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Acrocyanosis, venous pooling of blood in the legs that causes them to turn blue, may be yet another symptom of long COVID, according to a case report published in The Lancet. The case report features a 33-year-old man who for 6 months experienced blue legs after 10 minutes of standing, accompanied by a heavy, itching sensation. The legs returned to a normal color after 2 minutes of lying down. (Soucheray, 8/14)

The World Health Organization is monitoring a new strain of Covid-19 called EG.5, or “Eris,” that accounts for a growing share of cases in countries including China and the United States. The WHO has designated it a “variant of interest,” meaning it will be monitored for mutations that could make it more severe. Based on current evidence, the WHO says it presents a low public health risk at a global level, in-line with other variants currently in circulation. (Reid, 8/15)

In September 2020, the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, public health officials and researchers started hunting for signs of the virus' spread in an unexpected place: our poop. Samples of municipal wastewater provided a wealth of information that ― combined with diagnostic lab testing, hospitalization rates, and other disease surveillance data ― could warn officials of a rise in cases, help them track evolving forms of the virus and inform public health policy. (Shastri, 8/14)

A three-year chase for a Utah man accused of posing as a medical doctor to sell hoax cures for a variety of diseases, including COVID-19, has come to an end. Gordon Hunter Pedersen sold a "structural alkaline silver" product online as a preventative cure for COVID-19 early in the pandemic, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Utah said in a statement. He also claimed in YouTube videos to be a board-certified “Anti-Aging Medical Doctor” with a Ph.D. in immunology and naturopathic medicine, according to the release, while donning a white lab coat and stethoscope in his online presence. (Arshad, 8/14)

�鶹Ů�� Health News: Epidemic: Zero Pox! 

In 1973, Bhakti Dastane arrived in Bihar, India, to join the smallpox eradication campaign. She was a year out of medical school and had never cared for anyone with the virus. She believed she was offering something miraculous, saving people from a deadly disease. But some locals did not see it that way.  (8/15)