Jonna Lorenz is a freelance journalist with more than 20 years of experience. Her background is in business and health care news, including reporting, editing and research for newspapers and websites.
Booster Dose of COVID-19 Vaccine Reduces Infection in Health Care Workers in Israel
January 23rd 2022Booster doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine were shown to provide greater protection against infection than the 2 dose primary regimen alone, according to a study of health care workers in Israel.
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World Health Leaders Discuss Long-Term Strategy for COVID-19 Vaccines and Boosters
January 19th 2022As global health leaders discuss the best long-term strategy for COVID-19 vaccines and boosters, consensus is emerging that repeated boosters of current vaccines within short intervals is not sustainable.
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Acyclovir May Decrease HSV Oropharyngeal Shedding in Medically Ventilated Patients
January 7th 2022Intravenous acyclovir shortened the duration of herpes simplex virus shedding among mechanically ventilated patients, a new study found, but the dose and duration tested weren’t sufficient to totally suppress oropharyngeal HSV reactivation and shedding.
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Hepatitis B Infections Drop in Asia Pacific Region, but Deaths from HBV and HCV Rise
December 21st 2021Incidence of hepatitis B has fallen in the Asia and Pacific region, but progress against hepatitis C in the region has lagged and morbidity and mortality continued to rise, underscoring a need to improve diagnosis and linkage of care, according to a recent report.
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Risk of Guillain-Barre Syndrome Higher with Recombinant Zoster Vaccine Shingrix
December 8th 2021A case series observation study found a slightly higher risk of Guillain-Barre syndrome among Medicare beneficiaries within 42 days after receiving the recombinant zoster vaccine Shingrix, but no changes are needed to guidance recommending the vaccine, investigators said.
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Lower-Dose, Shorter-Duration of Amoxicillin Noninferior for Treating CAP in Children
December 6th 2021Lower-dose amoxicillin was noninferior to higher doses for treating children diagnosed with community-acquired pneumonia, according to a new study that also showed that shorter treatment duration was noninferior to longer treatment duration.
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Supporting the Use of Therapeutic Heparin for Moderate COVID-19
November 15th 2021A recent study supported the use of a therapeutic dose of heparin for moderately ill patients with COVID-19, with results showing a significant reduction in all-cause death despite no significant reduction in a composite of death, mechanical ventilation and ICU admission.
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Lack of Improvement in HIV Infections and Use Prevention Services Among PWID
November 8th 2021People who inject drugs (PWID) remain at risk of HIV infection, according to a recent report by the CDC, which found HIV infection and HIV-associated behaviors remained steady between 2015 and 2018.
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Perceptions of HIV Severity Raise Prevention Challenges Among MSM
September 13th 2021Changes in perceptions about the severity of HIV with advances in treatment and efforts to normalize living with the disease may create challenges for HIV prevention, a new study from the Netherlands suggests.
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Access to Care is Key to PrEP Initiation, But More Is Needed to Mitigate Attrition
September 7th 2021Optimizing delivery of HIV preexposure prophylaxis will take more than access to health care, according to a recent analysis of PrEP use behaviors among adults in an integrated health system.
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