Mosquito-borne Disease News:

• New Hampshire’s mosquitoes are testing positive for EEE at the highest rates in 5 years. (WMUR)
• West Nile first arrived in the Western Hemisphere in NYC 25 years ago, but warming temperatures make the fight to contain it harder. (USA Today)

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Health News: 

• September is National Food Safety Education month! (FDA)
• Independent pharmacies warn of delays as Pfizer and Moderna COVID shots roll out, though major chains like CVS and Walgreens are already stocked. (NBC)
• COVID is still very high across the country, with a 17% test positivity rate that actually exceeds the most recent winter surge. (Atlantic)
• Long COVID knocked about a million Americans off of their career paths and out of the labor force. (WSJ)
• The first wrongful death suit was filed in the Boar’s Head listeriosis outbreak. (QA Magazine)
• 47 million people in the U.S. have gone hungry over the past few years, including 6.5 million households with kids. (Newsweek)
• As record heat sweeps the U.S., some people have to choose between food and energy bills. (KFF Health News)
• The FDA is investigating a new outbreak of Salmonella Enteritidis, with 66 cases from an unknown source. (FDA)
• A new study shows Parkinson’s may start in the gut. (Washington Post)
• The first 100,000 doses of mpox vaccine reached Congo, but it’s just a fraction of what’s needed to quell the outbreak. (AP)
• Of 100+ people who traveled in 2021-22 with clade II mpox (the kind that we have here in the U.S.), there was no transmission to other travelers. (MMWR)
• A legionnaires’ disease outbreak has killed 3 and hospitalized 20 in an assisted living facility in upstate New York. (AP)
• Farmed fur animals harbor viruses with zoonotic spillover potential - looking at 461 animals that died of disease in China found 36 novel viruses and 39 high-risk ones, including flu and coronaviruses. (Nature)

Mental Health & Substance Use News:

• In the wake of the latest tragic school shooting in Georgia, the APA has resources for how to manage your own distress and how to talk to kids. (APA)
• Studies show that therapy via text messages or voice notes is just as good as live teletherapy. (TIME)

If you or someone you know may be considering suicide or need help, call or text 988.

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Best Questions:

When should I get a flu shot? 

It’s possible to get your flu shot too soon since it only offers maximum protection for a few months, and the height of flu season tends to peak in the winter months. Knowing exactly when flu season will peak is a bit of a guessing game, but generally, it’s best to wait until mid-September at the earliest and the end of October at the latest. Remember, it takes about two weeks for the shots to become fully effective, so if you have a big event that you really want to be protected for during that time, be sure to go get your vaccination a couple of weeks before the big day. If you are likely to only go in once for a vaccination, you may want to go a bit sooner during that window and get both your COVID and flu shots together. If it’s easy for you to go in, you might consider a COVID shot sooner and waiting until a bit later to get your flu shot closer, so that you have maximum flu protection during December and January. Either way, you should absolutely go to get a flu shot before Halloween!

Source: NY Times, NBC

Does getting a COVID shot actually reduce the risk of long COVID? 

The short answer here is that you can’t get long COVID if you don’t get COVID. Most of the research that looked into this has found that getting a COVID vaccination reduces the likelihood of long COVID by anywhere from 15-70%, but generally averages about half. A new study from the Mayo Clinic appears to contradict that by showing no major impact of vaccination on long COVID, calling our general understanding into question. But when you dig into it, it’s more a matter of defining “long COVID” than anything else. The Mayo Clinic study only looked at people who got a confirmed doctor’s diagnosis of long COVID after a positive PCR test for COVID, and over 90% of them were white. That group likely over-indexes on people who have different healthcare behaviors and access than the general population, so it may not be a result that we can generalize to everyone. Most other studies include a more varied group and rely on patient-reported symptoms rather than an official diagnosis. While more research is absolutely needed, it still tracks that getting vaccinated reduces your chances of getting COVID for the next few months, and the fewer times you get COVID, the less likely you are to develop long COVID. 

Sources: CIDRAP

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Best Read:

Why Mosquitoes Are So Dangerous Right Now | TIME

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