PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Good news for people with MS—COVID-19 vaccine not tied to relapse

2024-08-14
(Press-News.org)

EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE UNTIL 4 P.M. ET, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 14, 2024

MINNEAPOLIS – People with multiple sclerosis (MS) have an increased risk of severe coronavirus infection, but there has been concern regarding potential relapse after vaccination. A new study finds that people with MS may not have a higher risk of relapse after COVID-19 vaccination. The study is published in the August 14, 2024, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

“People with MS have an increased risk of severe COVID infection due to their level of motor disability or exposure to treatments that suppress their immune systems,” said study author Xavier Moisset, MD, PhD, of Clermont Auvergne University in Clermont-Ferrand, France. “Some previous studies have found relapses following vaccination, leading some people to not seek the recommended booster doses. The good news is that our study found that there was no increased risk of relapse after COVID-19 vaccination for nearly all participants.”

Researchers found a small increase in relapse risk after a booster dose for patients with high MS activity, who have had at least two relapses in the previous two years, especially those who were not taking any MS medications.

The study involved 124,545 people with MS in France. They had been living with MS for an average of 14 years and were followed for 45 days after vaccination, as potential vaccine-induced relapses generally occur within 28 days after vaccination.

During the study, 102,524 people, or 82%, received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. A total of 95% received a second dose and 59% received an additional booster dose.

Participants received one or more of the following vaccines: Pfizer BioNTech, Moderna, AstraZeneca or Janssen.

In the 45 days following vaccination, researchers looked at relapses requiring treatment with high-dose corticosteroids.

After adjusting for other factors that could affect the likelihood of a relapse, such as time of year and the effect of disease-modifying therapy, researchers found that COVID-19 vaccination did not increase the risk of severe relapse. These results remained consistent after each dose.

To confirm the findings, researchers compared people who had relapses to those without. Again, they found no increased risk of vaccine exposure. They identified a small decrease in relapse risk after vaccination.

“Our findings are reassuring that these vaccines can be used without any worry about the risk of relapse,” Moisset said. “The absence of such a risk is encouraging for people with MS that they may receive booster shots when needed, especially if booster shots are to be repeated in the future.”

Moisset said, “Particular caution is needed for patients with the highest inflammatory activity, who should first receive disease-modifying treatment before their booster vaccination. People who were untreated and those with a highly active disease showed a small increased risk after the third vaccine dose. The risk was highest if both factors were combined.”

A limitation of the study is that researchers looked only at relapses requiring corticosteroids, so benign relapses that were not reviewed by neurologists or not needing the use of corticosteroid therapy were not considered.

Learn more about multiple sclerosis at BrainandLife.org, home of the American Academy of Neurology’s free patient and caregiver magazine focused on the intersection of neurologic disease and brain health. Follow Brain & Life® on Facebook, X and Instagram.

When posting to social media channels about this research, we encourage you to use the hashtags #Neurology and #AANscience.

The American Academy of Neurology is the world's largest association of neurologists and neuroscience professionals, with over 40,000 members. The AAN’s mission is to enhance member career fulfillment and promote brain health for all. A neurologist is a doctor with specialized training in diagnosing, treating and managing disorders of the brain and nervous system such as Alzheimer's disease, stroke, concussion, epilepsy, Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis, headache and migraine.

For more information about the American Academy of Neurology, visit AAN.com or find us on Facebook, X, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube.

END



ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

The Lundquist Institute WIC Program receives USDA 2024 WIC Breastfeeding Gold Award of Excellence

The Lundquist Institute WIC Program receives USDA 2024 WIC Breastfeeding Gold Award of Excellence
2024-08-14
The Lundquist Institute for Biomedical Innovation at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center (TLI) is pleased to announce that its WIC Program has received the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) 2024 WIC Breastfeeding Gold Award of Excellence. The FNS notes that the “intent is to provide models and motivate other local agencies to strengthen their breastfeeding promotion and support activities and ultimately increase breastfeeding initiation and duration rates among WIC participants.” The FNS award letter recognizes the TLI WIC Program “for its exemplary efforts in WIC breastfeeding promotion and ...

