Immunology

An epidemiological look at 1,981 women who reported a positive SARS-CoV-2 test found that those with pre-infection healthy lifestyle had a substantially lower "risk" of the post–COVID-19 condition known as 'long COVID.'  It is just correlation but it brings to light concerns about how much of an impact co-morbidities and lifestyle had on the effects of SARS-CoV-2 and lingering effects. And how much benefit health care workers would have derived from healthier lifestyles prior to the pandemic. The prospective cohort study totaled 32,249 women in the Nurses’ Health Study II cohort, which…

SIR, shorthand for Susceptible people, Infected people, and Recovered people, modeling is, along with R0, a rule of thumb for disease epidemiology but it failed during the COVID-19 pandemic, and with three coronavirus pandemics since 2003 they are the new normal, so the race is on to make better predictive analytics and restore public confidence. A new model used COVID-19 data for calibration and integrated SIR compartment modeling in time and a point process modeling approach in space–time, while also taking into account age-specific contact patterns. To do this, they used a two-step…

Despite apparent beliefs on social media today, the modern anti-vaccine movement did not begin with the COVID-19 vaccine in 2021. For decades prior to that, wealthy elites who believed that supplements and organic food were medicine led the world in denying their children vaccines. California had more philosophical exemptions for school children than the entire rest of the United States combined, with Oregon and Washington states close behind. Some schools on the coast had nearly 75% of kids unvaccinated. Only when ridiculous diseases like Whooping Cough resurged and spread inland did more…

A recent study revealed how the SARS-CoV-2 Spike (S)-protein interacts with human Estrogen Receptor Alpha (ERα) in lung tissue, which may increase the pro-coagulation activity of endothelial cells, enhancing the risk of thrombosis and shedding new light on the pathogenic mechanisms underlying SARS-CoV-2 infection and on its sex-specific differences. The authors say it may also lead to the severe coagulopathy observed in some people receiving the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine.  It is well understood that the SARS-CoV-2 virus can cause severe vasculopathy, which may, in turn, result in fatal…

Calculating how many lives have been lost in the COVID-19 pandemic will be valuable for future epidemiological and policy decisions - in many cases telling the public what we should not do. A murder victim who had a positive test within 30 days of being shot was counted as a COVID-related death, and that didn't inspire confidence.  But Americans only know about that because there some effort at transparency. Elsewhere, governments claimed whatever they wanted to claim. China, the home of SARS-CoV-2 and the pandemic that resulted, first claimed they had ended their pandemic at 4,000…

In 2022, the United States surpassed one million COVID-19 related deaths. Many of them had co-morbidities that are risk factors for many diseases, like old age, cancer, or respiratory issues. Added into those risk factors were lifestyle diseases like obesity, type 2 diabetes, and smoking, all of which are linked to poorer outcomes from COVID-19 infections. Those have all long been linked to negative health outcomes, which is why we have advocated for exercise, sensible diets, and giving up cigarettes as first lines of defense against many future problems. The authors of a new paper on the…

Patients with myocarditis can experience chest pains, shortness of breath or an irregular heartbeat. In severe cases, the inflammation can lead to heart failure and death. In some instances, primarily with teenage boys, myocarditis is one of the complications associated with mRNA COVID-19 vaccination. A new study shows that if it is likely to happen, it is a far worse risk actually getting the SARS-CoV-2 infection.  The largest study to date on the risk of developing myocarditis as a result of having the coronavirus vs. experiencing inflammation following COVID-19 vaccination was a…

In "Science Left Behind", Dr. Alex Berezow and I recounted the numerous ways that science denial and acceptance solidly came down along political lines. With minor exceptions, if you found someone who denied climate change, you were going to find a Republican. If you found an anti-vaccine type, or anti-nuclear, or anti-GMO, you were going to find a Democrat. That was far more concerning. We still have time to fix climate change and Republicans who deny climate change still conserve energy the same as Democrats who claim the world is ending in 18 months do. Denying nuclear energy and natural…

Data from 513 households and 2,053 people participating in the Coronavirus Household Evaluation and Respiratory Testing (C-HEaRT) study from August 2020 to August 2021 in Utah and from September 2020 to August 2021 in New York City, plus data from the SARS-CoV-2 Epidemiology And Response in Children (SEARCh) study in Maryland, with data collected from November 2020 to October 2021, reveal that isolating from infected family members (separate room) and getting a vaccine helped prevent  severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infections. Participants collected and…

Mitochondria provide the lion’s share of energy that cells need to function normally, so genetic defects in mitochondria can cause severe diseases that can be devastating if not caught and treated early. Mitochondria remain important throughout our lives. People with higher mitochondria function age 'better.'  Yet how mitochondrial defects lead to disease and aging has not been well understood. A paper published today in Aging Cell links mitochondrial dysfunction to the shortening of telomeres,  specialized DNA sequences that act as caps that stabilize the ends of chromosomes, and…