Category: Infectious Diseases
Study Compares Mortality Among People Entering HIV Care with General US Population
Joseph Eron, MD HIV-related mortality has decreased since 1996 due to improving treatments and evolving care guidelines, but the extent to which persons entering HIV care have a higher risk for death over the following years, compared with peers in the general population, has been unclear. Joseph Eron, MD, the Herman and Louise Smith Distinguished Professor of Medicine and chief … Read more
Study Finds Bamlanivimab Reduces Risk of COVID in Skilled Nursing Homes and Assisted Living Facilities
Myron Cohen, MD Myron Cohen, MD, is the lead investigator of a study recently published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) that shows bamlanivimab monotherapy reduced the incidence of infection in skilled nursing homes and assisted living facilities with high risk of SARS-CoV-2 exposure. The randomized phase 3 clinical trial included 966 residents and staff … Read more
Browne Lab Earns NIH Grant to Study Cannabis Effects on HIV Reservoir
Edward Browne, PhD The National Institute on Drug Abuse, part of the NIH, is funding the Browne lab in the UNC HIV Cure Center for a study on the effects of cannabis use on the reservoir of HIV that is dormant within patients but becomes activated and spreads when antiretroviral medications are ceased. This phenomenon is called HIV latency, and it’s considered the main barrier to … Read more
Wohl Says If People Are Waiting For a “Magical Moment” to Get Vaccinated, This Is It
David Wohl, MD The delta variant now accounts for half of the COVID-19 cases in many areas of the U.S., President Joe Biden said Tuesday, urging unvaccinated Americans to get the COVID-19 shots as the U.S. faces a dramatic rise in the “hypertransmissible” variant of the coronavirus. An NBC Today Health report asks experts about the effectiveness of current vaccines against the de … Read more
-
Here’s How to Design Drug Trials to Defeat the Next Pandemic
Myron Cohen, MD Myron Cohen, MD, began his career fighting HIV in the early 1980s, and he’s been battling the epidemic around the world ever since. But he has never worked as hard to generate new therapies and save lives as he has during the Covid-19 crisis. “Desperation or urgency can push us away from the scientific method,” Cohen said in a CNN Health report. “It is better to n … Read more
As Delta Variant Spreads, Doctors Urge Balancing Safety and Celebration Over Holiday Weekend
David Weber, MD, MPH As fireworks shows and 4th of July events return across the Triangle, doctors stress the need for people to celebrate safely. “The Delta variant has steadily increased in the US from just being a few percent a number of weeks ago to CDC reports more than 20% of all the cases,” said David Weber, MD, MPH, in an ABC-11 news report. “Sitting at say an outdoor st … Read more
-
How Will We Know If NC’s Vaccine Lottery Is Working?
David Wohl, MD The number of North Carolinians getting their first shots has plateaued during the three weeks since the state announced a series of $1 million drawings for vaccinated people. An ABC-11 news report recognizes the numerous incentives being offered to persuade people to get their shots, and asks experts if they are working. David Wohl, MD, professor of medicine in th … Read more
-
NC’s $25 Cash Card Program Expands to 38 Counties As State Hopes to Boost Vaccination Rates
David Weber, MD, MPH North Carolina health officials are expanding the number of locations where you can get a $25 cash card for getting the COVID-19 vaccine or taking someone to get vaccinated. The $25 is meant to offset the time and transportation costs of getting the shot. After a trial period in just a few North Carolina counties, the program is expanding. David Weber, MD, MP … Read more
Delta Variant Causes Concern As Cases Rise Across the Southeast
David Wohl, MD A CBS-17 report says the COVID-19 variant that infected eight N.C. State baseball players can infect twice as many people as the virus last year. The report also acknowledged doctors are mostly concerned about those who are not vaccinated, including David Wohl, MD, professor of medicine in the division of infectious diseases. “Because the virus evolves to become mo … Read more
Gay Discusses Research That Suggests COVID-19 Vaccines Could Provide Protection For Years
Cindy Gay, MD, MPH So much of the world hoped for vaccines that were effective for a long time in fighting COVID-19. Cindy Gay, MD, MPH, associate professor of medicine in the division of infectious diseases, who leads the UNC School of Medicine’s Moderna clinical trial, recognized a study published in the journal Nature that suggests vaccines could be long lasting. “The fact tha … Read more
-
‘Unusual’ That Vaccinated NC State Baseball Players Test Positive For COVID-19
David Wohl, MD After COVID-19 forced N.C. State out of the College World Series, the university reported that some of the players who tested positive had previously been vaccinated. Currently, the CDC only tracks breakthrough cases that result in hospitalization or death and statistics show 4,115 of those cases among more than 150 million fully vaccinated people. Infectious disea … Read more
-
Gap Grows Between Best, Worst NC Counties in Vaccine Rollout
David Wohl, MD The gap continues to widen between North Carolina’s counties performing relatively well during the COVID-19 vaccine rollout and those that aren’t, a CBS17.com data analysis found. “I don’t think it’s too much of a surprise, given the size of our state and its geography and other influences, that different counties are doing things differently,” David Wohl, MD, prof … Read more