Gastrointestinal Diseases from Animals

Gary Jennings’ experience with StationMD Nashville, TN–The Tennessee Department of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities ( DIDD ) has partnered with StationMD to provide telemedicine services to Tennessee residents with disabilities. StationMD is a telemedicine physician practice that’s dedicated to providing medical care to people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). Through this partnership, StationMD will be able to deliver 24/7 medical care to Tennessee residents with disabilities no matter where they live in the state. There are approximately   7,200 Tennessee residents with disabilities who are eligible to sign up and use StationMD’s services through their Medicaid Waiver program. In the current environment where it’s estimated that individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities are five times more likely to contract COVID-19 and have five times increased mortality from COVID-19. StationMD’s services aren’t just conven...

Back in mid September, some six months after the coronavirus pandemic reached Tennessee, Scott County had 182 cases of the virus among its residents. It’s taken just about five weeks for that number to double. As of Friday, there had been 362 Scott Countians infected by the virus. Active cases of the virus are ever climbing — up to 76 as of Friday — and there have now been five fatalities tied to the virus, while 22 people have been hospitalized — including three in the past week. As coronavirus cases surge, a breakdown of the data shows that the virus continues to impact mostly younger adults and youth. Since September 13, when there had been 182 cases of coronavirus in Scott County, 16.9% of new cases have been among people in their 30s, while 16.2% have been people in their teens or pre-teens, and another 16.2% have been people in their 40s. During that same time frame, people in their 20s have accounted for 13.4% of new cases. Children aged 10 or younger have accounted for 7.7%...

Gastrointestinal viruses often come along with community-acquired Clostridioides difficile infection (CA-CDI), CDC researchers said. Adult and pediatric patients with CA-CDI showed 12% prevalence of viral GI pathogens, norovirus being the most common, reported Alice Y. Guh, MD, MPH, of the CDC in Atlanta, reporting in PLoS One . Assessing 155 patients with stool-confirmed CA-CDI at five cross-country U.S. sites from December 2012 to February 2013, the investigators identified 18 CDI patients with such viruses: 10 norovirus, four adenovirus, three rotavirus, and one sapovirus. Co-infected patients were more likely than non-co-infected to have nausea or vomiting – 56% versus 31% ( P =0.04) – suggesting viral co-pathogens contributed to these symptoms in some. Paralleling earlier research, no significant differences emerged between the two groups in previous healthcare, medication exposures, or CDI outcomes complications. An earlier U.S. study of viral co-infections in pediatric ...

The 9-year-old son of Fatema Nekooie, MD, suddenly threw up on a weekend night in mid-June. Nekooie guessed she was up against a gastrointestinal virus and a sleepless night ― maybe two. A colleague in pediatrics affirmed her suspicions. But Kiarash's nausea, vomiting, and abdominal pain were only the first in a series of unexplained symptoms that spurred an intense and ongoing medical investigation. Nekooei, a cardiologist in Bushehr, Iran, combined her roles as mother and physician and used every resource and connection she had. Nekooei and 9-year-old Kiarash. Kiarash's initial symptoms resolved after 5 days. But a few days after that, Nekooei noticed swelling and erythema of her son's genitals while she was bathing him. On the way to the emergency department, she called a urologist, who ordered labs and an ultrasound of the genital region. The sonography came back normal, but Kiarash's white blood cell (WBC) count was up to 21,000/μL, nearly double what it had be...

If you are “hunkered down” on coronavirus lockdown like we are here in Israel at the moment, or nervous , or just curious , we offer you this Israeli perspective on major pandemics. In light of the present global outbreak and the attempts to stop it and find a vaccine, a short series on “Ten Great Plagues” was released by two Israelis: Journalist and historian Oren Nahari Director of the Infectious Diseases Unit, Dr. Galia Rahav. These two Israelis have produced a fascinating and instructive series, and what follows is a summary, together with additional items we thought would interest you. For what horrific plague were the Jews blamed? How did the Spanish Flu get its name? What plague did the newborn State of Israel face? How did cows help find a vaccine? Which plague was cured by Jews? When did people wear masks before corona? When will a coronavirus vaccine be found? Find the answers to these questions and more in this series.   The Black Death and anti-Semit...

For more than 50 years, Terry Wright had no idea he was suffering from cystic fibrosis. Oh, he was sick. So wracked by pain that from the time he was a child growing up in Little Rock he considered Arkansas Children's Hospital his second home. But the source of the agony in his gut was always misdiagnosed -- usually as a gastrointestinal virus, or perhaps ulcers (screenings of newborns for cystic fibrosis are now required in all 50 states). "I suffered as a child," Wright says. "It was a painful life. I would hide it from my parents and wouldn't let them know that I had problems. ... I would just push forward. I wanted to stay active and keep a good attitude." He never gave up on that whole good attitude thing. Despite his ailments, he excelled in sports, playing baseball and running track in school. As an adult, he completed multiple marathons, became an avid cyclist -- he's a founding member of the Major Taylor Cycling Club of Little Rock -- and w...

