Adult Vaccinations

March 24 is World Tuberculosis Day, so in today's edition of our Medical Myths series, we will focus on some of the misunderstandings associated with tuberculosis (TB). We cover the role of genetics, treatment, transmission, and more. TB is a bacterial infection. It primarily affects the lungs, but it can also impact other parts of the body. Symptoms include a chronic cough with bloody mucus, fever, and night sweats. Another common symptom is weight loss, which is why people used to call TB "consumption." The bacteria that cause TB, called Mycobacterium tuberculosis , spread from one individual to another through droplets expelled during coughing or sneezing. After transmission, the disease can progress in different ways, depending on the response of the host immune system. TB has affected humans for thousands of years, and it is still one of the world's deadliest communicable diseases. Each day, around 4,000 people die from it. According to the Worl...

The Provincial Government recently announced that it is relaxing the regulations around the use of COVID-19 Rapid Antigen Tests ("RAT") to make it easier for businesses to test for COVID-19 in the workplace. Employees who want to self-swab for a rapid antigen point-of-care test in the workplace offered by their employer will now be able to do so. Ontario initially launched the Provincial Antigen Screening Program as a pilot in November 2020, to deploy RAT to essential workplaces and sectors, to quickly identify and help stop the spread of COVID-19. Now the province has expanded rapid testing and made it easier to administer in the workplace. The Laboratory and Specimen Collection Centre Licensing Act , R.S.O. 1990, c. L.1 and its Laboratories Regulations R.R.O. 1990, Reg. 68 have been amended to exempt "COVID-19 point-of-care Testing", like RATs, from the habitual regulatory requirements for the collection and testing of specimens taken from the human body. As...

California officials announced Thursday that by mid-April, all residents 16 and older will be eligible to get the COVID-19 vaccine. Here's what you need to know as the state dramatically increases the number of those who qualify to get a shot: The basics April 1: Residents who are at least 50 years old can get vaccines. April 15: All California residents 16 and older will be eligible. Advertisement The move brings California in line with other states in expanding eligibility. California has lagged behind other states. Alaska, West Virginia and Mississippi already are vaccinating everyone 16 and older. Georgia, Arizona and Texas are following suit this month. Everyone 50 and above is eligible in Florida and New York, and Indiana and Ohio are now vaccinating residents in their 40s. Nearly half of all Californians are already eligible for the vaccine. That includes adults 65 and older, healthcare workers, educators, people who are incarcerated or living in h...

Since March 26, authorities at the Slovenia points of entry will no longer permit entry for those who present Rapid Antigen (RAT) tests as proof that they are not infected with COVID-19. The decision has been taken by the Slovenian government, which adopted the amendments of the Ordinance setting out the requirements of entry into the Republic of Slovenia in its bid to contain and control the COVID-19 infectious disease on March 25. " As of March 26 2021, a negative RAT test is no longer listed among the general exceptions for entry into Slovenia. Entry into Slovenia is now possible only with a negative PCR test; the same applies to the lifting of quarantine ," the Slovenian Ministry of Interior notes in a press release announcing the changes. Last week, on March 20, the same Ministry had decided that students under the age of 13 who need to cross Slovenia's border daily in order to study in this country do not need to present a negative result of the Coronaviru...

While everyone over 16 who lives in Georgia can now get the COVID-19 Vaccine, some are still hesitant to get the shot. ATLANTA — Eight million Georgians became eligible to get the COVID-19 vaccine on March 25 - but with that much demand - some people are asking how to get it as others are still deciding if they want to get it. Gov. Brian Kemp expanded eligibility to all Georgians 16 years and older and some people who just became eligible were already able to get vaccinated. "I applied, they emailed me within a day, two days. The line was pretty long, but it was efficient," said Evan Faunce. He was excited outside to the mass vaccination site at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Thursday. Evan said getting his shot gave him hope. "It was extremely important. Last year was rough for us all.  I had to leave what I was doing with my job, it was a wave of relief," he said.  The expanded eligibility caused frustration for a lot of people trying to si...

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis anticipates every Florida adult having access to the COVID-19 vaccine before May 1. DeSantis made the statement during a Tuesday morning news conference, one day after the state lowered the age eligibility to 50 and older. The Governor said Florida is ahead of schedule when it comes to vaccinating current residents, saying 40 states rank higher in COVID deaths among the elderly.  "What I tell people is that, in Florida, we are not mandating any vaccines for anyone," DeSantis said while speaking outside a church in Pensacola. "But, these are good vaccines." DeSantis said Florida was able to receive 42,000 of the Johnson & Johnson one dose vaccines this week for distribution after initially saying the state would not receive any additional doses. "We hope to get more (Johnson & Johnson) vaccines, although we're not scheduled to get anymore," he added. "But we weren't scheduled to get any this...

