In the Press

From 2007 to 2008, tainted supplies of Chinese-manufactured heparin, a common blood thinner, led to 81 deaths across the United States.

Dr. Yves Léger, regional medical officer of health, says one of the seven people who contracted legionnaires' disease has died.

In the progressing field of immunotherapy, surprisingly little is known about immunity to metastatic tumors in locations such as lymph nodes, a frequent place where cancers first spread. Not only do lymph nodes act as a gateway for cancer cells to travel throughout the body, but they are also home to infection-fighting white blood cells called T cells. In some cases, T cells in lymph nodes activate to kill invading cancer cells. In other cases, that process clearly fails.

Minimization of airborne virus transmission has become increasingly important due to pandemic and endemic infectious respiratory diseases.

Hospitalized COVID-19 patients are substantially more likely to harbor autoantibodies—antibodies directed at their own tissues or at substances their immune cells secrete into the blood—than people without COVID-19, according to a new study.

Particulate matter (PM) is a major component of air pollution that is increasingly associated with long-term consequences for the health and development of children. In a study recently published in Nature's Environmental Health and Preventive Medicine, Natalie Johnson, Ph.D., associate professor at the Texas A&M University School of Public Health, and her co-authors synthesized the findings of previous studies, reviews and meta-analyses on the adverse health effects of the two smallest types of particulate matter (PM): Fine (particles with an aerodynamic diameter less than 2.5 μm) and ultrafine (particles with an aerodynamic diameter less than 1 μm). Both types of PM can be inhaled deep into the lung.

Age-related macular degeneration, cataract and diabetes-related eye disease are linked to an increased risk of dementia, suggests research published online in the British Journal of Ophthalmology.

An expert review by an international group of scientists, including some at the WHO and FDA, concludes that, even for the delta variant, vaccine efficacy against severe COVID is so high that booster doses for the general population are not appropriate at this stage in the pandemic.

Data on COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness (VE) since the B.1.617.2 (Delta) variant of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, became the predominant circulating strain in the United States are limited (1–3). CDC used the VISION Network* to examine medical encounters (32,867) from 187 hospitals and 221 emergency departments (EDs) and urgent care (UC) clinics across nine states during June–August 2021, beginning on the date the Delta variant accounted for >50% of sequenced isolates in each medical facility’s state. VISION Network methods have been published (4).

There is great hope that vaccination against SARS-CoV-2 will decrease the burden of COVID-19 on nursing home (NH) residents, who have been significantly affected by this pandemic.