Skip to main content

Category: Health

Most Wisconsin school districts joined state COVID-19 testing program, but parents say testing still comes with challenges

Posted on
Wisconsin Public Radio

Quoted: Greg DeMuri is a pediatric epidemiologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who has also been advising the Madison Metropolitan School District on its testing program. He said it took some time to get the program up and running, but it’s starting to work well.

“It is very, very useful,” he said. “They are seeing cases there, and detecting cases, and they’re able to keep (sick) kids out of school because of it, so it’s a big asset to the schools and to the community.”

Ron Johnson says mouthwash can kill COVID-19. Manufacturer of Listerine, medical experts say there’s no evidence yet to prove that.

Posted on
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Quoted: Ajay Sethi, associate professor of population health sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health, said no one is discouraging the use of the remedies Johnson is proposing but the public should know they are not proven to be effective in protecting against COVID-19 infection.

“Things like home remedies, vitamins and supplements, new diets have been advertised to and used by people in our society for decades, centuries even, for all sorts of ailments. No one is discouraging their use, but they do not provide tangible benefit against Covid, and they are not a substitute for vaccination,” Sethi said.

Patrick Remington, a former epidemiologist for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and director of the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s preventive medicine residency program, said the NIH relies on proven treatments.

“Simply put, the NIH and other researchers set a high bar for proving that a treatment is effective. Studies done in the lab or in animals, or clinical anecdotes play an important part in the research process, and lead to hypotheses that are then tested in rigorous, controlled trials,” Remington said.

Wisconsin needs more therapists, but a state paperwork backlog keeps many on hold for months

Posted on
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Noted: A 2019 report from the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute that examined gaps in the state’s behavioral health system found that 55 of Wisconsin’s 72 counties had a significant shortage of psychiatrists, particularly of those who could provide support for both mental health and substance use issues.

Omicron variant could test natural immunity, vaccine protection

Posted on
ABC News 4

“Omicron seems more infectious than delta and increases risks for both vaccine and natural immunity, but those with vaccine or natural immunity who are reinfected have far lower risks of severe infection and even lower risks of death,” Dr. Charles Hennekens of Florida Atlantic University and Dr. Dennis Maki of the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health said via email.

Wisconsin reports more than 5,000 COVID-19 cases, daily record for 2021

Posted on
Wisconsin State Journal

In Madison, increasing COVID-19 hospitalizations could lead hospitals to again postpone some elective procedures like knee and hip surgeries if the situation continues to get worse, said Dr. Nasia Safdar, medical director of infection control at UW Health. “The next few weeks are going to be tough,” Safdar said. “If the hospitalizations continue to rise, I think that will put the health systems under enormous stress.”

Wisconsin health officials waiting for more data on omicron coronavirus variant

Posted on
Wisconsin Public Radio

Quoted: Dr. Nasia Safdar, the director of infection control at UW Hospitals and Clinics, said she and other health care experts are wondering whether the omicron variant will be more contagious, how serious infections will be and how effective current vaccines will be in combating it. Safdar said it’s important to remember that even if existing vaccines are less effective on this new strain, they are still likely to offer some protection.

“Every decision that we make in this pandemic is going to be a trade-off between the risk and the benefit, and it’s what can one do to mitigate that risk,” said Safdar. “And of course, we don’t know how this is going to unfold fully yet. But it is a reminder that let’s do everything that we can on our end to mitigate things.”

 

UW Health specialist on next steps in handling Omicron variant

Posted on
NBC-15

A new COVID variant of concern has been named: Omicron. Dr. Dan Shirley with UW Health says there are a few next steps in dealing with this variant to focus on in the weeks to come. “The first step, that is still kind of ongoing, is to one: develop a way so everyone knows to look for this variant,” explained Dr. Shirley, an Infectious Disease Physician.

Doctor: COVID-19 boosters provide path to happy holidays

Posted on
WKOW-TV 27

Doctors at UW Health say the pandemic is now largely one of the unvaccinated. To help protect people and stop new variants from developing and spreading, getting a booster dose is a powerful tool in the fight against the pandemic, according to Dr. Jim Conway, pediatric infectious disease specialist, UW Health, and professor of pediatrics, UW School of Medicine and Public Health.

