Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
BA.2.86 Is The New Covid Variant To Be Wary Of
Nearly 1 in 10 new COVID-19 cases in the U.S. are from the BA.2.86 variant, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated Monday, nearly triple what the agency estimated the highly mutated variant's prevalence was two weeks ago. Among the handful of regions with enough specimens reported from testing laboratories, BA.2.86's prevalence is largest in the Northeast: 13.1% of cases in the New York and New Jersey region are blamed on the strain. (Tin, 11/27)
The World Health Organization (WHO) last week reclassified the Omicron BA.2.86 variant—and its offshoots, including JN.1—as a variant of interest as global proportions grow, including in the United States, where it now makes up about 9% of circulating viruses, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said today. (Schnirring, 11/27)
Also —
U.S. vaccine maker Moderna began construction of its first facility in China this month to manufacture mRNA medicines, the company said on Tuesday. Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine has yet to be approved in China, but the company said in July it had signed a deal with the city government of China's financial hub Shanghai to work towards opportunities for it to research, develop and manufacture mRNA medicines in the country. (Silver, 11/27)
A surge of respiratory illnesses related to flu, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and other infections has been sweeping across some parts of China and mainly infecting children, as the country experiences its first full winter since easing COVID-19 restrictions. Amid media reports of "undiagnosed pneumonia" cases overwhelming hospitals over the past few weeks, health authorities have insisted that the uptick is linked to common illnesses. (Benadjaoud and Kekatos, 11/27)
Flu cases are rising across the United States —
Seasonal influenza cases continued to edge upward in most parts of the United States last week, with notable upticks in the south central, southeast, Mountain, and West Coast regions, according to the latest report today from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). FluView data for the week ending November 18 show an overall 4.9% hike in flu positivity, up 0.5 percentage points from last week. The highest positivity rates were in the Mountain (11.2%), south central (7.6%), southeast (7.6%), and West Coast (7.2%) regions. (Van Beusekom, 11/27)
And in other health alerts —
US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) researchers report the first known cluster of ocular syphilis cases linked to a common heterosexual partner, which they say suggests the presence of an unidentified causative bacterial strain with increased risk for systemic complications. (Van Beusekom, 11/27)
