Influenza is still here but keeps dropping; COVID-19 levels are pretty much static. Mpox This article (2025-04-08) says that mpox cases are ticking up, and the province is urging people in high-risk groups to get an mpox vaccination.. Most of the cases have been men who have sex with men, mostly in Vancouver Health. Charts… Continue reading 2025-04-11 BC
Category: Mpox
General 2025-03-21
COVID-19 Long COVID 🪧 This article (2025-03-15) says that there was a Long COVID protest at the Vancouver Art Gallery on 15 March. I’m bummed that I didn’t know about it ahead of time. 🐕🦺🤧 This older paper (2025-06-15) reports that dogs could be trained to detect Long COVID with high accuracy! They could distinguish… Continue reading General 2025-03-21
2025-03-07 General
COVID-19 Long COVID 🙁🛌 This preprint using data from USA and UK (2025-03-01) reports that people with hypermobility are at increased risk of Long COVID. People with generalized joint hypermobility have a 29% higher risk of Long COVID than controls; people with extreme hypermobility have a 112% higher risk than controls. This higher risk is… Continue reading 2025-03-07 General
2025-02-15 General
I have been avoiding saying much about the chaos in the US government health sector, but it’s been difficult. COVID-19 Long COVID AGAIN 🧪This paper from Australia (2025-01-13) reports that people with Long COVID and ME/CFS both have bigger left hippocampal subfields than healthy controls. Furthermore, the size of the left hippocampal subfield correlated with… Continue reading 2025-02-15 General
2025-01-31 General
It is still a little harder finding good articles / papers than a few weeks ago. In addition to all the chaff from Trump in the health sites I monitor, there are now a ton of news articles saying, “Today is the five year anniversary of the first COVID case appearing in <jurisdiction>, what have… Continue reading 2025-01-31 General
2025-01-18 General
COVID-19 Long COVID 🎉 This paper from Hungary (2025-01-09) reports that people who got remdesivir while they were hospitalized with COVID-19 recovered from Long COVID symptoms faster than those who did not get remdesivir. 🎉🎊🥳 If you missed it last week, this paper reports that nasal chlorpheniramine (a first-generation H1 antagonist antihistamine) works really well… Continue reading 2025-01-18 General
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
2024-11-29 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 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
2024-11-08 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