2025-08-03 General

COVID-19 Vaccines โ€ผ๏ธ๐ŸŽ‰๐Ÿ๐Ÿฆท Scientists have found an alternative method of giving mucousal vaccines: with dental floss! This paper (2025-07-22) found that flossing mice three times with floss covered with influenza virus, at two-week intervals, protected the mice from a lethal dose of influenza. All the mice who had been flossed survived, while all the unflossed… Continue reading 2025-08-03 General

2025-07-26 General

COVID-19 Long COVID โ€ผ๏ธโ€ผ๏ธโ€ผ๏ธ๐ŸŽ‰๐ŸŽ‰๐ŸŽ‰This article (2025-07-22) and this paper from Canada (2025-07-07) say that scientists have found a really easy blood test to diagnose ME/CFS! (They look for the protein SMPDL3B.) This is both great for testing purposes but also suggests a treatment! They haven’t looked for SMPDL3B in Long COVID patients yet, but I… Continue reading 2025-07-26 General

2025-07-12 General

Wastewater levels are all going down. Was that tiny little our summer wave? Did we already peak???? Long COVID โ€ผ๏ธ๐Ÿ˜ฌ This preprint from Spain (2025-07-04) found that Long COVID prevalence was 3-10 times higher in individuals with three or more infections than in those with only one recorded infection. This paper from Denmark (2025-05-13) reports… Continue reading 2025-07-12 General

2025-07-04 General

Long COVID This paper from USA (2025-06-18) reports that a Delta or pre-Delta infection was protective against further Long COVID, while an Omicron infection was not. People whose first infection was pre-Omicron had about half the chance of getting more than three persistent symptoms after their second infection than after their first. However, people who… Continue reading 2025-07-04 General

2025-06-20 General

๐ŸŒŠ This article from Singapore (2025-06-14) says that their wave is now peaking, about five or six weeks after their wave started in late April. That feels a bit fast to me — we usually see two months from the start to the peak here. I’m also a bit surprised that COVID-19 growth here has… Continue reading 2025-06-20 General

2025-06-01 General

COVID-19 Variants ๐Ÿฆ ๐Ÿงฌ NB.1.8.1 is still causing a lot of cases in Asia and Australia. It has acquired two nicknames: “NimBus” (from the two letters in its designation) and “Razor Blade Throat” because it apparently feels like you’ve been swallowing razor blades. Long COVID ๐Ÿฉธโ€ผ๏ธ This preprint using UK participants (2025-05-26) has a potential explanation… Continue reading 2025-06-01 General

2025-05-24 General

COVID-19 Variants Other people are starting to notice all the cases in Asia. This article from USA (2025-05-23) says that CDC has discovered a bunch of cases of NB.1.8.1 — the variant which is causing havoc in Asia — in wastewater arriving in planes from abroad. I know, I know, the US is not Canada,… Continue reading 2025-05-24 General

2025-05-10 General

COVID-19 Long COVID ๐Ÿ‘ƒ This paper from Belgium (2025-05-03) reports that people with COVID-related olfactory disorders had a 17% higher risk of depression and a 22% higher risk of anxiety than asymptomatic people. The severity of the depression or anxiety correlated with the severity of the olfactory disorder and nasal symptoms, and was worse in… Continue reading 2025-05-10 General

2025-04-27 General

COVID-19 Transmission In the 2024-04-04 BC post, I said that I had figured out why the COVID-19 levels were so low right now: because influenza inhibits COVID-19! Aha! Well, that’s bullshit. I don’t have good data going back a long time for flu in BC, but this chart of flu, COVID-19, and RSV levels from… Continue reading 2025-04-27 General

2025-04-18 General

Omni-Testing ๐Ÿ˜ฎ๐Ÿฉธโ€ผ๏ธ๐ŸŽ‰ This paper (2025-02-21) reports on a method of sequencing the genomes of T-cells and B-cells from a patient’s blood sample which allows them to diagnose with great accuracy what pathogens the patient has been exposed to. Apparently B cells and T cells don’t have the genome of the rest of the body, but… Continue reading 2025-04-18 General