Paxlovid rebound: the latest Covid riddle

By now we’ve all heard the stories about Paxlovid rebound. Pfizer’s famously effective antiviral medication tamps down symptoms of Covid-19, but some people see symptoms return after they finish their five days of pills. Some of them test positive again for the coronavirus. So far these are just stories: Nearly a month after NIH officials said they needed to get “an urgent handle on the issue,” researchers still don’t know how common rebound is. “There’s no question rebound happens, we’ve seen it since the beginning of the pandemic,” Andre Kalil of the University of Nebraska Medical Center told STAT’s Jason Mast. “The question is, is the rebound related to infection itself? Is the rebound related to the administration of drugs like Paxlovid, or is a rebound related to neither?” Read more on implications for the most effective Covid-19 treatment to date.

European officials warn of endemic monkeypox

(Hyacinth Empinado/STAT)

Rising monkeypox cases are causing concern in Europe, where health officials fear monkeypox could become endemic if the outbreak continues and the virus spills over into animals. That risk is real but “very low,” officials from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control said yesterday, acknowledging that little is known about how the region's species might serve as a host for the virus. WHO counts fewer than 200 confirmed and suspected cases in 11 countries in Europe (the U.S., Canada, Israel, and Australia also have confirmed cases), but additional cases are likely. Monkeypox is endemic in West and Central Africa, where human infections are sporadic. Once the virus jumps to people, transmission can occur via respiratory droplets or contact with monkeypox lesions, bodily fluids, or contaminated clothing or linens. STAT’s Helen Branswell has more; and watch Hyacinth Empinado's new explainer with Helen on the disease.

CRISPR’ing the sunshine vitamin into a tomato

About 1 billion people in the world don’t get enough vitamin D to stave off malnutrition; cardiovascular, musculoskeletal, and neurologic disease; and cancer. Our bodies make some provitamin D3, a precursor of the vitamin that UVB rays turn into vitamin D, but not enough. That means we need to find the vitamin in foods such as eggs or fish, or in less-than-ideal supplements. New research in Nature Plants reports success in using the gene-editing tool CRISPR to engineer a tomato whose provitamin D3 equals what two medium eggs or 28 grams of tuna provide, conceivably helping children and adults meet their dietary requirements. The scientists achieved this by knocking out an enzyme in the tomato that ordinarily converts this provitamin into cholesterol. “The tomato could be developed as a plant-based, sustainable source of vitamin D3,” the authors write.

Closer look: Google wants to know if our smartphones are making us miserable

(adobe)

Google hopes to find out if the devices in our hands are affecting our minds. That’s how STAT’s Mario Aguilar sums up a new study teaming the tech behemoth with University of Oregon researchers to better understand how people's smartphone habits match up with their well-being. The researchers will gather four weeks of objective data on participants’ smartphone use — such as how many daily device unlocks and how often they use different categories of apps — as well as sleep and activity. “I think what would be a great outcome is if they looked at the impact on health and well-being as a kind of a fundamental kind of design criteria when you’re building a device,” said lead researcher Nicholas Allen, of University of Oregon. Google told Mario that it wouldn’t use the data for advertising or promotion.

Cochlear implants help young children with developmental delays, too, study shows

You may be aware that cochlear implants for very young children are controversial because there are differing views on whether deafness is an impairment or a valued component of cultural identity. I didn’t know that the decision for a young child to receive the implants could be made by insurers or state programs that deny coverage of the procedure if the child has developmental impairment. A study published in Pediatrics today compared three groups of deaf children: those with typical cognitive and adaptive skills who got the implants, those with low cognitive and adaptive skills who got implants, and those with low cognitive and adaptive skills who had hearing aids. They found that cochlear implants helped both groups that got them reach better developmental outcomes. “Cognitive and adaptive skills should not be used as a 'litmus test' for pediatric cochlear implantation,” the authors write.

U.S. births rose in 2021, reversing a decline

Live births and fertility rates, 2000 to 2020 and provisional 2021. (National Center for Health Statistics)

For the first time in seven years, the number of births and the general fertility rate in the U.S. both went up, new data from the CDC say today. The 3,659,289 births recorded in 2021 reflect a 1% increase in births over 2020, marking a turnaround after births and the fertility rate both dropped 4% from 2019 to 2020. Even with the 2021 uptick, the fertility rate remains below replacement level, at which a generation can exactly replace itself (2,100 births per 1,000 women) — where it’s been since 2007. Other data points:

The birth rate for teenagers ages 15 to 19 declined by 6% in 2021, continuing a trend for every year except 2006 and 2007 since 1991.
The preterm birth rate rose 4% in 2021 to 10.48% — the highest since 2007.

What to read around the web today

Smallpox vaccine enters wider production amid monkeypox outbreak. Wall Street Journal
Covid can cause ongoing damage to heart, lungs and kidneys, study finds. The Guardian
U.S. FDA sets June meeting dates for Moderna, Pfizer small children Covid-19 vaccines. Reuters
The FDA says it's in the dark about thousands of dietary supplement ingredients. STAT+
Dietary differences can confound animal studies. Nature
Opinion: A market failure is preventing efficient diffusion of health care AI software. STAT+