Health

(NEW YORK) — A Washington state mother is warning about the dangers of respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, after her 7-month-old daughter was hospitalized with the illness.

Mya Walker said her daughter, Ariella Rain, was a happy, healthy baby until the end of October, when she started developing symptoms of RSV.

“She had a cough for like a day and usually she typically was coughing after she ate her bottle so I wasn’t really worried about it,” Walker told ABC News. “And then I was at work and her grandma actually took her temperature and it came back 102 F. So that’s when we took her to the emergency room.”

Ariella was taken to Legacy Salmon Creek Medical Center in Vancouver on Oct. 28, where she was diagnosed with RSV.

Across the United States, cases of RSV have been appearing earlier this year than usual and are on the rise. According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 13,126 infections were diagnosed in September 2022 — which rose to 47,910 for the month of October.

According to the CDC, other symptoms can include runny nose, sneezing, wheezing and a decrease in appetite.

RSV is especially dangerous among infants and babies, with an estimated 58,000 to 80,000 children under age 5 being hospitalized with the virus, the CDC said.

However, some are at an even greater risk of severe illness, including those born prematurely, immunocompromised children and those suffering from congenital heart and lung diseases.

Ariella was born prematurely on March 24, at 30 weeks, via emergency C-section weighing one pound, five ounces because she was not thriving inside the womb, according to Walker.

She also has pulmonary vein stenosis, a rare condition in which the blood vessels that bring blood from the lungs to the heart are too narrow or even blocked.

However, Walker said that despite Ariella’s medical conditions, she was thriving and hitting her developmental milestones.

“Outside of her sickness, she was pretty much just a normal baby, always laughing and kicking her feet,” Walker said.

However, not long after Ariella was admitted to the hospital, she was transferred to Oregon Health & Science University Doernbecher Children’s Hospital in Portland, where she is currently in the pediatric intensive care unit.

Walker said Ariella’s lungs have been so greatly affected by RSV that she developed bronchitis, or inflammation of her airways. She has since been on a ventilator and even had to be put on an Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) machine.

The machine pumps a patient’s blood outside the body, oxygenates it and then sends it back into the bloodstream, which allows the heart and lungs to rest.

Walker said the past several days have been very difficult. She has been at the hospital every day with Ariella while her partner stays home with their 5-year-old daughter.

Walker said the hospital is not allowing child visitors so her older daughter can’t visit Ariella.

“It’s been really hard on her sister because her sister loves [Ariella] so much and wants to see her but she’s not able to come up here and see her,” she said.

On Nov. 2, Ariella went into respiratory arrest, which is when a person stops breathing, and had to have CPR performed on her as well as intubation.

“It was the scariest [moment of my life],” Walker said. “I never want to see my child get CPR ever again. It was so scary. I lost it.”

Although Ariella has since been taken off the ECMO machine, Walker said she has a long way to go before she’s close to recovering. She said she wants to warn other families about the dangers of RSV and to make sure they receive medical attention if they notice a change in behavior.

“My main message is to warn families of this RSV, and this season is really, really bad,” she said. “So just really pay attention to your child’s behavior, because my daughter, she was just learning how to laugh and the next day she was critically ill.”

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(NEW YORK) — Weekly flu cases, hospitalizations and deaths have nearly doubled for the second week in a row, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

So far this season, there have been at least 2.8 million illnesses, 23,000 hospitalizations and 1,300 deaths from influenza.

By comparison, the prior week’s estimates had illnesses at 1.6 million, hospitalizations at 13,000 and deaths at 730.

Additionally, the cumulative hospitalization rate currently sits at 5 per 100,000, which is the highest at this point in the season since the 2010-11 season, as far back as statistics are available.

What’s more, 6,465 new patients were admitted to hospital this past week with flu complications, according to the CDC, compared to 4,326 the previous week.

Fourteen states — mostly in the southeast and south-central regions of the U.S. — as well as New York City and Washington, D.C., are reporting “very high” levels of influenza-like activity.

Experts have stressed that getting the flu shot is the best way to protect Americans from severe illness and death, but vaccine uptake has been sluggish in comparison with previous flu seasons during the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to CDC data, flu vaccination among children remains similar to last season but is lower than two years ago.

As of the week ending Oct. 22, the latest date for which data is available, 24.8% have been vaccinated against flu in comparison with 32.1% at this time in October 2020.

CDC data shows that flu vaccinations among pregnant women are much lower compared to previous seasons.

