Cases of anaphylactic shock caused by COVID-19 vaccines are very rare, based on numbers from the first week and a half of vaccinations in the United States, federal public health officials said Wednesday. There have been 21 cases of anaphylaxis out of nearly 1.9 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine administered in the very first days of the national COVID-19 vaccination program, said Dr. Nancy Messonnier, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “We’re in the setting of 2,000 COVID deaths per day. If you make that comparison, I think it’s still a good value proposition for someone to get vaccinated,” Messonnier said. “Their risk from COVID and poor outcomes from COVID is still more than their risk of a severe outcome from the vaccine.” The average rate is 11.1 anaphylaxis cases per one million doses administered, which is higher than the rate of anaphylaxis for flu vaccine of 1.3 per one million doses administered, Messonnier noted. “I guess you could mathematically say that’s 10 times the amount, but I think that misses the point,” Messonnier said. “This is exceedingly rare, and I think that is still the message that the public should be getting from this.” Anaphylaxis occurs rapidly following COVID-19 vaccination, with symptom onset within 13 minutes of receiving the shot…  read on >  read on >

When the new coronavirus pandemic first began, respiratory distress immediately became the hallmark of severe COVID-19 illness. News reports focused on the inability to breathe, low oxygen saturation levels and the alarming need for ventilators. But six months later, experts are becoming increasingly concerned about a very different COVID-19 phenomenon, one that spares the lungs only to take direct aim at the patient’s heart, digestive tract and nervous system. Called “Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Adults” — or MIS-A — the condition was first spotted last spring in children and teens. “The symptoms are very similar among adults and children,” explained Dr. Alisa Femia, director of both in-patient dermatology and autoimmune connective tissue disease at NYU Langone Dermatologic Surgery & Cosmetic Associates, in New York City. “Fever is characteristic,” Femia noted, sometimes accompanied by a rash, skin discoloration and chapping, chest pain and gastrointestinal issues. “Some patients develop muscle pain, and a general feeling of unwellness. And some experience a shock-like state, which means that blood pressure is dropping, the heart rate is up, and the patient appears very, very ill and in immediate need of hospitalization,” she added. Femia was part of a team that first reported on the pediatric version of the condition — known as MIS-C — back in July. To date, there have been more than 1,000 cases of MIS-C in the…  read on >

Researchers in the United Kingdom have reassuring news for people with psoriasis based on the first analysis of a global registry of COVID-19 patients who also have the skin disease. Moderate-to-severe cases of psoriasis are treated with drugs that suppress the immune system. This analysis of the international PsoProtect registry found that more than 90% of psoriasis patients survive infection with the new coronavirus. “We can reassure our patients that the survival for people with psoriasis is high, and the risk factors for psoriasis patients are similar to those of the general population,” said Dr. Satveer Mahil, a consultant dermatologist at St. John’s Institute of Dermatology in London, who co-leads the registry. The registry was established to understand how psoriasis and the medications used to treat it affect severity of COVID-19, according to a news release from the U.K.’s National Institute for Health Research. Psoriasis is a skin disease believed to be related to an immune system problem. It causes red patches and flaky plaques of skin that are covered with silvery scales. The findings were recently published online in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. For the study, the researchers analyzed 374 cases from 25 countries in which psoriasis patients had COVID-19 between March and July 2020. About 71% were taking biologic medications and 18% were taking traditional immunosuppressants. About 93% fully recovered…  read on >

By Nov. 15 of last year, roughly 47 million Americans — about 14.5% of the U.S. population — had already been infected with the new coronavirus, a new study finds. That’s much higher than the close to 11 million known U.S. cases of infection that were recorded by that date, the researchers said, because reported cases “do not represent the full SARS-CoV-2 disease burden.” “Case reports are dependent on patients seeking health care,” among other factors, and at least 40% of all infections are thought to be asymptomatic, according to a team led by Dr. Frederick Angulo. He works in medical development and scientific/clinical affairs at Pfizer Vaccines, which has an approved COVID-19 vaccine already in distribution in the United States. It’s believed that everyone who becomes infected with the new coronavirus will develop some form of immunity. And if enough of the population (about 70%) were to gain immunity — either through infection or vaccination — so-called “herd immunity” would set in, thwarting the virus’ ability to spread further. But the numbers for Nov. 15, 2020 show that herd immunity is still far away, the research team said. “Findings of this study suggest that although more than 14% of the U.S. population was infected with SARS-CoV-2 by mid-November, a substantial gap remains before herd immunity can be reached,” they reported Jan. 5 in JAMA…  read on >  read on >

