Although some people are eager to vaccinate their children, health care workers might have a hard time convincing parents to get the vaccine for their children, said Dr. Janak Patel, director of infection control and health care epidemiology at the medical branch. Many people believe children don’t get sick from COVID and so don’t need to be vaccinated, he said. “We’ve had many, many children infected with COVID in the past two years,” Patel said. “Some have not survived. Some have developed complications. We also know children take the infection to high-risk parents and grandparents.”

A recent study by the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) revealed that physician burnout on a national scale is increasing the frequency of premature retirement and attrition rates. “Effective solutions should target continued research and collective accountability at both individual physician and HCO levels with an amalgam of authentic, servant, and transformational leadership to fulfill healthcare’s mission as articulated by the Institute of Medicine in providing ‘safe, effective, patient-centered, timely, efficient and equitable,’ patient care while meeting the needs of all other stakeholders,” wrote Dr. Anish Bhardwaj, chair of the Department of Neurology at UTMB.

Unfortunately, there isn't a single test or factor of determination that healthcare providers can turn to for diagnosing someone with Long COVID symptoms. Currently, healthcare providers are often backtracking with patients to document and pinpoint lingering or recurrent symptoms after an initial SARS-CoV-2 infection; it's the main method of determining if someone may be experiencing Long COVID, explains Pei-Yong Shi, M.D., a molecular biology professor at the University of Texas Medical Branch who is currently leading clinical COVID-19 vaccine research, among other fronts. “We currently don't have any tests to diagnose Long COVID conditions; [these] patients may have a wide variety of symptoms that could stem from other health problems,” he tells Good Housekeeping. “This can make it difficult for healthcare providers to recognize Long COVID conditions.”

The University of Texas Medical Branch has won a $56 million grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases to combat three major classes of viruses with pandemic potential. The funds will allow UTMB and partner Novartis to establish an Antiviral Drug Discovery Center for Pathogens of Pandemic Concern to focus on coronavirus, flavivirus and henipavirus. “We must prepare for the next pandemic by working together across governmental, non-governmental, academic and private sectors to develop an arsenal of countermeasures,” said Dr. Pei-Yong Shi, a professor in the department of biochemistry and molecular biology and one of the leaders of the partnership. The San Antonio Express-News also reported this news.

Human cases regularly occur in Africa but what has caught the media’s attention is that cases are spreading worldwide. Considering COVID-19, this may seem worrisome but monkeypox is not worth losing sleep over. Drs. Megan Berman and Richard Rupp explain why.

The American Academy of Pediatrics reports approximately 9,000 children a year are treated for lawn mower-related injuries. Many of these injuries occur in older children and teens. However, small children are at risk of injury also. Dr. Sally Robinson advises safety.

ew vaccines are being developed all the time, as witnessed by the COVID vaccines and the just released Prevnar 20 for prevention of pneumococcal pneumonia and a PCV 15 for kids. While it is a “one-and-done” vaccines, boosters are needed for other vaccines such as COVID. Dr. Victor S. Sierpina writes about it in his column.

At morning lectures, many students in the lecture hall have an energy drink in front of them. But a report that one young man may have developed heart failure from his habit of consuming an average of four energy drinks per day may cause concern. Drs. Norbert Herzog and David Niesel discuss this case. Fill those water bottles.

A 14th-century pandemic may have started in Central Asia. New findings suggest that the ancestor of the Black Death strain showed up considerably later than previous work has indicated, said Vladimir Motin, a microbiologist at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston who studies Y. pestis. Earlier studies suggested it caused local outbreaks in Asia for at least a century, he said. “Right now it’s a good hypothesis; is it true or not, I don’t know,” he said. “But it’s definitely an interesting question which we should take into consideration.”

“The first rule is making sure the boundaries are secure and hopefully fenced,” wrote Dr. Sally Robinson. “Children should be taught to stay within the boundaries and not to wander off, but children also need a responsible person to supervise outdoor play so they don’t get hurt. Always supervise children on trampolines and provide constant touch supervision around pools and other bodies of water.”