Healthcare & Laboratory News

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The American Journal of Managed Care (2/20, Bonavitacola) reports, “Specific predictors of testing for HIV and sexually transmitted infections (STIs) were identified among high school students living in the US, which could provide insights into how best to address increasing testing throughout the country, according to a study.” Researchers found that “STI tests were more likely to be received by those who had more past sexual partners...were older...and had more current sexual partners.” Additionally, girls were “more likely than boys to have received a test for STIs.” The findings were published in AIDS Care.

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USA Today (2/20, Cuevas) reports, “Bird flu may be spreading between people and cats more than previously thought, a new federal study said.” The research “looked at indoor cats who had severe illness and death in two Michigan households of two dairy workers around May where bird flu was circulating on farms.” The study referred to “one household where an adolescent developed a cough and other symptoms after a cat became sick, but the results were inconclusive since the teen also had additional exposure.” Both “cats that died, one in each household, appeared to have the same signs of respiratory and neurologic illness, according to the study.” Later, the cats “tested positive for bird flu.” The findings were published in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. The New York Times (2/20, Anthes, Mandavilli) reports, “How the cats might have become infected is unclear, but experts said that the farmworkers were likely to have become infected with H5N1 at their workplace and to have brought the virus home to their cats.” The AP (2/20, Aleccia) also reports.

STAT (2/20, Branswell, Subscription Publication) reports, “A committee of experts that advises the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on vaccine policy...will not meet for its regularly scheduled February meeting, a senior HHS official confirmed Thursday.” The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices was scheduled “to meet from Feb. 26 to 28.” However, “that will not happen, Andrew Nixon, the HHS director of communications, told STAT.” A “notice of the postponement was” later “posted on the ACIP’s homepage.” The Washington Post (2/20, Sun, Nirappil) reports “a draft agenda for the three-day meeting of” ACIP “that was to take place includes information about 10 vaccines, including the effectiveness of influenza vaccines and a presentation on possible side effects of a newly approved vaccine to prevent chikungunya.” Committee members “were scheduled to vote on recommendations for the use of the chikungunya vaccine, a new meningitis vaccine, and new recommendations on influenza and vaccines for RSV.” Reuters (2/20, Levine, Singh) reports the “session will be postponed to allow public comment prior to the meeting, said” Nixon. He added, “The ACIP workgroups met as scheduled this month and will present at the upcoming ACIP meeting.” Also reporting is NBC News (2/20, Lovelace Jr.) and the AP (2/20, Bose).

Parkinson’s News Today (2/20, Shapiro) reports, “Gene enhancers may play an important role in neuronal development and neurological conditions such as Parkinson’s disease, a study found.” Experiments revealed “that mutations previously linked to Parkinson’s were found within...enhancer regions, and that the enhancers influenced the activity of genes associated with the neurodegenerative disease.” The findings were published in EMBO Reports.

The New York Times (2/19, Mandavilli) reports, “The Covid-19 vaccines were powerfully protective, preventing millions of deaths.” However, “in a small number of people, the shots may have led to a constellation of side effects that includes fatigue, exercise intolerance, brain fog, tinnitus and dizziness, together referred to as ‘post-vaccination syndrome,’ according to a small new study.” A number of “people with this syndrome appear to show distinct biological changes, the research found – among them differences in immune cells, reawakening of a dormant virus called Epstein-Barr, and the persistence of a coronavirus protein in their blood.” The findings were published in medRxiv, but they have “not yet been published in a scientific journal.”

Reuters (2/19, Farge) reports, “The World Health Organization said on Wednesday that a mass campaign to vaccinate children against polio in Gaza would resume on Saturday, with over half a million children targeted.” The WHO said, “The current environment in Gaza, including overcrowding in shelters and severely damaged water, sanitation and hygiene infrastructure, which facilitates fecal-oral transmission, create ideal conditions for further spread of poliovirus.” The organization added, “Extensive population movement consequent to the current ceasefire is likely to exacerbate the spread of poliovirus infection.”