Medical Bulletin 17/November/2022

Currently many vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 have substantially been found to reduce mortality and severe progression of the disease, but protection against infection is less effective. Vaccinated individuals are still catching COVID-19 and can spread the infection, so breakthrough infections are still occurring.

Researchers from the Centenary Institute and the University of Sydney have developed a new nasal vaccination strategy that induces potent lung immunity and protection against the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus.

Reference:

Mucosal TLR2-activating protein-based vaccination induces potent pulmonary immunity and protection against SARS-CoV-2 in mice. DOI:https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-34297-3.

Flu shots can protect patients with heart failure from death

The flu has long been associated with an increased risk of life-threatening cardiovascular events, and people with heart failure are already vulnerable to poor health outcomes.

An international study led by McMaster University researchers and published in The Lancet Global Health has found that influenza vaccines greatly reduce both pneumonia and cardiovascular complications in people with heart failure. The study is the first clinical trial of the flu vaccine's effectiveness in patients with heart failure.

Reference:

Flu shots can protect patients with heart failure from death; JOURNAL: The Lancet Global Health.

Keeping indoor humidity levels at a "sweet spot" may reduce spread of COVID-19

The term relative humidity is the amount of moisture in the air compared to the total moisture the air can hold at a given temperature before saturating and forming condensation.

In a study appearing in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface, it reports that maintaining an indoor relative humidity between 40 and 60 percent is associated with relatively lower rates of Covid-19 infections and deaths, while indoor conditions outside this range are associated with worse Covid-19 outcomes. To put this into perspective, most people are comfortable between 30 and 50 percent relative humidity, and an airplane cabin is at around 20 percent relative humidity.

Reference:

Keeping indoor humidity levels at a "sweet spot" may reduce spread of COVID-19; MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, Journal of The Royal Society Interface.