Despite a windy evening in the Butte County foothills, the evacuation notices that were lightened or lifted remain in place Thursday morning for areas under the North Complex fires, and fire officials say Highway 70 has not been breached, as of 7 p.m. Thursday. On Thursday night, officials also said that four heavy helicopters used water bucket drops to slow the fire’s momentum and guard against spotting across the highway while crews worked to reinforce dozer line out ahead of the fire. Fire crews numbering roughly 2,000 are working on further containment and contingency lines with heavy equipment on both sides of the Feather River Canyon. Crews continued to work overnight along Highway 70 to monitor for spot fires while watching out for rock and tree rollout making its way onto the road. Addressing a social media comment about a spot fire crossing the canyon in the Storrie area, Tracy LeClair, fire public information officer, told this publication Thursday morning, “All the i...

By now you've heard about how masks can help reduce the spread of COVID-19, but a new theory gaining traction among some doctors says masks can also help reduce the severity of the illness, should you be wearing a face covering when the virus sneaks through. “Cloth masks, surgical masks -- they don’t block all the viral particles,” said Dr. Monica Gandhi, an infectious disease specialist and professor at UC San Francisco. The imperfections of these masks could actually be working work in society’s favor, according to Gandhi, by reducing the viral inoculum -- or dose -- someone takes in. leading to milder and asymptomatic cases. "This theory would state that even if it does slip in through your mask, you're less likely to get ill," Gandhi said. The connection between the amount of virus someone takes in and the severity of an illness the person experiences as a result is something Gandhi was studying well before COVID-19 surfaced. “This is true of respiratory vir...

By now you've heard about how masks can help reduce the spread of COVID-19, but a new theory gaining traction among some doctors says masks can also help reduce the severity of the illness, should you be wearing a face covering when the virus sneaks through. “Cloth masks, surgical masks -- they don’t block all the viral particles,” said Dr. Monica Gandhi, an infectious disease specialist and professor at UC San Francisco. The imperfections of these masks could actually be working work in society’s favor, according to Gandhi, by reducing the viral inoculum -- or dose -- someone takes in. leading to milder and asymptomatic cases. "This theory would state that even if it does slip in through your mask, you're less likely to get ill," Gandhi said. The connection between the amount of virus someone takes in and the severity of an illness the person experiences as a result is something Gandhi was studying well before COVID-19 surfaced. “This is true of respiratory vir...

Human noroviruses (HuNoVs) cause the majority of the cases of viral gastroenteritis in the world and bring about significant mortality in all age groups; yet, there are still no vaccines or other approved therapeutic strategies available. One reason for the limited options to prevent and treat this disease is the difficulty in growing the virus in the lab to understand how the virus makes people sick. STAT1-KO HIE cells, which cannot mount an interferon (IFN) response, are more susceptible to GII.3 infection and viral spreading than to GII.4 infection. Human norovirus is shown in green and the nuclei of HIE in blue. WT = wild type. Image courtesy of Shih-Ching Lin / Estes lab / PNAS , 2020. “In-depth studies of how virus and host interact have been possible only recently thanks to the development of several laboratory cultivation systems,” said first author  Shih-Ching Lin , a graduate student in the  laboratory  of  Dr. Mary Estes at Baylor College of Medicine...

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently revised its list of COVID-19 symptoms, as health officials learn more about the virus. Rebecca Burns, health officer at Branch-Hillsdale-St. Joseph Community Health Agency, said one of the misconceptions about COVID-19 is that if people don’t have a fever, they don’t have the virus. "A lot of people who have tested positive never had a fever," she said. "We find a lot of people don’t have a fever with COVID-19." Burns said CDC recently changed the order of key symptoms, placing fever below a loss of taste and smell. "The loss of taste and smell alone, or a cough or shortness of breath, is more indicative of COVID-19," Burns said. As of Thursday, there were four new cases of COVID-19 reported in St. Joseph County, bringing the total number of cases since March to 623, with 11 deaths. Branch County reported nine new cases Thursday for a cumulative total of 509 general public cases and four deaths. Hill...

by TERRAN S. YOUNG • STAFF WRITER The Norton school system has had one student test positive for COVID-19 at John I. Burton High School. The school was notified of the positive result Aug. 20. The school board got an update Monday in the form of a Sept. 8 report from Norton Elementary and Middle School Nurse Jennifer Hughes. The report states that three students were sent home for temperatures greater than 100 degrees, but they did not enter the building. One student who entered the building was sent home for a temperature greater than 100 degrees. Eleven students were quarantined for firsthand exposure to COVID-19, but the exposure did not happen inside a city school building. The report also shows one case of the flu, three cases of strep, three cases of a gastrointestinal virus and one case of head lice. The school division updates COVID-19 information weekly on its website. https://ift.tt/3cevf51

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently revised its list of COVID-19 symptoms, as health officials learn more about the virus. Rebecca Burns, health officer at Branch-Hillsdale-St. Joseph Community Health Agency, said one of the misconceptions about COVID-19 is that if people don’t have a fever, they don’t have the virus. "A lot of people who have tested positive never had a fever," she said. "We find a lot of people don’t have a fever with COVID-19." Burns said CDC recently changed the order of key symptoms, placing fever below a loss of taste and smell. "The loss of taste and smell alone, or a cough or shortness of breath, is more indicative of COVID-19," Burns said. As of Thursday, there were four new cases of COVID-19 reported in St. Joseph County, bringing the total number of cases since March to 623, with 11 deaths. Branch County reported nine new cases Thursday for a cumulative total of 509 general public cases and four deaths. Hill...

