Articles

• The H3N2 variant has been associated with more severe flu seasons for children and the elderly in the past, according to the CDC.
• Public health labs have detected H3N2 in 76% of the more than 3,500 respiratory samples that have tested positive for the flu and were analyzed for the virus subtype
• The flu hospitalization rate has surged to a decade high this season.

A variant of the flu that hits kids and seniors worse than other strains of the virus is dominant in the U.S. right now, setting the country up for a potentially bad flu season.

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New lab data suggest that vaccines and prior infections may not offer enough protection against several new COVID-19 variants cropping up in the U.S. and around the world.

Dr. David Ho, director of Columbia University’s Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center (ADARC), and his team reported the results from a set of studies at an ADARC symposium. They showed how well some of the latest variants—BQ.1, BQ.1.1, XBB, and XBB.1, which were all derived from Omicron—are evading both vaccine-derived and infection-derived immunity.

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Singapore and India both fought off the most highly evolved COVID variants yet, but the U.S. can’t match the way they did it.

The two most highly evolved COVID subvariants yet are becoming dominant all over the world. The XBB subvariant in Asia and the closely related BQ.1 subvariant in Europe and the U.S. are both more contagious than previous forms of the SARS-CoV-2 virus and more immune-evasive. That is, they reduce the effectiveness of many of the leading vaccines—and totally thwart monoclonal antibody therapies, according to some studies.

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The most recent COVID variants have been more contagious but less deadly. Early evidence suggests the new mutations could be much more dangerous and drive hospitalizations back up.

The new COVID-19 subvariants that are becoming dominant all over the world aren’t just more contagious than previous variants and subvariants—they might cause more severe disease, too.

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Here’s how to fix them — and what’s getting in the way.

For years, Alan, a designer in Vermont, had a persistent, hacking cough that kept him up at night, and every winter, a near-constant series of sore throats and colds. He visited his doctor’s office, got diagnosed with reflux, and took reams of antibiotics for suspected sinus infections. But the cough always came back, so intransigent it permanently hoarsened his voice.

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Resistance to recognizing that COVID-19 is spread by airborne transmission resulted in “the most egregious public health error in modern history,” Dr. Joe Vipond told delegates to United Nurses of Alberta’s annual general meeting on Oct. 18.

Vipond, a Calgary Emergency Room physician who became a passionate advocate for masking to slow the spread of COVID-19 early in the pandemic and a thorn in the side of Alberta’s government throughout, told more than 800 members, observers and staff at the AGM that “we need to talk about how such an amazingly dangerous error occurred with our most learned colleagues at a time of great challenge to humanity, an error that caused so much death and suffering.”

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• Data shows that cases of RSV, flu and Covid are now all starting to rise in the US
• This is prompting fears of a 'tripledemic' hitting the health system this winter
• Doctors warn that other viruses are returning 'with a vengeance' in the US
• Immunity against them in the population has dropped raising infection risk 

The US could be thrashed by 'tripledemic' of viruses this winter as the knock-on effects of lockdown begin to bite.

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The XBB subvariant of Omicron appears to be the fastest spreading COVID virus yet, and most of our treatments don’t touch it.

A new subvariant of the novel-coronavirus called XBB dramatically announced itself earlier this week, in Singapore. New COVID-19 cases more than doubled in a day, from 4,700 on Monday to 11,700 on Tuesday—and XBB is almost certainly why. The same subvariant just appeared in Hong Kong, too.

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As the wave of COVID infections from the highly-contagious BA.5 subvariant finally subsided in late July, new subvariants were already competing for dominance—and the opportunity to drive the nextwave of infections.

A little over two months later, epidemiologists are close to naming a winner. In the United Kingdom, infections from a highly mutated subvariant called BQ.1.1 are doubling every week—a rate of growth that far exceeds other leading subvariants. In the U.S., BQ.1.1 is spreading twice as fast as its cousin subvariant BA.2.75.2.

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As the colder months approach, France has “oficially” entered its eighth wave of the Covid-19 virus, with over 50,000 daily cases confirmed and French health officials considering whether to again impose masks in public places and transport.

The Health Ministry warned last month that a new wave was imminent after cases jumped by 55.5%. The figures from the Health Ministry and health authority Santé publique France show the daily average of contagion at around 17,000 and rising.

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