None.

Following low incidence of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infections in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, we noted a resurgence in hospitalised children in spring/summer 2021 following relaxation of public health measures. We compared this outbreak to previous autumn/winter seasons. We found higher weekly case numbers and incidence rates, more cases from urban neighbourhoods with lower socioeconomic status, and similar clinical presentation and severity. Public health implications include the re-evaluation of palivizumab administration and the need for surge capacity planning.

Formaldehyde (FA) is a widely produced industrial chemical. Sufficient evidence exists to consider FA as an animal carcinogen. In humans the evidence is not conclusive. DNA-protein crosslinks (DPC) may be one of the early lesions in the carcinogenesis process in cells following exposures to carcinogens. It has been shown in in vitro tests that FA can form DPC. We examined the amount of DPC formation in human white blood cells exposed to FA in vitro and in white blood cells taken from 12 workers exposed to FA and eight controls. We found a significant difference (P = 0.03) in the amount of DPC among exposed (mean +/- SD 28 +/- 5%, minimum 21%, maximum 38%) than among the unexposed controls (mean +/- SD 22 +/- 6%, minimum 16%, maximum 32%). Of the 12 exposed workers, four (33%) showed crosslink values above the upper range of controls. We also found a linear relationship between years of exposure and the amount of DPC. We conclude that our data indicate a possible mechanism of FA carcinogenicity in humans and that DPC can be used as a method for biological monitoring of exposure to FA.

I n May 2021, the US Food and Drug Administration and the European Medicines Agency expanded existing authorization for BNT162b2 vaccine (Pfi zer-BioNTech, https://www.pfi zer.com) against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) to include its use in adolescents 12-15 years of age (1,2). On June 2, 2021, the Israel Ministry of Health declared the availability of BNT162b2 vaccine for adolescents 12-15 years of age (3) as a 2-dose regimen, given 21 days apart. By August 26, 2021, a total of 277,218 adolescents (46.1% of those eligible) had received 1 dose of the vaccine and 187,707 (31.2%) had received 2 doses (Figure 1, panel A). In mid-June 2021, after a month of extremely low SARS-CoV-2 activity in Israel, 2 local outbreaks erupted (4-6). These outbreaks marked the beginning of a new widespread SARS-CoV-2 outbreak in Israel (Figure 1, panel B), dominated by the B.1.617.2 (Delta) variant, which accounted for 93%-99% of the sequenced viruses during July and August 2021 (7). We analyzed effectiveness of this vaccine among adolescents who had been vaccinated in the early stages of this outbreak in Israel.The study was approved by the superior ethical committee of the Israel Ministry of Health and included exemption from informed consent.

Background This study aimed to investigate overall and sex-specific excess all-cause mortality since the inception of the COVID-19 pandemic until August 2020 among 22 countries. Methods Countries reported weekly or monthly all-cause mortality from January 2015 until the end of June or August 2020. Weekly or monthly COVID-19 deaths were reported for 2020. Excess mortality for 2020 was calculated by comparing weekly or monthly 2020 mortality (observed deaths) against a baseline mortality obtained from 2015–2019 data for the same week or month using two methods: (i) difference in observed mortality rates between 2020 and the 2015–2019 average and (ii) difference between observed and expected 2020 deaths. Results Brazil, France, Italy, Spain, Sweden, the UK (England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland) and the USA demonstrated excess all-cause mortality, whereas Australia, Denmark and Georgia experienced a decrease in all-cause mortality. Israel, Ukraine and Ireland demonstrated sex-specific changes in all-cause mortality. Conclusions All-cause mortality up to August 2020 was higher than in previous years in some, but not all, participating countries. Geographical location and seasonality of each country, as well as the prompt application of high-stringency control measures, may explain the observed variability in mortality changes.