At the end of September, the latest date for which data is available, 21% of pregnant women were vaccinated against the flu. By comparison, 26.4% had been vaccinated by the end of September 2021 and 38% had been at the end of September 2020.

This is especially concerning because pregnant women are more likely to fall severely ill and die compared to women who are not pregnant.

Receiving a flu shot can lower a pregnant woman’s risk of being hospitalized from flu by around 40%, according to the CDC.

Additionally, a recent study jointly conducted by the CDC and the University of Auckland, in New Zealand, found that women who receive a flu vaccine have a lower risk of complications, including premature birth, low birthweight and stillbirth.

The newest data comes as the U.S. experiences a surge of respiratory illnesses, including respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV.

Data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services showed 78% of the estimated 40,000 pediatric hospital beds in the country are filled with patients — the highest figure recorded in two years.

ABC News’ Sony Salzman and Eric Strauss contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(NEW YORK) — Although it’s still early in the flu season, hospitals around the country are seeing more and more cases of the virus, with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reporting there were at least 2.8 million cases, 23,000 hospitalizations and 1,300 deaths as of last week.

The higher-than-usual increase in flu cases is stretching hospitals to capacity, many of which are already trying to manage a surge in RSV cases in children as well as address ongoing COVID-19 cases.

Flu, which is caused by influenza viruses, is a contagious illness. According to the CDC, anyone can get the flu and symptoms of the virus include body or muscle aches, a cough, fatigue, fever, headache, a runny or stuffy nose and sore throat. Diarrhea and vomiting may also occur but these symptoms tend to affect children more than adults. Those who are at higher risk of developing complications from the flu include older adults over the age of 65, individuals with chronic medical conditions, pregnant women and young children, especially those 2 and under.

Dr. Ashish Jha, the White House’s COVID-19 response coordinator, told “Good Morning America” that one of the best ways to protect against the flu and COVID-19 is to get vaccinated.

“We are seeing a resurgence of flu. We’re seeing COVID cases tick up. But the good news is we’ve got two highly effective vaccines and the most important thing people can do to protect themselves and their families this holiday season is to get those vaccines,” Jha said. “And we are ready. We’re ready to help hospitals if they’re overwhelmed if they need extra staffing. We’re ready to manage this flu and COVID season ahead.”

Individuals can choose to get both their flu and COVID vaccines at the same time or wait to space them out, according to guidance from the CDC.

“I got them both at the same time. Totally safe, totally reasonable to do that. That’s what I’ve been recommending,” Jha said. “Obviously, if you want to keep them apart, that’s fine, but I really think it’s totally safe and very effective to get them at the same time and then you’re just done.”

The vaccines are not 100% preventative but Jha said they are effective in protecting against serious illnesses.

“If you get this vaccine, it is still possible to get the flu. These vaccines are not 100% effective at preventing infection, but they are terrific at preventing serious illness. They’ll keep you out of the hospital. They’ll keep you out of the ICU and that’s what really matters,” he said.

Jha added that this year’s flu vaccine appears to be a good match to the dominant flu virus strain in circulation.

“It’s actually quite effective,” he said. “It is not every year but this year, it really looks like it’s a very good match.”

And for those who say they’re tired of getting yet another vaccine, Jha has this message: “It’s obviously been a tough two-and-a-half years. I think some people have gotten out of practice of getting their annual flu shot. What I remind people is we’ve been doing this for a long time. In the fall, we go out and get the flu vaccine. This year, add that COVID vaccine. If people do that, it’s a great way to make sure you have a safe and non-disruptive holiday season ahead.”

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(NEW YORK) — American biotechnology company Moderna announced Monday that a booster dose of its bivalent COVID-19 vaccine performs better against two circulating versions of the omicron variant, compared with a booster shot of its original formula.

The news echoes a similar announcement made earlier this month by American pharmaceutical company Pfizer and its German partner, BioNTech, about their own bivalent booster shot.

In late August, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorized bivalent formulations of COVID-19 vaccines developed by Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech for use as a single booster dose at least two months following primary or booster vaccination, designed to be a better match against the BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants. Since then, more than 31 million Americans have received the updated booster shots, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Each of the companies now have released data indicating their new formulations generate a superior antibody response against the current omicron subvariants.

According to a press release, new data from a Phase 2-3 clinical trial shows Moderna’s bivalent vaccine triggered antibody responses against the BA.4 and BA.5 omicron subvariants that were on average 15.1-fold higher, compared with the company’s prototype vaccine, when measured in adults approximately nine and a half months after prior vaccination. The safety and tolerability profile of the bivalent booster remains similar to the original vaccine, with adverse events “generally lower than the second dose of the primary series,” Moderna said.

