Research finds negativity about vaccines surged on Twitter after COVID-19 shots became available There was a marked increase in negativity about vaccines on Twitter after COVID-19 vaccines became available, according to a presentation at the ESCMID Global Congress (formerly ECCMID) in Barcelona, ... Science X Medical Xpress

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The analysis also found that spikes in the number of negative tweets coincided with announcements from governments and health care authorities about vaccination.

Pandemic fatigue and vaccine hesitancy continue to affect global public health, new 23-country study finds (medicalxpress.com)

While it found that global uptake of at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose was robust, a new survey published in Nature Medicine revealed mixed signals about the current acceptance of vaccines generally, especially COVID-19 boosters. ...

"The repercussions of pandemic disruptions in health care services, the effects of the inequitable and slow global vaccine distribution, and the prevalence of misinformation and mistrust in health authorities continue to be felt," says Jeffrey V. Lazarus, Professor of Global Health at CUNY SPH, head of the Health Systems Research Group at Barcelona Institute for Global Health, and coordinator of the study.

US to test ground beef in states with bird-flu outbreaks in dairy cows The U.S. government said on Monday it is collecting samples of ground beef at retail stores in states with outbreaks of bird flu in dairy cows for testing, but remains confident the meat supply is safe. Tom Polansek Reuters

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Impaired sense of smell still common 1 year after COVID-19 Participants with a history of COVID-19 were more likely to experience some degree of smell loss compared with those without a history. CIDRAP

Sense of smell—but not taste—was still impaired in some COVID patients at 1 year, according to a new study in JAMA Network Open. 

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Global measles cases nearly doubled in one year, researchers say | CNN The number of measles cases around the world nearly doubled from 2022 to 2023, researchers say, presenting a challenge to efforts to achieve and maintain elimination status in many countries. Katherine Dillinger CNN

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Almost half of this year’s cases have been in WHO’s European Region, with the highest incidence in Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan and Yemen.

US respiratory virus levels continue to decline as officials track shift in SARS-CoV-2 proportions Amid further declines in COVID activity, the CDC reported a steady rise in JN.1 spinoffs that have 2 added spike mutations, part of a group nicknamed FLiRT. CIDRAP

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Insight: As solar capacity grows, some of America's most productive farmland is at risk The solar industry is pushing into the Midwest, drawn by wide-open fields, cheaper land rents, access to electric transmission and federal and state incentives. The boom risks damaging some of America's richest agricultural soils. P.j. Huffstutter,Christopher Walljasper Reuters

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The Power of Us: Climate change has disproportionately impacted these vulnerable US communities, experts say The disproportionate impacts of climate change on the poorest communities are already affecting pockets of the U.S. ABC News ABC News

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Dubai’s deadly floods were made worse by climate change, scientists find | CNN The record-breaking rain that fell over the UAE and Oman was driven partly by the climate crisis, an analysis shows, pointing to the role of burning fossil fuels. Angela Dewan CNN

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COVID may have eroded doctors' belief that they are obligated to treat infectious patients A systematic review posted in Clinical Infectious Diseases reveals that, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, many physicians felt less ethically obligated to provide care to infectious-disease patients if they fear contracting the disease. CIDRAP

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Experts call for global genetic warning system to combat the next pandemic and antimicrobial resistance (medicalxpress.com)

...genomic surveillance could do much more to reduce the toll of disease and death worldwide than just protect us from COVID-19. Writing in Frontiers in Science, an international collective of clinical and public health microbiologists from the European Society for Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ESCMID) calls for investment in technology, capacity, expertise, and collaboration to put genomic surveillance of pathogens at the forefront of future pandemic preparedness.

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Data: Optimal initiation of Paxlovid in hospitalized COVID patients is 3 to 5 days Taking the SARS-CoV-2 antiviral drug nirmatrelvir-ritonavir (Paxlovid) 3 to 5 days after COVID-19 symptom onset—not earlier or later—may result in the greatest reduction in viral loads, viral transmission, and viral rebound in hospitalized patients, a University of Hong Kong–led study finds. CIDRAP

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