Three Things Thursday
Three Things Thursday highlights three things I am paying attention to as an epidemiologist each week.
Hoping these posts help to educate and empower you
to be healthy and create healthy communities.
Today’s Three Things Thursday is a mix of exciting (and a little bit of disappointing) news related to infectious diseases that have been spreading throughout our communities.
Promising New COVID Drug (that we won’t have access to for years)
Earlier this week the exciting/positive results from a clinical trial of a new treatment for COVID-19 were reported in the New England Journal of Medicine. The drug — a single injection of an interferon — was found to decrease an individual’s risk of being hospitalized with COVID-19 by 50%. Interferons are a group of proteins that alert nearby cells to watch out for a pathogen that is already in the body. This new treatment helps the immune system recognize and fight an invading virus. Some immunologists are hypothesizing that this new drug could help individuals who are suffering from COVID, influenza, and other viruses.
Very exciting news.
At a time when there is just a single treatment for COVID (Paxlovid), an additional treatment would be welcome.
Again, very exciting news.
However, despite all the good news about this drug and the clinical trial results, there is a lot of uncertainty regarding how and if the drug will make it to the commercial market in the United States. The FDA has told the drug maker, Eiger Biopharmaceuticals, that they are not prepared to grant under an emergency use authorization. FDA states that the clinical trial occurred outside of the United States (it was conducted in Canada and Brazil) and, therefore, does not meet the FDA standards.
It will take many years for Eiger Biopharmaceuticals to complete the required research needed to get the drug authorized in the United States.
Measles Outbreak in Ohio Is Over
The measles outbreak in Columbus, Ohio that began in November is over. The last case was reported on December 24, 2022. During the outbreak, 85 children were diagnosed with measles; 35 of those children were hospitalized. None of the children who contracted measles were fully vaccinated.
What are the lessons learned from this outbreak?
Vaccines prevent disease. Staying up-to-date on all of your vaccinations is essential.
Update on COVID, flu, RSV, and the stomach bug
As we head into the remaining six weeks of winter (yes, the groundhog saw his shadow on February 2), respiratory diseases are on the decline (not gone, but decreasing) and cases of norovirus (that causes the stomach bug) are increasing.
Overall COVID cases are decreasing (case counts are down 15% in the past two weeks). However, the impact of COVID hangs heavy… every day 460 individuals are dying from the disease (and this is actually down by 16% over the past two weeks) and nearly 30,000 individuals require hospitalization each day. The toll on our healthcare system is large. This may be the new normal, but these are numbers that we should all work to lower. Staying up to date on your COVID vaccines is the #1 way to stay out of the hospital.1
In addition to declining rates of COVID, the number of influenza cases is decreasing. As are the number of cases of RSV.
This doesn’t mean that these viruses have gone away, but the amount of spread from person to person has decreased. It is still important to remember to wash your hands, wear a mask if you have to go into a crowded poorly ventilated space, and stand away from individuals who are coughing or sneezing (or have a runny nose).
While respiratory diseases are declining, the number of cases of norovirus (which causes vomiting and diarrhea) is really high. Norovirus is spread via fecal-oral contact (yes, this means that the virus moves from person to person via poop). Someone fails to wash their hands (or their fruits and vegetables) properly and the virus/poop is passed along. In order to prevent norovirus, be sure to wash your hands properly after you use the bathroom (EVERY TIME), before you eat, and before you prepare food for others. Additionally, be sure to wash your fruits and vegetables — the virus can hang out on them and then infect you.
Have questions? Wondering about anything else you’ve seen in the news this week? Leave a comment. Let me know!
NOTE — the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices is meeting later this month to discuss COVID booster shots. More to come on when a second/additional dose of the bivalent booster will be available.