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Cancer Awareness Days in September
September may be known for crisper temperatures and the smells of autumn tailgating, but it is also a month full of cancer awareness. September is host to Blood Cancer Awareness Month, Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, Gynecological Cancer Awareness Month, National Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month, Prostate Cancer Awareness Month, World Cancer Research Day, and National Hereditary Breast and Ovarian Cancer Week.
Public health communicators and members of the general public should understand the aim behind these awareness months and preventive measures that can lessen the risk of ever developing cancer.
Here’s what you need to know about the various cancers recognized in September, including prevalence and preventative measures that you can take to keep you and your loved ones safe.
Blood Cancer Awareness Month
In September, organizations dedicated to supporting people with blood cancers such as leukemia and lymphoma work to raise awareness and increase research funding.
BA.5 COVID-19 Variant: What We Know
BA.5 is currently the dominant strain of COVID-19 in the U.S. Here’s what you need to know about this latest COVID variant and how to best stay protected.
What Is the BA.5 COVID Variant?
BA.5 is one of the newest sub-variants of the COVID-19 Omicron virus. It made up 85.5% of all COVID cases in the U.S. between July 24 and July 30, reports the CDC. At present, the three most common variants of Omicron are BA.2, BA.4, and BA.5.
How Is BA.5 Different From Other Strains of COVID?
The BA.5 variant currently represents the highest number of COVID cases, and therefore may be more contagious than other strains of this disease. It also appears to “evade protection from vaccines and previous infections more easily” than previous variants, according to a report from NBC News.
David Montefiori, a professor at the Human Vaccine Institute at Duke University Medical Center, says BA.5 is approximately three times less sensitive to neutralizing antibodies from COVID vaccines than the original version of Omicron. It is also four times more resistant to antibodies from COVID vaccines than BA.2, according to a recent study published in the journal Nature.
In June, the U.K. reported that the majority of people who were testing positive for COVID were experiencing symptoms including fever, abdominal pain, sore throat, and muscle aches. BA.5 and BA.4 accounted for the majority of new COVID cases in the U.K. during that time.
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