U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Rochelle Walensky has experienced a COVID rebound after a course of Paxlovid, the federal health agency announced Monday morning.
She is isolating at home and will participate in meetings virtually, the agency added.
Walensky joins a short list of prominent U.S. pandemic figures, including President Joe Biden and presidential physician Dr. Anthony Fauci, who’ve tested negative, then positive again after taking the popular drug, prescribed for those with documented COVID who are at high risk for severe disease.
Just how rare are rebounds?
Paxlovid, approved for use by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration under an emergency use authorization, has become known for its “rebound cases,” referred to by the CDC as a “brief return of symptoms.”
Such rebounds, however, can happen with or without Paxlovid, Andy Pekosz, virologist at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, recently told Fortune.
While the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that COVID rebounds are rare, they could be more common than we know, as most individuals with COVID stop testing after they receive a negative result, he added.
“After I finished the five days of Paxlovid, I reverted to negative on an antigen test for three days in a row,” Fauci, 81, said during an event at Foreign Policy’s Global Health Forum, Bloomberg reported. “And then on the fourth day, just to be absolutely certain, I tested myself again.”
“I reverted back to positive.”
Fauci began a second course of Paxlovid when symptoms emerged “much worse than the first go-around,” he said. In May the CDC issued a health advisory about such rebounds, saying there was no evidence that additional treatment is needed for rebound cases.
In June, Pfizer, which manufactures Paxlovid, announced that it would stop adding new participants to a trial of the drug among COVID patients at low risk of hospitalization and death. The study failed to demonstrate that the drug reduced symptoms, or hospitalizations and deaths, in a statistically significant way, according to Bloomberg.
But Paxlovid may be undeservedly gaining a bad rap, Pekosz cautioned.
“I’ll still point to the fact that it’s working in terms of keeping people out of the hospital—that’s the most important thing right now,” he said, adding that it may need to be retooled to better address Omicron subvariants.
Image Credit: Pfizer
News
Our books now available worldwide!
Online Sellers other than Amazon, Routledge, and IOPP Indigo Global Health Care Equivalency in the Age of Nanotechnology, Nanomedicine and Artifcial Intelligence Global Health Care Equivalency In The Age Of Nanotechnology, Nanomedicine And Artificial [...]
Study finds higher heart disease risk in long COVID patients
People with long COVID are at increased risk of developing cardiovascular disease, according to a new study from Karolinska Institutet published in eClinicalMedicine. The results show that the risk of conditions such as cardiac arrhythmias [...]
The Corona variant Cicada is here – we know that
Online and on social media, reports are piling up about a new Sars-Cov-2 variant that is currently on the rise: BA.3.2, also known as Cicada. That's what it's all about: The Omicron variant BA.3.2, [...]
A Simple Blood Test Could Predict Dementia Risk 25 Years Early
A single blood marker may quietly signal dementia risk decades in advance. Scientists at the University of California, San Diego, have identified a blood signal that could forecast dementia risk decades before symptoms begin. Their [...]
Sperm Get Lost in Space and Scientists Finally Know Why
Having a baby in space may be far more complicated than expected, as new research shows sperm struggle to find their way in microgravity. Starting a family beyond Earth could be more complicated than [...]
Digital Dementia – Brain fog and disassociation from being chronically online
New medical evidence, featured on 60 Minutes Australia, indicates excessive screen time is causing "digital dementia" in young Australians, with brain scans showing physical shrinkage and damage. Experts warn that high device usage (6-8 hours [...]
A new, highly mutated COVID variant called ‘Cicada’ is spreading in the US.
BA.3.2, a heavily mutated new COVID-19 variant which may be better able to escape immunity from vaccines or prior infection, is now spreading in the United States. Although COVID cases are currently low nationally, [...]
Molecular Manufacturing: The Future of Nanomedicine – New book from NanoappsMedical Inc.
This book explores the revolutionary potential of atomically precise manufacturing technologies to transform global healthcare, as well as practically every other sector across society. This forward-thinking volume examines how envisaged Factory@Home systems might enable the cost-effective [...]
Ancient bacteria strain discovered in ice cave is resistant to some modern antibiotics
In the depths of Scarisoara cave in Romania sits one of the world’s biggest underground glaciers, a monumental slab of ice the size of roughly 40 Olympic swimming pools that began to form around [...]
Scientists Identify “Good” Bacteria That May Prevent Long COVID
According to the WHO, about 6% of people worldwide who get COVID-19, roughly 400 million people, later develop a long-lasting form of the illness. That shows the condition remains a significant public health challenge. In [...]
New book from Nanoappsmedical Inc. – Global Health Care Equivalency
A new book by Frank Boehm, NanoappsMedical Inc. Founder. This groundbreaking volume explores the vision of a Global Health Care Equivalency (GHCE) system powered by artificial intelligence and quantum computing technologies, operating on secure [...]
RNA Recycling Extends Lifespan
Summary: Researchers discovered a biological “trash disposal” mechanism that directly controls how fast we age. While circular RNA has long been known to accumulate in cells as we get older, this study proves for the [...]
Cancer’s Deadly Paradox: How Tumors Break Their Own DNA To Keep Growing
Cancer’s strongest gene switches push DNA into damaging overdrive, creating repeated breaks and repairs that may fuel tumor evolution while exposing possible therapeutic weak spots. A new study indicates that cancer can harm its own genetic [...]
NanoMedical Brain/Cloud Interface – Explorations and Implications. A new book from Frank Boehm
New book from Frank Boehm, NanoappsMedical Inc Founder: This book explores the future hypothetical possibility that the cerebral cortex of the human brain might be seamlessly, safely, and securely connected with the Cloud via [...]
Ryugu asteroid samples contain all DNA and RNA building blocks, bolstering origin-of-life theories
All the essential ingredients to make the DNA and RNA underpinning life on Earth have been discovered in samples collected from the asteroid Ryugu, scientists said Monday. The discovery comes after these building blocks [...]
Is Berberine Really a “Natural Ozempic”?
Often labeled a “natural Ozempic,” berberine is widely discussed as a metabolic aid. Yet research suggests its influence may lie deeper. In recent years, berberine has gained significant attention as a supposed “natural way” [...]















