The Health of US Citizens Is Declining—But Why?

View OpEd: https://www.infectioncontroltoday.com/view/the-health-of-us-citizens-is-declining-but-why-

References:

1. Kavanagh K. Industry Voices—Amid a return to normalcy, COVID remains a threat. Fierce Healthcare. Mar. 27, 2023. https://www.fiercehealthcare.com/providers/commentary-we-may-be-done-tracking-covid-19-its-not-done-attacking-us

2. Rakshit S, McGough M, et al., How does U.S. life expectancy compare to other countries? Peterson-KFF. Dec. 6, 2022. https://www.healthsystemtracker.org/chart-collection/u-s-life-expectancy-compare-countries/#Life%20expectancy%20at%20birth%20in%20years,%201980-2021

3. Kavanagh K. Addressing COVID-19 Misinformation: What the Experts Got Right—and Wrong. Infetion Control Today. Mar. 3, 2023. https://www.infectioncontroltoday.com/view/addressing-covid-19-misinformation-what-experts-got-right-wrong

4. Wallace J, Goldsmith-Pinkham, Schwartz JL. Excess Death Rates for Republicans and Democrats During the COVID-19 Pandemic. National Bureau of Economic Research. Sept. 2022. https://www.nber.org/papers/w30512

5. Wood D, Brumfiel G. Pro-Trump counties continue to suffer far higher COVID death tolls. May 19, 2022. https://www.npr.org/2022/05/19/1098543849/pro-trump-counties-continue-to-suffer-far-higher-covid-death-tolls

6. Anthes E. Studies Link Common Childhood Viruses to Rare Hepatitis Cases. The New York Times. Mar. 30, 2023. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/30/health/children-hepatitis-adenovirus.html

7. Planas A, Bendix A. CDC warns of a rise in severe strep A infections among children. NBC News. Dec. 22, 2022. https://www.nbcnews.com/health/kids-health/cdc-warns-rise-severe-strep-a-infections-children-rcna63034

8. Doctors alarmed as surge in RSV cases fills German hospitals. AP News. Dec. 1, 2022. https://apnews.com/article/health-business-europe-germany-covid-045b6d942fc2ea700f34e290a2cf3720

9. Edwards E. Flu hospitalizations are rising dramatically, and earlier than ever, CDC says. NBC News. Oct. 28, 2022. https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/flu-hospitalizations-rising-dramatically-earlier-ever-cdc-says-rcna54332

10. Hood D. Recent Rise in C. Auris Requires Emergency Action. Linked In. Mar. 31, 2023. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/recent-rise-c-auris-requires-emergency-action-denise-hood/

11. COVID-19 Reverses Progress in Fight Against Antimicrobial Resistance in U.S. CDC Newsroom. July 12, 2022. https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2022/s0712-Antimicrobial-Resistance.html

12. Kavanagh K, Brusselaers N, Corimier L. Is the Rise in RSV Infections Associated With Immune Debt or SARS-CoV-2 Immune Dysfunction? Infection Control Today. Feb. 23, 2023. https://www.infectioncontroltoday.com/view/is-rise-rsv-infections-associated-immune-debt-sars-cov-2-immune-dysfunction-

13. Current weekly report on RSV. Public Health Agency of Sweden. Mar. 31, 2023. https://www.folkhalsomyndigheten.se/folkhalsorapportering-statistik/statistik-a-o/sjukdomsstatistik/rsv-veckorapporter/aktuell-veckorapport-om-rsv/

14. RSV National Trends. CDC. Mar. 29, 2023. https://www.cdc.gov/surveillance/nrevss/rsv/natl-trend.html

15. Sun LH. So far, this flu season is more severe than it has been in 13 years. Oct. 28, 2022. https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2022/10/28/flu-season-2022-cdc/

16. Rolfes MA, Talbot HK, McLean HQ, et al., Household Transmission of Influenza A Viruses in 2021-2022. JAMA Network, Jan. 26, 2023. https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2800976

17. Disease Burden of Flu. CDC. Oct. 4, 2022. https://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/burden/index.html

18. Klaassen F, Chitwood MH, Cohen T, et al. Changes in population immunity against infection and severe disease from SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variants in the United States between December 2021 and November 2022. medRxiv. 2022 Nov 23;2022.11.19.22282525. doi: 10.1101/2022.11.19.22282525. Preprint https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9709792/

