2021-10-07 General

Long COVID This study from the UK found: there were subtle differences in T cells which correlated strongly (but not perfectly) with having Long COVID; giving histamine receptor antagonists made 72% of them better (!!!); something which the histamine receptor antagonists never helped was dysautonomia, which suggests that there is some different mechanism causing that.… Continue reading 2021-10-07 General

2021-10-01 General

Vaccines Today, during a BC Ministry of Health press conference about something else, Dr. Henry got a question about when little kids’ vaccinations (ages 5-11). Dr. Henry said that Pfizer had submitted (or was about to submit?) data for the study, which had a new formulation: 1/3 of the adult active ingredient (10 mg vs.… Continue reading 2021-10-01 General

2021-09-30 General

Pathology This preprint made a model which predicts positive PCR tests based on seven symptoms: loss or change of sense of smell, loss or change of sense of taste, fever, new persistent cough, chills, appetite loss, and muscle aches. This can possibly replace tests in places where tests either are not available or when someone… Continue reading 2021-09-30 General

2021-09-29 General

Testing/Diagnostics In this study, they put a wristwatch-like thing on the wrists of people who willingly allowed themselves to be infected with either rhinovirus, flu, or placebo. The wristwatch thingie was able to predict illness about a day before symptoms showed up. This could be really useful for diagnosing other respiratory infections (like ahem COVID-19).… Continue reading 2021-09-29 General

2021-09-28 General

Treatments It’s been observed often that obesity raises the risk of COVID-19. This preprint looked into it more closely, and found that the anti-obesity drug orlistat blocks COVID-19 in mice. Mitigation Measures This report from England looked how behaviour correlated with risk of getting COVID-19. People who reported that never wore masks were slightly over… Continue reading 2021-09-28 General

2021-09-24 General

Mitigation Measures This US CDC report says that counties with school mask mandates had lower absolute pediatric case rates (16.32 per 100K/day vs. 34.85 per 100K/day) and a lower increase in cases after school started. This (different) US CDC report says that counties without a mask mandate in schools had a 3.5x higher chance of… Continue reading 2021-09-24 General

2021-09-23 General

Vaccines This long and highly technical preprint also says that the MMR vaccine gives some protection against and that the Tdap (Tetanus, diphtheria, and pertussis) vaccine does. The authors did two things: They took T cells from blood which had SARS-CoV-2 antibodies (either from infection or vaccination) and added either MMR or Tdap vaccines, and… Continue reading 2021-09-23 General