My Revolution-PARTs

People who are vaccinated and then get infected with Omicron may be primed to overcome a broad range of coronavirus variants, early research suggests. A pair of studies showed that infection produced even better immune responses than a booster shot in vaccinated patients. Teams from Covid-19 vaccine maker BioNTech SE and the University of Washington posted the results on preprint server bioRxiv in recent weeks. The findings offer a reassuring sign that the millions of vaccinated people who’ve caught Omicron probably won’t become seriously ill from another variant soon -- even though the research needs to be confirmed, especially by real-world evidence. “We should think about breakthrough infections as essentially equivalent to another dose of vaccine,” said John Wherry, a professor and director of the Institute for Immunology at the University of Pennsylvania who wasn’t involved in the research but reviewed the BioNTech study. That could mean that if someone had Covid recently, the...

ARLINGTON: A new study has provided guidance for increasing the effectiveness of face masks to reduce the spread of respiratory infectious pathogens including SARS-CoV-2. The research has been published in the 'American Journal of Infection Control'. Face masks are used to reduce the spread of infectious viruses such as SARS-CoV-2 that are transmitted by respiratory aerosols and droplets produced during activities such as talking, breathing and coughing. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommended a mask that is multi-layered, covers the nose and mouth and forms a tight seal against the face. "The performance of face masks as devices that control infection spread depends upon both the ability of the mask material to filter aerosols and on how well the mask fits the wearer," said Francoise M. Blachere, MSc., Research Biologist, of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), and the paper's lead author. Blachere and...