- Influenza is always unpredictable. Infectious disease experts like to hedge their forecasts with a caution: When you've seen one flu season, you've seen one flu season. But when forecasters try to get a bead on what influenza might have in store for North America in any given winter, they look to countries like Australia and New Zealand, where the season typically runs from April to October -- winter months in the Southern Hemisphere. This year, Australia had its worst flu season in five years. Flu season is approaching in Virginia, and health experts are urging everyone over 6 months, with rare exceptions, to get their flu shots.
News You Can Use
Mental Stressors Predict Risk
Scientists are still untangling the mysteries of long COVID, seeking to understand both what increases one’s risk for the condition and the downstream impacts. While physical conditions like immunosuppression and hypertension have been thought to increase the risk for long COVID, a JAMA Psychiatry study recently published points to mental stressors as better predictors, STAT reports.
- “Depression, anxiety, perceived stress, loneliness, and worry about the disease were linked to a 1.3- to 1.5-fold increase in risk for reporting long COVID symptoms,” according to STAT.
- Harvard researchers surveyed 54,000+ people (mostly health care workers) for 19 months beginning in April 2020; 3,200 of whom eventually contacted COVID-19.
Suicide risk? Scientists at NIH in the US and elsewhere are investigating the mental health fallout of long COVID, including depression and a possible increased risk of suicide, Reuters reports.
Related: Nearly 1 in 4 young adults in US treated for mental health during pandemic, CDC survey finds – CNN
September is National Suicide Prevention Month. We can all help prevent suicide. Every year, the Lifeline and other mental health organizations and individuals across the U.S. and around the world raise awareness of suicide prevention during September, National Suicide Prevention Month. Find out what you can do.
You're Kidding - Right?
Japan's National Tax Agency (NTA) launched a contest in July asking people between the ages of 20 and 39 to develop business plans to increase alcohol demand among young people. It turns out fewer people are imbibing and the tax coffers are suffering. No kidding. Read about it here.
The Epi-Center
Epidemiology is the science at center of public health.
IS THE CORONAVIRUS ON ITS WAY OUT?
You might think so. New, updated booster shots are being rolled out to better protect against the variants circulating now. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has dropped COVID-19 quarantine and distancing recommendations. And more people have thrown off their masks and returned to pre-pandemic activities.
But scientists say no. They predict the scourge that’s already lasted longer than the 1918 flu pandemic will linger far into the future. One reason it’s lasted this long? It’s gotten better and better at getting around immunity from vaccination and past infection.
CAN PEOPLE INFLUENCE THE FUTURE OF THE VIRUS?
Yes, experts said. One way is to get vaccinated and boosted.
“We have a virus out there that’s still circulating, still killing hundreds of Americans every day,” White House COVID-19 coordinator Dr. Ashish Jha said. But, he added: “We now have all of the capability to prevent, I believe, essentially all of those deaths. If people stay up to date on their vaccines, if people get treated if they have a breakthrough infection, we can make deaths from this virus vanishingly rare.” Associated Press 9/6/22 There's more. Read it here.
