"Given what is happening in the current Administration with vaccines, I think we are in free fall. We are in worse shape now than we were literally before the COVID pandemic. No one in the White House is in charge of leading the country through the potential next hit from an infectious agent, which could be more deadly than if somebody launched a physical war against us on our own shores."| www.cidrap.umn.edu
In the wake of this week's meeting of a newly reconstituted federal vaccine advisory board, public health, medical, and infectious disease experts are not holding back in their reaction to the panel's new direction, which they fear will only serve to further undermine public confidence in vaccines.| CIDRAP
[Editor's note: A correction was made in this story on Feb 2, 2024, to eliminate a quote misstating former President Donald Trump's use of the Defense Production Act.]| CIDRAP
A new case-control study of Brazilian healthcare workers (HCWs) suggests as many as 27% developed long COVID after infection, and multiple infections raised the risk. The findings were published today in Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology.| CIDRAP
The Oregon Department of Agriculture (ODA) yesterday reported that a house cat has died from H5N1 avian flu after eating raw frozen pet food, which has prompted the voluntary recall of raw pet food that was sold nationwide through distributors in 12 states as well as in British Columbia.| CIDRAP
The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (LACDPH) said yesterday that tests have confirmed H5 avian flu in two cats that died after drinking recalled raw milk that it is investigating three other possible cases in cats that weren't exposed to raw milk.| CIDRAP
The dog became ill after playing with a dead goose.| www.cidrap.umn.edu
Researchers say the findings raise concerns about antibiotic resistance from inappropriate use of broad-spectrum antibiotics.| www.cidrap.umn.edu
Dr Brosseau is a national expert on respiratory protection and infectious diseases and a research consultant with the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP) at the University of Minnesota (UMN). Dr MacIntyre is Professor of Global Security at the University of New South Wales. She coauthored a separate critique of the Jefferson Cochrane review. Dr Ulrich is a UMN assistant professor in the Division of Environmental Health Sciences and a CIDRAP researcher. Dr Osterholm ...| CIDRAP
A new study in the New England Journal of Medicine suggests that, for those fully vaccinated against COVID-19 but having at least one risk factor for severe COVID, the antiviral drug Paxlovid did little to reduce symptom duration, but experts caution the findings might not apply to older patients.| CIDRAP