The company noted that a preliminary analysis suggests its bivalent booster showed “neutralizing activity” against a descendant of BA.5 called BQ.1.1, which comprises a growing portion of COVID-19 cases. Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel praised the data in a statement, saying it confirms “that updated vaccines have the potential to offer protection as the virus continues to evolve rapidly to escape our immunity.”

Moderna’s analysis, as described in the press release, has not been vetted through the normal scientific review process.

Smaller independent studies by outside scientists suggest there is little difference between antibody responses produced by the original and updated formulas of the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines, though both boosted antibody protection.

All of these studies are conducted by taking blood samples from recently vaccinated participants and measuring antibodies in a laboratory. They give us a hint of how well the vaccines might work but do not tell the full story of their effectiveness. Vaccines are still expected to offer a high level of protection against severe illness.

Once the dominant viral strain, the BA.5 subvariant is now estimated to account for about 30% of all new COVID-19 cases in the United States, according to the CDC. Newer versions of the omicron variant, such as BQ.1 and BQ.1.1, are slowly overtaking as a proportion of estimated cases, at 20% and 24%, respectively. These subvariants are descendants of BA.5.

The current COVID-19 situation in the U.S. is relatively stable, with cases rising slightly as hospitalizations and deaths remain comparatively consistent.

As the world nears its third year of the COVID-19 pandemic and the virus continues to evolve, booster shots are expected to bolster protection against severe illness but not necessarily mild or asymptomatic breakthrough infections.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(NEW YORK) — A Michigan pediatric hospital is reporting it is completely full due to a surge of cases linked to respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV.

C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital in Ann Arbor — which is about 44 miles west of Detroit — said it has seen 259 children sick with RSV this season, a 46% spike from the same number seen this time last year.

Hospital officials said they are worried that this surge — coupled with an earlier flu season and a potential new COVID-19 wave — could put more stress on the health care system.

“We have been 100% full, I think we’re going on our sixth week, and RSV seems to have emerged earlier this year and in higher numbers this year,” Luanne Thomas Ewald, chief operating officer at Mott Children’s Hospital, told ABC News. “And the fact that we’re already full is concerning to us because we’re just starting to see flu in our emergency room.”

She continued, “Some reports have told us that we will also see an increase in COVID in kids during this flu season. So we haven’t really even seen the full impacts of the flu and COVID — and we’re already at capacity.”

The situation in Michigan is just the latest example of some hospitals across the country reporting they have reached capacity due to a high number of RSV cases.

According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, weekly RSV cases nationwide have risen from 5,872 the week ending Oct. 1 to 8,597 the week ending Nov. 5.

In Michigan, the 5-week average of positive RSV tests has increased from 95.7 the week ending Oct. 1 to 257 the week ending Oct. 29, the latest date for which CDC data is available.

Because of this, officials say wait times in the emergency department at Mott Children’s Hospital are much longer than usual.

To ease the burden on emergency room staff, Ewald said she and other hospital officials are asking parents to call their children’s primary care physician first to determine whether they need such treatment.

“Most pediatricians can diagnose RSV and can treat RSV, and most kids recover really, really well with rest and hydration,” Ewald said. “We’re really trying to tell the community throughout the state of Michigan, please partner with your pediatrician. Let’s use our urgent cares as well and only come to the emergency room when absolutely necessary.”

Although it’s rare, between 100 and 500 pediatric deaths occur from RSV every year, according to the CDC. Deaths among children from RSV have already been reported in states including Michigan and Virginia.

Ewald said the hospital is working to increase capacity by treating children in rooms traditionally used to draw blood and in stretchers lined up in the hallway, and they’re doubling up stretchers in private rooms. The hospital is also looking at transferring patients to local medical centers.

“We are working very closely with our community hospitals. Some of our community hospitals do have some pediatric beds available,” Ewald said. “So we’re really trying to take a statewide approach to make sure we’re taking care of these kids in our state.”

She also encouraged parents to make sure their children are up to date on their flu and COVID-19 vaccines, practice good hand hygiene and to consider masking indoors.

 

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(LONDON) — The head of the World Health Organization said Wednesday that there has been a 90% drop in global COVID-19 deaths since February, which he called a “cause for optimism” but still urged “caution” amid the ongoing pandemic.

