NB: No BC post this week because the are not publishing new data until 3 Jan 2025. This post is kind of short because for some reason there has been less news the past few days. Happy Holidays! Recommended Reading This article from USA (2024-12-26) talks about three issues to watch in global health: H5N1,… Continue reading 2024-12-27 General
Category: COVID-19
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 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 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 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
2024-11-16 BC
All indicators say that the levels of COVID-19 are coming down noticeably at the moment. Regarding influenza vaccines, flu rates have ticked up slightly but are still really low. It feels to me like we are about two weeks behind last year’s flu season, so I think that means flu will probably peak in late… Continue reading 2024-11-16 BC
2024-11-16 General
H5N1 Transmission This article (2024-11-12) reports that a teenager from BC in the Fraser Health Authority region is in critical care with the bird-version of H5N1 (clade 2.3.4.4b, genotype D1.1, i.e. not the cattle version). Nobody knows how the teen caught it — the teen had contact with other people, dogs, cats, and reptiles, but… Continue reading 2024-11-16 General
2024-11-08 General
The outlets where I usually get my news are filled this week with articles speculating on what the Trump win means for health care in the USA, crowding out pandemic news. So it’s a slow news week. COVID-19 Vaccines ⭐ This article (2024-11-04) helps to explain why we aren’t getting Novavax vaccine in Canada. In… Continue reading 2024-11-08 General