Health
A common killer bug is endangering Americans: ‘Pandemic in plain sight’
Five years after the worldwide hyperfocus on COVID-19 began, some are concerned about the next pandemic — whether it could be caused by influenza, bird flu or another pathogen.
Too easily overlooked are non-influenza, non-COVID viruses and bacteria that are burgeoning and spreading unchecked — both in the U.S. and around the world. While they may not cause the next pandemic, they do cause a lot of illness and death.
One such bacteria is Streptococcus Group A, an old enemy that colonizes the throat and tonsils of close to 20% of U.S. children, according to Dr. Joshua Osowicki, team leader and senior research fellow at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute in Melbourne, Australia.
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This problematic bacterial strain is easily treated with penicillin drugs when it causes a clinical infection, Osowicki told Fox News Digital in an on-camera interview. (See the video at the top of this article.)
But the problem, he said, is that because the bacteria may be harbored, the diagnosis isn’t always found early enough.
The Streptococcus Group A bacteria has been on the rise around the world, doctors warn. (iStock)
Scarlet fever and rheumatic fever/rheumatic heart disease can result from recurrent or untreated strep — and they are on the increase again in areas without adequate medical care, including parts of the U.S.
“Rheumatic heart disease is a chronic, non-infectious illness that occurs after untreated group-based streptococcal infections — and almost certainly after multiple untreated, group-based streptoococcus infections,” Osowicki said.
STREP THROAT INFECTIONS HAVE SPIKED ABOVE PRE-COVID HIGHS, SAYS REPORT: ‘WE’VE MISSED CASES’
His research reveals that the prevalence of a life-threatening invasive version of strep Group A — which can include deep-rooted skin infections, sepsis, meningitis and deadly pneumonia — is on the rise around the world.
The aggressive skin infections, which are associated with intravenous drug use, can lead to the need for repeated surgeries, along with antibiotics.
A life-threatening invasive version of strep Group A can include deep-rooted skin infections, sepsis, meningitis and deadly pneumonia. (iStock)
In the U.S., there have been more than double the annual incidents of invasive Group A strep in 10 states, affecting about 35 million Americans between 2013 and 2022, with 21,000 cases and about 2,000 deaths, according to Osowicki.
“In many ways, it’s a pandemic in plain sight,” he said of Group A strep, adding that close to a billion people likely experience symptomatic disease from the bacteria each year.
“It actually does its damage in severe, life-threatening cases before the patient receives antibiotics.”
The important thing with group A strep, according to the doctor, is that antibiotic resistance isn’t the primary issue.
“Group A strep is reliably killed by penicillin — and has been since 1941 when penicillin was introduced,” Osowicki noted.
Strep A colonizes the throat and tonsils of close to 20% of U.S. children, according to the researcher. (iStock)
“The point is that it actually does its damage in severe, life-threatening cases before the patient receives antibiotics. There’s this period where it is too hard to diagnose and treatment comes too late.”
In those cases, he said, the patients need ICUs, surgery and “the most intensive treatment we have to offer.”
Among patients over the age of 65 or so, a quarter of them will die with this form of the disease, according to Osowicki.
Need for a vaccine
There is not currently a vaccine for Group A strep.
While the more common form of strep throat and minor skin infections are “less scary,” Osowicki warned of the dangers of overlooking the more invasive version of the disease.
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“We look away sometimes from the life-threatening infections that we struggle to prevent, diagnose and treat, (until) these become the front-page sepsis cases that you see in the newspaper many weeks of the year,” he said.
“They’re headline-catching cases. They’re the cases like Rory Staunton in New York, whose tragic death (in 2012 from sepsis) really triggered the state census mandates across the U.S.”
There are up to 10 different group-based strep vaccines in development, ranging from entirely pre-clinical vaccines that have never seen a person to vaccines that have been tested in phase 1 trials. (iStock)
The need for an effective vaccine is clear — both for invasive strep and the more common variety. Osowicki and others in his group are working hard on developing them.
“The current thrust of my research is all vaccine-related,” he shared. “We do what are called human challenge trials, where we deliberately infect healthy adult volunteers with group A strep, painting it on their tonsils. And we do that in a very careful way, in an inpatient environment.”