High levels of a protein that lubricates the knee joint may actually be a harbinger of impending joint disease, a surprising animal study suggests. The researchers looked at the role of the protein, known as lubricin, in anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries in dogs because it may also be involved in similar injuries in humans. “Lubricin is crucial for normal joint function and the lubrication of cartilage,” said researcher Heidi Reesink, an assistant professor in equine health at the College of Veterinary Medicine at Cornell University. “We know that if a person or animal doesn’t make that protein, they will develop devastating joint disease affecting all the major weight-bearing joints.” But Reesink found that in dogs that suffered a ligament tear in the knee, lubricin levels increased within the joint, which is the opposite of the conventional assumptions. “The dogma in this field has been that lubricin decreases in joint disease,” Reesink said in a university news release. The researchers found that in three dogs, lubricin increased in the time between the initial injury but before any signs of arthritis. “This indicates that the presence of increased lubricin might actually be a biomarker for predicting future osteoarthritis,” Reesink said. “We also saw increased lubricin in dogs months to years after they injured their ACLs, suggesting that lubricin might be an indicator of ongoing joint instability.…  read on >

Halloween is risky enough this year with the coronavirus pandemic, so don’t risk your vision as well by wearing costume contact lenses, the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) says. Costume contact lens packaging that claims “one-size-fits-all” or “no need to see an eye doctor” is false, the academy said. Poorly fitted contact lenses can scrape the cornea (the outer layer of the eye), making the eye more vulnerable to bacteria and viruses that can cause infections. People who buy contacts without a prescription have a 16-fold increased risk of developing an eye infection, research shows. “As we follow new precautions to keep our families safe in this abnormal year, it’s important not to forget about the normal hazards that can occur during Halloween,” Dr. Dianna Seldomridge, a clinical spokesperson for the AAO, said in an academy news release. “Whatever you plan, please follow these tips to protect your eyes this Halloween.” Get an Rx. Buy only U.S. Food and Drug Administration-approved contact lenses. Color contacts or other decorative lenses are sometimes sold at corner shops or online, but such sales are illegal. Contact lenses must be bought with a doctor’s prescription. Practice good hygiene. Wash your hands before putting your contacts in or touching the skin around your eye. Cleaning and disinfecting your contact lenses as instructed minimizes the risk of an eye infection. See…  read on >

Parents are usually pleased when their newborn seems big and strong, but new research suggests that large babies may be at higher risk for the heart rhythm disorder atrial fibrillation later in life. Atrial fibrillation (a-fib) is the most common heart rhythm disorder, affecting more than 40 million people worldwide. People with a-fib have a five times increased risk of stroke. The association between birth weight and a-fib is controversial, which led the authors of this study to investigate it. Using a special data analysis technique, the researchers concluded that there was a link between greater birth weight and an increased risk of a-fib later in life. Specifically, people with a birth weight that’s 1 pound above the average 7.5 pounds are 30% more likely to develop a-fib, the findings showed. The study is scheduled to be presented Monday at a virtual meeting of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC). “Our results suggest that the risk of atrial fibrillation in adulthood may be higher for large newborns [over 8 pounds, 13 ounces] than those with normal birth weight,” said study author Songzan Chen, from Zhejiang University, in Hangzhou, China. “Preventing elevated birth weight could be a novel way to avoid atrial fibrillation in offspring — for example with a balanced diet and regular check-ups during pregnancy, particularly for women who are overweight, obese or have…  read on >