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Tag: research

Topic: cognitive issuesView all posts for the topic: cognitive issues

COVID-19 leaves a lasting mark on the human brain

Published December 15, 2025

Still COVIDing Canada Posts

Published by: Griffith University
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By Emma O’Connor

COVID-19 does not just affect the respiratory system, but also significantly alters the brain in people who have fully recovered from the infectious disease, highlighting the long-term neurological impact of the virus.

Researchers from Griffith University’s National Centre for Neuroimmunology and Emerging Disease (NCNED) used advanced MRI techniques to ascertain the neurological implications of COVID-19 compared with those who had never been infected.

The research provided compelling evidence that even in the absence of ongoing symptoms, prior infection with the virus could leave a measurable imprint on the brain.

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Topic: researchView all posts for the topic: research

Long-COVID research just got a big funding boost: will it find new treatments?

The German government has committed half a billion euros to research into long COVID and other post-infection syndromes.

Published December 8, 2025

Still COVIDing Canada Posts

Published by: Nature
Published on:
By Michael Marshall

In a major boost to research on long COVID and chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), also known as myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME), the German government has announced that it will provide €500 million (US$582 million) in research funding to support a National Decade Against Post-Infectious Diseases from 2026 to 2036.

Germany is one of many countries facing an unprecedented health burden owing to long COVID and other post-infection syndromes since the COVID-19 pandemic. Almost one in five people in a German cohort had long COVID in 2022, and around one in seven people in the United States were affected by long COVID by late 2023. This translates to a considerable burden on health care and the economy — the syndrome is estimated to cost the world economy US$1 trillion every year.

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Topic: immune dysfunctionView all posts for the topic: immune dysfunction

SARS-CoV-2 Leaves a Lasting Mark on the Immune System

A landmark new study shows COVID-19 isn’t ‘just a cold’: One infection left people with long-lasting immune damage, and those with heart disease lost up to 70% of key immune cells. Reinfections may worsen this. The message is clear: protecting ourselves still matters.

Published December 7, 2025

Still COVIDing Canada Posts

Published by: John Snow Project
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A new study in the International Journal of Infectious Diseases should end any lingering idea that SARS-CoV-2 is ‘just another cold virus.’ It shows that a single, relatively short Omicron wave left a long, measurable scar on the adaptive immune systems of tens of thousands of adults and that people with cardiovascular disease (CVD) may be living with something close to chronic immune compromise nearly two years later.

This isn’t about individual anecdotes, or small clinic cohorts. It’s a population-scale signal, drawn from more than 40,000 patients in a region of China that had almost no SARS-CoV-2 circulation until late 2022. It is, in many ways, the cleanest before and after picture we have of what one mass SARS-CoV-2 exposure does to human immunity.

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Topic: vaccinesView all posts for the topic: vaccines

COVID-19 mRNA vaccines do not increase mortality, a study shows

Published December 4, 2025

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Published by: Radio-Canada / Agence France-Presse
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COVID-19 vaccines have not caused an increase in mortality in France since their appearance in the early 2020s, according to a study that refutes the widespread false theories prevalent in vaccine skeptic circles.

“COVID messenger RNA [mRNA] vaccines do not increase the long-term risk of all-cause mortality,” states Epi-Phare, a French organization comprising the Agence nationale de sécurité du médicament (ANSM) and Assurance maladie, in a study published in JAMA Network Open .

To reach these conclusions, its authors examined data from nearly 30 million French people between 2021 and 2025, representing the entire 18-59 age group.

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Topic: AIDSView all posts for the topic: AIDS

New HIV prevention guidelines say doctors should not be ‘gatekeeping’ PrEP

Published December 1, 2025

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Published by: The Canadian Press
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By Hannah Alberga

A coalition of doctors across Canada is releasing a new guideline for prescribing medications that can prevent HIV infection, with a strong focus on increasing the promotion and awareness of the expanding class of drugs.

The clinical guideline published Monday in the Canadian Medical Association Journal provides 31 recommendations and 10 good practices for prescribing antiretroviral medication before and after a potential HIV exposure to prevent infection.

Lead author Dr. Darrell Tan said 19 physicians volunteered their time over the last three years to review the latest research and write the new guidelines, as the range of available pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) and postexposure prophylaxis (PEP) options has expanded since the last guidance was released in 2017.

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Topic: long COVIDView all posts for the topic: long COVID

National survey finds virtual health ‘essential’ for Long COVID support: SFU report

Published November 25, 2025

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Published by: Simon Fraser University
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Preliminary results of a national survey conducted by researchers at the Simon Fraser University Faculty of Health Sciences (SFU FHS) has found that Canadians with Long COVID identified virtual healthcare services as essential to their care.

