Recommended Reading 🙌🧴🍞🦠🤢 This older article (2019-12-10) reports on a simple experiment that a schoolteacher did with her class: she took slices of bread and had kids handle them after various hand hygiene techniques. Tongs? The bread was immaculate. No handwashing? Covered with mold. Spoiler: hand sanitizer is not as good as washing with soap… Continue reading 2025-12-05 General
Category: Pathology
2025-11-28 General
COVID-19 COVID-Related Excess Death and Sickness 🫀 This paper from Sweden (2025-11-18) reports that getting COVID-19 increases your risk of cardiovascular diseases. Compared to people who did not catch COVID-19, people who did get COVID-19 infections had: People who were hospitalized for COVID-19 had a 10.77 times risk of all-cause mortality compared to never-COVIDers (AKA… Continue reading 2025-11-28 General
2025-11-14 General
I want to remind people again to get a flu shot this year. There’s a new substrain — H3N2 subclade K — which apparently is more contagious and nastier if you catch it. The flu shot isn’t hugely effective against infection but it has some effectiveness (especially for children!), and even if it doesn’t stop… Continue reading 2025-11-14 General
2025-10-06 General
NB: I am travelling, so this is going to be shorter than normal. I have stopped talking about some things because I decided to focus (mostly) on things that are more actionable. For two examples: papers about vaccine trials or biomarkers for Long COVID. For both, it takes a looooooong time for the papers to… Continue reading 2025-10-06 General
2025-09-21 General
Long COVID 🎉🎉🎉‼️ This case studies paper from USA (2025-02-09) reports that all nine of the study patients who got stellate ganglion blocks for three consecutive weeks improved significantly! I’m surprised that I missed it in February, and that there hasn’t been more excitement about it, as these are hugely encouraging results! 😢 This study… Continue reading 2025-09-21 General
2025-08-31 General
COVID-19 Vaccines 😲💉 This preprint from USA (2025-08-27) reports that vaccine-only immunity with a KP.2 vaccine (as tested in blood) is better against LP.8.1, LF.7.1, NB.1.8.1, XFG, and BA.3.2 than hybrid immunity with the KP.2 vaccine! I find it a bit suspicious that they were able to find sixteen people who had gotten a KP.2… Continue reading 2025-08-31 General
2025-08-25 General
Some weeks, there’s not much news; some weeks there’s a lot. This week had a lot and was a lot for me to process. Vaccines 💉 CORRECTION! I re-read the PHAC recommendations for who should/may get a second vaccination this year, and I believe that what I said on 2025-08-11 was (probably) wrong. I said… Continue reading 2025-08-25 General
2025-08-16 General
English-language health news this week has been swamped with political news from USA. It has not been fun to wade through articles on the CDC shooter, various politically-motivated firings of competent people, various notifications of programs being shut down, etc. COVID-19 Vaccines 💉 I WAS MISINFORMED! Last week, I said that you couldn’t get COVID-19… Continue reading 2025-08-16 General
2025-08-11 oops 13 General
(Addendum 2025-08-15: I actually published this on 2025-08-11, not on 2025-08-13, but it’s too late now to change the URL. Oops, sorry.) COVID-19 Vaccines 💉I might need to fly across the continent to support a relative who is going to get major surgery, so I tried to schedule a vax appointment in the US. No… Continue reading 2025-08-11 oops 13 General
2025-08-03 General
COVID-19 Vaccines ‼️🎉🐁🦷 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