UTMB News

Dr. Philip Keiser, chair of the UTMB COVID-19 Vaccination Task Force and Galveston County Health Authority, and Dr. Janak Patel, director of UTMB Infection Control and Healthcare Epidemiology, appeared on the Jan. 19 edition of Health Care Unmasked. Drs. Patel and Keiser addressed the latest information on the omicron variant during the hour-long Facebook Live interview.

The drive-through testing site will be open from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday through Friday at the Galveston County Health District, 9850 Emmett F. Lowry Expressway. Appointments are required for the tests, which will be administered and processed through the University of Texas Medical Branch.

Sexually transmitted diseases hit another record high in the United States and among them are chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis, increasing for the fifth straight year. In their regular Medical Discovery News column, Drs. Norbert Herzog and David Niesel report that in 2018, there were nearly 2.5 million cases, the highest combined number ever documented. The pandemic is also likely leading people to delay or skip STD testing and treatment, so some may never know they have a gonorrhea infection.

People who have violent relationships as teens are more likely to have them as adults, an article in the Australian online magazine explained. Dr. Jeff Temple, an expert on teen dating violence at the University of Texas Medical Branch, studies teaching youth about building healthy relationships in a school-based program. In the program, students build relationship skills through role playing. “Practice is huge for when they get into that situation in real life,” Temple said. “What the research tells us is that kids who are able to resolve conflicts and manage their emotions are less likely to be in violent relationships later on.”

Few things strike fear into the hearts of new parents as does respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). This is understandable as it’s the leading cause of hospitalization among infants in the United States. In the latest Vaccine Smarts column, Drs. Megan Berman and Richard Rupp explained how investigational vaccines target the RSV fusion protein that allows it to enter human cells, similar to the spike protein of COVID-19.

Drs. Victor Sierpina and Michelle Sierpina wrote about how lifelong learning is crucial to healthy aging. Keeping the mind and body active through activities that encourage curiosity, social and community involvement and personal growth promote a richer life. “The University of Texas Medical Branch is fortunate to have the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, led by the other doctor in the family, Michelle Sierpina, Ph.D., who has focused her efforts, scholarly activity and career on empowering healthy aging. It’s a place to go to prevent letting the old man in, or the old woman either.”

There are limits to how much we can infer about human disease from experiments on tissue cultures and lab animals, said Dr. Vineet Menachery, a virologist at the University of Texas Medical Branch. Specific mutations in omicron’s spike protein, the structure the virus uses to attach to and enter cells, may help explain why the variant spreads so easily. “If it’s better at infecting cells, then the expectation is that it’s better at transmission," Menachery said.

Dr. Shawn Nishi, a professor and program director of University of Texas Medical Branch’s pulmonary critical care unit, said all COVID-positive people in the hospital aren’t there because of COVID. About half were incidental diagnosis in people hospitalized for things other than COVID. While hospitalizations from COVID-19 are not as high as during previous surges, more hospital workers are getting sick from the highly contagious strain, Nishi said. “Our division had not really gotten sick until this variant hit,” she said. “It’s just super contagious. We’ve been so careful. But despite our best efforts, we’ve had people in our division going down.”

While the current COVID backslide has caused “PTSD” to enter many parents’ vernacular, technically speaking, that may not be what you’re experiencing. Dr. Jeff R. Temple, psychologist and professor at the University of Texas Medical Branch, adds that how “close” you are or were to the trauma may also impact your symptoms and the severity of them. “Someone who lost a loved one or they or their child was severely ill will likely be more anxious during this new wave of COVID, compared to someone who did not know anyone with COVID,” he said.

“Medical marijuana isn’t legal in Texas, and although my patients request it, we can only discuss pros and cons,” wrote Dr. Victor S. Sierpina, the WD and Laura Nell Nicholson Family Professor of Integrative Medicine and Professor of Family Medicine at UTMB. “Patients choosing medical cannabis treatment must seek it in one of our neighboring states like Oklahoma or Colorado where it’s available and legal, but interstate transportation is illegal by federal rules.”

Although no one knows the exact numbers, it’s estimated that between half a million and a million Allied soldiers in World War I suffered from Trench Fever. Today, Trench Fever cases are rare, but they’re making a bit of a comeback among the growing populations of homeless. Drs. Norbert Herzog and David Niesel, professors at the University of Texas Medical Branch, explain the condition in the latest Medical Discovery News column.

Even if omicron is milder, “it seems to be still doing quite a bit of damage in unvaccinated people,” said University of Texas Medical Branch virologist Vineet Menachery. “The good news is that there does seem to be a trend that this virus is less severe than previous waves, especially if you're vaccinated.” For those who got their shots, "the threat of severe disease is probably off the table for most people,” he said. “On the other hand, for people who are not vaccinated, I think the threat is just as big as it was in March of 2020.” International news outlets ran the Voice of America story, including the Zimbabwe Star. Several U.S. outlets also ran this story.

Getting infected with flu and COVID at the same time is rare, but it is starting to happen. “The symptoms are similar,” said Dr. Janak Patel, director of the Department of Infection Control & Healthcare Epidemiology at UTMB. The medical branch is seeing a 30 to 40% positivity rate for COVID. However, the flu is only around 4%. Still, within the last week, UTMB has seen three cases of “flurona,” including one in a child. Patel said all patients are doing well, provided they got a quick and accurate diagnosis. “I don't think we should be scared,” he said. “We know how to take care of both of these illnesses.” In other reports, Fox News and Salon referenced Dr. Patel’s comments from the ABC affiliate report.

It means you have COVID, said Dr. Megan Berman, an associate professor of internal medicine at The University of Texas Medical Branch. False negatives can occur for a variety of reasons, such as being tested too soon after exposure. The virus may simply not be detectable yet in the body, or the sample may not be sufficient, she said.

Your baby will come when she is good and ready, not because of anything you do at home to jumpstart the delivery process, said Dr. Shannon Clark, a professor of maternal-fetal medicine at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston. Clark debunked seven common myths. “Most of the old wives’ tales about things you can do to start labor won't hurt, but they won't help either,” she said.

In the latest Vaccine Smarts column, Drs. Megan Berman and Richard Rupp share a cautionary tale of a rare, but avoidable, injury caused by a vaccine. “People should make sure that prior to receiving vaccines, the administering health professional is fully informed of their health conditions and medications,” the column stated.