The COVID Cancer Effect

Posted on
Nature

To assess how missed screenings might affect cancer mortality rates, the National Cancer Institute turned to Oguzhan Alagoz, a professor of industrial and systems engineering at the University of Wisconsin–Madison whose research involves modeling both cancer epidemiology and infectious diseases.

“The question is really interesting because it’s a combination of the two areas I work in,” Alagoz says. His first estimates, unveiled in a widely read editorial published in Science in June by NCI director Normal E. Sharpless, showed that missed screenings might result in 5,000 additional deaths in breast cancer alone over the next decade. A separate group, looking at missed colon cancer screenings, predicted another 5,000 deaths.

When Alagoz produced his breast cancer estimates early in the pandemic, he thought the numbers might not be truly representative. So he worked to refine them, using better data with three powerful cancer models that incorporated numerous factors related to breast cancer—such as delayed screening, treatment effectiveness and long-term survival rates—and the nuanced ways they intersect to affect mortality over time. “Everyone can tell you what will happen immediately, but it’s hard to say what’s going to happen in five or 10 years,” Alagoz says. “If there’s a huge increase in smoking, you’re not going to see more lung cancer right away. You’re going to see that 10 or 15 years down the road.”

 

UW-Platteville’s student vaccination rate is the lowest in the UW System. Why?

Posted on
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

This month, most University of Wisconsin campuses celebrated hitting a threshold of having 70% of students fully-vaccinated against COVID-19 with full pomp and circumstance.

They doled out nearly $500,000 in scholarships through a UW System lottery, with 70 lucky students taking home $7,000 each. Other students won t-shirts, iPads, campus swag and scholarships through campus-sponsored programs aimed at encouraging vaccinations.

But one campus in southwestern Wisconsin — UW-Platteville — fell far short of the 70% goal, illustrating the challenges officials face trying to encourage vaccination in some rural areas.

How to help children process and talk through the Waukesha Christmas Parade tragedy

Posted on
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Quoted: If the child may not be aware of the incident, adults can start with a general question, like, “Were kids at school talking about anything in the news today?” suggested Travis Wright, an associate professor of counseling psychology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

If the answer is no, Wright said an adult may end the conversation with an open invitation, like: “Great. Lots of times there are things we hear about in the news that can be scary. If you ever hear anything that makes you feel upset, please know you can always talk to me.”

In some cases, especially if it’s expected that a child will find out about the incident, adults may want to introduce the subject. Wright suggested sharing something like: “There was a parade and someone injured some people at the parade. If you hear about it, I want you to know you can talk to me about it.”

Mandates drove up COVID-19 vaccination rates at Wisconsin colleges and universities

Posted on
Wisconsin State Journal

The University of Wisconsin System early this year came out against a mandate, a stance that frustrates some students and staff who believe a requirement would not only provide a much safer environment for working and learning but also increase overall vaccination rates. The System instead requires unvaccinated students to test regularly. It has also incentivized students to get the shot by offering $7,000 scholarships to 70 vaccinated students enrolled at a campus that reached a 70% vaccination goal by Oct. 31. At UW-Madison, which did not participate in the incentive campaign and does not have a mandate, 95% of the student body is vaccinated, far and away the best outcome statewide among responding campuses that followed neither route.

UW-Madison tells all employees to get vaccinated, citing Biden’s federal vaccine mandate

Posted on
Wisconsin State Journal

UW-Madison told its employees on Thursday that they must be vaccinated by early 2022 to comply with a vaccine mandate for federal contractors. The university said the order applies to all workers, including student employees, those working remotely from home and part-time workers. About 95% of employees are already fully vaccinated.

Conflict vs. community: How early coronavirus coverage differed in the U.S. and China

Posted on
Nieman Lab

How did major Chinese and U.S. outlets differ in their initial coverage of the Covid-19 pandemic? That’s the central question behind a new study published last week in the Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly journal.

The overall finding: Chinese outlets’ focus on Covid-19 was much more domestic, perhaps because they were focused on trying to contain the outbreak, while the U.S. view was much more focused on politics and the conflict between various levels of government when it came to combatting the crisis.