19. XBB.1.9.1 – a new variant of concern? – 4 updates. Coronaheadsup.com Accessed on Apr. 4, 2023. https://www.coronaheadsup.com/science/variants/recombinants/xbb-1-9-1/xbb-1-9-1-a-new-variant-of-concern/

20. COVID Data Tracker. Variant Proportions. Apr. 3, 2023. https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#variant-proportions

21. SARS-CoV-2 Variants of Concern and Variants Under Investigation in England. Technical Briefing 51. UK Health Security Agency. Mar. 10, 2023. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1141754/variant-technical-briefing-51-10-march-2023.pdf

22. Leonardi AJ, Proenca RB. Akt-Fas to Quell Aberrant T Cell Differentiation and Apoptosis in Covid-19. Dec. 21, 2020. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fimmu.2020.600405/full

23. Phetsouphanh, C., Darley, D.R., Wilson, D.B. et al. Immunological dysfunction persists for 8 months following initial mild-to-moderate SARS-CoV-2 infection. Nat Immunol 23, 210–216 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41590-021-01113-x

24. Shen, XR., Geng, R., Li, Q. et al. ACE2-independent infection of T lymphocytes by SARS-CoV-2. Sig Transduct Target Ther 7, 83 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41392-022-00919-x

25. Files JK, Boppana S, Perez MD, et al. Sustained cellular immune dysregulation in individuals recovering from SARS-CoV-2 infection. J Clin Invest. 2021 Jan 4;131(1):e140491. doi: 10.1172/JCI140491. PMID: 33119547; PMCID: PMC7773371. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7773371/

24. Gao F, Mallajoysula V, Arunachalam PS, et al. Spheromers reveal robust T cell responses to the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine and attenuated peripheral CD8+ T cell responses post SARS-CoV-2 infection. Immunity. 2023 Mar 16:S1074-7613(23)00125-5. doi: 10.1016/j.immuni.2023.03.005. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 36996809; PMCID: PMC10017386. https://www.cell.com/immunity/fulltext/S1074-7613(23)00125-5

25. SARS-CoV-2 Infection Weakens Immune-Cell Response to Vaccination. NIH News Release. Mar. 20, 2023. https://www.niaid.nih.gov/news-events/sars-cov-2-infection-weakens-immune-cell-response-vaccination

26. Wang L, Davis PB, Berger NA, et al. Disruption in seasonality, patient characteristics and disparities of respiratory syncytial virus infection among young children in the US during and before the COVID-19 pandemic: 2010-2022. medRxiv [Preprint]. 2022 Nov 29:2022.11.29.22282887. doi: 10.1101/2022.11.29.22282887. PMID: 36482981; PMCID: PMC9727767. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9727767/

27. Mizrahi B, Sudry T, Flaks-Manov N, Yehezkelli Y, Kalkstein N, Akiva P et al. Long covid outcomes at one year after mild SARS-CoV-2 infection: nationwide cohort study. BMJ 2023; 380 :e072529 doi:10.1136/bmj-2022-072529 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9832503/

28. Waltz E. Could long COVID be linked to herpes viruses? Early data offer a hint. Nature. Aug. 25, 2022. https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-02296-5

29. Katz J, Yue S, Xue W. Herpes simplex and herpes zoster viruses in COVID-19 patients. Ir J Med Sci. 2022 Jun;191(3):1093-1097. doi: 10.1007/s11845-021-02714-z. Epub 2021 Jul 11. PMID: 34247308; PMCID: PMC8272836. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8272836/

30. Xie, Y., Xu, E., Bowe, B. et al. Long-term cardiovascular outcomes of COVID-19. Nat Med 28, 583–590 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-022-01689-3

31. Kavanagh K. COVID-19 and Traffic Accidents: Is a COVID-19 Personality Disorder Caused by Viral Damage to the Prefrontal Cortex? Infection Control Today. Dec. 20, 2022. https://www.infectioncontroltoday.com/view/covid-19-traffic-accidents-covid-19-personality-disorder-caused-viral-damage-prefrontal-cortex-

32. SFS Event: The Maloy Distinguished Lecture in Global Health Featuring Anthony S. Fauci, M.D. Georgetown SFS. Mar. 27, 2023. https://youtu.be/kvhSJ1UOeCs

33. Raymenants, J., Geenen, C., Budts, L. et al. Indoor air surveillance and factors associated with respiratory pathogen detection in community settings in Belgium. Nat Commun 14, 1332 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-36986-z