A new track provides the challenge for teams and riders as the 2020 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship heads to the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya for the first time in the Championship’s history as the circuit hosts the Acerbis Catalunya Round. There was a brand-new winner last time out in the form of Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Team GOELEVEN) while Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) was able to extend his Championship lead to 36 points in the latest twist in the title race. Riders were able to test at the circuit in the scorching summer heat and it was Rea who came out on top in that test ahead of Scott Redding (ARUBA.IT Racing – Ducati). Whilst Rea extending his Championship lead to 36 points throughout the Pirelli Teruel Round as he claimed three podiums, including one victory, he’ll be full of confidence heading into the team’s home round. Rea’s KRT teammate, Alex Lowes, battled a gastrointestinal virus throughout the Teruel Round to claim three top six finishes and wil...

Cluster of norovirus virions. Credit: CDC Interferon (IFN) responses are one of the first defenses the body mounts against viral infections, and research has shown that it plays a role controlling viral replication. But when researchers at Baylor College of Medicine investigated whether IFN restricted human norovirus (HuNoV) infection in human intestinal enteroids (HIEs), a cultivation system that recapitulates many of the characteristics of the human infection, they unexpectedly discovered that endogenous IFN responses by HIEs restricted growth of HuNoV strain GII.3, but not of GII.4, the most common strain worldwide. The findings, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , highlight the importance of considering strain differences when studying HuNoV biology and designing therapies. "HuNoVs cause the majority of the cases of viral gastroenteritis in the world and bring about significant mortality in all age groups; yet, there are still no vaccine...

Sep 11 2020 Interferon (IFN) responses are one of the first defenses the body mounts against viral infections, and research has shown that it plays a role controlling viral replication. But when researchers at Baylor College of Medicine investigated whether IFN restricted human norovirus (HuNoV) infection in human intestinal enteroids (HIEs), a cultivation system that recapitulates many of the characteristics of the human infection, they unexpectedly discovered that endogenous IFN responses by HIEs restricted growth of HuNoV strain GII.3, but not of GII.4, the most common strain worldwide. The findings, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA , highlight the importance of considering strain differences when studying HuNoV biology and designing therapies. HuNoVs cause the majority of the cases of viral gastroenteritis in the world and bring about significant mortality in all age groups; yet, there are still no vaccines or other approved therapeutic s...

Interferon (IFN) responses are one of the first defenses the body mounts against viral infections, and research has shown that it plays a role controlling viral replication. But when researchers at Baylor College of Medicine investigated whether IFN restricted human norovirus (HuNoV) infection in human intestinal enteroids (HIEs), a cultivation system that recapitulates many of the characteristics of the human infection, they unexpectedly discovered that endogenous IFN responses by HIEs restricted growth of HuNoV strain GII.3, but not of GII.4, the most common strain worldwide. The findings, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , highlight the importance of considering strain differences when studying HuNoV biology and designing therapies. "HuNoVs cause the majority of the cases of viral gastroenteritis in the world and bring about significant mortality in all age groups; yet, there are still no vaccines or other approved therapeutic strategies avail...

Interferon (IFN) responses are one of the first defenses the body mounts against viral infections, and research has shown that it plays a role controlling viral replication. But when researchers at Baylor College of Medicine investigated whether IFN restricted human norovirus (HuNoV) infection in human intestinal enteroids (HIEs), a cultivation system that recapitulates many of the characteristics of the human infection, they unexpectedly discovered that endogenous IFN responses by HIEs restricted growth of HuNoV strain GII.3, but not of GII.4, the most common strain worldwide. The findings, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, highlight the importance of considering strain differences when studying HuNoV biology and designing therapies. “HuNoVs cause the majority of the cases of viral gastroenteritis in the world and bring about significant mortality in all age groups; yet, there are still no vaccines or other approved therapeutic strategies availab...

The Tissot Superpole session for MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship was full of drama as Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) secured pole position for the Teruel Round after beating his own lap record set just a week earlier; the reigning Champion going more than two tenths faster than his nearest rival. Rea secured his 26 th pole position in WorldSBK and put him third on the all-time pole list in history, equalling Troy Bayliss. Rea was one of the first riders to set his time on the qualifying tyre, putting in a 1’48.767s to take pole position. He will line up alongside Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Team GOELEVEN) , who secured his best ever WorldSBK Superpole performance with second and became the 150 th rider to secure a front row start in WorldSBK. Scott Redding (ARUBA.IT Racing – Ducati) completes the front row with third place, just 0.005s behind Rinaldi. @jonathanrea moves the goal posts! @KRT_WorldSBK rider holds the lead with 1'48.767! #TeruelWorldSBK pi...