There are so many mysteries still to be determined about COVID-19 – how much antibody is enough to ward off infection, why long COVID-19 happens and in whom, does loading dose matter in terms of getting infected, what is the rate and risk of re-infection, does asymptomatic infection offer as much long-term protection as a […]
Sort of good news about the risk of blood clots from the AZ vaccine, and maybe from the J&J vaccine, although the jury is still out on that one as to whether that vaccine also raises the rare risk of blood clots. It’s a study reported in the NEJM linking that AZ vaccine to a […]
Yet another American study found that in places where people wear masks more, the rate of COVID-19 goes down. In this multi-state study, states where statewide mask mandates were put in place, there was a consequent significant decline in weekly COVID-19 hospitalization rates for adults aged 18–64 years which kicked in roughly 3 weeks after […]
I really like the HealthDay web site but a headline yesterday was a reminder that you always have to read the full story (or the original source to the article) before accepting a headline’s conclusion. Here’s the headline: Thousands of Vaccinated People in U.S. Infected With COVID-19. That’s true, of course, but it also strongly […]
Yesterday, both a White House adviser and Pfizer’s CEO, Albert Bourla, were cited as saying that fully-vaccinated people will probably need booster shots of coronavirus vaccines to guard against emerging coronavirus variants in the future, probably within a year or so, according to Bourla. But I don’t believe we can say that as yet, although […]
A very interesting new study on 104 046 individuals from the Copenhagen General Population Study that has been published in the European Heart Journal analyzes the difference between the cardiovascular benefits (or risks) you may get from the kind of activity you do at work as opposed to the benefits or risks associated with leisure-type activity. […]
A new study from the CDC in the US has come up with a pretty simple conclusion about flying: When flying, you are much less likely to get infected with coronavirus if the middle seat is empty. Put another way, COVID-19 is more likely when all seats are occupied on a plane. Will that stop […]
An American study of nearly 50,000 people infected with coronavirus which has just been published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine has determined that regular physical activity seems to provide “strong protection from hospitalization, intensive care unit admission, and death”. In fact, this research seems to show, “even exercising inconsistently” lowers the chances of severe […]
According to a new study just published in the CMAJ, seniors taking that type of high blood pressure (HBP) drug known as a thiazide diuretic (the most common generic name for such a pills is, unsurprisingly, hydrochlorothiazide) are at significantly higher risk of all types of skin cancer, including most notoriously, melanomas, which are the […]
A new study has shown quite nicely that an antibody cocktail made by Regeneron found that people living with someone who has COVID-19 appeared to get terrific protection against infection – 81 % lower risk compared to a control group – when they were given that antibody combo. And the reason that’s such good news […]