Infectious Diseases

An article on a link between COVID-19 infections and new cases of diabetes quotes Thomas A. Russo, MD, SUNY Distinguished Professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases. “For a world that's been ravaged by COVID-19 for more than a year now — and since, to date, the virus has infected 175 million people worldwide — this is big news,” according to the article. “Obviously, having COVID is much more than whether you live or die,” says Russo. “People need to think more in terms of the long-term potential health consequences of getting infected. If you get diabetes, that will affect you for the rest of your life.”

Thomas A. Russo, MD, SUNY Distinguished Professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases, is quoted in an article about babesiosis, the rare tick-borne illness that attacks red blood cells. Russo says the diseases occurs in “parts of our country where one would contract Lyme disease. He notes, however, that babesiosis is much less common.

Yahoo! News reports about questions people may have regarding vaccine passports. Digital passports “incrementally add to the public health and safety,” says Thomas A. Russo, MD, SUNY Distinguished Professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced New York has the lowest COVID-19 positivity rate in the nation. “Well, we are doing extraordinarily well, because we have an increasing number of people who have been vaccinated and largely we have shifted to outdoor activities where the virus doesn't spread particularly well,” said Thomas A. Russo, MD, SUNY Distinguished Professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases.

A story notes Chinese officials have reported what is thought to be the first human case of the H10N3 strain of bird flu in the world. The virus infected a 41-year-old man who was hospitalized on April 28. If any type of bird flu happened to start spreading among people, John A. Sellick Jr., DO, professor of medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases, says that scientists “would be able to make a vaccine pretty quickly” by modifying an existing flu vaccine, but he cautions that “nothing is ever absolute.”

Yahoo! News quoted Thomas A. Russo, MD, SUNY Distinguished Professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases, in an article on how to remain safe from COVID-19 on cruise ships. “I think it’s safe to go on a cruise right now if everyone is vaccinated and if the cruise ship puts all the appropriate public health measures in place,” said Russo. “The fly in the ointment is shore excursions on the cruises. You’re going to get out and interact with people who are not vaccinated, so you should still bring masks.”

WGRZ-TV interviewed Thomas A. Russo, MD, SUNY Distinguished Professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases, for an article on the difference between being vaccinated against COVID-19 and having COVID-19 antibodies. “There’s no question that the optimal immunity is achieved with vaccination,” said Russo. “And in fact, the absolute best immunity is achieved if you’ve been previously infected and then vaccinated, it’s like a boost to supercharge antibody response, so we strongly recommend individuals that have been previously infected to go ahead and get vaccinated as well, and that will afford the maximum degree of protection moving forward.”

WKBW quoted Thomas A. Russo, MD, SUNY Distinguished Professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases, in an article on a study from Washington University in St. Louis that found people who experienced mild illness from COVID-19 developed long-lasting antibody protection. Russo says the study is encouraging, but adds getting vaccinated will provide the ultimate degree of protection. “The key thing to follow is whether these individuals eventually get re-infected, particularly from some of the variants that are circulating at this time. And presently we just don’t know,” he said.

Yahoo! News quoted John A. Sellick Jr., DO, professor of medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases, in an article on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s latest report on breakthrough infections in the U.S. among people who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19.The report found 10,262 COVID-19 breakthrough infections occurred in nearly 101 million fully vaccinated people between January and April 2021.“For those of us who are of average health, are fully vaccinated and don’t have severe underlying medical problems, breakthrough infections are unlikely to be a huge problem,” says Sellick. “But highly immunosuppressed people have to be careful, just in case.”

Research is ongoing, but the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says those who are immunocompromised may still need to take extra precautions, even after vaccination. In general, people who are immunocompromised may not respond to vaccines as well as those who aren’t immunocompromised, says John A. Sellick Jr., DO, professor of medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases. “We knew this was going to be a problem with the COVID-19 vaccine all along,” he says. It’s unclear at this point what will be done to make the COVID-19 vaccines more effective in people who are immunocompromised. “Maybe we’ll do what we do with dialysis patients and give booster doses,” Sellick says. “We also have high-dose vaccines for influenza that give you more antibodies — a higher dose could be a possibility for COVID-19.”

An editorial in the Buffalo News on overcoming misinformation to raise vaccination rates in Buffalo, quoted Thomas A. Russo, MD, SUNY Distinguished Professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases, who cautioned that the pandemic isn’t over yet, but is morphing into a less threatening form. “In Western New York and in most of the state, we’re beginning to leave the pandemic stage,” said Russo. “Now we’re entering the endemic phase: a percolating background noise of cases.”

The Buffalo News quoted Thomas A. Russo, MD, SUNY Distinguished Professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases, in an article on the potential final stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. “The pandemic is not quite over yet, though we’re getting close,” said Russo. “In Western New York and in most of the state, we’re beginning to leave the pandemic stage. Now we’re entering the endemic phase: a percolating background noise of cases.”

Romper quoted Thomas A. Russo, MD, SUNY Distinguished Professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases, in an article on how vaccinated parents can protect unvaccinated children from COVID-19. It’s more risky to take an unvaccinated child to a grocery store or restaurant after mask orders and capacity limits are rescinded, said Russo. But it’s important to note that “more risky” does not mean dangerous, he said.

Southfield Regional Academic Campus in Southfield, Mich., is coming under fire after stating that it will charge unvaccinated students to attend prom. “We’re seeing mostly carrots in terms of getting people vaccinated, but this is a bit of a stick,” says Thomas A. Russo, MD, SUNY Distinguished Professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases. “Whether this will encourage people to get vaccinated or avoid prom ... I'm not so sure,” he says. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott issued an executive order this week banning governmental entities in the state from requiring or mandating that masks be worn. “The bottom line is that this will probably result in more cases because if you can’t mandate masks, that will mean you’ll have individuals in school that are infectious and asymptomatic,” Russo says. However, he adds: “Masks will largely protect individuals that wear them,” so students and staff who plan to continue to wear face coverings should be at a lower risk of contracting the virus than those who are unmasked.

Incentives are growing to get people vaccinated. New York State announced that those who get a COVID-19 vaccine at any of the 10 New York State mass vaccination sites between May 24 and May 28 will receive a scratch-off lottery ticket for a chance to win cash prizes. The value of the lottery ticket is $20. Thomas A. Russo, MD, SUNY Distinguished Professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases, says incentives are an effective tool to get people vaccinated. “I am a big fan of incentives. The more people we can get vaccinated the better, and I think there is a large number of people out there that for a variety of trivial reasons are yet to get vaccinated, and incentives such as this will certainly inspire them to greatness,” he says.