“Many of the 621 survey respondents from across the country shared how lifesaving and essential these virtual services are in providing accessibility to care that reduces risk of infections, travel time, and PEM”, shared FHS Research Fellow Kayli Jamieson, who also has Long COVID herself.

PEM, or Post-Exertional Malaise, is common in many people with Long COVID, meaning that physical, mental, or sensory activity triggers can cause a flare-up in symptoms lasting from hours to weeks. It is one of many factors that contributes to the chronic and frequently disabling nature of Long COVID.

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With an absent CDC and mismatched ‘subclade K’ flu strain, experts face upcoming season with uncertaintyColourized transmission electron micrograph of influenza A virus particles (red and gold), isolated from a patient sample and then propagated in cell culture. Blue background. This image features the H3N2 influenza strain. Photo: NIAID.
Topic: influenzaView all posts for the topic: influenza

With an absent CDC and mismatched ‘subclade K’ flu strain, experts face upcoming season with uncertainty

Published November 12, 2025

Still COVIDing Canada Posts

Published by: CIDRAP
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By Stephanie Soucheray

Earlier this month, a group of Canadian researchers published early influenza data for the 2025-26 season, issuing a warning: There has been an observed mismatch with the seasonal influenza vaccine strain and what is emerging as the dominant flu strain this season, H3N2 subclade K.

Based on early reports from Japan and the United Kingdom, the Canadian researchers wanted to publish these data to encourage enhanced surveillance in North America this season, especially given the tumultuous situation in the United States.

“This is not the time to be flying blind into the respiratory virus season,” Danuta Skowronski, MD, the epidemiology lead for influenza and emerging respiratory pathogens at the British Columbia Centre for Disease Control, told CIDRAP News. Skowronski was senior author of the paper, which was published in the Journal of the Association of Medical Microbiology and Infectious Disease Canada.

Continue readingWith an absent CDC and mismatched ‘subclade K’ flu strain, experts face upcoming season with uncertainty
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Topic: long COVIDView all posts for the topic: long COVID

Women are three times more likely than men to get severe long COVID: Here’s why

Published November 7, 2025

Still COVIDing Canada Posts

Published by: Folio - University of Alberta
Published on:
By Gillian Rutherford

Research published today in Cell Reports Medicine reveals key biological differences that may explain why women with long COVID — especially those who develop chronic fatigue syndrome — tend to experience more severe and persistent symptoms than men do.

Post COVID-19 condition, or long COVID, is diagnosed when neurological, respiratory or gastrointestinal symptoms develop or continue three months or more after an acute SARS-CoV-2 infection.

The likelihood of developing long COVID is three times higher for women than men, but until now the underlying biological mechanisms driving this disparity have remained unknown.

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Topic: vaccinesView all posts for the topic: vaccines

Risk of rare heart complications in children higher after COVID-19 infection than after vaccination

Published November 4, 2025

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Published by: University of Cambridge
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Children and young people faced long-lasting and higher risks of rare heart and inflammatory complications after COVID-19 infection, compared to before or without an infection, according to new research. Meanwhile COVID-19 vaccination was only linked to a short-term higher risk of myocarditis and pericarditis.

The study is the largest of its kind in this population, and is published today in The Lancet Child and Adolescent Health. It was led by scientists at the Universities of Cambridge and Edinburgh, and University College London, with support from the British Heart Foundation (BHF) Data Science Centre at Health Data Research UK.

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Topic: long COVIDView all posts for the topic: long COVID

COVID vaccination cuts risk of long-term symptoms in teens by over a third, data suggest

Published November 3, 2025

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Published by: CIDRAP
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By Mary Van Beusekom

The risk of long COVID was 36% lower in adolescents vaccinated within 6 months before their first infection than in their unvaccinated peers, suggests an analysis of US Researching COVID to Enhance Recovery (RECOVER) trial data published late last week in Vaccine.

The study, led by Massachusetts General Hospital researchers, involved 724 adolescents aged 12 to 17 years who were vaccinated against COVID-19 within the previous 6 months and 507 unvaccinated youth matched on sex, symptom onset, and enrollment date.

Continue readingCOVID vaccination cuts risk of long-term symptoms in teens by over a third, data suggest
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Topic: cardiovascular diseaseView all posts for the topic: cardiovascular disease

Covid and Flu Can Triple Your Risk of Heart Attack

Published October 29, 2025

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Published by: The New York Times
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By Nina Agrawal

The risk of a heart attack triples within the first few weeks after a Covid-19 infection, the study suggested, and quadruples in the month after a flu infection. The study, published Wednesday in the Journal of the American Heart Association, was a large review and analysis of existing research.

“It endorses a general idea that we’ve been thinking about and talking about for the past several years — that infections are generally not benign,” said Dr. Ziyad Al-Aly, a senior clinical epidemiologist at Washington University in St. Louis, who was not involved in the study.

