"#TOKYO (Kyodo) -- The average number of #COVID19 patients among designated hospitals across #Japan has been rising for nine consecutive weeks since the #coronavirus was downgraded to the same category as seasonal #influenza in May, health ministry data showed Friday."
NIH Funding Single Home Test for Covid-19, Influenza, RSV
A developer of diagnostics for infectious and other diseases is receiving a National Institutes of Health contract to advance a single at-home test for multiple respiratory diseases.
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4477349 H5N1 highly pathogenic avian #influenza clade 2.3.4.4b in wild and domestic birds: introductions into the US and reassortments, Dec 2021-April 2022. Main finding: most transmissions to domestic birds were from wild birds with limited farm to farm spread.
The AMA says an early surge in influenza cases and other respiratory illnesses risks placing strains on healthcare workers and overwhelming hospitals, and urges people to get vaccinated to protect themselves and their families.
For Patient Safety, It Is Not Time to Take Off Masks in Health Care Settings | Annals of Internal Medicine https://www.acpjournals.org/doi/10.7326/M23-1190# “Although gold-standard evidence is not available, we argue that, despite the lack of clinical efficacy trials (as with the widely accepted practice of #HandHygiene), #masking in interactions between # patients and #HealthCare personnel should continue to receive serious consideration as a patient safety measure.”
“Laboratory studies have done what clinical research has not and demonstrated that #SurgicalMasks—and to a greater extent, filtering facepiece #respirators—are effective in limiting the spread of #aerosols and #droplets from individuals infected with #influenza, #coronaviruses, and other #respiratory viruses. Although not 100% effective, they substantially reduce quantities of virus expelled during coughing or talking, thereby mitigating risk.
"It is clear that Long SARS (post SARS ongoing symptomatology) exists, persists (apparently permanently) and can be devastatingly life-changing for some. Sufficient similarities exist between Long SARS and Long Covid (PASC) in symptoms, findings and course over time (so far) that one can predict that it is very highly likely that some Long Covid disability will persist permanently."
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2803749 “in a VA population in fall-winter 2022-2023, being #hospitalized for #COVID19 vs seasonal #influenza was associated with an increased risk of #death. ..death rates among people hospitalized for COVID-19 were 17% to 21% in 2020 vs 6% in this study, while death rates for those hospitalized for influenza were 3.8% in 2020 vs 3.7% in this study
Protect yourself, your family by getting a vaccination (www.ama.com.au)
The AMA says an early surge in influenza cases and other respiratory illnesses risks placing strains on healthcare workers and overwhelming hospitals, and urges people to get vaccinated to protect themselves and their families.