Australian National Surveillance Plan for COVID-19, Influenza, and RSV health.gov.au/resources/publ…
It looks as though the Interim CDC is up and running. The plan looks good, but it would be lovely to see some national agreed definitions. Also, what access will the public have?

Blood donor study finds 21% incidence of long-term symptoms attributed to COVID-19 cidrap.umn.edu/covid-19/blood…
Large study comparing those with and without a confirmed diagnosis of COVID.

bbc.com/news/health-68…
Results from a large UK study of long COVID published in Nature Immunology. Shows that biomarkers of inflammation are heavily involved, and points to potential treatments.

Whooping cough is surging in Australia. Why, and how can we protect ourselves? theconversation.com/whooping-cough… via The Conversation - Australia + New Zealand
Good explainer about whooping cough

The TGA has just approved Pfizer's Abrysvo vaccine against RSV. The vaccine is for pregnant women 24-36 weeks of gestation for prevention of RSV in infants from birth through 6 months, and people aged 60 and over.

Long COVID in a highly vaccinated but largely unexposed Australian population following the 2022 SARS‐CoV‐2 Omicron wave: a cross‐sectional survey - Medical Journal of Australia - Wiley Online Library onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.5694/mj…
Very similar prevalence to the Victorian study.

Noma is a truly devastating tropical disease – more people need to know about it theconversation.com/noma-is-a-trul… via The Conversation
I'd never heard of this before

theguardian.com/commentisfree/…
An interesting discussion. The authors argues that the risk of long COVID is much lower now than it was in 2020. However, a relatively recent (2022) Australian study found that 18% of infected people ended up with long COVID.
medrxiv.org/content/10.110…

If you have a chronic health condition and live in South Australia, we are offering free lifestyle coaching and advice. You can find the details here:
unisa.edu.au/connect/Commun…

COVID-19 lab leak study not credible: virology expert afr.com/policy/health-…
I try to give a balanced view!

Shingles cases are increasing in New South Wales. Experts say COVID might be why abc.net.au/news/2024-03-2…
Hmm - just about to get my Shingrex jab!

Use of a risk assessment tool to determine the origin of SARS‐CoV‐2 - Chen - Risk Analysis onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ri…
Study shows that there is a reasonal probability that the pandemic was caused by a lab leak rather than from natural origins.

time.com/6898943/is-cov…
Good discussion about what we mean by the term 'pandemic'

COVID-19 pandemic has cut life expectancy globally cosmosmagazine.com/health/covid/c… #science via Cosmos - the Science of Everything
Australia and New Zealand which early on had instituted some public health measures to stop the spread of the virus – saw better results than elsewhere in the world.

theguardian.com/science/2024/m…
Huge study showing the protective effect of COVID-19 vaccination against virus-related blood clots and heart disease

Ep 151 Osterholm Update: Harm Reduction youtu.be/U-yQXL3bGz4?fe… via YouTube
If you aren't aware of the Osterholm podcasts, they are brilliant for getting the latest COVID info.

We’re a step closer to having a universal antivenom for snake bites – new study theconversation.com/were-a-step-cl… via The Conversation
Interesting article

Low iron levels resulting from infection could be key trigger of long COVID shar.es/ag276Z
Another interesting finding from Cambridge Uni

miragenews.com/mans-immune-re…
A German man has had 217 covid shots apparently without any ill-effects!

CDC announces new respiratory virus guidance, ends COVID isolation policy cidrap.umn.edu/cdc-announces-…