First participant enrolled in NIH-Funded Access for All in ALS Consortium

2024-08-14
The Access for All in ALS Consortium (ALL ALS) announced the successful enrollment of the first participant. Established in the autumn of 2023 with funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), ALL ALS is a multi-institutional effort, and aims to disrupt the ALS clinical research landscape using open science methods to build broadly accessible resources to advance ALS research. The consortium brings together research scientists from across the country, combining their efforts to collect clinical and biomarker data from people with ALS symptoms, asymptomatic individuals at risk of developing inherited forms of ALS, and control participants. The ALL ALS ...

Department of Energy Office of Science accepting applications, offering workshops for Office of Science Graduate Student Research (SCGSR) awards

2024-08-14
Washington, D.C. - Current U.S. Ph.D. students in qualified graduate programs at accredited U.S. academic institutions who are conducting their graduate thesis research in targeted areas of importance to the DOE Office of Science are invited to apply for the Office of Science Graduate Student Research (SCGSR) program.    Helpful application assistance workshops will be held on Thursday, September 12, 2024, 2:00 PM – 3:30 PM EDT and Thursday, October 10, 2024, 2:00 PM – 4:30 PM EDT.     Applications are due at 5:00 pm Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) on November 6, 2024.     The September 12, ...

Brian Peters part of multi-disciplinary team awarded $3.9 million to study mixed fungal-bacterial infections

Brian Peters part of multi-disciplinary team awarded $3.9 million to study mixed fungal-bacterial infections
2024-08-14
Brian Peters, PhD, First Tennessee Endowed Chair of Excellence in Clinical Pharmacy and professor in the Department of Clinical Pharmacy and Translational Science at the UT Health Science Center, was recently awarded $3.9 million from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases for a project aimed at unravelling intricate mysteries surrounding complex fungal-bacterial infections. James Cassat, MD, PhD, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, and Paul Fidel, PhD, LSU Health New Orleans, are also principal investigators. Infections caused by both fungi ...

New study unveils the power of physical forces in enhancing T cell immune response

2024-08-14
Study Title: Parsing digital or analog TCR performance through piconewton forces Publication: Science Advances Dana-Farber Cancer Institute authors: Aoi Akitsu, Kristine N. Brazin, Robert J. Mallis, Jonathan S. Duke-Cohan, Matthew A. Booker, Vincenzo Cinella, Jonathan Lee, Michael Y. Tolstorukov and Ellis L. Reinherz, MD Summary: Researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute investigate new features of T cell performance, delineating a class of digital cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) that are optimal in providing protection against virally infected or otherwise altered body cells, and by extension, most useful for immunotherapy. These digital ...

Researchers unveil mysteries of ancient Earth

Researchers unveil mysteries of ancient Earth
2024-08-14
A team of researchers has made strides in understanding the formation of massif-type anorthosites, enigmatic rocks that only formed during the middle part of Earth’s history. These plagioclase-rich igneous rock formations, which can cover areas as large as 42,000 square kilometers and host titanium ore deposits, have puzzled scientists for decades due to conflicting theories about their origins. A new study published in Science Advances on Aug. 14 highlights the intricate connections between Earth’s evolving ...

UNC-Chapel Hill launches the Institute for Risk Management and Insurance Innovation

2024-08-14
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is launching the Institute for Risk Management and Insurance Innovation, a new interdisciplinary research and innovation hub that will leverage the expertise of faculty and students from various disciplines across campus to address complex challenges in risk management and insurance. “The institute will address the financial risks arising from a growing number of threats to our state and beyond, ranging from extreme weather to cybersecurity,” explains Vice Chancellor for Research Penny Gordon-Larsen. “UNC-Chapel Hill is a world leader in translating extreme environmental events into financial risk and now seeks to expand ...