“Some are more party-focused in China and some more investigative and we tried our best to cover a variety of mainstream outlets,” said Kaiping Chen, an assistant professor of life sciences communication at the University of Wisconsin, Madison and the senior author of the new paper.

UW Health testing COVID-19 vaccine on kids 6 mos. to 5 year-old

Posted on
NBC-15

The University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health participation in pediatric COVID-19 vaccine testing will now target an even younger age group. UW Health is helping test the safety and effectiveness of Moderna’s version of the vaccine on children between the ages of six months and five years old.

UW-Madison testing COVID-19 vaccine in children 6 months to 4 years old

Posted on
Wisconsin Public Radio

As children ages 5 to 11 begin to get vaccinated against COVID-19, even younger kids are participating in clinical trials that will determine if they will be able to get similar protection against the disease in the near future.

This week, the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health announced a phase 3 clinical trial of the Moderna vaccine in kids ages 6 months to 4 years old had filled up. The trial has been underway for two weeks.

Erectile Dysfunction Almost 6x More Likely After Covid-19? Here’s A Warning

Posted on
Forbes

Pearlman is a Clinical Assistant Professor and Men’s Health Program Director of Urology at the University of Iowa. Levine is a Professor of Urology at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago. Le is an Associate Professor of Urology at the University of Wisconsin. Levin then announced, “men who have had Covid are six times more likely to develop erectile dysfunction.”

Sure Signs You May Already Have Dementia

Posted on
Health

“These are often the ones that are distressing both to persons with dementia and especially with their family members,” said Dr. Art Walaszek, Geriatric Psychiatrist, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, on the University of Madison-Wisconsin’s podcast from the Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center.

Moderna says its low-dose COVID shot works for kids 6 to 11

Posted on
NBC-15

The University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health was one of the hospitals that was participating in pediatric clinical trials, dubbed the KidCOVE study, for Moderna. Children as young as six-months and as old as 11 years old were selected for the study, UW Health said when it announced its selection.

Flu vs. COVID-19: How the 2 Illnesses Compare, According to Experts

Posted on
Health.com

Though COVID-19 and the flu can cause many of the same symptoms, and both can lead to cases of pneumonia, respiratory failure, and even acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), COVID-19 can affect the body’s other organ systems more than the flu, James H. Conway, MD, FAAP, a pediatric infectious disease specialist and associate director for health sciences at the Global Health Institute of UW-Madison, tells Health.

‘Sis­terhood of traveling scarves:’ Breast cancer survivor shares her special pay-it-forward effort

Posted on
Spectrum News

A breast cancer survivor found a special way to help other women cope with the debilitating illness through a special scarf sharing project.

UW Madison professor Emerita Gloria Ladson-Billings said she discovered scarves after chemotherapy left her with hair loss.

“And in some ways, I didn’t think anything about it, except I’m going to do for me; I’m going to wear a scarf,” Ladson-Billings said.

Wisconsin parents suing school boards over lack of COVID-19 protocols face an ‘uphill battle.’ Here’s why.

Posted on
Appleton Post-Crescent

Noted: Julie Underwood, a retired faculty member of the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Education and Law School, said the argument in the lawsuits are based on a claim of negligence: The school districts have a responsibility to provide reasonable care of the child, and failed to do so.

If it’s determined that immunity doesn’t apply here, the next question would be whether  it was reasonable for the school boards not to require masks, Underwood said.

COVID-19 positive students temporarily housed at Eagle Heights spark debate among graduate students, faculty

Posted on
Daily Cardinal

UW-Madison communications, health and housing staff held an online town hall Aug. 19 to address resident’s concerns. If residents wear masks and avoid interacting with COVID-19 positive students, “there’s really no real increase of risk of having people in these spaces,” Collin Pitts, associate director of campus health, said at the meeting.

Will eliminating quantitative popularity on Instagram actually make it safe for kids?

Posted on
Mashable

Megan Moreno, a principal investigator of the Social Media and Adolescent Health Research Team at the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, told Mashable that there’s space to try out what we can to make social media safer. While she thinks the idea of fully eliminating quantitative popularity is “an interesting idea,” she is “not hugely optimistic that it will make a gigantic difference.” That’s because the idea of likes is so engrained in our society already, that the concept will be there if it’s turned off or not. And, she adds, popularity isn’t completely numerical.