“Just over 9,400 COVID-19 deaths were reported to WHO last week — almost 90% less than in February of this year, when weekly deaths topped 75,000,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said during a virtual press briefing from the U.N. agency’s Geneva headquarters.

“We have come a long way, and this is definitely cause for optimism, but we continue to call on all governments, communities and individuals to remain vigilant,” he added. “Almost 10,000 deaths a week is 10,000 too many, for a disease that can be prevented and treated.”

Tedros warned that COVID-19 testing and sequencing rates remain low globally, vaccination gaps between wealthy and poor nations are still wide and “concerning” new variants continue to proliferate.

“WHO continues to urge caution, and we continue to urge everyone to be fully vaccinated — including getting your next dose if it’s due,” he said.

A novel coronavirus now known as SARS-CoV-2 was first identified from an outbreak in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The virus, which causes the disease COVID-19, quickly spread around the globe, prompting the WHO to declare a pandemic in March 2020.

So far, more than 634 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 have been reported worldwide and over 6.6 million people have died, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

The highly contagious omicron variant and its fast-spreading subvariant BA.5 are currently the dominant versions of the virus globally, according to the WHO.

A number of vaccines against COVID-19 have been developed and approved around the world, including new bivalent booster shots that target omicron subvariants. More than 12.8 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered worldwide, according to Johns Hopkins data.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(KANSAS CITY) — An elementary school in Kansas City, Kansas, has become one of the latest to temporarily close due to a surge in respiratory illnesses among students and staff.

Christ the King Catholic School closed for three days starting Wednesday “due to illness,” including flu and RSV (respiratory syncytial virus), the school announced this week.

“With the high number of positive Influenza A and RSV cases among our faculty, staff, and students, we will be disinfecting the building as well,” the school said on social media on Tuesday. “Please pray for the health of our CTK community.”

School officials told ABC Kansas City, Missouri, affiliate KMBC-TV that out of 250 students, 50 to 60 were out sick. Seven of the school’s 21 teachers also have the flu, RSV or COVID-19, the station reported.

“Just anticipating that it would continue to spread this week, we went ahead and called it so that we could also disinfect the building,” Principal Cathy Fithian told KMBC.

A shortage of faculty also factored into the decision.

“If you can’t staff your building and have teachers in the classrooms, you just can’t have school,” she told KMBC.

The school did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.

The closure comes as the region is seeing a surge in pediatric emergency department visits for flu-like symptoms, including RSV. The common respiratory virus typically causes mild, cold-like symptoms, though can be serious for some, especially infants and older adults.

Overland Park Regional Medical Center said it has seen a 100% increase in patients coming into the pediatric emergency department since school started for seasonal illnesses such as bronchiolitis, which is most commonly caused by RSV, and flu.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data shows an increase in confirmed RSV cases for the Midwest region, which includes Kansas and Missouri, starting in September.

Nationwide, RSV cases have risen from 2,191 cases for the week ending Sept. 3 to 13,759 for the week ending Oct. 29, CDC data shows.

According to the CDC, respiratory illnesses are appearing earlier, and in more people, than is typical.

Doctors have warned that Americans may face a “tripledemic” this year, with rising RSV cases alongside the spread of COVID-19 and the flu this fall and winter.

Children are likely being exposed to viruses now that pandemic restrictions such as masking, social distancing and lockdowns have been mostly lifted, public health experts say.

School districts in several states have also been impacted by illness this school year.

In Kentucky, all Fayette County Public Schools closed on Monday “because of widespread illness among students and staff,” the district said. In North Carolina, Jackson County Public Schools were also closed on Monday “as a result of illness and staffing concerns.”

In Alabama, public schools in Marshall County went remote this week due to an increase in flu cases among students and staff.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(NEW YORK) — Two quick-thinking Kansas City, Missouri, police officers are being hailed as heroes after they sprang into action and saved a newborn baby’s life.

Officers Richard DuChaine and Charles Owen responded to a call Thursday about a baby who was not breathing, according to Kansas City police.

DuChaine immediately began chest compressions and then back thrusts on the small baby girl. By the time EMS providers arrived, Kamiya was breathing again.

“We always had that fear in the back of our head that, ‘Is what we’re doing enough? Is it going to be enough to bring her back?'” DuChaine told ABC News’ Good Morning America. “Obviously, once we are able to bring her back, that was a huge sigh of relief.”

