Infectious Diseases

Health.com interviews Thomas A. Russo, MD, SUNY Distinguished Professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases, in a story on a meningococcal disease outbreak in Florida. If you don't know whether you're at risk, you should get the vaccine to be safe, Russo said: "It's definitely important to protect yourself from meningococcal disease, and the vaccine is the best way to do that."

Yahoo! Life quotes Thomas A. Russo, MD, SUNY Distinguished Professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases, on tick-borne diseases. Lyme disease is one of the most well-known tickborne illnesses, and it can lead to symptoms like fever, headache, fatigue and a skin rash called erythema migrans, according to the CDC. "But the same ticks that carry Lyme disease also can cause babesiosis, ehrlichiosis and other diseases," Russo says.

The National Desk, a nationally syndicated TV news program, interviews Thomas A. Russo, MD, SUNY Distinguished Professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases, in a story on COVID-19 booster strategy amid concerns over another potential surge in cases. The story was carried by news outlets across the U.S. “I think about half of Americans have been infected to date and if you take that percentage combined with the proportion that's been vaccinated, we've really built a pretty good immunity wall. However, that wall is imperfect. So if you're unvaccinated, if you haven't been infected with omicron, if you're immunocompromised or if you're eligible to receive your first booster — particularly if you're 50 and older, pregnant or have underlying diseases — please do so because you're at increased risk,” Russo said.

A story questioning the likelihood of a COVID-19 herd immunity in Prevention magazine quotes Thomas A. Russo, MD, SUNY Distinguished Professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases. New variants keep arising, he says, and while someone may develop infection-acquired immunity by getting COVID-19, it’s likely they’ll only have immunity to that particular variant. “Our ability to go ahead and develop a level of immunity in the population where it will eradicate this virus really isn’t something that’s feasible, whether through infection or vaccines,” he says. The story was widely reposted, including on MSN.com.

A story in Health.com on the new COVID-19 XE variant quoted Thomas A. Russo, MD, SUNY Distinguished Professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases. "There are still things that need to be sorted out with this variant, but this is not grounds for panic," Russo said.

Thomas A. Russo, MD, SUNY Distinguished Professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases, was quoted about the benefits of the second COVID-19 booster shot by Spectrum News and carried by numerous Spectrum affiliates. “If you have three shots in your arm, that the likelihood of being hospitalized or having a bad outcome is low,” said Russo. “So that fourth shot gives you a small but clear benefit, but not as great of the benefit that was observed with the third dose.”

Thomas A. Russo, MD, SUNY Distinguished Professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases, was quoted on Yahoo! News in a story about higher risks of COVID-19 breakthrough infections for pregnant people. “Certainly we know that pregnant women are at greater risk,” he says. “If there is a lot of disease in the community, it would be prudent to wear a mask and take other precautions.”

AFAR magazine quoted Thomas A. Russo, MD, SUNY Distinguished Professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases, in a story on what travelers should know as the CDC drops its COVID-19 warning for cruises. Travelers should still exercise caution in terms of jumping on a cruise ship, Russo tells AFAR. “As long as there’s Omicron around, there’s a reasonable likelihood there will be someone on the cruise ship that is infected and it could be transmitted to you.” He recommends that anyone who qualifies for a booster shot (including a second booster shot) should consider getting jabbed before cruising.

Health.com quoted Thomas A. Russo, MD, SUNY Distinguished Professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases, for its story on the TSA’s extension through April 18 of the federal mask mandate on public transportation, including airline travel. “Given that all these are indoor spaces that can be very crowded, it makes sense that the case load should be lower before the transportation mask mandate is lifted,” Russo said.

Popular Science published a comparison of the best N95 and KN95 masks and quoted Thomas A. Russo, MD, SUNY Distinguished Professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases. Russo noted that the fit is critical to how effective any mask can be. “Everyone’s faces are different,” he said, “and masks are designed differently as well.” Head Topics also provided coverage.

Cases of BA.2 or “stealth omicron” have doubled in recent weeks, but Thomas A. Russo, MD, SUNY Distinguished Professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases, told McClathchy News that he doesn’t think this omicron subvariant is going to be problematic. “All in all, I think we’re really going to be okay,” Russo said.

While infectious disease experts are watching the data of an even more contagious Omicron subvariant called BA.2, they are mixed on whether it will trigger another stateside surge. Thomas A. Russo, MD, SUNY Distinguished Professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases, told The Buffalo News that the United States’ significant number of Omicron infections may create an “immunity wall” that helps keep BA.2 at bay. “We’ll see how it plays out,” Russo said. “It’s all speculative at this point.”

Prevention reports on how the heartland virus, a deadly tickborne illness, is emerging in Georgia. It can be tricky to diagnose, says Thomas A. Russo, MD, SUNY Distinguished Professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases. “Heartland virus is really easily confused with all sorts of other health conditions,” he says. “It’s a really non-specific viral presentation in most individuals.” Yahoo! and websites carried the story.

Prevention reports on whether COVID-19 can cause back pain. “The overwhelming number of people that have back pain do not have COVID,” says Thomas A. Russo, MD, SUNY Distinguished Professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases. “If you have symptoms of COVID-19 in addition to back pain that are more common with COVID, such as respiratory tract symptoms and loss of taste and smell, that would be a signal that your back pain could be due to COVID.” The article was carried on MSN and other outlets

WBFO reported on lessons learned two years into the pandemic and quoted Thomas A. Russo, MD, SUNY Distinguished Professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases at the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. “I think the world assumes with the present state of medicine that, you know, we're less susceptible to the consequences of a pandemic. But the reality is that we are, and that we've learned some lessons from this pandemic,” Russo said. “It’s unlikely to be the last, and hopefully we could do a little bit better next time.”