Infectious Diseases News

• Gun Violence Rose in Some U.S. Cities During COVID-19 Shutdowns Gun violence was on the rise in several major American cities amid stay-at-home orders issued in response to the global Covid-19 pandemic, a new study suggests.
  Reuters Health Information, May 29, 2020
• European, South Korean Authorities Vie for COVID-19 Antiviral Remdesivir European and South Korean authorities are vying for Gilead Sciences' potential COVID-19 treatment, remdesivir, even though the drugmaker has yet to gain regulatory approval in either market and is still ramping up production of the anti-viral drug.
  Reuters Health Information, May 29, 2020
• 10% With Diabetes Hospitalized for COVID-19 Die Within a Week French researchers have identified risk factors for early intubation and death among diabetes patients hospitalized with COVID-19. They plan to keep analyzing the data; 'some new messages might well pop up.'
  Medscape Medical News, June 01, 2020
• Sanofi Stops Enrolling COVID-19 Patients in Hydroxychloroquine Trials Sanofi has temporarily stopped recruiting new COVID-19 patients for two clinical trials on hydroxychloroquine and will no longer supply the anti-malaria drug to treat COVID-19 until concerns about safety are cleared up, it said on Friday.
  Reuters Health Information, May 29, 2020
• WHO, 37 Countries Launch Alliance to Share Tools to Battle COVID-19 Thirty-seven countries and the World Health Organization (WHO) appealed on Friday for common ownership of vaccines, medicines and diagnostic tools to tackle the global coronavirus pandemic, taking aim at patent laws they fear could become a barrier to sharing crucial supplies.
  Reuters Health Information, May 29, 2020
• US Hospitals Slash Use of Drug Championed by Trump as Coronavirus Treatment US hospitals said they have pulled way back on the use of hydroxychloroquine, the malaria drug touted by President Donald Trump as a COVID-19 treatment, after several studies suggested it is not effective and may pose significant risks.
  Reuters Health Information, May 29, 2020
• French Mortality Rate in May Below Previous Years Despite Epidemic Fewer people died in France in early May than in the same period in the two previous years following high excess death rates during the peak of the coronavirus epidemic in March-April, statistics agency INSEE said on Friday.
  Reuters Health Information, May 29, 2020
• EU Regulator Wants More Data on Malaria Drug's Use for COVID-19 Healthcare professionals should closely monitor COVID-19 patients receiving malaria drug hydroxychloroquine for serious side effects, the European health regulator said on Friday, stressing the need for in-depth clinical data on benefits and risks.
  Reuters Health Information, May 29, 2020
• COVID-19 Daily: Curve Flattened, Earlier Community Spread These are the coronavirus stories you need to know about today.
  Medscape Medical News, May 29, 2020
• Hospital EHRs Miss Many Potential Medication Errors: Study Large study suggests hospital implementation and culture, not technology, are the main barriers to improved patient safety
  Medscape Medical News, May 29, 2020
• EULAR 2020Rheumatology Drugs Explored for COVID-19 in the Spotlight Questions about immunomodulatory drugs will be front and center at the upcoming European League Against Rheumatism Congress.
  Medscape Medical News, May 29, 2020
• COVID-19: Social Distancing Flattened the Curve, Studies Show Cumulative hospitalizations in Colorado, Minnesota, Ohio and Virginia — all of which had stay-at-home orders — were well short of the projected exponential growth curves, according to a JAMA study.
  Medscape Medical News, May 29, 2020
• We Want Money Not Medals, Say Protesting French Health Workers Hundreds of healthcare workers demonstrated outside a hospital in Paris on Thursday to demand better pay and more resources for a public health sector on the frontline of the COVID-19 epidemic.
  Reuters Health Information, May 28, 2020
• In Russia, Scammers Exploit Pandemic to Launder Money Using Medical Goods Purchases The coronavirus pandemic has spawned a new form of financial fraud in Russia, with people using medical goods purchases as a front for money laundering scams, the central bank said on Thursday.
  Reuters Health Information, May 28, 2020
• A Pandemic Nurse's Love Letter to New York The coronavirus pandemic has restricted almost everyone's freedoms in America but for Meghan Lindsey it has done the opposite. This is the freest she has ever felt.
  Reuters Health Information, May 28, 2020
• What COVID-19 Is Teaching Us About How to Reform Medicare The COVID-19 pandemic has put a bright spotlight on weaknesses in many of the systems designed to protect Americans from risks. But with older people more susceptible to serious illness and death from the virus, the problems in our Medicare system that were evident pre-pandemic have come into especially sharp relief.
  Reuters Health Information, May 28, 2020
• Africa Hit by Sustained Community Spread of Coronavirus: Disease Center Cases of community transmission of the new coronavirus are growing in Africa, particularly in Ethiopia, and a new strategy for testing is needed to prevent this, the head of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said on Thursday.
  Reuters Health Information, May 28, 2020
• GSK Says Science Does Not Link Pandemic H1N1 Flu Vaccine to Sleep Disorder British drugmaker GSK said on Thursday that its previous flu pandemic vaccine, which used some of the same ingredients as COVID-19 vaccines currently under development, was not linked to a rise in cases of the sleep disorder narcolepsy.
  Reuters Health Information, May 28, 2020
• Indonesia to Keep Prescribing Two Malaria Drugs for COVID-19 Despite Bans in Europe Indonesia will continue to prescribe two anti-malaria drugs for coronavirus patients but monitor their use closely, a spokesman for Indonesia COVID-19 taskforce said on Thursday, after some European nations banned the drug over safety concerns.
  Reuters Health Information, May 28, 2020
• AstraZeneca Says It May Consider Exposing Vaccine Trial Participants to Virus The chief executive of AstraZeneca, which is developing a leading coronavirus vaccine with Oxford University, said it is too early to deliberately expose vaccine trial participants to the pathogen, but it may become an option if ongoing trials hit a snag.
  Reuters Health Information, May 28, 2020