Month: April 2022

By Nancy Lapid (Reuters) - The following is a summary of some recent studies on COVID-19. They include research that warrants further study to corroborate the findings and that has yet to be certified by peer review. Fourth vaccine dose protects vs Omicron for at least a month A fourth dose of the COVID-19 vaccine from Pfizer and BioNTech provided significant added protection against severe disease, hospitalization and death for at least a month in older individuals, according to a study from Israel conducted when the Omicron variant was dominant. The estimated effectiveness of the fourth dose during days 7 to 30 after it was administered compared with a third dose given at least fourth months earlier was 45% against infection, 55% for symptomatic disease, 68% for hospitalization, 62% for...

Enlarge / A baby being treated with blue light, a jaundice-prevention measure. Health officials in Scotland on Thursday published early findings from a burgeoning international investigation into dozens of puzzling cases of severe liver inflammation among children. A few cases have already led to acute liver failure and liver transplants. Thursday's report detailed 13 severe cases in Scotland, mostly in children between the ages of 3 and 5 and nearly all occurring in just March and April this year. Scotland usually tallies fewer than four such cases of unexplained liver inflammation—aka hepatitis—in children over the course of an entire year. Of the 13 cases this year in Scotland, one has led to a liver transplant and five are still in the hospi...

Immune cells against glandular fever may hold the key to treating multiple sclerosis, scientists have claimed. In a small trial, patients with MS were implanted with T-cells that target the virus that causes glandular fever. Brain scans suggested the progression of the condition was slowed down or even reversed some sufferers. Patients who yielded results also had 'sustained disability improvement', including being able to walk with less pain. T-cells were extracted from people who had recovered from Epstein-Barr virus, which has been touted as a possible cause of MS.  US scientists who did the research accept the study was small and could not rule out the placebo effect — when someone feels better simply because they expected to.  But it could mark a significant step forward in experts' ...