Immunology

Viral respiratory epidemics like the flu spike cyclically during autumn and winter - but only in the temperate regions of the globe's northern and southern hemispheres. In the equatorial belt, they happen all year round, at lower levels. A new numerical model hopes to provide insight. The authors find that both the prevalence and evolution of epidemics are strongly correlated with the amount of daily solar irradiation that hits a given location on the Earth at a given time of the year.  Ultraviolet (UV) light is able to deactivate viruses and bacteria of many different kinds. Therefore…

In February of 2020 there was a lot of confusion about how to contain the spread of SARS-CoV-2, the 2019 form of coronavirus that erupted in Wuhan, China. Much of the confusion was caused by political operatives and allied journalists. The federal government said we needed to restrict travel and that was deemed xenophobic, even racist, and epidemiologists were trotted out claiming that it would not work. Yet California did just that while New York rolled the dice with its citizens by siding with political allies during an election year, and the result was disaster for people there. By April,…

A new study finds that people are more motivated to use face masks and keep our distance not because experts or government bureaucrats say we should, but because we have empathy for vulnerable people. In two surveys in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Germany, participants were asked on a scale from 1 to 5 how concerned they are about those who are most vulnerable to SARS-CoV2, the 2019 form of coronavirus that erupted in Wuhan, China and spread worldwide. Subsequently, they were asked about the extent to which they themselves avoid social contact due to the coronavirus. The…

A study using Ontario's 34 Public Health Units over the course of two months found that wearing a mask can have a significant impact on the spread of COVID-19. No argument there, anyone would be worried if their surgeon showed up in the operating room without a mask on, but the economists go a little further and claim mask mandates are the reason. They statistically associate mandates with a 25 percent reduction in COVID-19 cases. The findings have not been peer-reviewed but since this is not science peer review wouldn't make much difference. If you write a criticism of a criticism of…

Businesses would like to return to business as usual and government officials reliant on taxes desperately need a return to normal. The people arguing lockdowns need to occur indefinitely live on Twitter. How can it be done safely? The example of Bombardier Aviation in an analysis published in Canadian Medical Association Journal finds that creating "work bubbles" during the COVID-19 pandemic can help reduce the risk of company-wide outbreaks while helping essential businesses continue to function. Bombardier Aviation employs 22,000 people at 7 factories across four locations in Canada and…

Yaws is a childhood disease causing highly infectious skin lesions. It is spread by touch and, in advanced cases, can leave sufferers with severe bone disfigurement. While it is easily curable in its early stages today, and is almost eradicated, the bone disfigurements are irreversible. Yet 4,000 years ago there was no treatment and a new study looked at skeletal remains from the Man Bac archaeological site,  excavated in 2005 and 2007, in the Ninh Bình Province of Vietnam. After seeing what might be yaws on a photograph of Man Bac remains, a team of experts confirmed it - and…

You've probably gotten a summer cold, perhaps even the flu, even though the weather is warm. SARS-CoV-2, the 2019 form of coronavirus that caused the COVID-19 pandemic, is in the same family as the common cold, so it is correct that heat will kill it, but just like colds and flu, weather is not a magic bullet. Some do believe that with summer heat social distancing means less but that isn't reliable. False confidence can have adversely shaped risk perception and put people you know in the .03 with devastating risk factors in greater jeopardy. A new paper says current messaging on social…

Researchers are on the hunt for a COVID-19 vaccine to eliminate the need for mask wearing and current limits on interpersonal gatherings (except protests), but a new model says it still may not help the world exit a lingering economic depression. The computer estimate claims that that a COVID-19 vaccine will have to be at least 80 percent effective - which is bordering on impossible for a virus in the same family as the common cold that had mutations in different regions already. The flu vaccine, for example, is effective about 70 percent of the time, which is enough to prevent a pandemic and…

Epidemiologists assured us S-shaped curves would be the case for COVID-19, but many countries had decreases of infection numbers "social distancing" and a linear rise of infection curves after the first peak. A new paper offers an explanation for the linear growth of the infection curve. Traditional epidemiological models required so much fine-tuning of parameters that they became scientifically meaningless. Linear growth, with an R number at 1, in the epidemiology models that were being used would have to mean reducing contacts by the same exact and constant percentage. That was never…

Samples of breast milk collected by the Mommy's Milk Human Milk Research Biorepository from women infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) only showed one positive for viral RNA. However, subsequent tests found that the virus was unable to replicate, and thus unable to cause infection in the breastfed infant. There have been no documented cases to-date of an infant contracting COVID-19 as a result of consuming infected breast milk but without studies it was hard to be sure, to this is good news for families with new babies. Because younger people are far less…