursday March 12 and 2 PM EDT Monday March 16
redirect to event registration Newswise Live Expert Panel discussion of unique angles to the COVID-19 outbreak of interest to the public and the media, including public health, testing, business and financial markets, 2020 elections, and more. Experts from institutions…
Public health, nursing expert: Coronavirus: Health care workers must protect themselves even if employers won’t
Faculty Q&AAs the coronavirus spreads throughout the country, an increasing number of American health care workers helping to treat patients are contracting the infection.Christopher Friese.Christopher Friese, the Elizabeth Tone Hosmer Professor of Nursing at the School of Nursing and professor of health management and policy at the School of Public Health, leads a research team focused on health care delivery in high-risk settings.
Notre Dame experts on coronavirus: limitations of WHO, cultural implications and similarities to polio
Dr. Bernard Nahlen, director of Notre Dame’s Eck Institute for Global Health and Catherine Bolten, associate professor of anthropology and peace studies, provide insight into aspects of how the COVID-19 epidemic has unfolded, as health officials brace for the virus to…
When coronavirus is not alone
Interacting contagious diseases like influenza and pneumonia—and perhaps coronavirus too—follow the same complex spreading patterns as social trends, like the adoption of new slang or technologies. This new finding, published in Nature Physics, could lead to better tracking and intervention when multiple diseases spread through a population at the same time.
Tulane math professor leads effort to map spread of coronavirus
Professor James “Mac” Hyman’s goal is to help the public health community better understand and predict the spread of the COVID-19 and to quantify the effectiveness of various efforts to stop it.