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Topic: long COVIDView all posts for the topic: long COVID

Video | Long COVID is underdiagnosed, researchers say, and there’s work to be done to change that

Published October 29, 2025

Still COVIDing Canada Posts

Published by: CBC News
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St. John’s hosted the 2025 Canadian Symposium on Long COVID earlier this month, a gathering of top researchers, clinicians, and people living with long COVID. As the CBC’s Adam Walsh reports, those on the symposium floor say more needs to be done to bring awareness to the condition as it continues to impact people of all ages.

Continue readingVideo | Long COVID is underdiagnosed, researchers say, and there’s work to be done to change that
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Topic: vaccinesView all posts for the topic: vaccines

Analysis: Last year’s COVID vaccines protected well against severe illness

Published October 28, 2025

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Published by: CIDRAP
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By Stephanie Soucheray

The updated 2024-25 COVID-19 vaccines provided 57% protection against hospitalization and death, although their effectiveness waned over time, according to a study yesterday in JAMA Internal Medicine.

The study assessed effectiveness against infection, emergency department (ED) visits, and hospitalization. Protection against infection and ED visits was 45%.

The study was based on outcomes seen among Nebraskan residents during the 2024-25 respiratory virus season and used hospital discharge data from member hospitals of the Nebraska Hospital Association and data from death certificates from the Nebraska Office of Vital Records.

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Topic: long COVIDView all posts for the topic: long COVID

Video | The Signal | Live [from] the 3rd Canadian Symposium on Long COVID

Published October 21, 2025

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Published by: CBC News - NL - Newfoundland and Labrador
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Today we bring you a live on location show at the 3rd Canadian Symposium on Long COVID. We talk to doctors, researchers, students and patients…

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Topic: researchView all posts for the topic: research

A surprise bonus from COVID-19 vaccines: bolstering cancer treatment

Published October 20, 2025

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Published by: Science
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By Phie Jacobs

The innovative messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines that thwarted the ravages of COVID-19 may also help fight tumors in cancer patients, according to a new analysis of medical records and studies in mice.

People with cancer who coincidentally received the mRNA shots before starting drugs designed to unleash the immune system against tumors lived significantly longer than those who didn’t get vaccinated, a research team announced yesterday at the European Society for Medical Oncology Congress in Berlin. Laboratory experiments by the group suggest the vaccines rev up the immune system, making even stubborn tumors more susceptible to treatment.

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Topic: indoor air qualityView all posts for the topic: indoor air quality

Federal Contract for up to $40 Million Fuels Research to Revolutionize Clean Indoor Air and Defend Against Next Pandemic

Published October 16, 2025

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Published by: UC Davis
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By Melody Warnick

When a public building catches fire, its built-in systems automatically respond: Smoke alarms blare, sprinklers kick on, and occupants quickly evacuate.

But what if the life-threatening danger isn’t fire but invisible airborne contaminants that can make occupants sick? Could a similar smart-building system monitor and improve the quality of the air indoors, where Americans spend 90 percent of their time?

With a contract for up to $40 million from the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H), an ambitious multi-institutional research team led by Virginia Tech and including researchers at the University of California, Davis, aims to create just such a system.

Continue readingFederal Contract for up to $40 Million Fuels Research to Revolutionize Clean Indoor Air and Defend Against Next Pandemic
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Topic: war on scienceView all posts for the topic: war on science

Chaos following mass firings, rehirings at CDC

Published October 13, 2025

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Published by: CIDRAP
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By Stephanie Soucheray

Late Friday night more than 1,000 employees of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) were sent an email saying they had been let go due to reduction-in-force (RIF) efforts at the end of the second week of the federal government shutdown.

Some, however, were mistakenly fired and were rehired the next day, according to sources close to the situation.

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Topic: war on scienceView all posts for the topic: war on science

They Fought Outbreaks Worldwide. Now They’re Fighting for New Lives.

Published October 13, 2025

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Published by: The New York Times
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By Apoorva Mandavilli

The Trump administration’s new global health strategy, released last month, lists its most important goal as outbreak prevention and response, both to protect Americans and to safeguard the economy.

Containing the Ebola outbreak in West Africa a decade ago cost the United States $5.4 billion globally and more than $70 million domestically, the strategy report notes, adding, “As we have unfortunately seen all too frequently, an outbreak anywhere in the world can quickly become a threat to Americans.”

Yet, the freeze on America’s foreign aid in January disrupted many programs that extinguished outbreaks. Citing “waste, fraud and abuse” at federal agencies, the administration also laid off thousands of scientists, including many who worked on preventing and containing infectious diseases.

Continue readingThey Fought Outbreaks Worldwide. Now They’re Fighting for New Lives.
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