Kamiya was rushed to the hospital where her mother said she was diagnosed with respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, an illness that is surging to record levels among children across the country.

Each year in the United States, an estimated 58,000 to 80,000 children younger than 5 years old are hospitalized due to RSV infection, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Most children recover in a week or two, but RSV can be serious, especially for infants and the elderly.

The baby’s mother, Tajanea Allen, said Kamiya is back home and that the two men are her heroes.

“He’s a hero, he’s my hero. He’s my daughter’s hero. He’s a hero, like I would do anything for the man,” said Allen. “The man is a hero, he saved my daughter.”

DuChaine and Owen said they were just fulfilling their duty.

“We don’t feel like heroes. We just feel like we did something good,” said Owen.

DuChaine added, “We don’t do this job to be called heroes. We do this job to preserve life and … just overall, just protecting the people of the city.”

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(NEW YORK) — Relaxed PSA screening guidelines may be leading to more late-stage cancer diagnoses, and the current recommendations updated to address this concern might preferentially serve white men, a new study suggests.

One in eight men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in their lifetime, according to the American Cancer Society (ACS). One of the only available ways to screen for prostate cancer is by measuring levels of a protein called prostate specific antigen (PSA). But for years, doctors have debated the usefulness of this test, arguing that not all prostate cancer needs to be diagnosed, since it’s not always lethal, and doesn’t always need treatment.

“Many cases are extremely slow growing. Patients will die with prostate cancer, but not necessarily from prostate cancer,” said Dr. Moshe Ornstein, a genitourinary oncologist at Cleveland Clinic.

In 2012, a panel of experts known as the United States Preventative Task Force (USPSTF) recommended against PSA screening altogether, citing that universal testing may inflict harm due to overtreatment.

But since then, mounting evidence emerged linking less screening with more metastatic prostate cancer, meaning it has spread to distant organs and is no longer curable.

“Metastatic prostate cancer will require lifelong therapy,” Ornstein said.

According to the ACS, five-year survival drops from over 99% with local disease, to 31% once distant.

In 2018, after backlash, the USPSTF revised the guideline, recommending that patients talk to their doctors to determine if PSA screening is right for them, intending for this model to identify those most at risk.

Black men are twice as likely to die from prostate cancer compared to white men, so experts hoped that under the new guidelines, this demographic would be screened. But a new study out in JAMA found that Black men, despite their risk, may not be benefiting from the recommendations as they are currently written.

Researchers from the University of Kansas Medical Center included nearly three million men in their analysis. They trended rates of metastatic prostate cancer in relation to changing guidelines, and found that when PSA testing was discouraged entirely, metastatic disease rose in all groups. But after the guidelines were revised to recommend a conversation with a doctor, mounting rates plateaued in white men, but continued to climb in Black men.

Previous studies also found that after receiving the same education, White patients more often found PSA testing more beneficial, while Black patients more heavily considered the risk, their reasoning often informed by personal and historical experiences of racism and discrimination in healthcare.

“It doesn’t surprise me,” said Dr. Lee Kirksey, co-director of the Center for Multicultural Cardiovascular Care at Cleveland Clinic. “Black Americans have some degree of mistrust of the healthcare system. It is historical context that has been passed down through generations.”

Countless historical injustices have been implicated in this phenomenon, examples dating back as early as the 1840s, when enslaved African American women received experimental gynecological procedures without anesthesia.

Even as recently as the 1970s U.S. physicians were conducting trials withholding treatment from African American men with syphilis, watching as hundreds of men went blind, died and passed on the disease to their spouses and children.

“If you’re from a culturally Black family, you’ve heard of those stories,” Kirksey said. “And those stories are reinforced by the inequities we are seeing today.”

There may be ways to work toward better communication with minority patients, Kirksey said. Increasing patient-physician racial and ethnic concordance may help in establishing trust. Implicit bias training may teach physicians to identify the barriers to effective communication. Additionally, outreach programs may serve to meet patients where they are, using the voices of trusted healthcare workers from the community, in a location where patients are most comfortable.

“There are still concerns within the Black community,” Kirksey said. “It’s important that we continue to acknowledge those concerns, and implement solutions to address them.”

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(NEW YORK) — Six months ago, Dr. Joseph Boselli said he was prescribing the antiviral drug Paxlovid to nearly everyone who turned up at his practice with COVID.

Now, the internal medicine physician at Jefferson Health in Philadelphia said he’s reserving it mostly for people who are 60-plus, with serious health problems, or who aren’t up-to-date on their vaccines.

