The Perfect Enemy | News Scan for Jun 03, 2022
July 9, 2025

News Scan for Jun 03, 2022

Paxlovid against Omicron
Drug-resistant Salmonella in Brazilian chicken
Polio in Pakistan, DRC
Avian flu outbreaks persist
News Scan for Jun 03, 2022
News Scan for Jun 03, 2022

Data show Paxlovid halves the risk of severe Omicron disease, death

A study of 4,737 COVID-19 patients in Israel conducted during the Omicron surge concludes that Pfizer’s antiviral drug Paxlovid roughly halves the risk of severe COVID-19 or death, according to findings published yesterday in Clinical Infectious Diseases.

For the retrospective cohort study, researchers analyzed data on 180,351 COVID-19 adult patients from the Clalit Health Services database and the Israeli Ministry of Health COVID-19 database who tested positive in January or February. Of those, 4,737 received Paxlovid, an oral pill.

They found that both Paxlovid and complete vaccination were tied to statistically significant decreases in the rate of severe COVID-19 or death, with Paxlovid lowering the risk 46% (hazard ratio [HR], 0.54; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.39 to 0.75) and vaccination lowering the risk 80% (HR, 0.20; 95% CI, 0.17 to 0.22).

“Paxlovid appears to be more effective in older patients, immunosuppressed patients, and patients with underlying neurological or cardiovascular disease (interaction p-value <0.05 for all),” the study authors write. “No significant interaction was detected between Paxlovid treatment and COVID-19 vaccination status.”

The researchers note that having a lower socioeconomic status, belonging to an Arab population, and having received COVID vaccine were all tied to less chance of being prescribed Paxlovid.

They conclude, “In this real-world study, we show that treatment with Paxlovid in the first 5 days of SARS-CoV-2 infection is associated with markedly reduced risk of progression to severe COVID-19 or mortality, regardless of vaccination status for SARS-CoV-2.”
Jun 2 Clin Infect Dis study

Study details emergence of drug-resistant Salmonella in Brazilian chicken

An analysis of Salmonella isolates from Brazilian chickens suggests that the introduction of a Salmonella vaccine and increasing antibiotic use by Brazilian farmers has resulted in Salmonella strains that are more antibiotic resistant but may be less likely to cause human disease, UK and Brazilian researchers reported yesterday in PLOS Genetics.

Brazil is the largest exporter of chicken meat globally, and previous research has found large quantities of chicken meat contaminated with Salmonella being imported into the United Kingdom and European countries from Brazil. To identify the most prevalent Salmonella serovars in chicken meat imported from Brazil and to determine if those strains are contributing to increased cases of food poisoning in the United Kingdom, researchers examined 183 Salmonella genomes from chickens in Brazil, along with 357 Salmonella genomes collected from chickens and chicken meat imported into the United Kingdom, domestic poultry, and UK residents who had confirmed Salmonella infections.

The analysis found that Heidelberg and Minnesota were the most common serovars in Brazilian chickens and in chicken meat imported into the United Kingdom. Comparison with more than 1,200 publicly available genomes of these two serovars in Brazil suggested they emerged in the early 2000s, around the same time the country introduced a Salmonella vaccine for poultry.

In addition, genomes within Heidelberg and Minnesota clades shared resistance genes to sulphanomide, beta-lactam, and tetracycline antibiotics that likely resulted from increased antibiotic use by Brazilian farmers. These genes, the authors suggest, may have enabled Heidelberg and Minnesota to become the dominant Salmonella serovars in Brazilian chickens.

However, UK surveillance data showed no increases in human Salmonella Heidelberg or Minnesota cases, and no spread to domestic poultry.  

“Whilst this poses no immediate health risk to importing countries like the UK, the bacteria were resistant to antimicrobial drugs, and this highlights the importance of taking a ‘One Health’ approach that sees the connections between the health of people, animals and the environment, especially when assessing global food supply chains,” study co-author Alison Mather, PhD, of the UK’s Quadram Institute Bioscience said in a journal press release.
Jun 2 PLOS Genet study
Jun 2 PLOS press release

Pakistan and DRC report more polio cases

Pakistan has reported three more cases of wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1), part of an uptick in activity after a decline in cases, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) reported another vaccine-derived case, the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) said in its latest weekly update.

All three of Pakistan’s latest WPV1 cases are in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. The cases lift the country’s total so far this year to six, up sharply from the one case reported in 2021.

Pakistan’s polio eradication program said the two most recent cases involve 18-month-old twins from North Waziristan. The girl has a May 10 paralysis onset, and the boy had a May 11 onset. Officials said they expect more cases from the area, which is known to have a high refusal rate.

Elsewhere, the DRC reported a circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 (cVDPV2) case in Maniema province, raising its total for the year to 48.
Jun 2 GPEI update
May 27 Pakistan Polio Eradication Programme statement

Avian flu hits more poultry in 2 states; H5N1 appears in Guinea

Pennsylvania and Washington reported more highly pathogenic avian flu outbreaks in poultry, according to the latest update from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS).

In Pennsylvania, the virus struck a commercial duck farm housing 30,010 birds in Berks County, located in the southeastern part of the state. Washington reported an outbreak in backyard birds in Snohomish County, just north of Seattle.

So far, outbreaks in US poultry have affected 36 states and led to the loss of 37.9 million birds.

Also today, the APHIS reported 71 more detections of the H5N1 strain in wild birds, raising the total to 1,366. Most of the detections were in the Midwest, especially Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. In the West, new detections were reported in Utah, Oregon, Wyoming, Alaska, and Idaho. And in the East, more birds tested positive in New Hampshire, South Carolina, and New York.

Most of the birds were raptors or waterfowl, but the virus was also found in a few crows and ravens.
USDA APHIS poultry outbreak updates
USDA APHIS wild bird updates

In global developments, Guinea reported its first high-path H5N1 outbreaks in poultry, which affected five commercial farms in Kindia prefecture, located northeast of Conakry, according to a notification from the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH). The outbreaks began from Apr 18 to May 10, and, taken together, the virus killed 72,700 of 120,478 birds.

Also, Iraq reported a highly pathogenic H5N8 outbreak at a commercial farm in Wasit governorate in the eastern part of the country, according to WOAH.  The outbreak began on May 18, killing 24,060 of 158,000 birds. The outbreak is Iraq’s first involving H5N8 since November 2021.
Jun 3 WOAH notification about H5N1 in Guinea
Jun 2 WOAH notification about H5N8 in Iraq