Note: The province will not give another update until 3 Jan 2025. There are about 20% more respiratory illnesses than were reported week. However, they also increased last week’s figures, so this week is about the same as what they now say we had last week. 🙁 The COVID-19 numbers don’t get revised as much… Continue reading 2024-12-20 BC
2024-12-20 General
Recommended Reading ⭐❗❗This article (2024-12-17) talks about how cats might be an effective “mixing vessel” and transmission vector for the next pandemic. TL;DR: Cats have avian and mammal receptors and get very very close to humans on a regular basis. COVID-19 Long COVID ⭐ This preprint from USA (2024-12-11) reports that people who went on… Continue reading 2024-12-20 General
2024-12-13 BC
COVID-19 keeps going down! All the numbers (yes, including wastewater) are almost as low as they were 18 months ago. (COVID-19 is NOT “seasonal”!) RSV is up, and is still the most common respiratory infection. Flu is rising a bit more quickly than it had been, but it still is at a pretty low level.… Continue reading 2024-12-13 BC
2024-12-13 General
⭐❗❗ This review paper (2024-12-10) reports that pathogens — including some really nasty ones — hang around in semen from days to years. They found 22 different pathogens which had been reported in semen, including HIV, Zika, Ebola, mpox, COVID-19, Lassa fever, dengue, Hep E, mumps, West Nile, adenovirus, Marburg, and some I’d never heard… Continue reading 2024-12-13 General
2024-12-07 BC
The COVID levels — on all measures — keep going down for no obvious reason. I don’t care why, I think it’s awesome! I haven’t seen levels this low since summer 2023. Flu is creeping up, but RSV is this report period’s leader. Charts From the BC CDC Situation Report: Comparison vs. Other Influenza-Like-Illnesses, from… Continue reading 2024-12-07 BC
2024-12-07 General
COVID-19/MERS Long COVID ⭐ ❗❗This paper from Japan (2024-12-02) reported that oral minocycline significantly helped 89% of long COVID patients in what was effectively a big case study, especially when given in the first six months. There was improvement in fatigue, post-exertional malaise, unrefreshing sleep, brain fog, disequilibrium, orthostatic intolerance, and neuropathic pain. (Minocycline is… Continue reading 2024-12-07 General
2024-11-29 BC
I now have a recommendation on when to get a flu shot: somewhere around Dec. 10. It takes about two weeks to get max protection, and getting a shot around Dec. 10 puts you at max protection around Christmas Eve. I think the peak will be in late January, so you will also have good… Continue reading 2024-11-29 BC
2024-11-29 General
This is kind of a slow news week because most of my primary English-language sources have been eating Turkey and/or complaining about Trump’s picks for important health-related administrative positions. I now have a recommendation on when to get your flu shot (if you haven’t yet): around 9-10 December. See the BC post for why. COVID-19… Continue reading 2024-11-29 General
2024-11-22 BC
Influenza levels are still low, both in BC and in the US northwest. I still don’t think it’s the optimum time yet to get a flu shot. H5N1 Transmission For info on the BC human H5N1 case, see the General post. This article (2024-11-17) says that there are now 37 infected poultry flocks in BC.… Continue reading 2024-11-22 BC
2024-11-22 General
Vaccines in General ⭐❗❗ I saw a post on teh socials where the author said that they had talked to people who thought that getting a COVID-19 vaccination too soon after an infection or previous COVID-19 vax was dangerous. Having infections or vaccinations “too close” together is not dangerous. It is less effective, perhaps, but… Continue reading 2024-11-22 General