“I got four calls today, but I only gave Paxlovid to two because they were older,” said Boselli, an internal medicine physician at Jefferson Health in Philadelphia.

After Paxlovid hit the market in December 2021, the bitter, metallic-tasting antiviral pills were so successful at reducing the risk of hospitalization with COVID that many doctors were willing to prescribe the drug to younger adults too despite federal guidelines suggesting it should only go to high-risk patients.

The drug stops the virus from replicating in the body and works best when taken within five days of getting symptoms.

Now, after more than 164 million courses of Paxlovid have been shipped around the world since April, doctors say a clearer picture of the drug is emerging, including its limitations with younger population and the possibility of rebound.

“The tincture of time has showed us that while it is a great drug, and it really does work, it’s not meant for everybody,” said Boselli.

Here are three things to know:

Paxlovid helps older people survive COVID, but younger, healthy people see little benefit

Overall, the drug works as promised, doctors say, by dramatically reducing the chances that an older or high-risk individual might wind up hospitalized or dead.

What’s more is that it might help prevent “long COVID.”

A study released on Monday by the Veterans Administration looking at the medical records of 56,000 people found that taking Paxlovid early decreased the chances of experiencing “long COVID” by some 25%.

Still, the drug isn’t right for everyone, including people taking certain medications such as some cholesterol-lowering drugs and blood thinners.

Also, one study released this summer found little to no benefit for younger adults when looking at some 100,000 patients in Israel. While researchers found the drug reduced hospitalization by roughly 75% when given soon after infection to people 65-plus, it saw no measurable benefit for people ages 40 to 64.

In June, Pfizer announced it would stop enrolling “standard-risk” patients in a trial to see if the broader public might benefit.

In a statement at the time, Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said, “With up to 40-50% of people around the world estimated to be high risk, we believe there remains a significant unmet need for treatment options to help combat this disease, and we will continue to prioritize efforts to advance the development of Paxlovid.”

‘Rebound’ cases are real and seriously underestimated

Less understood about Paxlovid and COVID in general is a person’s chance of “rebound” — a phenomenon in which a person recovers from an infection and tests negative, only to redevelop COVID symptoms or test positive within eight days after recovering.

The experience is frustrating because the recommendation is that the person return to isolation for another five days because people testing positive during rebound are thought to remain contagious.

The good news is that rebound cases are mild and mostly inconvenient, not life threatening.

The likelihood of getting rebound after taking Paxlovid was initially thought to be very small, less than 2 percent in most cases, according to the Food and Drug Administration and Pfizer, the company that makes the drug.

But doctors say those estimates now seem too low compared to the number of rebound cases being reported, including high-profile examples at the White House.

President Joe Biden and his wife Jill; Biden’s top medical adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci; and Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, each experienced rebound.

Doctors interviewed by ABC News put the real estimate of Paxlovid rebound at anywhere from 10 percent to as much as 30 percent of cases, even though no one knows for sure.

“I’m telling them (patients), it’s very common,” said Dr. George Diaz, of the Infectious Disease Society of America, of Paxlovid rebound.

But Diaz said he’s also telling patients that about a third of people who get COVID experience rebound even without treatment.

“There’s a good chance that you’ll have a rebound whether you take treatment or not,” he said. And with Paxlovid, studies have found “it significantly reduced chance of hospitalization and death,” Diaz added.

US officials more worried about COVID deaths than reports of mild rebound

Health experts and U.S. regulators says they are more concerned that vulnerable patients aren’t getting the drug than they are concerned about healthy people rebounding.

After Walensky wound up with her own case of Paxlovid, the CDC director noted there are still some 400 deaths a day due to COVID and made clear there were no plans to pull back on the government’s recommendation of the drug.

Bob Califf, her FDA counterpart, agreed. He announced on Monday that he tested positive for COVID over the weekend, and a spokesperson confirmed he is being treated with Paxlovid.

“I’m concerned that the discussions about ‘Paxlovid rebound’ are distracting us from the basis for the (drug’s authorization): a substantial reduction in death and hospitalization for high-risk patients,” he tweeted.

Dr. Judith O’Donnell, an infectious disease specialist at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, said she agrees there are serious benefits for people 50-plus as well as younger patients with serious underlying health conditions like asthma, obesity or kidney disease.

“The drug does make a real and measurable difference in the trajectory of the infection,” she said.

So “even though there’s a risk of rebound, that would not prevent me from using it in the correct patient,” she later added.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.