TWiV 1168: Clinical update with Dr. Daniel Griffin
This Week in Virology
COVID-19 Trends and Vaccine Insights
This chapter examines current COVID-19 infection trends and the efficacy of vaccines against emerging variants, supported by recent studies. It emphasizes the importance of mask reuse during the pandemic, explores household transmission dynamics, and highlights the critical role of immunity in managing disease severity and vaccination timing for improved neonatal protection.
In his weekly clinical update, Dr. Griffin briefly discusses the E.coli outbreak associated with onions from McDonald’s before deep diving into the announcement of Robert F Kennedy Jr. nomination for Secretary of Human and Health Services with highlights from MicrobeTV’s own Vincent Racaniello and Paul Offit (Beyond the Noise), the global measles outbreak, underutilization of influenza antivirals for children and teens, the $350 million 2025 order for mpox vaccination, before reviewing the recent statistics on SARS-CoV-2 infection, the WasterwaterScan dashboard, the effectiveness of N95 mask, the interplay between transmission and immunity for virus spread, where to find PEMGARDA, and translational science being conducted to understand long COVID including ongoing clinical trials, development of animal models and how sex may affect outcomes.
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Links for this episode- Micky D’s onions linked to E. coli outbreak….another reason to not eat fast food (CDC)
- RFK Jr. series…..does he get anything right? (FactCheck.org)
- Salk polio vaccine : a calculated risk? (BMJ)
- How to conduct a controlled vaccine trial (American Journal Public Health Nations Health)
- Safety and efficacy of BNT162b2 mRNA COVID-19 vaccine (NEJM)
- Another Safety and efficacy study: mRNA-1273 SARS-CoV-2 vaccine (NEJM)
- …..SERIOUSLY! can’t RFK Jr get it correct? (FactCheck.org)
- ‘I’ve Come Home Today’: RFK Jr. (the Defenders Children’s Health Defense News & Views)
- Thank God for sensible people: Racaniello and Offit (microbeTV)
- RFK Jr. : MAN CAN’T YOU GET ANYTHING RIGHT? (Annenberg Public Policy Center: University of Pennsylvania)
- No harm in repeating Vinny! Thank God for sensible people: Racaniello and Offit (microbeTV)
- Did America think Trump-Kennedy through? …..really did you think this through? (microbeTV)
- Make American Healthy Again? ……I will have fries with that….SUPERSIZED! (Wall Street Journal)
- Keep the United States HEALTHY! (Safe Communities Coalition)
- Measles in the US (CDC Measles: Rubeola)
- The merry-go-around of measles (JID)
- It is a measles outbreak! (CDC Measles: Rubeola)
- 10.3 million measles infections in 2023….but no vaccine (WHO)
- Underutilization of influenza antiviral treatment among children and adolescents (CDC MMWR)
- Increase in influenza infection in children…..(CIDRAP)
- Influenza weekly surveillance report: clift notes (CDC FluView)
- $340 million doses of mpox vaccine ordered for 2025 (Reuters)
- Mpox in NYC (JID)
- Respiratory virus activity (CDC Respiratory Illnesses)
- COVID-19 deaths (CDC)
- COVID-19 national and regional trends (CDC)
- Waste water scan for 11 pathogens (WastewaterSCan)
- COVID-19 variant tracker (CDC)
- SARS-CoV-2 genomes galore (Nextstrain)
- N95 Filtering Facepiece Respirator use (JAMA Open Network)
- The Risk of SARS-CoV-2 Transmission in Community Indoor Settings (JID)
- Lower levels of household transmission of SARS-CoV-2 VOC Omicron compared to Wild-type: an interplay between transmissibility and immune status (JID)
- Enhanced placental antibody transfer efficiency with longer interval between maternal RSV vaccination and birth (AJOG: American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology)
- Where to get pemgarda (Pemgarda)
- EUA for the pre-exposure prophylaxis of COVID-19 (INVIYD)
- Fusion center near you….if in NY (Prime Fusions)
- CDC Quarantine guidelines (CDC)
- NIH COVID-19 treatment guidelines (NIH)
- Infectious Disease Society guidelines for treatment and management (ID Society)
- Perceptions and Barriers to Outpatient Antiviral Therapy for COVID-19 and Influenza as Observed by Infectious Disease Specialists (OFID)
- Drug–Drug Interactions with Nirmatrelvir/Ritonavir(Infectious Diseases and Therapy)
- Drug interaction checker (University of Liverpool)
- Real-world effectiveness of nirmatrelvir-ritonavir and molnupiravir (CMI: Clinical Microbiology and Infection)
- Alleviation of COVID-19 Symptoms and Reduction in Healthcare Utilization Among High-Risk Patients Treated With Nirmatrelvir/Ritonavir (CID)
- Molnupiravir safety and efficacy (JMV)
- Convalescent plasma recommendation for immunocompromised (ID Society)
- What to do when sick with a respiratory virus (CDC)
- When your healthcare provider is infected/exposed with SARS-CoV-2 (CDC)
- Managing healthcare staffing shortages (CDC)
- Steroids, dexamethasone at the right time (OFID)
- Anticoagulation guidelines (hematology.org)
- Daniel Griffin’s evidence based medical practices for long COVID (OFID)
- Long-COVID Clinical Trials (RECOVER)
- Initiating Long Covid RECOVERy (Science Translational Medicine)
- Beyond acute SARS-CoV-2 infection in children (Science Translational Medicine)
- Long COVID and Osler’s Web: Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (goodreads)
- Sex differences in post infection sequalae (Science Translational Medicine)
- Symptoms after Lyme disease: What’s past is prologue (Science Translational Medicine)
- Animal models of Long COVID (Science Translational Medicine)
- Therapies for Long COVID (Science Translational Medicine)
- Sex differences and immune correlates of Long Covid development, symptom persistence, and resolution (Science Translational Medicine)
- The Long COVID ISSUE (Science Translational Medicine)
- Letters read on TWiV 1168
- Dr. Griffin’s COVID treatment summary (pdf)
- Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks!
Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees
Send your questions for Dr. Griffin to daniel@microbe.tv
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