CORONAVIRUS INFO PROVIDED BY DR. JIM HARRIS – 09/3/2021
HELLO,
NUMBERS ARE INCREASING IN OTHER EAST TEXAS COUNTIES:
FROM BECKERS:
1. ‘We never had a chance to take a breath’: 8 nurses on latest COVID-19 surge
2. WHO adds new strain ‘mu’ to its variants of concern list
The World Health Organization classified a new COVID-19 strain as a variant of concern Aug. 30. The strain, named mu, was first detected in Colombia in January, according to the WHO’s weekly COVID-19 epidemiological update.
Five things to know:
1. B.1.621 (MU), the strain’s scientific name, has since been identified in at least 39 countries, including the U.S., though its global prevalence is below 0.1 percent based on sequenced cases.
2. Mu is most prevalent in Colombia and Ecuador, where it accounts for 39 percent and 13 percent of cases, respectively, and has consistently been on the rise in those countries, according to the report.
3. The strain carries “a constellation of mutations that indicate potential properties of immune escape,” though further research is needed.
4. It’s not yet known whether mu is more transmissible or if it causes more severe illness
5. Early data suggests the strain has characteristics that allow it to evade some protection offered by current vaccines or monoclonal antibody treatments, similar to levels seen in other variants such as beta.
FROM HOPKINS CITED ARTICLES:
1. COVID Long-haulers May Be At Risk for Severe Kidney Disease (CIDRAP) COVID-19 long-haulers—even those who experienced mild cases—are at significantly increased risk for substantial declines in kidney function, such as organ damage and chronic and end-stage kidney disease (ESKD), according to a study today in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology.4. (Detailed discussion to follow this weekend)
2. Rogue Antibodies Involved in Almost one-fifth of COVID Deaths (Nature) Antibodies that turn against elements of our own immune defences are a key driver of severe illness and death following SARS-CoV-2 infection in some people, according to a large international study. These rogue antibodies, known as autoantibodies, are also present in a small proportion of healthy, uninfected individuals — and their prevalence increases with age, which may help to explain why elderly people are at higher risk of severe COVID-19.
3. Long Covid: One in Seven Children May Still Have Symptoms 15 Weeks After Infection, Data Show (BMJ) A large study of children and young people who caught SARS-CoV-2 has found that as many as one in seven (14%) may still have symptoms 15 weeks later.1 However, this figure is lower than in some studies that have reported a prevalence of long covid as high as 51% in children and young people. Speaking at a Science Media Centre briefing, the study’s lead author, Terence Stephenson, who is Nuffield professor of child health at the UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health in London, said, “It is reassuring that the figures were lower than the worst case scenarios predicted last December. However, they are not of trivial importance.”
4. COVID CAN CAUSE MYOCARDITIS IN CHILDREN:
Association Between COVID-19 and Myocarditis Using Hospital-Based Administrative Data — United States, March 2020–January 2021 (CDC MMWR) Viral infections are a common cause of myocarditis. Some studies have indicated an association between COVID-19 and myocarditis.During March 2020–January 2021, patients with COVID-19 had nearly 16 times the risk for myocarditis compared with patients who did not have COVID-19, and risk varied by sex and age. These findings underscore the importance of implementing evidence-based COVID-19 prevention strategies, including vaccination, to reduce the public health impact of COVID-19 and its associated complications.
BE CAREFUL LABOR DAY!
AND LAST BUT NOT LEASED:
The reason women don’t play football is because 11 of them would never wear the same outfit in public.
-Phyllis Diller
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