Norovirus spreading at 'higher frequency' than expected in Canada
Norovirus is spreading at a 'higher frequency' than expected in Canada, specifically, in Ontario and Alberta, according to the Public Health Agency of Canada.
People who reported experiencing side effects to the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna Covid-19 vaccines such as fever, chills or muscle pain tended to have a greater antibody response following vaccination, according to new research.
Having such symptoms after vaccination is associated with greater antibody responses compared with having only pain or rash at the injection site or no symptoms at all, suggests the paper published Friday in the journal JAMA Network Open.
"In conclusion, these findings support reframing postvaccination symptoms as signals of vaccine effectiveness and reinforce guidelines for vaccine boosters in older adults," the researchers -- from Columbia University in New York, University of Vermont and Boston University -- wrote in their paper.
But even though some people may have small, localized side effects or no symptoms at all, the vaccine still elicits robust immune responses in them too. Nearly all study participants exhibited a positive antibody response after completing a two-dose Pfizer/BioNTech or Moderna vaccine series.
"I don't want a patient to tell me that, 'Golly, I didn't get any reaction, my arm wasn't sore, I didn't have fever. The vaccine didn't work.' I don't want that conclusion to be out there," said Dr. William Schaffner, a professor in the Division of Infectious Diseases at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and medical director of the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases, who was not involved in the new study.
"This is more to reassure people who have had a reaction that that's their immune system responding, actually in a rather good way, to the vaccine, even though it has caused them some discomfort," Schaffner said.
The researchers analyzed data on 928 adults who self-reported what symptoms they experienced after receiving Pfizer/BioNTech or Moderna Covid-19 vaccinations, as well as submitted a dried blood spot to test for antibodies. Most of the participants were White adults, with a mean age of 65.
The researchers found that after either vaccine dose, 446 or 48 per cent of participants reported systemic symptoms while 12 per cent reported only local symptoms and 40% reported no symptoms at all.
Meanwhile, antibody reactivity was observed in 444 or 99 per cent of participants with systemic symptoms, 99 per cent of those with only local symptoms and 98% of those with no symptoms.
"A lot of people have speculated over the years whether people who had more of a reaction to the vaccine might actually have that represent a more vigorous immune response," Schaffner said. "And these data would appear to support that."
Norovirus is spreading at a 'higher frequency' than expected in Canada, specifically, in Ontario and Alberta, according to the Public Health Agency of Canada.
The same storm system that brought deadly tornadoes to parts of the U.S. is heading north, hammering some Canadian provinces with rain and snow, according to latest forecasts.
A gold watch worn by John Jacob Astor IV, a member of the wealthy Astor family and the richest man aboard the Titanic, sold for a record-breaking US$1.485 million at auction on Saturday.
A boycott targeting Loblaw is gaining momentum online, with what could be thousands of shoppers taking their money elsewhere in May.
French actor Gérard Depardieu has been taken into police custody in Paris to face questioning, his lawyer told CNN Monday.
McGill University says the growing encampment on its lower field in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza violates its policies.
The trial for the man accused of killing four Indigenous women in Winnipeg is set to begin on Monday.
Jim Arner was always interested in genealogy and discovering more about his ancestry. But after submitting his own DNA test, he learned an old work colleague was actually a distant cousin.
Three women diagnosed with HIV after getting 'vampire facial' procedures at an unlicensed medical spa are believed to be the first documented cases of people contracting the virus through a cosmetic procedure using needles.
Since 1932, Montreal's Henri Henri has been filled to the brim with every possible kind of hat, from newsboy caps to feathered fedoras.
Police in Oak Bay, B.C., had to close a stretch of road Sunday to help an elephant seal named Emerson get safely back into the water.
Out of more than 9,000 entries from over 2,000 breweries in 50 countries, a handful of B.C. brews landed on the podium at the World Beer Cup this week.
Raneem, 10, lives with a neurological condition and liver disease and needs Cholbam, a medication, for a longer and healthier life.
The lawyer for a residential school survivor leading a proposed class-action defamation lawsuit against the Catholic Church over residential schools says the court action is a last resort.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
A property tax bill is perplexing a small townhouse community in Fergus, Ont.
When identical twin sisters Kim and Michelle Krezonoski were invited to compete against some of the world’s most elite female runners at last week’s Boston Marathon, they were in disbelief.
The giant stone statues guarding the Lions Gate Bridge have been dressed in custom Vancouver Canucks jerseys as the NHL playoffs get underway.