Swine flu in China ‘raises concerns’
A swine flu virus found in Chinese pigs has the potential to jump to humans and even spark a pandemic, researchers say. The Chinese and British scientists, writing in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, urge immediate measures to control the virus in pigs and to closely monitor workers who handle them. The predominant G4 EA H1N1 virus has acquired increased human infectivity, the researchers say, which greatly enhances the opportunity for adaptation in humans and “raises concerns for the possible generation of pandemic viruses.”
Martha Nelson, an evolutionary biologist at the U.S. National Institutes of Health’s Fogarty International Center, told Science magazine the likelihood of this variant causing a pandemic is low. Dr. Anthony Fauci told a Senate committee the virus was “not an immediate threat” but something to “keep your eye on.”
There are nearly 10.4 million confirmed cases of the coronavirus worldwide, and the death toll is more than 507,000. There are more than 2.6 million cases in the U.S. and over 126,000 deaths.
Health care, food disruptions could cost lives of 250,000 babies, toddlers
Disruptions to health care and lack of food from COVID-19 are likely to cost the lives of at least 250,000 babies and young children and more than 10,000 mothers in low- and moderate-income countries over the next six months, according to a study from researchers at Johns Hopkins University.
The study, published in The Lancet Global Health, modeled how many extra deaths could be expected from COVID-19’s impact on the food supply and medical systems in these countries. The study found a dramatic increase in maternal deaths from the absence of childbirth interventions such as antibiotics and clean birth environments. Children will be more likely to die from lack of nutrition, reduced availability of antibiotics for pneumonia, sepsis and rehydration solution for diarrhea, according to the study.
Hundreds of US kids developing serious inflammatory condition
At least 286 U.S. children have developed a serious inflammatory condition linked to the coronavirus and while most recovered, the potential for long-term or permanent damage is unknown, two new studies suggest. The papers, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, provide the fullest report yet on the condition, known as multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children. It is considered uncommon and deaths are rare; six children died among 285 in the new studies. Including cases in Europe, where it was first reported, about 1,000 children worldwide have been affected, a journal editorial said.
Positive case in refugee camp at border
An individual has tested positive virus in a sprawling refugee camp on the U.S.-Mexico border where an estimated 2,000 people await their immigration court dates, according to a nonprofit group providing medical care. Global Response Management Tuesday that the test came back Monday for one person and negative for three family members. Tests are pending for two others. Residents in the camp in Matamoros, Mexico, live in squalid conditions: Most sleep in tents or underneath tarps, and there’s little access to running water. The nonprofit group has long warned that a single case of the coronavirus could spread quickly.