Resources & Information

National Institutes of Health
March 20, 2024
SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, can damage the heart even without directly infecting the heart tissue, a National Institutes of Health-supported study has found. The research, published in the journal Circulation, specifically looked at damage to the hearts of people with SARS-CoV2-associated acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), a serious lung condition that can be fatal. But researchers said the findings could have relevance to organs beyond the heart and also to viruses other than SARS-CoV-2.

ABC News
March 14, 2024
“Killer fungus” may sound like science fiction, but fungal infections kill an estimated 1.7 million people worldwide per year—more than tuberculosis or malaria. Now, driven by climate change, population growth, and drug resistance, the danger is growing, reinforced by new warnings from the World Health Organization and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Fungal infections can include a diverse range of illnesses, from athletes’ foot to more dangerous tissue infections. There’s blastomycosis and cryptococcus, which are in the air we breath. There’s Candida auris—a yeast—which stalks sick people in hospitals. Fungi that infect the lungs can take weeks to diagnose because they often mimic bacterial or viral respiratory illnesses.

Yahoo News
March 7, 2024
Microplastics are everywhere – even in the fatty deposits called plaque that can build up in the arteries and cause heart disease and strokes. Now researchers in Italy have found that in people with microplastic in the plaque clogging their neck arteries, the risk of heart attack, stroke or death was four-and-a-half times higher than in those whose plaque didn’t contain plastic, said Dr. Eric Topol, a cardiologist and executive vice president of Scripps Research in La Jolla, California. “It’s extraordinary,” he said. “I’m a cardiologist for three decades plus and I never envisioned we’d have microplastic in our arteries and its presence would accelerate arteriosclerosis.”

The Guardian
February 22, 2024
From forgetfulness to difficulties concentrating, many people who have long Covid experience “brain fog”. Now researchers say the symptom could be down to the blood-brain barrier becoming leaky. The barrier controls which substances or materials enter and exit the brain. “It’s all about regulating a balance of material in blood compared to brain,” said Prof Matthew Campbell, co-author of the research at Trinity College Dublin. “If that is off balance then it can drive changes in neural function and if this happens in brain regions that allow for memory consolidation/storage then it can wreak havoc.”

STATNews
February 21, 2024
Outside, the August sun wasn’t yet visible through the thick folds of fog blanketing the San Francisco skyline. Its warmth did not reach the operating room tucked into the sprawling Parnassus Heights hospital complex. In there, the light was all cold and blue fluorescence washing over the sea of scrub caps huddled around an anesthetized young woman on a gurney. From one corner of the crowded room, a medical student named Tippi MacKenzie watched, eyes widening, as the woman’s uterus was gently lifted out of her open abdomen and an incision was made to expose the legs and backside of the fetus inside.

MedPage Today
February 11, 2024

Each fall, millions of hunters across North America make their way into forests and grasslands to kill deer. Over the winter, people chow down on the venison steaks, sausage, and burgers made from the animals. These hunters, however, are not just on the front lines of an American tradition. Infectious disease researchers say they are also on the front lines of what could be a serious threat to public health: chronic wasting disease (CWD). The neurological disease, which is contagious, rapidly spreading, and always fatal, is caused by misfolded proteins called prions. It currently is known to infect only members of the cervid family—elk, deer, reindeer, caribou, and moose.