Immunology

Monkeypox (Mpox) is an infection transmitted by skin-to-skin contact and causes fever and painful skin blisters. It is in the Orthopoxvirus genus of viruses, which includes smallpox, so those vaccinated against it have cross-protection, smallpox vaccines also work for monkeypox. It is usually self-resolving but has been linked to deaths in immunocompromised individuals and an antiviral drug like tecovirimat stops the spread of infection by interfering with a protein found on the surface of Orthopoxviruses. Those only work if people get vaccinated or treated. Those who engage in risky behavior…

Any long-term effects of COVID-19, which originated in China and became the third coronavirus pandemic of the century, in the general adult population remain unclear. Some clearly have it while others are told it as an undefined blanket term, like fibromyalgia or chronic lyme disease. A new paper claims that up to 10 percent of women who get COVID-19 during pregnancy will get a 'Long COVID' diagnosis. Their data are individuals from 46 states plus Washington, D.C. enrolled in the NIH RECOVER Initiative who got COVID-19 while pregnant and later got a Long COVID diagnosis.   Of the 1,…

Cigarettes are a co-morbidity for almost everything and a risk factor for the rest, but it isn't just first-order disease that may be in the future of cigarette smokers. A cohort of 1,000 healthy volunteers aged 20 to 70 in 2011 were examined to see why human immune systems vary significantly in terms of how effectively they respond to microbial attacks. Age, sex and genetics are known to have a significant impact on the immune system, the aim of this new study was to identify which other factors had the most influence. The scientists exposed blood samples taken from individuals in the Milieu…

A new paper has given a name for long-term symptoms that test negative for COVID-19 - "long colds." Coronavirus is very similar to the common cold, so similar that coronavirus was not known to be distinct until the 1960s. Most who were infected with SARS-CoV-2 and got COVID-19 experienced symptoms like a cold, but those with co-morbidities or who had severe reactions got more like a super flu, some with devastating effect. Even after recovery, some still report lingering effects, given rise to the term 'long COVID.' A long cold may be similar. The authors say a long cold may include coughing…

During the COVID-19 pandemic, chewing gum had a bit of a resurgence. Though gum companies disavow any health benefits - they like being in the candy aisle - people have always used it off-label for various benefits and did so to generate a response against possible virus exposures.  People have always had habits they like. If have a cold, for example, I like to eat a cheese sandwich. If I get nausea, I chew gum. My small batch artisanal data (i.e. anecdote) is fine but is it science? That's harder to say, because lacking a money incentive no one will do real clinical trials of chewing…

White environmentalists in rich European countries still maintain a kind of benevolent colonialism over Africa, telling those countries Europe won't buy their food unless they use no science in its production - while ignoring that organic farming for thousands of years in Africa showed why it is such a failure for anyone not born into a natural 'breadbasket' region. Science has made it possible for Africa to feed itself, and more and more countries are beginning to push back against foreign activists fomenting hysteria against modern farming. Agriculture is not the only worry, though. Just…

Chronic lyme disease does not exist, but if you say it does long enough, a scholar will begin to study it, and then others will cite 'emerging evidence', and journalists will 'teach the controversy', and soon enough doctors who don't want to get sued will sign off, no differently than California pediatricians gave wealthy parents vaccine exemptions to prevent autism during the first two decades of this century. Like organic food and supplements, there is a clear gender divide when it comes to chronic Lyme disease. Obviously anyone can get Lyme disease, it is spread by ticks, but chronic Lyme…

A recent study found that vaccination with two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine resulted in immune cell response considerably lower in people with prior SARS-CoV-2 infection than those without. The level of this key immune cell that targets the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, CD8+ T, was substantially lower in unvaccinated people with COVID-19 than in vaccinated people who had never been infected. People who recover from SARS-CoV-2 infection and then get vaccinated are more protected than people who are unvaccinated and the new paper suggests that the virus damages an important immune…

Smallpox is no longer with us, but what gets left out of United Nations history is that smallpox was eradicated in spite of the World Health Organisation saying it could never happen, not due to UN leadership. It was driven by US advocates who went around UN bureaucracy, all while being told it was a waste of time and money. Polio has long been gone from the US as well, and the efforts that made it possible could help the world, but the challenges in achieving that are both cultural and structural. The structural barrier is the United Nations. The UN is not trusted by poor people because UN…

COVID-19 has done little to boost vaccination rates against other viruses, according to a new analysis. In a recent survey, just over 50 percent said they had received a flu vaccine, unchanged in a representative national panel from the comparable period last year and within the usual range of years prior to the pandemic. Before people thought COVID-19 was just a bad cold (coronavirus is in the same family and was only declared distinct in the 1960s) they thought the flu was a bad cold. Or believed they were more likely to get the flu if they had a vaccine. The panel survey, fielded with over…