Deadly fentanyl hybrids and substitutes could fuel 2023’s opioid crisis The drug trade continues to evolve, and the U.S. must continue to evolve with it. dtodd The Hill

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Respiratory viruses could surge following the holidays, public health experts warn | CNN There is growing concern among infectious disease and public health experts that the US could face even more respiratory infections in January. Jacqueline Howard CNN

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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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Roadmap to get back on track to end HIV starts at the community level Public health interventions are more effective when funded at the community level. dgilliland The Hill

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Lessons from COVID require tough questions The government’s reaction to the COVID-19 pandemic was controversial and unprecedented, and it deserves thorough scrutiny. Welcome, then, is a new report published by a congressional committee that… stolliver The Hill

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‘Tripledemic:’ What Happens When Flu, RSV, and COVID-19 Cases Collide? Yale Medicine physicians discuss the possibility of a tripledemic, which is when RSV, flu, and COVID-19 peak at the same time. Yale Medicine

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Meanwhile, as of early December, RSV cases reported by Yale were beginning to go down and COVID-19 and flu cases were increasing. A big part of the flu increase, he explains, is our lack of immunity from having not been exposed to the virus for several seasons due to masking and other precautions, many of which have fallen to the wayside.

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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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BioNTech starts human trial to test malaria vaccine BioNTech on Friday initiated an early-stage study to evaluate its experimental malaria vaccine in humans, the German drugmaker said. Reuters Reuters

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US hits more than 100M COVID-19 cases. Experts say this is likely an undercount On Thursday, the U.S. hit officially more than 100 million COVID-19 cases, but experts say this is likely an undercount of the true number of infections. ABC News ABC News

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"I think we know that a large majority of the population has already been infected with COVID," Brownstein said. "And so, this number only represents a fraction of all the cases. [The milestone] was very likely hit many months ago."

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A Covid-19 'senior wave' is driving up hospitalizations | CNN This winter, Covid-19 trends are again on the rise across the country. For older adults, the situation is much more severe. Hospitalizations among seniors are nearing the peak from the Delta surge and rising fast, and the age gap has never been wider. Deidre McPhillips CNN

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