Infectious Diseases

MSN quoted Thomas A. Russo, MD, SUNY Distinguished Professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases, in a story on monkeypox. While monkeypox is rare and isn’t considered to be a highly infectious virus that’s easily spread between people, infectious disease experts say that the latest string of cases is puzzling, the article reports. “There’s a lot we don’t know at this point,” says Russo. “There may be some new epidemiology and new modes of transmission that we don’t understand. We need to sort that out.”

Prevention quotes Thomas A. Russo, MD, SUNY Distinguished Professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases, in a story titled, "FDA Recommends COVID-19 Vaccines for Children Under 5 — What You Need to Know." Russo says that “the safety signals look good” and “the benefits far outweigh the risks,” when it comes to vaccinating children under five. “I don't have any children in this age group, but I would not hesitate to give them the vaccine if I did,” he says. Yahoo! Life and other outlets republished the story.

Thomas A. Russo, MD, SUNY Distinguished Professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases, spoke to The Buffalo News about local trends in the pandemic. For most people ages 50-60, Russo has recommended getting the fourth shot immediately only if someone has comorbidities that place them at higher risk of developing a dangerous case of Covid-19, the News reports. Otherwise, waiting till the winter months are closer might be more advisable, the News adds. The best advice, as always, is to consult your own physician. “Focus on, ‘What will it do for you right now?’ ” Russo said. “We’re at the tail end of this wave right now. If you don’t travel and you remain in Western New York, with each passing day, the likelihood that you will get infected is significantly decreasing.”

Verywell Health quotes Thomas A. Russo, MD, SUNY Distinguished Professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases, in a story titled, "COVID 'Revenge Travel' Is Not Risk-Free." “If you have flexibility, you ideally want to travel to places that have a low incidence of disease at this time,” said Russo. “Infections are going up and down in different places, and not all locations are equally safe for your risk of catching COVID.”

Yahoo! and MSN quoted Thomas A. Russo, MD, SUNY Distinguished Professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases, for a story about a new COVID-19 vaccine booster candidate from Moderna that targets Omicron variants. Russo pointed out that while COVID-19 vaccines have done a good job of keeping most fully vaccinated people from developing severe symptoms, being hospitalized and dying, they are still “imperfect.” “The hope is that, if we have variant-specific vaccines, that will do a better job at infection prevention and perhaps a whiff better at preventing hospitalizations and deaths,” Russo said.

Yahoo! and MSN quoted Thomas A. Russo, MD, SUNY Distinguished Professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases, for a story about the Food and Drug Administration recommending Novavax’s COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use authorization. It would be the fourth COVID-19 vaccine used in the U.S., but Russo believes there’s a chance that the Novavax vaccine will convince people who have been vaccine hesitant to get the shot. “Some people have said that the mRNA vaccines are ‘too new’ or ‘experimental’—none of which is true—but this is a more traditional type of vaccine platform that may be more appealing,” Russo said.

An article originally appearing in Prevention and reposted in Yahoo! News on proms being the latest superspreader event for COVID-19 quotes Thomas Russo, chief of infectious diseases in the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. “Prom has "all the elements to facilitate the spread of COVID," says Russo. "They're usually indoors with a large number of people that are in close contact — in some circumstances, very close contact — for a prolonged period of time," Russo says.

An article in Prevention on orthopox and how it relates to monkeypox quotes Thomas A. Russo, MD, SUNY Distinguished Professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases. They all have these blistering skin lesions that evolve,” Russo says. “They’re more likely to occur in the head and neck area and spread, but sometimes people will just get them on their hands.” The article appeared on Yahoo! News.

Prevention magazine’s article on hand, foot and mouth disease quoted Thomas A. Russo, MD, SUNY Distinguished Professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases. “Hand, foot, and mouth disease is primarily a disease in children, but adults can get it if they’ve never been exposed before,” says Russo. “It’s very infectious.” Typically, adults who get hand, foot, and mouth disease have close interactions with kids, Russo says. “They may be daycare workers or parents caring for infected children,” he says. 

Men’s Health quoted Thomas A. Russo, MD, SUNY Distinguished Professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases, for a story on monkeypox, a rare virus that isn’t considered to be highly infectious. But experts say that the latest string of cases is puzzling. “There’s a lot we don’t know at this point,” said Russo. “There may be some new epidemiology and new modes of transmission that we don’t understand. We need to sort that out.” Yahoo Life! also distributed the story. 

Prevention reports on what people should do they have COVID-19. “Right now, there’s no data that show that eating special types of food or taking certain vitamins for COVID-19 like vitamin D, zinc, or vitamin C are going to influence the course of your COVID,” says Thomas A. Russo, MD, SUNY Distinguished Professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases. But, he says, “people are still looking at this. The absence of data doesn’t exclude the possibility that some dietary modifications or enhancements will benefit you.”

Self reports that the FDA approved Pfizer-BioNTech’s booster dose for COVID-19 for children ages 5 to 11. Getting vaccinated and boosted is the best protection we have against severe COVID-19, which can lead to hospitalization or death. “Children are not bulletproof against COVID-19,” said Thomas A. Russo, MD, SUNY Distinguished Professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases.

Health reports that the FDA authorized a new combined at-home test for COVID, flu and RSV. "To a degree, it would decrease interactions and infected people coming into waiting rooms," said Thomas A. Russo, MD, SUNY Distinguished Professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases. "It could also lighten the queue," he added, noting that it would free up doctors to treat other people.

An article in Prevention magazine on recurring COVID-19 infections quotes Thomas A. Russo, MD, SUNY Distinguished Professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases. The ways of protecting yourself from a COVID reinfection are similar to how you’d protect yourself from a first COVID infection, Russo says. “Get vaxxed to the max and, when there’s high community burden of disease, avoid risky situations and wear a mask,” he says. “Our vaccines are imperfect against preventing infections, but that is your best strategy.” Russo cautions against relying on immunity from a previous infection. “If you’ve been infected previously, your best protection is packaging that with vaccination,” he says. “You shouldn’t feel like, ‘I’ve had COVID, this is behind me and it’s all good.’ That’s just not the reality.”

Prevention reports on tick repellents. Thomas A. Russo, MD, SUNY Distinguished Professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases, said he recommends DEET and picaridin. “There’s the most data with those,” he says. Russo also suggests looking for formulations that are made up of 20% to 30% of these ingredients for everyday use. “You definitely don’t want less or more than that,” he says. “This will give you about eight hours of protection.”