Infectious Diseases News

• Physician Happiness Outside Work Sees Sharp Drop in a Year: Survey Those who are 'very happy' dropped from 43% to 20% in 1 year. But one fourth of respondents said they have no anxiety about their futures, even as the pandemic wears on.
  Medscape Medical News, January 21, 2021
• Biden Asks Surgeon General Adams to Resign Adams said on Twitter that he's been asked to leave post. Biden expected to name interim surgeon general ahead of Vivek Murthy nomination.
  Medscape Medical News, January 20, 2021
• ACEIs, ARBs Safe to Continue in COVID-19: Trial Published The BRACE-CORONA trial showed no difference in major outcomes for those continuing and those discontinuing these common blood pressure medications.
  Medscape Medical News, January 20, 2021
• Controversy Flares Over Ivermectin for COVID-19 The NIH now says it can't recommend for or against the antiparasitic drug to treat COVID-19. Physicians and patients are left to weigh the evidence, with substantial debate.
  Medscape Medical News, January 20, 2021
• Biden Kicks Off Health Agenda With COVID Actions, WHO Outreach The Biden transition team has outlined the initial steps planned by the new US president, including the naming of Fauci to lead a delegation to the WHO.
  Medscape Medical News, January 20, 2021
• ACC Donations to GOP Election Deniers Under Scrutiny The pro-Trump storming of the Capitol has trade organizations and corporations alike rethinking or halting political donations.
  Medscape Medical News, January 20, 2021
• Biden Vows Healing and Action on COVID Pandemic Today's inauguration of President Joseph Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris was filled with messages of hope and unity and promises of a way out of the country's economic and pandemic crises.
  WebMD Health News, January 20, 2021
• Abbott's COVID-19 Antigen Test May Help With Faster Detection, Isolation: CDC Abbott Laboratories' rapid COVID-19 antigen test is highly likely to correctly detect if people have ever contracted the virus and could help with earlier isolation, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
  Reuters Health Information, January 19, 2021
• COVID-19 Mortality Higher When ICUs Packed With COVID Patients The more full an ICU is with COVID-19 patients, the higher the mortality rate, a new study finds.
  Reuters Health Information, January 19, 2021
• Cash-Strapped Venezuela Cannot Join COVAX Vaccine Program, PAHO Says The timeline has closed for Venezuela to join the COVAX facility for COVID-19 vaccines, an official with the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) said on Tuesday, though the country was still negotiating for doses through other means.
  Reuters Health Information, January 19, 2021
• Spanish Medics Take Folding Vaccination Centre to Rural Areas As Spain widens its coronavirus vaccination campaign beyond nursing homes, health workers in northern Spain have deployed a mobile vaccination trailer that goes from village to village delivering shots to the elderly.
  Reuters Health Information, January 19, 2021
• Backers of IP Waiver for COVID-19 Drugs Make Fresh Push at WTO South Africa and India argued in favour of a waiver of intellectual property rights on COVID-19 drugs and vaccines at a closed-door meeting of the World Trade Organization on Tuesday but opponents showed little sign of budging, trade sources said.
  Reuters Health Information, January 19, 2021
• Sputnik-AstraZeneca Vaccine Trials to Start in February, Says R-Pharm Human trials of a coronavirus vaccine combining Russia's Sputnik V shot with that developed by Britain's AstraZeneca and Oxford University are expected to start in early February, the chairman of Russian drugmaker R-Pharm told Reuters.
  Reuters Health Information, January 19, 2021
• Patients Fend for Themselves to Access COVID Antibody Treatments Herritz found himself very much on his own. His primary care doctor wasn't sure he qualified for treatment. His transplant team in Wisconsin, where he'd had the liver surgery, wasn't calling back.
  Kaiser Health News, January 20, 2021
• WHO Health Regulations Need Tweaks but Not Major Change: Panel The International Health Regulations remain a cornerstone of public health security and need improving in some areas, but not major changes, the chair of a World Health Organization panel reviewing the 2005 rules said on Tuesday.
  Reuters Health Information, January 19, 2021
• US Judge Rejects 'Pharma Bro' Shkreli's Bid for Compassionate Release From Prison A federal judge rejected former pharmaceutical executive Martin Shkreli's request to be freed from prison, rejecting his claim that his deteriorating mental health justified compassionate release.
  Reuters Health Information, January 19, 2021
• EU Eyes Scheme to Share Surplus COVID-19 Vaccines With Poorer Nations The European Union wants to set up a mechanism that would allow the sharing of surplus COVID-19 vaccines with poorer neighbouring states and Africa, the EU health chief said on Tuesday, a move that may undercut a WHO-led global scheme.
  Reuters Health Information, January 19, 2021
• Japan Eyes Use of Robots to Boost COVID-19 Testing as Olympics Loom Japan's health minister watched a demonstration on Tuesday of a prototype automated COVID-19 testing machine that uses a robotic arm to take a sample from a person's nose and can deliver the results in about 80 minutes.
  Reuters Health Information, January 19, 2021
• European Countries Struggle to Make Most of Pfizer COVID-19 Vaccine Doses Some European countries are drawing fewer than the approved six doses from Pfizer and BioNTech's COVID-19 vaccine vials, meaning shots are likely going to waste even as nations plead for more.
  Reuters Health Information, January 19, 2021
• Brussels Recommends Vaccinating at Least 70% of EU Adults by Summer The European Commission recommended on Tuesday to vaccinate against COVID-19 at least 70% of the European Union's adult population by this summer, in an attempt to curb the coronavirus pandemic.
  Reuters Health Information, January 19, 2021