The researchers also provide early antibiotic treatments and collect throat swabs, blood and saliva to study how the human-only pathogen works and to explore ways to stop it.
“The ultimate goal is that it becomes a really high-powered platform to establish the efficacy of vaccines,” said Osowicki.
There are many vaccine candidates in various stages of development, from the protein-adjuvant kind (like Shingrix or the Novavax COVID vaccine) to the MRNA platform and various other kinds, the researcher said.
“We’re working with every vaccine company that has a group-based streptococcal vaccine candidate in development,” he said.
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There are up to 10 different group-based strep vaccines in development, ranging from entirely pre-clinical vaccines that have never seen a person to vaccines that have been tested in phase 1 trials, Osowicki noted.
The goal, the researcher said, is to “create a vaccine that the world wants, that the world accepts, that the world says is safe, and that will help our children.”
He said he is concerned about vaccine skepticism, particularly after the COVID pandemic, which can keep people from trusting the emerging science.
Still, the researcher is excited about the future of the strep A vaccine and others, though he expects it could take at least five to 10 years before a worthy candidate reaches doctors’ offices.
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The new vaccine will be geared toward adults with skin infections, as well as the many millions of children who are at risk of both mild and severe disease.
The goal, Osowicki said, is to “create a vaccine that the world wants, that the world accepts, that the world says is safe, and that will help our children.”
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Journalist Katie Couric is sharing a scary medical episode that she experienced on June 27.
In a post on Substack titled “The Day I’ll Never Remember,” she detailed a sudden episode that left her unable to recall the current month, year and president.
“I thought it was 2024. And I believed Joe Biden was president,” she wrote.
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The event occurred while Couric was attending the Aspen Ideas Festival in Colorado, during which she participated in two public panels — one on AI and one on journalism — both of which she cannot remember at all.
“I have no idea what we talked about, or of what occurred when the panels ended,” she said.
Journalist Katie Couric is sharing a scary medical episode that she experienced on June 27. (Getty Images)
John Molner — Couric’s husband, who was in attendance at the festival and the two panels — also shared his account.
After the event, someone told Molner that Katie wasn’t feeling well. When he reached her, an EMT and a doctor were tending to her. “I could tell something was off,” he wrote. “It could have been altitude sickness, but Katie was definitely not all there.”
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At the hospital, when Couric struggled to recall the year, the president and her grandchildren’s names, doctors began checking for a stroke.
An MRI revealed no signs of stroke, which was a relief, but “Katie’s ‘fog’ became a lot more apparent,” Molner wrote.
John Molner, Couric’s husband, who was in attendance at the festival and the two panels, also shared his account. (Getty Images)
“She repeatedly asked me the same questions: ‘What was I doing before we got to the hospital?’ ‘Why am I at the hospital?’”
Couric was ultimately diagnosed with transient global amnesia, a sudden, temporary episode of memory loss that prevents a person from forming new memories and may also erase some recent memories, according to Mayo Clinic.
“The cause seems to be as mysterious as the brain itself.”
It is not caused by a stroke, seizure or head injury, and it usually resolves completely within 24 hours.
“[It’s] just a very weird neural episode that’s pretty uncommon and, at least in most cases, is a ‘one and done’ experience,” Molner said.
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Couric said she finally began feeling “like herself” again around 9 p.m. and went to sleep at 2 a.m.
As TGA leaves a “permanent gap in memory” for the duration of the episode and for hours beforehand, Couric said that from around noon on that day until at least 7 p.m. will remain a “big, black hole.”
As TGA leaves a “permanent gap in memory” for the duration of the episode and for hours beforehand, Couric said that from around noon on that day until at least 7 p.m. will remain a “big, black hole.” (Getty Images)
Data shows that approximately three to eight people per 100,000 will have an episode of transient global amnesia, with people 50 years of age and older at higher risk.
The specific cause of TGA is not known, but some experts believe it stems from a “temporary dysfunction in the brain’s hippocampus — the area responsible for creating new memories,” Couric shared.
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“Doctors believe this is driven by brief interruptions in blood or oxygen flow, or microscopic spasm in the blood vessels.”
Episodes could potentially be triggered by intense physical exertion, emotional distress, extreme temperature changes or migraines, experts say.
