Most Immunocompromised Patients Clear Omicron Infections
Prolonged SARS-CoV-2 infection during the Omicron period was uncommon among patients who were moderately to severely immunocompromised, a prospective multicenter study found. Among the 150 individuals included in the analysis, 25% had prolonged infection lasting 21 days or more as detected by RT-PCR, and only 8% had a positive viral culture at 21 days or […]
What to Know About the ‘Eris’ Variant
There’s yet another new variant on the block — the so-called “Eris” variant — but it’s still an Omicron subvariant and researchers say there’s no reason to expect it to cause a surge of COVID-19. For the 2-week period ending August 5, the CDC variant proportions tracker projects that Eris, or EG.5, made up 17.3% […]
People With HIV Had Only a Modest Reduction in Death During Omicron Wave
BRISBANE, Australia — While Omicron was generally considered to be a milder strain of SARS-CoV-2 that led to fewer deaths, there was scant relief for people living with HIV who were hospitalized during this wave of COVID-19, researchers reported here. Overall death rates were 19.6% for people with HIV compared with 9.8% for those without […]
XBB Variant Up to 21 Times More Evasive to Vaccine Antibodies Than BA.5
Omicron subvariants BQ.1.1 and XBB.1 were more effective at escaping neutralizing antibodies compared with the BA.5 variant following both monovalent and bivalent mRNA boosters, new data suggested. In 15 participants who had received a monovalent mRNA booster in 2022, neutralizing antibody titers against BA.5 were seven times higher than those for BQ.1.1, and 17 times […]
Monoclonal Antibodies May No Longer Be a Match for Emerging COVID Strains
Tixagevimab/cilgavimab (Evusheld) and bebtelovimab are likely ineffective against approximately 60% of currently circulating Omicron variants, creating a big gap in protection, particularly for immunocompromised individuals, researchers from a Harvard Medical School-led consortium said at a briefing on Thursday. This is a “big loss,” said Jacob Lemieux, MD, PhD, of the Massachusetts Consortium on Pathogen Readiness […]
Vax Protection Fades Fast Against BA.4/5-Related Hospitalizations
Vaccine protection against hospitalization from the latest Omicron subvariants deteriorates rapidly, even after a third dose, new data from South Africa indicated, suggesting that annual boosters might not cut it for high-risk people. With the primary two-dose series of Pfizer’s mRNA vaccine, effectiveness against BA.4/5-related hospitalization slipped from 47.4% after 3-4 months (95% CI 19.9-65.5) […]
At-Home Test Performance Declined During Omicron
The performance of certain at-home rapid antigen tests declined during Omicron, Dutch researchers found. From December 2021 to February 2022, sensitivities for three commonly used tests in the Netherlands dropped, though only the decline with Clinitest was statistically significant: Flowflex: 87% to 80.9% MPBio: 80% to 73% Clinitest: 83.1% to 70.3% Adding an oropharyngeal swab […]
Can Paxlovid, Molnupiravir Benefit Hospitalized COVID Patients Too?
During the Omicron BA.2 wave, antivirals molnupiravir and nirmatrelvir-ritonavir (Paxlovid) appeared to have clinical benefit in hospitalized patients with mild-to-moderate COVID-19 who did not require oxygen therapy, a retrospective cohort study from Hong Kong showed. For patients who were treated with the antivirals within 2 days of hospitalization, a 52% and 66% lower risk of […]
Omicron-Targeted COVID Vaccine Approved in UK – MedicineNet Health News
Latest Coronavirus News TUESDAY, Aug. 16, 2022 A COVID-19 booster that’s targeted to the Omicron variant will be available soon — and it’s already been approved in Britain. The U.K. Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency was the first to give the go-ahead for the vaccine that was designed to fight both the original COVID […]
Fast, efficient COVID-19 biosensor under development: Researchers are improving technology to test for the coronavirus at a ‘population scale’ in order to stay on top of shifting variants
As the BA.5 omicron variant continues to spread, health experts are increasingly preparing for a future in which such COVID-19 variants emerge, surge and recede similar to seasonal flu. An important part of staying on top of these changes will be the ability to quickly monitor the virus at a “population scale,” an effort that […]