Summer COVID strain 2025, measles news, new RSV vaccine for infants and treatment for gonorrhea
Garcia: The new COVID variant
that’s now spreading in the U.S. and other parts of the
world is called NB.1.8.1, and it’s being
referred to as Nimbus. Like a recent COVID
variance, Nimbus is a descendant of the Omicron
variant, and back in the spring, it was behind a surge
of cases in Asia. According to the CDC, it now
accounts for more than one third of cases here in the U.S. Unger: Hello and welcome to the
AMA Update video and podcast today is our weekly look at
the public health issues facing physicians and patients across
the country with the AMA’s Vice President of Science,
Medicine and Public Health, Andrea Garcia. I’m Todd Unger, AMA’s
chief experience officer. Welcome back Andrea. Garcia: Thanks, Todd. Good to see you, and great
to be here as always. Unger: Lots to catch up on. Let’s just start by
talking about what’s been happening with the
CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. Andrea, take us through
what’s been happening. Garcia: Sure, Todd. So back on June 9, the
Department of Health and Human Services announced that it would
be reconstituting this committee and removing all 17 of
its current members. As a reminder, the
Advisory Committee on Immunization
Practices, or ACIP, is a group of medical
and public health experts that advises the CDC on vaccine
use in the U.S. population. Just two days after that initial
announcement on the ninth, HHS Secretary
Robert F Kennedy Jr. unveiled eight new
people that he selected to serve on this committee. He also said that
these new members will attend ACIP’s next meeting,
which is scheduled to take place from June 25 to the 27. Unger: Well, obviously, that
is very significant, big news. What’s the AMA
perspective on this? Garcia: Well, following the
initial announcement from HHS, the AMA put out a statement
from our president at the time, Dr. Bruce Scott. In his remarks, Dr.
Scott noted that ACIP has been a trusted source
of advice and guidance for generations. Removing the 17 sitting
members of this committee undermines that trust. And it upends a
transparent process that has saved countless
lives, and it will further fuel the spread of vaccine
preventable illnesses. We also issued a statement from
our new president, Dr. Bobby Mukkamala, about the
eight new members of ACIP that the HHS Secretary selected. In his statement,
Dr. Mukkamala said that the AMA is deeply concerned
that the members have already been selected,
which has happened without transparency
and proper vetting. The AMA is urging
the administration to reconsider removing
the 17 ACIP members so physicians can continue
to have confidence in that committee’s
recommendations. Unger: Well, this is
certainly a development that we’re going to
continue to monitor closely. Also in recent weeks, COVID
was back in the headlines with more news
about a new variant. It’s been a while since
we’ve heard that word. Andrea, what do we need
to know about that? Garcia: Well, the new COVID
variant that’s now spreading in the U.S. and other parts of
the world is called NB.1.8.1, and it’s being
referred to as Nimbus. Like recent COVID
variants, Nimbus is a descendant of the Omicron
variant, and back in the spring, it was behind a surge
of cases in Asia. According to the CDC, it now
accounts for more than one third of cases here in the U.S. Now, back in May,
the WHO designated Nimbus as a variant
under monitoring and said that its spike
mutations could potentially make it more transmissible. This is especially notable
because, every year since 2020, we’ve seen COVID cases
increase in the summer. And I think while it’s too early
to know what impact Nimbus will have on case counts, we’ll
continue to keep everyone up to date as we learn more
over the coming weeks. Unger: All right. Thank you for that update. But it wasn’t the only COVID
story making the headlines. Also in the news
were the results of two new studies about
the process of recovering from a COVID infection. Andrea, what can you tell
us about those studies? Garcia: Well, Todd, there are
a lot of interesting findings for us to discuss here. Let’s start with the study
that was published in Open Forum for Infectious Diseases. This study looked at how
health-related quality of life changed while recovering from a
COVID infection over a 12-month period. It found that there was
a meaningful recovery in physical well-being three
months after infection. However, for mental
well-being, that recovery took longer and
meaningful improvement was seen after nine months. Additionally, it found
that about 20% of patients continued to have overall
suboptimal quality of life at one year. This study’s findings
are similar to others that we’ve discussed
recently that show that long-term effects
of a COVID infection can have on people. This point actually comes
