Health Sciences In The Media

A little more than two out of every three people who have mild or moderate cases of COVID-19 will go on to develop long-term symptoms. That's the troubling takeaway from a University of Arizona Health Sciences' study launched in May 2020. "This is a real wake-up call for anyone who has not been vaccinated," said lead researcher Melanie Bell, PhD, a professor of biostatistics in the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health.

A little more than 2 out of every 3 people who have mild or moderate cases of COVID-19 will go on to develop long-term symptoms. That's the troubling takeaway from a University of Arizona Health Sciences study launched in May 2020. "This is a real wake-up call for anyone who has not been vaccinated," said lead researcher Melanie Bell, PhD, a professor of biostatistics in the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health.

Vaccines provide a high level of protection against COVID-19. That’s one of the findings of an ongoing research study following health care workers, first responders, and other essential workers in Arizona. Jeff Burgess, MD, MPH, professor and associate dean of research at the University of Arizona Health Sciences, discusses the AZ HEROES study, why the rise of the delta variant in Arizona is worrisome and why it is critical to study the COVID vaccine in people who have been vaccinated.

Pathogens and bacteria can survive in the bathroom for hours, weeks, or months. "Aerosols can spread anywhere from one to six feet, an average of three feet," said Kelly Reynolds, PhD, MSPH, professor and director of the Environment, Exposure Science and Risk Assessment Center at the University of Arizona.

A review by researchers from the College of Medicine – Phoenix finds Arizonans experience five times as many encounters with scorpions as residents of any other state. The team tabulated 57,168 reported scorpion encounters statewide between 2010 and 2015, compared to just 9,695 cases in second-place Texas.

Janko Nikolich-Žugich, MD, PhD, an immunologist and professor of medicine at the College of Medicine – Tucson, said recent findings from the CDC that vaccinated people who are infected with the delta variant could spread the virus just as easily as unvaccinated individuals should prompt behavioral changes across the board. “What we do not know at this point is whether the virus produced in vaccinated people is still at the same level of infectivity, or whether the presence of antibodies in these people may make the virus less infectious,” he said. “Until we learn about that, the delta variant behavior should mandate a change in strategies and approaches.”

The UArizona Center for Rural Health has received a five-year, multi-million dollar grant from state and federal sources to continue their mission of providing health care, education, technical assistance, data analyses and more to rural communities throughout the state.

Maiya Block, a graduate assistant at the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, is holding an online chat Wednesday to help people who want to have productive conversations with others who are hesitant to get the COVID-19 vaccine. "We're just trying to equip people with just some basic conversation skills that they can be able to have an effective conversation and talk about the issues in a clear way that won't make it into a heated discussion or continue to pass on any myths," she said.

As concerns grow over the highly contagious delta variant of the coronavirus, Germany on Monday became the largest Western country yet to announce that it will offer vaccine booster shots to a wide range of people considered potentially vulnerable. "The problem here is, we're just sort of going on immunological priors, rather than really great data to justify things one way or the other," said Deepta Bhattacharya, PhD, professor and immunologist at the College of Medicine – Tucson.

The COVID-19 pandemic left many people with disrupted sleep patterns. The 4-7-8 technique developed by Andrew Weil, MD, founder of the Andrew Weil Center for Integrative Medicine at the University of Arizona, is based on ancient meditation and breathing techniques. Also known as the "Relaxing Breath," the method puts the practitioner in a relaxed state almost immediately.