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Preparing for the flu season during COVID-19

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It’s important to get your flu vaccine because the flu and coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) may be circulating at the same time and cause similar symptoms.

Learn more about the similarities and differences of COVID-19 and the flu.

The flu vaccine doesn’t protect you from COVID-19. But the flu vaccine could reduce flu symptoms that could be confused with COVID-19 symptoms. The flu vaccine can also help lessen the impact on health care providers and hospitals by reducing the number of people with severe flu and hospitalized with the flue.

Read more here.

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Bay Area research team wins prize for working prototype of artificial kidney

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“A Bay Area research team is being awarded a major prize for a device they hope will someday free kidney patients from dialysis.

For thousands of kidney patients in the U.S., the only practical hope of getting off dialysis has been waiting for a transplant. But now, a new engineering breakthrough is reigniting hopes for a second option… an implantable artificial kidney.”

Read full story here.

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Trick or Treat Your Kidney with These Kidney Friendly Halloween Candy

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“Halloween is right around the corner, which means one thing: candy! It’s often challenging to resist Halloween candy temptations, so we’ve compiled some tips and tricks for you to treat your body in a safe way..
While living with chronic kidney disease (CKD), it’s important to know which foods are kidney friendly and which foods to avoid especially if you are on a dialysis diet. It’s okay to have a sweet tooth, however, moderation is a must.”

See the full list, here.

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Outbreak Investigation of Salmonella Oranienburg: Whole, Fresh Onions (October 2021)

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“The FDA, along with CDC and state and local partners, is investigating a multistate outbreak of Salmonella Oranienburg infections linked to whole, fresh onions. FDA’s traceback investigation is ongoing but has identified ProSource Produce, LLC (also known as ProSource Inc.) of Hailey, Idaho, and Keeler Family Farms of Deming, New Mexico, as suppliers of potentially contaminated whole, fresh onions imported from the State of Chihuahua, Mexico.”

Read more here.

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NKF Statement on Key Healthcare Policies to Help Kidney Patients

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“This week, the U.S. House of Representatives is reviewing several policy initiatives in the budget reconciliation process that, if passed, could positively impact patients with kidney disease. The National Kidney Foundation and our advocates nationwide have been working closely with Congress to keep kidney patients and their unique needs front and center and we strongly support the following initiatives:

Lowering the Cost of Prescription Drugs 

NKF is proud to have worked with the Partnership to Protect Coverage in advocating for lower cost prescription drugs for our patients. Among other things, this provision caps Medicare Part D out of pocket costs at $2000 per patient, per year. “

Learn more here.

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In a major scientific advance, a pig kidney is successfully transplanted into a human

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“Scientists temporarily attached a pig’s kidney to a human body and watched it begin to work, a small step in the decades-long quest to one day use animal organs for life-saving transplants.

Pigs have been the most recent research focus to address the organ shortage, but among the hurdles: A sugar in pig cells, foreign to the human body, causes immediate organ rejection. The kidney for this experiment came from a gene-edited animal, engineered to eliminate that sugar and avoid an immune system attack.”

Read more here.

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Three Drugs Better Than Two (or One) in Cystic Fibrosis

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“A three-drug combination for a certain form of cystic fibrosis (CF) not addressed with other therapies met its efficacy and safety endpoints in a phase III trial, researchers said.

Elexacaftor, tezacaftor, and ivacaftor (Trikafta) together improved forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) and lowered chloride levels in sweat in CF patients with Phe508del-gating or Phe508del-residual function genotypes, relative to a control regimen of ivacaftor either alone (Kalydeco) or with tezacaftor (Symdeko), reported Peter J. Barry, MD, of Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust in England, and colleagues in the New England Journal of Medicine.”

Read more, here.

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For 2 Ga. Couples, a Transplant Created an Unbreakable Bond: ‘We’re the Kidney Warrior Family’

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“Tia Wimbush and Susan Ellis were coworkers for years at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, and while friendly to each other at work, they rarely interacted in the large IT department. But in March, the two became bonded for life when Tia donated her kidney to Susan’s husband Lance, and Susan donated her kidney to Tia’s husband Rodney.   

It all began with a chance encounter in the company restroom, and an introduction through another woman at work who knew that Tia’s husband Rodney had experienced sudden kidney failure in 2019 and that Susan’s husband Lance, who had long battled the disease, was in the same situation. Soon, they began to share what Ellis calls “a connection of sisterhood” after learning both their husbands had end-stage kidney disease and were on dialysis.”

Read full story, here.

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FDA OKs New Drug for CKD-Related Pruritus

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“The FDA approved difelikefalin (Korsuva) on Monday for treating pruritus in chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients, Cara Therapeutics and Vifor Pharma announced.

Difelikefalin is a first-in-class kappa opioid receptor (KOR) agonist that targets the peripheral nervous system, according to the two companies. Administered as an injection (0.5 μg/kg three times per week), the drug is indicated for moderate-to-severe pruritus in CKD patients on hemodialysis — the first therapy approved in this setting.”

Read more, here.

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Can Liver Donor Biomarker Predict Liver Transplant Rejection?

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“The biomarker, class I human leukocyte antigen (HLA) evolutionary divergence (HED), was tied to liver transplant rejection in adults and children, French researchers found.

In a retrospective study, adult-donor class I HED was associated with acute liver transplant rejection (HR 1.09, 95% CI 1.03-1.16) and chronic rejection (HR 1.20, 95% CI 1.10-1.31), in addition to 50% or greater ductopenia (HR 1.33, 95% CI 1.09-1.62), reported Cyrille Feray, MD, PhD, of the Hôpital Paul-Brousse in Villejuif, France, and colleagues.”

Learn more, here.

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