(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
Category: Transmission
2025-07-26 General
COVID-19 Long COVID ‼️‼️‼️🎉🎉🎉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
2025-07-19 General
COVID-19 Long COVID This paper from Germany (2025-07-12) found that 21% of masters’ athletes (median age in the high 50s) in their study had Long COVID. The prevalence did not differ by sex, athletic specialties, training load, or prior competition level. Long COVID can happen to healthy, fit people! Vaccines/Prevention 💊 This paper from Peru… Continue reading 2025-07-19 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
2025-06-01 General
COVID-19 Variants 🦠🧬 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 🩸‼️ 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 👃 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
2025-05-03 General
COVID-19 Vaccines 💉😡🇺🇸 This article (2025-04-25) reports that the Trump administration has issued stop work orders for GeoVax and Castlevax, joining Vaxart (which got a stop work order in February). Both GeoVax and CastleVax say they expect funding to disappear but that they are going to keep working on it anyway. 💉🇺🇸 RFK Jr giveth… Continue reading 2025-05-03 General
2025-04-18 General
Omni-Testing 😮🩸‼️🎉 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
2025-04-11 General
Measles A reader pointed out that you can get a blood test to tell you how good your measles immunity is, so you know if you need another shot. The someone said that it might be useful for people who got a (possibly ineffective) vaccine in the 1960s. This is absolutely true, however, the cost/hassle… Continue reading 2025-04-11 General