The U.S. CDC recently published a Research Letter that determined the optimal quarantine duration after a person is exposed to the SARS-CoV-2 virus variant known as Omicron.
These researchers with South Korea’s CDC evaluated the time from exposure to diagnosis for 107 close contacts of Omicron patients.
They found the average time from exposure to diagnosis was 3.7 days.
Furthermore, 70% of diagnoses were made on day 5 and 99.1% by day 10, suggesting a 10-day quarantine protocol is appropriate.
Containing Omicron Outbreaks Requires Ten Day Quarantine
Dengue Epidemics Curtailed by COVID-19 Pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in measurable disruptions in infectious disease dynamics such as dengue, an expanding acute public health threat in southeast Asia and Latin America.
The peer-review journal The Lancet published a study on March 4, 2022, that reported COVID-19-related disruption led to historically low dengue incidence in most countries in 2020.
This study showed the sudden decline in dengue cases in April 2020 was associated with the sudden changes in human movement behaviors.
Insights From the Northern Hemisphere's Flu Season 2022
The Georgia-based U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently reported the seasonal influenza vaccines selected for the 2021-2022 flu season were suboptimal at reducing outpatient respiratory illnesses caused by influenza A(H3N2) viruses.
The CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) found the overall vaccine effectiveness (VE) against medically attended outpatient acute respiratory infection (ARI) associated with influenza A(H3N2) virus was 16% (95% CI = −16% to 39%), which was considered not statistically significant.
Peripheral Neuropathy Observed in Patients With ‘Long COVID’
Prolonged small-fiber neuropathy after mild infection most common scenario in small sample of referred patients with WHO-defined long COVID