Rush University Medical Center researchers who for years have been refining the clinical understanding of Long Covid (defined as persistent symptoms for more than three months) today shared findings showing that people experiencing those persistent symptoms also incurred more medical expenses and work-related issues than those who recovered more quickly from Covid-19.  Detailed survey responses since early in the pandemic from more than 3,600 participants in the INSPIRE Covid-19 patient registry also suggests that getting vaccinated against Covid-19 is associated with better work and financial outcome whether people had Long Covid or not

About The Study: In this prospective cohort study of adults with SARS-CoV-2 infection, participants with current self-reported long COVID (defined as developing new, persistent symptoms lasting 3 months or longer after SARS-CoV-2 infection) reported worse work impairment, missed work, and financial distress compared with those who never had long COVID, while vaccination was associated with improved work outcomes and less financial distress even among individuals with long COVID. These data underscore the need for post-pandemic assistance programs, as well as vaccination to decrease societal harms.

The definition of Long COVID varies so widely across published studies that the percentage of people identified as having the condition can differ dramatically, making it harder to treat patients and advance research.

Mucosal Vaccine Delivery Systems: The Future of Immunization (Part 1) is a new release from Bentham Science that delivers a comprehensive exploration of mucosal immunization strategies, offering fresh perspectives and advanced insights into the evolving landscape of vaccine delivery science.

Portland State University researchers have released the final findings in a three-year project examining the impacts of multiple drug policy shifts including Measure 110 which decriminalized drug possession in Oregon. 

The final report finds little evidence that Measure 110 was responsible for rising crime or overdose deaths. Instead, researchers found that trends in crime rates and overdose fatalities were primarily driven by the COVID-19 pandemic and the rise of fentanyl. The report also offers crucial insights for the implementation of the state’s new drug policy (HB 4002), emphasizing that policy change alone isn't enough — successful deflection to treatment depends on robust resources and coordination.

Groundbreaking research led by a Swansea University academic has revealed a synthetic glycosystem — a sugar-coated polymer nanoparticle — that can block Covid-19 from infecting human cells, reducing infection rates by nearly 99%.

Researchers from the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen), part of City of Hope, and the Lundquist Institute for Biomedical Innovation at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center have identified a potential biomarker for long COVID.

If the findings of their study are confirmed by other research centers, the biomarker could be the first specific and quantifiable indicator for confirming long COVID. Currently, clinicians confer a diagnosis of long COVID based upon a collection of symptoms that patients develop after SARS-CoV-2 infection.

COVID-19 prevention methods such as masking and social distancing also suppressed the circulation of common respiratory diseases, leaving young children lacking immunity to pathogens they otherwise would have been exposed to, a new multi-center clinical research study reveals. The investigators say their findings help explain the large post-pandemic rebound in these diseases and enable more accurate predictions for the future.

About The Study: In this modeling study, economic favorability of COVID-19 vaccination varied by age. Cost-effectiveness results for individuals in the 2 older age groups were favorable and generally robust to changes in parameter inputs, while results for the younger age group were sensitive to parameter input changes. As the evidence base for COVID-19 vaccination and burden of illness evolves, it may be important to continue to update and revise the economic evaluation of vaccination. The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices considered these results in its decision to recommend vaccination with the 2023 to 2024 COVID-19 mRNA vaccines.

The first paper from a multi-year clinical research study has been published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases: Dynamics of Endemic Virus Re-emergence in Children in the USA Following the COVID-19 Pandemic (2022-2023): A Longitudinal Immunoepidemiologic Surveillance Study and demonstrates how the approach can improve modeling to better predict future outbreaks.

The paper shares findings from a multicenter clinical research study, one of many studies that are part of the recently launched PREMISE (Pandemic Response Repository through Microbial and Immune Surveillance and Epidemiology) program, led by Dr. Daniel Douek at the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) Vaccine Research Center (VRC). Data collected during the first year of the PREMISE study, 2022-2023, shows for the first time how non-pharmaceutical interventions such as masking and distancing targeted towards SARS-CoV-2 during the pandemic also decreased circulation rates of and population immunity to common respiratory pathogens in children. The study provides new evidence-based insight into what was driving the large post-pandemic rebound in these diseases and enables more accurate predictions for the future.