Long COVID This study from the UK found: there were subtle differences in T cells which correlated strongly (but not perfectly) with having Long COVID; giving histamine receptor antagonists made 72% of them better (!!!); something which the histamine receptor antagonists never helped was dysautonomia, which suggests that there is some different mechanism causing that.… Continue reading 2021-10-07 General
Category: Long COVID
2021-10-06 General
Mitigation Measures This article says that the Government of Canada has come out with new vaccine mandates. All federal employees — including those who work from home or in a different country — have until 29 October to get vaccinated. Everyone over 12 must be vaccinated to take a plane or train inside Canada. Transmission… Continue reading 2021-10-06 General
2021-09-30 General
Pathology This preprint made a model which predicts positive PCR tests based on seven symptoms: loss or change of sense of smell, loss or change of sense of taste, fever, new persistent cough, chills, appetite loss, and muscle aches. This can possibly replace tests in places where tests either are not available or when someone… Continue reading 2021-09-30 General
2021-09-25/26/27 General
Pathology A paper last week said that the risk of heart inflammation in young men was one in a thousand. As this article reports, they were waaaaaay off in their count of the total number of vaccinations in Ontario; the correct figure turns out to be one in 1 in 25,000. I can’t for the… Continue reading 2021-09-25/26/27 General
2021-09-17 General
COVID-19 Origins This preprint says they have found a bat coronavirus which looks really close to SARS-CoV-2. It looks to me like that’s the origin! Does this mean an end to speculation about SARS-CoV-2 coming from a Chinese lab? Oh hell no, because they have too much fun with conspiracy theories and because it’s not… Continue reading 2021-09-17 General
2021-09-03 General
Vaccines This tweet has this nice graph, made with data pulled from the Public Health England Variants of Concern Technical Briefing 22. Variants This preprint from Denmark says that people who were not fully vaccinated were 2.8x times as likely to get hospitalized for Delta as for Alpha. (For people who were fully vaccinated, there… Continue reading 2021-09-03 General
2021-09-01 General
Treatments Good news! This preprint says that baricitinib reduces all-causes mortality of hospitalized COVID-19 patients by 38.2%! Vaccines Remember how I was saying that I thought we’d see that longer doses were better? It turns out that waaay longer is better. This preprint says that for AstraZeneca, antibody levels were four times higher in people… Continue reading 2021-09-01 General
2021-08-31 General
Vaccines This preprint from Israel says that in the second and third weeks after a third dose of Pfizer, there was a 48-68% drop and a 70-84% drop. This preprint says: Antibody levels are similar in unvaxxed people who get symptomatic and asymptomatic infections. Antibody levels decrease over time. Antibody levels were higher in people… Continue reading 2021-08-31 General
2021-08-28/29/30 General
Vaccines This Research Letter says that six to ten weeks after the second dose, antibody levels were higher in people who got Moderna doses than Pfizer doses. People who also had gotten sick with COVID-19 had higher antibody levels than those who had not. Younger people had more antibodies than older people. This preprint says… Continue reading 2021-08-28/29/30 General
2021-08-27 General
Variants This preprint says that Delta is twice as likely to put you into the hospital than Alpha is. Transmission This article says that the US has identified the first cases of COVID-19 in deer. That’s kind of odd, because this article from July 2021 says that the USDA found antibodies in deer. Maybe it’s… Continue reading 2021-08-27 General