Blood cancer patients who receive a type of anti-cancer therapy should continue to take the drug while having COVID-19 vaccinations, a new study published in the Lancet Haematology suggests.

Pregnancy may offer some protection from developing Long COVID, found a new study led by Weill Cornell Medicine, University of Rochester Medical Center, University of Utah Health and Louisiana Public Health Institute. Previous research has mostly focused on non-pregnant adults affected by Long COVID— a condition lasting for months after a person recovers from SARS-CoV-2 infection.

A new study published in The Lancet Public Health found that tuberculosis diagnoses plummeted as much as 100 percent in Central and North America in 2021, and nearly 87 percent in Western Europe in 2022 (compared to expected levels). This pattern was distinct from tuberculosis diagnoses among the general population, which experienced a decline in 2020, but generally began increasing again in subsequent years. Incarceration levels remained largely consistent from 2020-2022, suggesting that the reduction in reported TB cases was likely due to other factors, such as reduced capacity for prisons to test and diagnose TB during the unprecedented global crisis.

New research findings provide solid evidence that annual COVID-19 vaccine booster doses continue to be advisable for certain immunocompromised people, researchers at McGill University say.

The researchers looked at how often people with immune-mediated inflammatory diseases (IMIDs) got COVID-19 despite having received at least three doses of an mRNA COVID-19 vaccine. IMIDs – including rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, inflammatory bowel disease and multiple sclerosis – affect more than seven million Canadians. The medications they take often weaken their vaccine responses, increasing their vulnerability to infection.

A new study in JAMA Pediatrics found that the spike in gun death rates during the first two years of the pandemic disproportionately affected adolescents ages 10-16, as well as adults over 30 years old. These increases lowered the peak risk of being a victim of a fatal shooting from 21 years old to 19 years old. The study also found that as adult gun death rates returned to pre-COVID levels in 2022 and 2023, gun homicide rates continued increasing for the 10-16 adolescent age group, doubling pre-pandemic rates.

Key findings

• Sarcoidosis patients are prone to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection, increased severity, morbidity and greater mortality of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

What is known and what is new?

• Subjects with sarcoidosis are more vulnerable to SARS-CoV-2 infection.

• Severity of COVID-19 was also more serious in subjects stricken with sarcoidosis.

What is the implication, and what should change now?

• Vaccination against SARS-CoV-2 for sarcoidosis may be a compulsory measure.

Researchers at the University of Cologne have discovered that mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccines have a persistent effect on the innate immune system. These mechanisms may help the human body to better protect itself against potential future infections / publication in ‘Molecular Systems Biology’