WHO Calls For Intensified Surveillance Of Animals As Avian Flu Spreads In US Cattle; Urges Global Attention For Sudan - Health Policy Watch Global surveillance of influenza viruses in animals needs to be intensified to “rapidly detect any changes to the virus that could pose a greater threat to Health Policy Watch

Global surveillance of influenza viruses in animals needs to be intensified to “rapidly detect any changes to the virus that could pose a greater threat to humans”, World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyessus told a media briefing on Wednesday.

Headache, fatigue, malaise, and chills after COVID-19 vaccination are signs the immune system is marshalling a strong response against future infection, suggests a study

H9N2 avian flu infects children in India, China The child in India had been exposed to poultry, which are known to carry the virus in multiple countries. CIDRAP

India has reported an H9N2 avian flu case involving a child in West Bengal state who was exposed to poultry, marking the country's second such case since 2019, the World Health Organization (WHO) said today in a statement, and China confirmed another pediatric H9N2 infection.

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Socially connected older adults hit harder by pandemic than isolated peers

Socially connected older people had a sharper drop in their quality of life and life satisfaction and a greater increase in loneliness during the pandemic than their more isolated counterparts, according to a new study by UCL (University College London) researchers.

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Bird Flu Tests Are Hard To Get. So How Will We Know When To Sound the Pandemic Alarm? - KFF Health News If widely used, flu tests could be helpful now. In the meantime, the government needs to clear a path for H5N1 tests, researchers warn, to avoid the early missteps of the covid pandemic. khnkytjaw KFF Health News

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AHRQ survey: 7% of US adults reported having long COVID by early 2023 New findings from a US survey from Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) scientists concludes that 6.9% of US adults—or almost 18 million adults—have ever had long COVID as of early 2023, confirming the results of previous surveys.  CIDRAP

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COVID could damage your vision, new study says. Keep an eye out for these symptoms Extended exposure to SARS-CoV-2 may harm your retinas in particular. Fortune

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How $4 billion funded the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic response (medicalxpress.com)

New University of Virginia School of Medicine research is shedding light on how federal funding helped scientists understand the COVID-19 virus, develop new treatments and deploy lifesaving vaccines in record time.

Paxlovid fails to improve long COVID symptoms in small study Using the popular COVID antiviral Paxlovid failed to significantly improve symptoms in 155 patients experiencing moderate to severe long COVID, according to a study published today in JAMA Internal Medicine.  CIDRAP

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The findings are part of the STOP-PASC trial, and the study was conducted at Stanford University from November 2022 to September 2023. All enrollees reported at least 3 months of postacute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection (PASC) symptoms.

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