Integrating positive psychology and autism: A roundtable

Integrating positive psychology and autism: A roundtable
2024-08-14
A new Roundtable Discussion in the peer-reviewed journal Autism in Adulthood explores how the two fields of positive psychology and autism might integrate and benefit each other, and the autism community at large. Click here to read the Roundtable. The Roundtable was co-moderated by Patricia Wright, PhD, MPH who is the Executive Director of Proof Positive: Autism Wellbeing Alliance, an organization committed to integrating autism services and the field of positive psychology and Rachel Moseley, ...

UC Irvine scientists create material that can take the temperature of nanoscale objects

2024-08-14
Irvine, Calif., Aug. 14, 2024 — University of California, Irvine scientists recently discovered a one-dimensional nanoscale material whose color changes as temperature changes. The team’s results appeared in Advanced Materials.    “We found that we can make really small and sensitive thermometers,” said Maxx Arguilla, UC Irvine professor of chemistry whose research group led the study. “It’s one of the most applied and translatable works to come out of our lab.”     Arguilla ...

Dark rituals: Understanding society's fascination with death and disaster

2024-08-14
Understanding why the popularity of organised events steeped in themes of death, disaster and suffering, such as the well-known Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead), Jack the Ripper Walking Tours and Remembrance Sunday, could be key to a deeper understanding of society, say researchers from the University of Surrey. In a study published by Annals of Tourism Research, researchers introduce a comprehensive framework to analyse these events, drawing from fields as diverse as thanatology (the scientific study of death and the practices associated with it), dark tourism, and collective memory ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Optical biosensor rapidly detects monkeypox virus

New drug targets for Alzheimer’s identified from cerebrospinal fluid

Neuro-oncology experts reveal how to use AI to improve brain cancer diagnosis, monitoring, treatment

Argonne to explore novel ways to fight cancer and transform vaccine discovery with over $21 million from ARPA-H

Firefighters exposed to chemicals linked with breast cancer

Addressing the rural mental health crisis via telehealth

Standardized autism screening during pediatric well visits identified more, younger children with high likelihood for autism diagnosis

Researchers shed light on skin tone bias in breast cancer imaging

Study finds humidity diminishes daytime cooling gains in urban green spaces

Tennessee RiverLine secures $500,000 Appalachian Regional Commission Grant for river experience planning and design standards

AI tool ‘sees’ cancer gene signatures in biopsy images

Answer ALS releases world's largest ALS patient-based iPSC and bio data repository

2024 Joseph A. Johnson Award Goes to Johns Hopkins University Assistant Professor Danielle Speller

Slow editing of protein blueprints leads to cell death

Industrial air pollution triggers ice formation in clouds, reducing cloud cover and boosting snowfall

Emerging alternatives to reduce animal testing show promise

Presenting Evo – a model for decoding and designing genetic sequences

Global plastic waste set to double by 2050, but new study offers blueprint for significant reductions

Industrial snow: Factories trigger local snowfall by freezing clouds

Backyard birds learn from their new neighbors when moving house

New study in Science finds that just four global policies could eliminate more than 90% of plastic waste and 30% of linked carbon emissions by 2050

Breakthrough in capturing 'hot' CO2 from industrial exhaust

New discovery enables gene therapy for muscular dystrophies, other disorders

Anti-anxiety and hallucination-like effects of psychedelics mediated by distinct neural circuits

How do microbiomes influence the study of life?

Plant roots change their growth pattern during ‘puberty’

Study outlines key role of national and EU policy to control emissions from German hydrogen economy

Beloved Disney classics convey an idealized image of fatherhood

Sensitive ceramics for soft robotics

Trends in hospitalizations and liver transplants associated with alcohol-induced liver disease

[Press-News.org] Good news for people with MS—COVID-19 vaccine not tied to relapse