through in the next study that we’re going
to discuss as well. Unger: All right. Well, that’s already
one big finding. What can you tell us
about the second study? Garcia: So the second study
appeared in the Journal of Medical Virology. It was a systematic
review and meta analysis that looked at the prevalence
of symptoms three years after a COVID infection. And it found that
20% of patients reported one or more persistent
symptoms after three years. Now, these symptoms
included shortness of breath, fatigue, insomnia,
loss of smell or taste, and anxiety. It also found that patients who
were hospitalized with COVID were at an increased risk
of death after three years. Previously, our understanding of
the impact of a COVID infection was limited beyond
that two-year mark, just due to the lack of data. This study starts to
paint a clearer picture of that longer-term impact. And these findings
also suggest a need to incorporate long COVID
management into routine patient care. Unger: Well, thanks for
walking us through that. Next up, there were some
updates from the FDA about a new RSV
vaccine for infants and a new treatment
for gonorrhea. Andrea, tell us more
about both of those. Garcia: So last week, the FDA
approved a monoclonal antibody called clesrovimab,
which helps prevent RSV in newborns and infants
during their first RSV season. Now, this is the second
monoclonal antibody immunization for infants to
protect against RSV. The other is nirsevimab,
which was approved by the FDA in July of 2023. In a statement about
the FDA’s approval, the manufacturer
Merck noted that ACIP is scheduled to discuss
a recommendation for this vaccine at its
meeting later this month. Also last week, we
learned that the FDA will review a new oral
antibiotic for gonorrhea called dolophrosyne. If it’s approved, it would
be the first new antibiotic for gonorrhea in decades. Todd, this is
especially significant because there’s been rising
antibiotic resistance to ceftriaxone, which is
currently the recommended treatment for gonorrhea. Unger: And those are
two welcome updates. Now let’s shift gears and check
in on the measles outbreak in the Southwest. Andrea, what’s the update there? Garcia: Well, it’s
been a couple of weeks since we took a look
at the case counts. And since then, we’ve
continued to see slow increases in cases in most states. As of last Tuesday in Texas, the
total number of measles cases had risen to 744. That was an increase in cases
since the previous week. In New Mexico, the
total number of cases was 81 at the end of last week. That means there have been
no new cases for two weeks straight there. In Oklahoma, the total number of
cases was 20 as of last Friday. And in Kansas, as
of last Wednesday, there were a total of 76 cases,
which was an increase of 3 from the week before. Unger: Andrea, are we continuing
to see measles cases anywhere else? Garcia: Absolutely. So over the last two
weeks, a number of states announced that they
had more measles cases, including California,
Colorado, Michigan and Montana. Meanwhile, Arizona confirmed its
first measles case this year. In the CDC’s weekly
measles update, the agency reported that there
have been a total of 1197 confirmed cases
so far this year, reported by 35 jurisdictions. As we’ve discussed before,
measles was officially eliminated in the U.S. in 2000. And when we say
something is eliminated, it means there are no cases
spreading in the country, and new cases are found when
someone contracts measles while traveling abroad
and returns home. Since then, the highest number
of reported measles cases we’ve ever seen in a
single year was in 2019, when there were 1274 cases. We are easily on track to
surpass that number this year. Obviously, a sobering reminder
that our work in addressing vaccine preventable
disease is not done, and we’re certainly
going to have much more to do to reverse this
trend in the years to come. Unger: Absolutely, Andrea. And thank you so
much, as always, for joining us and keeping
us up to date with each week. If you found this
discussion valuable, you can support more
programming like this. Physicians can join the AMA
at ama-assn.org/joinnow. Patients you can
get involved too by joining the AMA
Patients Action Network at patientsactionnetwork.com. As always, you can find
all our videos and podcasts at ama-assn.org/podcasts. Thanks for joining us today. Please take care. [MUSIC PLAYING]
How long does COVID last? What’s the new COVID study? Is there a new COVID variant? What states have measles? Is there a new RSV vaccine?
AMA’s Vice President of Science, Medicine and Public Health, Andrea Garcia, JD, MPH, covers measles outbreaks, new COVID-19 research studies, the latest FDA approved vaccine for RSV, plus how to treat gonorrhea with new antibiotics. American Medical Association CXO Todd Unger hosts.
