COVID-19
Long COVID
💊🎉 This paper from Japan (2026-05-15) reports that outpatients with confirmed COVID-19 who took ensitrelvir/Xocova were 14% less likely to get Long COVID than controls who took placebos. Patients who took molnupiravir had a 19% lower risk, but the change in risk was not statistically significant for nirmatrelvir+ritonavir/Paxlovid. (Editor’s Note: Xocova has been approved in Japan, and I expect it will be approved in Canada soonish.)
💊🎉 This paper from Japan (2026-05-02) reports that people who took an antiviral (Xocova, molnupiravir, or Paxlovid) had a 24% higher chance of returning to the same health they had before catching COVID-19 than people who did not take an antiviral.
🎉 This article from USA (2026-05-18) reports that a pilot study of extra-strong-tasting chewing gum showed that two-thirds of the participants were able to regain smell and taste. (If the study has been published in a research journal, I haven’t been able to find it.)
This paper from China (2026-04-01) reports that neurological conditions increased by a lot when COVID-19 hit.
This paper with data from people around the world (2026-05-23*) also reports that mental disorders have spiked since COVID-19 arrived, to the point where there are now about 14% of people have a mental disorder.
*Yeah, I know, that’s the future, but that’s the only date I could find for the paper.
Vaccines
💉 This preprint from USA (2026-05-15) reports that the KP.2 vaccine had a pretty durable response against many strains.
E-H: IgG binding antibody titres over six months against different strains;
I-L: Correlation between spike-binding IgG titers and neutralizing antibody titers
Note the log scale
The KP.2 vaccine didn’t do so well against BA.3, but fortunately BA.3 hasn’t turned into the monster that people thought it might.
💉 This paper (2026-05-16) from Taiwan reports that the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines both gave good protection for children in 2022:
| against | Pfizer | Moderna |
| confirmed infection at ED | 58.8% | 73.9% |
| moderate-to-severe disease | 69.9% | 75.5% |
Influenza
Testing
This paper from Japan (2026-05-12) reports that they found that a change in influenza levels could be seen in wastewater about a week before regular testing could.
Bundibugyo
Transmission
🐀 This press release (2026-05-16) reports that one passenger of the MV Hondius from Yukon who has been quarantining in BC is a confirmed positive case. I’m still not worried.
🍆 This older case study from Switzerland (2023-11-16) reports that ANDV persisted in semen for six years. 😬
Bundibugyo
Bundibugyo is a virus in the Ebola family which has caused an outbreak in Democratic Republic of Congo, which has had some limited spread in Uganda.
NB: “Ebola” is not one virus, it refers to a family of six different viruses or one of the four ebolaviruses which cause Ebola Virus Disease in humans.
There have been lots of articles in the news about the outbreak, but I think the risk of a pandemic in Canada is low. First, unlike the MV Hondius ANDV outbreak, I have not heard of any Canadians who were sickened or even exposed.
Second, people don’t spread it until they are really sick, and the mortality rate is high. To be really blunt, people are incapacitated before they can spread much. It also appears to not spread through the air. While public health seems to say that about every disease, at least at first, in this case I actually believe them.
Transmission
This press release (2026-05-17) by WHO the Bundibugyo outbreak a public health emergency of international concern.
Vaccines
💉 While there is a highly effective vaccine for the Zaire Ebola virus, there is no vaccine for the Bundibugyo virus. However, this article (2026-05-18) reports that this very small study (2011-11-01) shows that the Zaire vaccine is 50-75% effective against death from the Bundibugyo virus in monkeys. (They still got sick, it’s just that not as many died.) The article talks about how WHO, DRC, and Uganda are struggling with the decision of whether to deploy the Zaire vaccine against Bundibugyo virus.
You might say, “Well, it’s can’t hurt!”, and the chances are excellent that that’s true. However, it’s not a certainty. With dengue fever, for example, they had to be really, really careful because a dengue vaccination that worked against one strain absolutely could and did make infection with another strain worse.
Measles
Transmission
According to the Government of Canada Measles and Rubella Monitoring Report (updated 2026-05-19), in the week ending 9 May 2025, the following jurisdictions had the following number of new measles cases:
- Canada: 29;
- Manitoba: 19;
- Alberta: 7;
- Quebec: 3.