COVID-19
COVID-Related Excess Death and Sickness
🧠 This preprint from Israel (2026-09-23) reports that COVID-19 infections increase your risk of a stroke in the next two years:
- +23% higher risk of a later stroke among people who had a COVID-19 infection compared to those who did not;
- more than double the risk of a later stroke among people who were hospitalized for COVID-19 than those who did not have COVID-19 infections;
- the risk of stroke was greatest in the three months after a COVID-19 infection;
- 42% lower risk of stroke among people who had four COVID-19 vaccinations compared to those who were vaccinated.
NB: It wasn’t clear if the lower risk of stroke among people vaccinated four times was because the vaccine made people more resistant to stroke, or just because they didn’t catch COVID-19 as much. Also, they mentioned that most people in Israel had at least two doses of vaccine, so people with zero doses might be population outliers who seek care less often/have less healthy lifestyles.
Mitigation Measures
😱📽️ This old paper (2020-09-22) from USA found that people who were fans horror films or who had a morbid curiosity were more resilient and/or better prepared for the pandemic!
Testing
⁉️ This paper from USA (2026-08-18) reports that false-positive results for HIV test went up from 5% pre-pandemic to 17.9% after COVID-19 hit. It stayed near 20% “during the pandemic” (I’m not sure what “during the pandemic” means) and is now about 14%.
I think that means that getting or having COVID-19 messes up HIV tests. I don’t even know how that is possible.
Recommended Reading
🥩 This article (2026-09-30) describes how Alberta governmental workers absolutely positively let down workers at a meatpacking plant in 2020 with inadequate protective policies. It’s heartbreaking.
Shingles
Recommended Reading
💉 This blog post (2026-02-02) discusses how the shingles (varicella zoster) vaccine might be protective against dementia. Things I learned: patients who develop shingles but get antiviral treatment also have a reduced risk of dementia; not all varicella zoster virus reactivations are symptomatic; research has shown a direct link between varicella zoster activity and pre-Alzheimer’s effects.
H5N1 Bird Flu
Transmission
Remember that girl from BC who caught bird flu two years ago? This article (2026-09-28) about this paper (2026-09-28) reports that they looked at the genetics of her flu and found three mutations. One of them was a mutation they’d seen before which helps adapt a virus for humans. Two were mutations which turned out to make it harder for the virus to dock with receptors in both human and avian lung cells!
In the discussion, they think maybe the poor docking power of the virus meant that the upper airway didn’t grab the virus immediately, which gave the virus a chance to pass through into the lower airway — where it is more dangerous!
Multiple Pathogens
Pathology
This paper (2026-09-25) reports that RNA viruses — which include COVID-19, influenza, measles, mumps, hepatitis C, Ebola, and rabies — lead a protein called alpha-synuclein to clump, and that clumping appears to mess up neurons’ functioning and sometimes leads to Parkinson’s. (Reminder: viruses are bad for you!) The good news is that the researchers also found a protein, DDX39A, that inhibits both virus replication and alpha-synuclein clumping.
Meanwhile, this article (2026-09-28) about this paper (2026-09-20) reports that one in eight cancers is caused by pathogens — that they know of. (As we learn more, I bet that 1-in-8 number is going to get bigger.) The top five are Helicobacter pylori, HPV, hepatitis B, Epstein-Barr virus, and hepatitis C. (Say it with me: VIRUSES ARE BAD FOR YOU!)
RSV
Vaccines Immunizations
AGAIN 🎉💉 This paper from Canada (2026-09-14) reports that nirsevimab — the monoclonal antibody they give to babies to protect them from RSV — is very effective. Compared to babies who did not get nirsevimab, ones who did had:
- 78% lower risk of laboratory-confirmed RSV;
- 77% lower risk of an ED visit;
- 79% lower risk of hospitalization;
- 97% lower risk of ICU admission.
🎉💉 It’s been three years nirsevimab was approved. Has RSV developed resistance to the monoclonal antibody (like COVID-19 variants developed resistance to various brands of monoclonal antibody)? This paper, using genetic sequence data from around the world, (2026-09-16) thankfully reports that no, RSV hasn’t. There have been sporadic, isolated variants which look like they might have some resistance, but there hasn’t been any sustained increase in resistant strains.
Measles
Transmission
🎉🎉🎉 According to the Government of Canada Measles and Rubella Monitoring Report (updated 2026-09-28), in the week ending 19 September 2026, Canada had zero new measles cases! This is twice in three weeks, yay!