The latest snapshot of Canada’s battle against the pandemic captures the toll the Omicron variant has taken on the elderly.
The highly infectious variant drove up hospitalizations across Canada, especially in those age 65 and older, according to data released Wednesday from the Canadian Institute for Health Information.
Comments closedDr. Carlos Hernandez is an assistant professor in Dalhousie University’s faculty of computer science. He hopes to contribute to long COVID research in collaboration with scientists at Western University in London, Ont., and the National Autonomous University of Mexico in Mexico City in a multi-year study assessing cognitive damage caused by the condition.
But there’s just one issue: He needs more participants in the Halifax area.
Comments closedAcross the country, hospital emergency departments and intensive care units have seen a decline in COVID-19 patients compared with a year ago, but the number of people admitted to hospital because of the virus has increased nearly 20 per cent, according to new data from the Canadian Institute for Health Information.
Comments closedAt the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the virus responsible for the disease, SARS-CoV-2, was feared for its devastating damage to the lungs. But it quickly became apparent that the virus can infect organs and tissues throughout the body, including the heart, brain, kidneys, and blood vessels.
Much of the resulting dysfunction was thought to be the result of inflammation, the immune system’s response to infection. But research has suggested that effects on mitochondria may also play a role in organ damage from SARS-CoV-2 infection. Mitochondria are the powerhouses of cells, producing most of the energy they need.
Comments closed“This research highlights the need for continued vigilance and underscores the importance of ongoing preventive measures against COVID-19.”
Comments closedComments closedOur findings highlight the substantial cumulative burden of health loss due to long COVID and emphasize the ongoing need for health care for those faced with long COVID. It appears that the effects of long COVID for many will not only impact such patients and their quality of life, but potentially will contribute to a decline in life expectancy and also may impact labor participation, economic productivity, and societal well-being.
“This research highlights the need for continued vigilance and underscores the importance of ongoing preventive measures against COVID-19.”
Comments closedA cocktail of antibodies developed by the Quebec company Immune Biosolutions has proven its effectiveness in relieving respiratory symptoms caused by COVID-19 in the acute phase of the disease.
Comments closedPeople who survived Covid-19 early in the pandemic, before there were vaccines, continued to be at higher risk for a slew of health problems for up to two years after they got over their initial infections, compared to others who didn’t test positive, a new study finds, and that was especially true if they were hospitalized.
These health problems include heart problems, blood clots, diabetes, neurologic complications, fatigue and difficulties with mental health and have come to be known collectively as long Covid.
Comments closedIn a sign that scientists still don’t fully understand how some COVID-19 variants manage to evade the immune system, a new Ontario study has found that retirement- and long-term-care home residents infected during the first Omicron wave were 20 times more likely to get reinfected by the virus than those who avoided a prior infection.
The surprising finding by researchers at McMaster University runs counter to the prevailing wisdom that a previous COVID infection affords protection against future infections, at least in the older adults who participated in the study.
Comments closedPeople who endured even mild cases of covid-19 are at heightened risk two years later for lung problems, fatigue, diabetes and certain other health problems typical of long covid, according to a new study that casts fresh light on the virus’s true toll.
The analysis, published Monday in the journal Nature Medicine, is believed to be the first to document the extent to which an array of aftereffects that patients can develop — as part of the diffuse and sometimes debilitating syndrome known as long covid — linger beyond the initial months or year after they survived a coronavirus infection.
Comments closed“In the 3 months postinfection, people who’d had COVID-19 had higher rates of death and many health conditions including heart failure, diabetes, Alzheimer’s disease, and depression.”
The risk of developing venous thromboembolisms—potentially serious blood clots in the veins—is elevated among cancer patients hospitalized with COVID-19 and taking anticancer drugs, according to a study yesterday in JAMA Oncology.
Comments closedIn a paper published on August 18 in the journal Cell, scientists report that innate immune cells—a critical part of the immune system activated to battle COVID-19—remain altered for at least a year after infection. The finding suggests that these cells may play a role in some of the lingering symptoms associated with Long COVID, although more studies are needed to confirm that connection.
Comments closedWhen you go to get your newly updated Covid-19 booster this fall, you might want to choose the arm the vaccine goes in carefully.
Comments closedHeart attack-caused deaths rose during every virus surge. Worse, young people aren’t supposed to have heart attacks but Cheng’s research documented a nearly 30% increase in heart attack deaths among 25- to 44-year-olds in the pandemic’s first two years.
Comments closedIn a new study, researchers used Medicare data to characterize the long-term risk of death and hospital readmission after being hospitalized with COVID-19 among patients 65 years and older. The study demonstrates that among patients who were admitted to a hospital with COVID-19 and discharged alive, the risk of post-discharge death was nearly twice that observed in those who were discharged alive from an influenza-related hospital admission.
Comments closedThis study provides us with strong evidence that we need to stop looking at COVID-19 as strictly an upper respiratory disease and start viewing it as a systemic disorder that impacts multiple organs. The continued dysfunction we observed in organs other than the lungs suggests that mitochondrial dysfunction could be causing long-term damage to the internal organs of these patients.
