It’s difficult to trace the epidemiology since the patient didn’t travel, the mutations in the viruses are small and international travel in and out of New York is heavy, he said.

“With a single case there’s no way to know exactly how many infections there were between the vaccine vial and the paralyzed person,” Oberste said.

It’s unlikely public health authorities will figure out the origin of the virus that paralyzed the patient in New York, Oberste said. Dozens of countries around the world — primarily in Africa, the Middle East and South Asia — are still using oral vaccines that contain the Sabin Type 2 strain.

A new study by investigators from Brigham and Women’s Hospital, a founding member of the Mass General Brigham health care system, demonstrated that shingles, also known as herpes zoster, is associated with an almost 30% higher long-term risk of a major cardiovascular event such a stroke or heart attack. Their results are published in the Journal of the American Heart Association.

“Our findings suggest there are long-term implications of shingles and highlight the importance of public health efforts for prevention,” said lead author Sharon Curhan, MD, ScM, a physician and epidemiologist in the Channing Division of Network Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

“Given the growing number of Americans at risk for this painful and often disabling disease and the availability of an effective vaccine, shingles vaccination could provide a valuable opportunity to reduce the burden of shingles and reduce the risk of subsequent cardiovascular complications.”

A seven-year study reveals that variations in specific isotopes linked to magmatic ‘foams’ can be used to predict volcanic unrest.

Scientists have found a way to use the ratio of atoms in specific gases created by volcanic fumaroles (gaps in the Earth’s surface) to detect what’s happening to magma deep below.

Volcanic eruptions are dangerous and challenging to predict. Could the new findings change this?

---

Marco Ritzki/iStock.

Much like obtaining a blood test to examine your health, the new method, published in Nature by a team at the University of Tokyo, could indicate when things are “heating up.” Significantly, it could aid in the prediction of future volcanic eruptions.

MUSC Hollings Cancer Center researcher Ashish Deshmukh, Ph.D., has identified a dramatic recent rise in cervical cancer incidence among women in their early 30s. This work was published Nov. 21 in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).

Cervical cancer is mostly related to human papillomavirus (HPV), and screening has made this cancer preventable. Yet, it is estimated that over 14,000 new cases will be diagnosed this year and more than 4,000 deaths will be attributed to cervical cancer.

“HPV is a group of over 200 viruses. At least 14 high-risk HPV types can cause several types of cancers, including cervical, anal and head and neck cancers. In the era of the overall decline in cancer incidence, cancers caused by HPV are unfortunately rising,” said Deshmukh, an associate professor in the Department of Public Health Sciences at MUSC.

Triple threat. Tripledemic. A viral perfect storm. These frightening phrases have dominated recent headlines as some health officials, clinicians, and scientists forecast that SARS-CoV-2, influenza, and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) could surge at the same time in Northern Hemisphere locales that have relaxed masking, social distancing, and other COVID-19 precautions.

But a growing body of epidemiological and laboratory evidence offers some reassurance: SARS-CoV-2 and other respiratory viruses often “interfere” with each other. Although waves of each virus may stress emergency rooms and intensive care units, the small clique of researchers who study these viral collisions say there is little chance the trio will peak together and collectively crash hospital systems the way COVID-19 did at the pandemic’s start.

“Flu and other respiratory viruses and SARS-CoV-2 just don’t get along very well together,” says virologist Richard Webby, an influenza researcher at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. “It’s unlikely that they will circulate widely at the same time.”