🎥 Watch #AMAUpdate for health care news for physicians, residents and medical students: https://ama-assn.co/AMAUpdate
💜 Not a physician? Join the Patients Action Network: https://ama-assn.co/PatientsActionNetwork
🦠 Looking for a COVID map? Get the latest CDC COVID Tracker map, charts, and data: https://ama-assn.co/CDC_COVID
🤧 CDC RSV resources: https://ama-assn.co/CDC_RSV
🌡️ For the latest CDC measles outbreaks, symptoms of measles mumps rubeola and more, visit: https://ama-assn.co/CDC_Measles
🏥 Looking for measles resources for doctors? Access CDC Project Firstline Measles on the Rise – How to Prepare and Respond in Your Clinic (CME credit): https://ama-assn.co/CME_MeaslesClinicalResponse
💻 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention CDC H5N1 Bird Flu Current Situation Summary (CDC H5N1 technical report): https://ama-assn.co/CDC_H5N1
🚨 If the CDC issues new health warning, get the latest CDC health alert 2025 via the Health Alert Network (HAN CDC website): https://ama-assn.co/CDC_HAN
🩺 The AMA is your powerful ally, focused on addressing the issues important to you, so you can focus on what matters most — patients. We will meet this challenge together. Join us: https://ama-assn.co/JoinRenew
🥼 Go to https://ama-assn.co/FightingForDocs to learn more about our AMA advocacy priorities, including:
▹ Reforming Medicare payment
▹ Fighting scope creep
▹ Fixing prior authorization
▹ Reducing physician burnout
▹ Making technology work for physicians
AMA Update June 18, 2025
00:00 COVID Nimbus
00:59 What is ACIP?
01:30 New ACIP members
01:53 Former ACIP members
02:23 ACIP members new
03:12 New COVID variant NB.1.8.1
03:49 Summer COVID wave
04:21 New COVID study
04:30 COVID recovery time
04:45 COVID mental health
05:21 How do you know if you’ve got long COVID?
05:41 Symptoms of long COVID
06:30 RSV vaccine for babies (RSV vaccine approved ENFLONSIA clesrovimab-cfor)
06:53 ACIP meeting
07:06 New gonorrhea treatment
07:14 Gonorrhea antibiotics (zoliflodacin, ceftriaxone)
07:40 Measles Texas
08:00 Measles New Mexico
08:10 Measles Oklahoma
08:14 Measles Kansas
08:27 States with measles
08:39 Measles Arizona
04:43 Measles cases this year
08:56 Was measles eliminated?
09:15 Most measles in a year
09:30 How to prevent measles: Measles vaccine
✶✶✶✶
📺 Subscribe to @americanmedicalassociation on YouTube: https://ama-assn.co/youTube
📬 Never miss an episode! Subscribe to the AMA Update newsletter for a weekly roundup in your inbox: https://ama-assn.co/AMAUpdateNewsletter
📝 Podcast episodes and YouTube transcript available: https://ama-assn.co/AMAUpdate_Transcripts
📧 Sign up for #MorningRounds and free daily newsletters from the AMA: https://ama-assn.co/Newsletters
🎧 Listen to our latest medical podcasts: https://ama-assn.co/Podcasts
💬 Follow #AMA on social media: https://ama-assn.co/Social
📓 Access the Journal of the American Medical Association #JAMA login: https://ama-assn.co/JAMA
#FightingForDocs #medicine #futureofhealthcare #physicianadvocacy #healthcare #medical #science #publichealth #patientcare #CDC #AdvisoryCommitteeOnImmunizationPractices #ACIP #FDA #OpenForumInfectiousDiseases #OFID #JournalOfMedicalVirology #JOMV #covid #coronavirus #COVID19 #longCOVID #longhaulCOVID #postCOVID19 #postCOVID19condition #PCC #longtermCOVID #COVIDresearch #SARSCoV2 #longCOVIDsymptoms #virusoutbreak #virustransmission #vaccines #vaccination #immunization #measles #measlesoutbreak #mumps #rubella #rubeola #MMRvaccine #measlesvaccine #California #Colorado #Michigan #Montana #Texas #NewMexico #Oklahoma #Kansas #Arizona #RSV #RespiratorySyncytialVirus #RSVseason #RSVvaccine #monoclonalantibody #Pfizer #Nirsevimab #Merck #ENFLONSIA #clesrovimab #infants #babies #newborns #gonorrhea #gonorrheatreatment #antibiotics #antibioticresistance #ceftriaxone #zoliflodacin #sexuallytransmittedinfections #STIs #STI #STItreatment #sexuallytransmitteddisease #STD #STDtreatments #medicalresearch #AmericanMedicalAssociation