Here's what you need to know: A line for vaccines in Munich this week. Only about 10 percent of Europeans have received a first dose. Credit... Laetitia Vancon for The New York Times The European Union's stumbling Covid-19 vaccination drive, badly shaken by the recent AstraZeneca safety scare, got a boost Friday from the European Medicines Agency, which approved new AstraZeneca, Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccine production sites. The agency, an arm of the European Union and Europe's top drug regulator, approved sites in the Netherlands, Germany and Switzerland. It also loosened regulations for how long the Pfizer vaccine must be stored at ultralow temperatures. The moves could speed up the Continent's lagging vaccine production and distribution, which have been plagued by delays and setbacks. Though the European Union is flush with cash, influence and negotiating heft, only about 10 percent of its citizens have received a first dose, compared...

LONDON - Ahead of World Tuberculosis (TB) Day on March 24, doctors are warning that progress in the global fight against the disease has been set back more than a decade by the coronavirus pandemic. In nine countries with a high prevalence of TB — including Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Myanmar, Pakistan, Philippines, South Africa, Tajikistan and Ukraine — diagnosis and treatment fell by an average of 23%, according to analysis by the Stop TB Partnership, a non-profit hosted by the United Nations in Geneva. The group's Executive Director, Dr. Lucica Ditiu, says the fight against TB has been set back 12 years. "It's an impact on all the work that we tried to do, but also the finances that we spent, all the efforts of everyone, we are basically back to kind of square one of that time," Ditiu told VOA. World TB Day on March 24 marks the day in 1882 when German scientist Robert Koch announced the discovery of the bacteria that causes tuberculosis. It remains the lea...

Various organizations including the World Health Organization are saying early data indicate there may be a significant increase in diseases like tuberculosis in the years ahead due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Why it matters: 12 years of progress for worldwide programs to halt TB have been lost over the past 12 months of the pandemic — endangering the goal of eliminating the disease by 2030, some experts say. What's happening: Steps taken to mitigate the infectious spread of COVID-19, like mask-wearing, social distancing, and shutdowns or lowered mobility, have had a mixed impact on other diseases. They have led to a drop in other respiratory illnesses, like the flu, but they have also prevented people from non-coronavirus visits to doctors and clinics for disease testing and immunizations. The ability to monitor diseases in a community is affected if people aren't going to the clinic for care out of fear of getting COVID-19 or because travel is restricted due to lockdo...

Much-needed resources are now being diverted to the Covid-19 pandemic setting back the fight against TB by as much as 12 years, according to the Stop TB Partnership. (Photo: slideshare.net/Wikipedia) It is a hundred years since the BCG vaccine, the only registered vaccine proven to offer some protection against tuberculosis  (TB), was first used in people. Now researchers in South Africa are at the forefront of clinical trials testing experimental new TB vaccines. Adele Baleta reports. It is a hundred years since the BCG (Bacille Calmette-Guerin) vaccine, the only registered vaccine proven to offer some protection against tuberculosis, was first used in people. A relative shortage of public funding and little interest from pharmaceutical companies to develop new unprofitable TB vaccines has frustrated scientific research in this area for most of the last century. To add to the problem, much-needed resources are now being diverted to the Covid-19 pandemic setting back the ...

Description Shanghai DJ/Producers CiCi and Temple Rat present Volume 6 of their Infection China Tour this Friday night at The Turtle Club. Percussive emotive techno to move people is where it's at for this very passionate and talented female DJ duo. Support provided by Frontier of Dawn's DJ Zhi. Listen: Temple Rat Soundcloud Listen: CiCi Floating City Mix/program/907784510?userid=41424291#

Giant African snails, Heʻeia, Oʻahu; nearly 30% infected in the recent study. (Photo credit: Randi Rollins) Different species of snails in Hawaiʻi host variable amounts of infectious rat lungworm, the nematode (roundworm) known scientifically as Angiostrongylus cantonensis , which causes rat lungworm disease. A recent study, led by a University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa zoology graduate student, revealed that environmental factors, such as rainfall, temperature and the extent of green vegetation, influence rat lungworm infection in snails. In an effort to advance research and treatments for rat lungworm disease, researchers from UH Mānoa formed the Mānoa Angiostrongylus Research Group, led by Robert Cowie , a research professor in UH Mānoa's School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST). Randi Rollins , who conducted the study, works in Cowie's laboratory. "The snail's capacity to transmit rat lungworm depends on the environment and the host species, as hu...