Continuing coverage: At the UArizona Valley Fever Center for Excellence, researchers had a breakthrough for a vaccine that can be used to prevent Valley fever in dogs – with the hope it can be used for people one day. "It would be useful to prevent valley fever in dogs, but if we showed that, it would indicate this vaccine would give us lots of information suggesting it should go forward in clinical trials in humans as well," said John Galgiani, MD, professor of medicine at the College of Medicine – Tucson.

Joe Gerald, MD, PhD, an assistant professor at the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, has been modeling the pandemic for Arizona for the past year and a half. In his weekly report, Dr. Gerald noted how case rates have risen 62% over the past three weeks as well. "For most counties, current rates exceed those observed at the height of the summer 2020 wave."

It is true that excess weight around the waist and deep in the abdomen near organs is associated with higher hospitalization and death rates with COVID. “People who think only obese people are in the hospital should come to Banner and see, like I do every day, that not everyone who dies is obese. The main issue is that COVID is unpredictable,” said Elizabeth Connick, MD, chief of infectious diseases at the College of Medicine – Tucson and Banner-University Medical Center.

Theresa Cullen, MD, also with 27 years at the Indian Health Service, VA and U.S. Public Health Service, hopes to inspire others to a “life of service.”

UArizona College of Nursing researchers Jessica Rainbow, PhD, RN, and Claire Bethel, PhD, RN, have been studying nurse well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Shad Marvasti, MD, MPH, associate professor and director of public health, prevention and population health curriculum at the College of Medicine – Phoenix, considers the COVID-19 response a near miracle. “I don’t think we have ever had a vaccine examined to such level of detail by so many scientists around the world to really prioritize this above any research endeavor,” he said.

An inflammatory protein may play a part against the spread of sexually transmitted genital herpes virus in the nervous system, a new study says.

An experimental vaccine that could protect millions of people living in the American Southwest from valley fever has passed its first test of efficacy and is moving toward federal approval, possibly within two years. The vaccine candidate, was developed by the Valley Fever Center for Excellence at the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Tucson, was tested in, and will be developed for, dogs.

Researchers targeted a common sodium ion channel to reverse pain and saw positive results that could lead to a non-addictive solution to treat pain.

Thank you to the Health Sciences veterans who submitted photos for our Veterans Day gallery, and thanks to all our veterans for serving our country.