In a finding that should encourage scientists who are racing to develop coronavirus vaccines, a new study out of Iceland suggests that immunity to the disease may not be as fleeting as first thought. Among 30,000 Icelandic residents who were tested for antibodies to COVID-19, researchers discovered the antibodies stayed in people’s systems for at least four months, the study found. Of those who tested positive for the coronavirus, 487 had received multiple antibody tests. In the first two months after a patient was diagnosed, the antibodies that can confer immunity rose significantly. For the next two months, antibody levels remained stable, according to the study published Tuesday in the New England Journal of Medicine. In a commentary that accompanied the study, scientists from Harvard University and the U.S. National Institutes of Health noted that while the Icelandic research focused on a largely homogeneous population, “this study provides hope that host immunity to this unpredictable and highly contagious virus may not be fleeting and may be similar to that elicited by most other viral infections.” Earlier research on coronavirus antibodies had indicated that immunity might be short-lived, leaving people vulnerable to reinfection. But the Icelandic study offers hope that a vaccine that triggers a strong immune response will have a longer-lasting effect than some had believed. Interestingly, the Icelandic researchers also found that women, nonsmokers…  read on >

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced on Monday that it would extend its flexible free school meals program through the fall, to help keep millions of kids fed as the coronavirus pandemic continues to hold the country in its grip. The program, which allowed parents and caregivers to collect free meals for their kids at any school this summer, was set to expire at the start of September but pressure had been mounting on the agency to continue the program, the Washington Post reported. In mid-August, Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue said that extending the full scope of the free meals for kids program beyond August would go “beyond what [the] USDA currently has the authority to implement and would be closer to a universal school meals program which Congress has not authorized or funded.” However, Perdue said in a statement released Monday that his agency was “extending summer meal program flexibilities for as long as we can, legally and financially.” The statement said the millions of families that rely on the program would be able to do so until as late as the end of the year. “We appreciate the incredible efforts by our school foodservice professionals year in and year out, but this year we have an unprecedented situation,” Perdue said. “This extension of summer program authority will employ summer program sponsors…  read on >

As the number of coronavirus cases in the United states passed the dubious milestone of 6 million on Sunday, a new report shows COVID-19 is now spreading at a faster rate in children and teenagers than among the general public. The troubling data, from the American Academy of Pediatrics, comes just as schools and universities around the country are reopening for fall classes. Since the start of the summer, every state in the country has witnessed an increase in the number of young people who have tested positive for coronavirus. In late May, about 5 percent of the nation’s cases were recorded in minors, the The New York Times reported. By Aug. 20, that number had risen to more than 9 percent. Young children seem to catch and transmit the virus less often than adults, but Dr. Sean O’Leary, vice chairman of the American Academy of Pediatrics’ committee on infectious diseases, told the Times that community spread in many parts of the United States this summer has corresponded with more infections among children. After reports of outbreaks at summer camps, it is clear that the virus can spread among children under certain circumstances, Dr. William Raszka Jr., a pediatric infectious disease expert at the University of Vermont’s College of Medicine, told the Times. He worries about opening schools in places where infection rates are high.…  read on >

Older Americans with depression have held up well to the threat of COVID-19, a new study finds. Researchers saw no increase in their depression and anxiety during the early days of the coronavirus pandemic. And they said these seniors showed resilience to the stress of physical distancing and isolation. “We thought they would be more vulnerable to the stress of COVID because they are, by [U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] definition, the most vulnerable population,” said study co-author Dr. Helen Lavretsky, professor-in-residence of psychiatry and biobehavioral sciences at the University of California, Los Angeles. “But what we learned is that older adults with depression can be resilient. They told us that coping with chronic depression taught them to be resilient,” she said in a university news release. The researchers, from UCLA and four other universities, interviewed people older than 60, average age 69, during the first two months of the pandemic. Participants lived in Los Angeles, New York, Pittsburgh and St. Louis, and were enrolled in studies of treatment-resistant depression. The study was funded by the University of Pittsburgh. The researchers found that the volunteers’ depression and anxiety levels, or risk of suicide, were the same before and during the pandemic. In general, participants were more concerned about the risk of contracting the coronavirus than the risks of isolation. Also, while all maintained…  read on >

Flu and pneumonia vaccines lead to fewer hospital deaths among heart failure patients, a new study finds. “Our study provides further impetus for annual immunizations in patients with heart failure. Despite advice to do so, uptake remains low,” said study author Dr. Karthik Gonuguntla, of the University of Connecticut. In heart failure, your heart can’t pump blood as well as it should. This leads to fluid buildup in the lungs that causes shortness of breath, coughing and reduced quality of life. Respiratory infections like pneumonia and the flu make heart failure worse, so annual vaccinations are recommended for patients. However, few studies have compared outcomes among heart failure patients who have and haven’t received these vaccinations. In this study, the researchers looked at nearly 3 million heart failure patients, average age 70, in the United States who were hospitalized between 2010 and 2014. Only 1.4% of the patients had received the flu vaccine and just 1.4% had received the pneumonia vaccine. Rates of in-hospital death were much lower among patients who received the flu and pneumonia vaccines (just over 1% for each) than among those who didn’t receive either vaccine (almost 4%), the researchers found. The study findings were released Friday and scheduled for presentation at the European Society of Cardiology virtual annual meeting. “Pneumonia and flu vaccines are vital to preventing these respiratory infections…  read on >