A promising new Covid pill shows key advantages over Paxlovid in trial A Chinese antiviral pill was found to be as effective as Paxlovid in a Phase 3 trial, and it appeared to cause fewer side effects. NBC News

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"You have a medication that looks to be just as good as Paxlovid, but less cumbersome," said Dr. Panagis Galiatsatos, an assistant professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins Medicine in Baltimore.

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COVID Smell Loss: 'Retraining' Mostly Flops in Trial Some patients did recover olfactory function with two-prong therapy, however Kate Kneisel medpagetoday

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Bimodal olfactory training with visual cues and the use of patient-preferred scents did not produce a clinically meaningful improvement in sense of smell among individuals with COVID-19–related olfactory loss, a 275-patient randomized trial showed.

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Opinion | COVID's Lasting Consequences for Kids Allergist Zachary Rubin, MD, details the post-COVID symptoms presenting at his clinic Emily Hutto medpagetoday

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In this video, MedPage Today editor-in-chief Jeremy Faust, MD, sits down with allergist and immunologist Zachary Rubin, MD, of Oak Brook Allergists in Illinois, to discuss the lasting effects of COVID-19 on pediatric health.

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Are U.S. Healthcare Workers Better Off Unionized? Study finds higher earnings and benefits, but unionization still stalled Jennifer Henderson medpagetoday

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Out of 14,298 healthcare workers surveyed, 13.2% reported union membership or coverage, with no significant trend from 2009 through 2021, according to Xiaojuan Li, PhD, of Harvard Medical School and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute, both in Boston, and colleagues.

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COVID pressures China's hospitals as countries mandate tests for travelers Chinese hospitals and funeral homes were under intense pressure on Wednesday as a surging COVID-19 wave drained resources, while the scale of the outbreak and doubts over official data prompted some countries to enact new travel rules on Chinese visitors. Martin Quin Pollard Reuters

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Kenya: Severe drought fuels malnutrition, reduces hospital-delivery births in Turkana County Following four successive failed rainy seasons, Kenya is amid the worst drought in 40 years, the UN’s women’s health agency, UNFPA, said on Tuesday, shining a light on 134,000 pregnant or breastfeeding women who are reported to be acutely malnourished and in need of treatment. UN News

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The drought crisis is not only affecting women’s access to essential maternal health care; it is causing serious undernutrition among pregnant women, escalating risks to them and their future babies.

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Nearly half of passengers from China to Milan have COVID: Italian officials Nearly half of the passengers on two recent flights from China to Milan tested positive for COVID-19, Italian health officials said on Wednesday. About 38 percent of passengers on one flight into M… jshapero The Hill

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Italy will begin testing all new arrivals from China and sequencing the tests for new variants amid China’s surge in COVID-19 cases, Italy’s health minister said on Wednesday.

Germany's governing coalition argues over COVID restrictions BERLIN (AP) — Germany's governing coalition is arguing over whether remaining COVID-19 restrictions should be dropped after one of the country's top virologists was quoted as saying that the pandemic is over. AP NEWS

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Chinese make travel plans as Beijing dismantles zero-COVID rules Chinese people, cut off from the rest of the world for three years by stringent COVID-19 curbs, flocked to travel sites on Tuesday ahead of borders reopening next month, even as rising infections strained the health system and roiled the economy. Joe Cash,Sophie Yu Reuters

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Autopsies Show COVID-19 in the Brain What this means for neurologic COVID symptoms remains elusive Judy George medpagetoday

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But in December, an autopsy report of 44 peopleopens in a new tab or window who died with COVID-19 in the first year of the pandemic showed that SARS-CoV-2 virus had spread throughout the body -- including the brain -- and persisted in tissue for months.

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Long COVID: What scientists have learned about the symptoms affecting millions around the world A British historian, an Italian archaeologist and an American preschool teacher each helped bring long COVID into the public's consciousness. CBS News

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China's COVID cases overwhelm hospitals In more than three decades of emergency medicine, Beijing-based doctor Howard Bernstein said, he has never seen anything like this. Martin Quin Pollard Reuters

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Millions of Afghan children inoculated against measles, polio in 1st Statewide drive since 2021 transition Millions of Afghan children have been vaccinated during the first nationwide integrated measles and polio campaign in Afghanistan since the Taliban took power in August 2021, the UN health agency said on Thursday. UN News

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Based on the data from Afghanistan’s Ministry of Public Health Expanded Programme on Immunization, the campaign covered 329 districts in all 34 provinces of the country – with 4,341 vaccination teams comprised of four members on each team.

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In lieu of a COVID Commission, a new report exposes CDC failures Its title gives up the game: “Historically Unprepared.” dtodd The Hill

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'A very hard road ahead' for China as COVID-19 cases spiral BAZHOU, China (AP) — Nearly three years after it was first identified in China, the coronavirus is now spreading through the vast country. Experts predict difficult months ahead for its 1.4 billion people. AP NEWS

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