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Approximately 15% of patients will have a recurrence 10 years later.
“Why did this happen to me? Was the altitude an issue? Was I dehydrated? Tired? Stressed? The literature doesn’t seem to indicate that these are contributing factors, but the cause seems to be as mysterious as the brain itself,” Couric wrote.
Anyone who experiences sudden memory loss, confusion, difficulty speaking, weakness, numbness, vision changes, severe headache or other stroke-like symptoms should seek immediate medical attention or call 911, doctors advise. (iStock)
“All I know is that those hours will be forever lost. Someone described it as my brain failing to hit the ‘record button.’”
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“While this was a freaky occurrence, it could have been much more serious. So ultimately, I’m relieved — even though several hours of a Saturday in June will always be missing for me.”
Anyone who experiences sudden memory loss, confusion, difficulty speaking, weakness, numbness, vision changes, severe headache or other stroke-like symptoms should seek immediate medical attention or call 911, doctors advise.
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Older adults identified as “super movers” are about half as likely to develop cognitive impairment than their peers.
That’s according to a recent study led by Stony Brook Medicine in New York, which evaluated the cognitive function of 4,000 adults 80 and over who participated in multiple aging and longevity studies over several years.
Among this group, 6% to 10% were classified as super movers, which means they walk at a much faster pace than others of the same age and gender — at speeds comparable to people three decades younger.
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The super movers were found to have about half the risk of cognitive decline compared to seniors with typical gait speed.
The findings were published in the journal Neurology on June 16.
Older adults identified as “super movers” are about half as likely to develop cognitive impairment than their peers. (iStock)
“The study reinforces that mobility and brain health are closely connected,” lead study author Dr. Joe Verghese, MD, neurologist at Stony Brook Medicine, told Fox News Digital. “This suggests that preserving mobility may be an important marker of healthy brain aging and resilience.”
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The most intriguing finding, according to Verghese, was that super movers maintained cognitive function despite having similar dementia-related brain changes as their peers.
In postmortem brain analysis, there was no difference in dementia-related pathologies between the super movers and the slower walkers, the study stated.
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“This suggests they may possess resilience mechanisms that help preserve brain function even in the presence of age-related changes,” he said. “Understanding these resilience factors could lead to new strategies for promoting healthy brain aging.”
As the study was observational, there were some limitations, and it does not prove that walking faster prevents dementia, the researchers noted.
Super movers were found to have about half the risk of cognitive decline compared to seniors with typical gait speed. (iStock)
“Other factors, such as cardiovascular health, physical fitness or genetics, may also contribute to both faster walking and better cognitive outcomes,” Verghese said.
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This study adds to growing evidence that what’s good for the heart and muscles also benefits the brain, he noted, adding that “staying physically active remains one of the most effective, evidence-based ways to support healthy aging.”
“Walking speed is best viewed as a marker of overall health, not a treatment.”
“The broader message is that physical activity is important at any age,” Verghese said. “Walking is an easy step-up point because you don’t need any special equipment. You can do it inside or outdoors, and you can do it on a regular basis. You can walk with a dog, you can walk with a friend.”
Any activity is beneficial if it’s done regularly and with the right intensity, he added.
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Rather than just trying to walk faster, the neurologist recommends that seniors focus on maintaining mobility through regular physical activity, strength training, balance exercises and good cardiovascular health.
“Walking speed is best viewed as a marker of overall health, not a treatment,” Verghese noted.
Major public health guidelines from the CDC and U.S. Physical Activity Guidelines recommend at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity each week, such as brisk walking.
Major public health guidelines from the CDC and U.S. Physical Activity Guidelines recommend at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity each week, such as brisk walking. (iStock)
This can be achieved by walking 30 minutes a day, five days a week, or about 20 to 25 minutes most days. Another option is to engage in shorter sessions that add up over the day.
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“You have to do it within your health limitations and medical conditions,” Verghese advised. “So if there are any medical concerns, I would get your physician to clear you before starting exercise.” The good thing about walking, he added, is that you can start at a slow pace and then gradually build up to a brisker pace.
“And then adding on strength and balance training, whatever age you are, I think is also important.”
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