Tag: Respiratory

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Delta variant is without doubt one of the most infectious respiratory illnesses identified, CDC director says

Tennessee move to halt vaccine outreach to teens 'incredibly disturbing'

Rochelle Walensky, director of the CDC

Source: CDC | Youtube

The Delta-Covid variant is one of the most contagious respiratory diseases scientists have ever seen, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday.

The variant is highly contagious, mainly because people infected with the Delta strain can carry up to 1,000 times more virus in their nasal passages than those infected with the original strain, according to new data.

“The Delta variant is more aggressive and much more transmissible than previously circulating strains,” said CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky reporters at a briefing Thursday. “It’s one of the most contagious respiratory viruses we know and that I’ve seen in my 20-year career.”

The Delta variant has spread rapidly in the US and currently accounts for more than 83% of the cases sequenced in the US, up from 50% in the week of July 3rd.

The seven-day average of new cases has increased by around 53% compared to the previous week and is currently 37,674 new cases per day. Hospital admissions are up 32% to about 3,500 per day from last week, and deaths are up 19% to about 240 per day over the same period.

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Graphic shows current data on Covid-19 in the USA.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

“This virus has no incentive to wear off and it remains on the lookout for the next person at risk to infect,” Walensky said.

The virus penetrates US counties with low vaccination rates, while counties with high vaccination rates have lower rates of new infections.

Three states, Florida, Texas and Missouri, with low vaccination rates account for 40% of all new cases nationwide, White House Covid Tsar Jeff Zients said. Florida alone accounted for one in five of all new cases in the United States for the second straight week.

In hospitals across the country, 97% of people admitted with Covid symptoms are unvaccinated, and 99.5% of all Covid deaths are also unvaccinated.

For the past week, the five states with the highest case numbers had higher rates of people getting re-vaccinated compared to the national average.

“We are at another pivotal moment in this pandemic as cases are picking up again and some hospitals are reaching capacity in some areas. We need to come together as a nation,” Walensky said.

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Poor Individuals Extra Prone to Have Respiratory Issues, Examine Finds

Poor Americans More Likely to Have Respiratory Problems, Study Finds

But that has changed drastically. By the survey period 2017-18, current and former smoking rates among the wealthiest dropped by nearly half to 34 percent — while rates among the poorest inched up to 57.9 percent

Though smoking is an acquired habit, lower-income people may be more likely to use tobacco to cope with the stresses of poverty, Dr. Gaffney said. Tobacco advertising often targets low-income communities, and there is a higher density of tobacco stores in poor neighborhoods, according to the authors of a commentary accompanying the study. Poor people may also have more limited access to smoking cessation programs and replacement therapies, they said.

“We’re increasingly thinking of tobacco dependence as a disease,” said Dr. Sarath Raju, an assistant professor of pulmonary and critical care medicine at Johns Hopkins University and one of the authors of the commentary. “Individual responsibility is important, but without appropriate treatment or access to treatment to help you quit, that’s a challenge.”

Among children, asthma rates increased in all income groups after 1980, but they rose more sharply among children from poorer households. There was little difference in asthma rates in young children aged 6 to 11 before 1980, which stood at 3 percent to 4 percent. But by 2017-18, rates among the poor increased to 14.8 percent, compared with 6.8 percent among children from the highest income families. (A similar pattern emerged among adults; statistical adjustments for smoking only slightly reduced the differences.)

Among low-income adults, rates of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, an inflammatory lung disease, have long been higher than among wealthier individuals. But rates have increased, widening the gap, with prevalence among the poorest Americans increasing to 16.3 percent from 10.4 percent, even as the rate remained stable, at 4.4 percent, among the wealthiest.

Between 1959 and 2019, poorer and less-educated adults consistently reported more troubling respiratory symptoms, like labored breathing, than wealthier, more educated people. For some symptoms, like having a problem cough, the gap between the rich and poor widened over time.

Wheezing rates fell for the highest income and most educated groups, but they remained stable in the poor, least educated groups, the study found.

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The Dangers of Utilizing Steroids for Respiratory Infections

The Risks of Using Steroids for Respiratory Infections

In an interview, Dr. Dvorin that while steroids can make people euphoric, they can also “make some people feel pretty bad by causing anxiety, nervousness and manic behavior”. In people with pre-existing psychosis, short-term steroid shots can trigger a psychotic episode, said Dr. McCoul.

Drs. Dvorin and Ebell wrote, “Doctors might assume that short-term steroids are harmless and free from the well-known long-term effects of steroids. However, even short systemic corticosteroids are associated with many possible side effects. “(” Systemic “refers to both oral and injected steroids as opposed to topical application to the skin.)

In addition, there is no credible evidence to justify such risks when treating a condition like a cold or sinus infection, doctors in Michigan found. When prescribing treatment, it is the doctor’s responsibility to first weigh the expected benefits against possible risks. Drs. Wallace and Waljee reported that “Corticosteroid bursts are often prescribed for self-limited conditions in which no benefit has been demonstrated”. At the top of the list of such inappropriate steroid uses are acute respiratory infections, which usually go away within a week or two without specific treatment.

As with antibiotics and opiates, the short-term use of injected or oral steroids “has well-defined indications, but with little use – as is often the case – with little evidence of benefit” can cause net damage.

In Louisiana, where Dr. McCoul practices that steroid intake is shockingly common in upper respiratory infections, he said. “Patients can go to emergency care five or six times a year to get a steroid shot.” Although the drugs are not addicting themselves, getting these shots is “like a behavioral addiction,” he said.

“It is a ubiquitous practice that has virtually no evidence of benefit,” added Dr. McCoul added. “It is important for the public to understand that most upper respiratory infections are self-limiting. No intervention is required. They resolve on their own if you don’t seek care. “

However, when patients go to the doctor they expect something to happen, and doctors are often happy to be willing to do so. They are reimbursed by insurance when they give an injection, but not when they give patients a prescription for oral steroids.