COVID-19 Update: April 18th, 2022
- Ginger Cameron, PhD
- Apr 18, 2022
- 2 min read
A few weird COVID items you may not yet have seen in the news.
A few dozen children in Europe developed severe acute hepatitis (a disease of the liver) without having the virus that causes hepatitis. That is pretty weird. Now, we have seen the same thing in some otherwise healthy children in Alabama. The WHO is investigating if this could be COVID-caused/related. Symptoms include jaundice, diarrhea, vomiting, and abdominal pain. You can read the official WHO information here. Just something to keep an eye on.
Four cases of COVID in Michigan have been linked to a mink farm. Animal to human transmission is important to us because antigenic shift (those more drastic mutations we discussed) can occur when the virus changes between animals and humans. So this is something to watch as well. Another reason this matters to you is that when a virus or disease has an animal host it makes it much less likely we will ever be rid of it.
Not COVID-related, but PA and Utah have been added to the states reporting bird flu in their commercial birds. So expect even more shortages and price increases for poultry and eggs. You can read more about that here.
FINAL THOUGHTS: Each time I write an update I honestly believe it will be the last one. This blog was really about helping us all make it through and understand something historic and unprecedented in our lifetimes. Enough time has passed that we know so much more than we did and so the need for this is so much less - and that is a good thing. Yes, cases are ticking back up. Of course, they are, we had 10 weeks of immunity and at the end of those 10 weeks, cases started ticking back up. But then I see some little thing and I think, "I should share that with them" so I hope you don't mind that I do.
A special shout-out to my daughter who turned 18 today and declared that she is "now an adult" which made me laugh so hard I nearly peed my pants.
I must say, I am glad that the updates have slowed, which is a weird comment to make on anyone's blog/content.
But thank you for keeping us posted on anything that develops 😊
Please never stop Dr. Cameron!
Appreciate you and your willingness to share. Happy Birthday to your daughter. May want to mention adulthood is not all it is cracked up to be. Hope she has a fantastic day.
That's what my 27 year old said when she got married two weeks ago. I didn't laugh out loud, only in my head. She was still asking for cut up apples at age 20. Not going to happen. Good thing her husband is a good southern boy. My oldest was an adult at age 8. But it interesting to see the difference in people and kids with the same parents and same homes. Like public health, so many factors and such a difference in personal perspectives. Have a blessed week.