Virology
TWiV 650: Virology is infinite
By Vincent Racaniello | | This Week in Virology
In this mid-week episode of Earth’s Virology Podcast, we analyze SARS-CoV-2 transmission among youths at a summer camp, adaptation to mice by passage, the importance of T cells for recovery from COVID-19, and listener questions. Click arrow to playDownload TWiV 650 (73 MB .mp3, 122 min)Subscribe (free): iTunes, Google Podcasts, RSS, email Become a patron of TWiV! Show notes at microbe.tv/twiv
How to End this Pandemic
By Gertrud U. Rey | | Basic virology, Gertrud Rey
by Gertrud U. Rey As of today, SARS-CoV-2 has infected 18.7 million people and caused 700,000 deaths worldwide. The most realistic way to quickly curb the spread of the virus would require daily identification and isolation of individuals who are contagious, a process that is hampered by cumbersome sampling and testing methods with slow turnaround …
TWiV 649: Ohio State viral
By Vincent Racaniello | | This Week in Virology
Vincent visits Ohio State University (March 2020) and speaks with Shan-Lu, David, Amanda, Mark, Matt, Chris, and Qiuhong about their careers and their work on retroviruses, hepatitis C virus, coronaviruses, paramyxoviruses, and environmental viruses. Click arrow to playDownload TWiV 650 (63 MB .mp3, 105 min)Subscribe (free): iTunes, Google Podcasts, RSS, email Become a patron of TWiV! Show notes at microbe.tv/twiv
TWiV 648: Life is for learning
By Vincent Racaniello | | This Week in Virology
Daniel Griffin provides a clinical report on COVID-19, followed by a review of the findings that children shed as much SARS-CoV-2 viral RNA from the respiratory tract as older patients, the lineage giving rise to SARS-CoV-2 has been circulating in bats in China for decades, and answers to listener questions. Click arrow to playDownload TWiV 648 …
Children transmit SARS-CoV-2
By Vincent Racaniello | | Basic virology, Commentary
Among the mountains of false information being peddled during the current pandemic, one of the most offensive is being used to drive opening of schools in the fall: that children do not transmit SARS-CoV-2. The results of multiple studies have shown that this assertion is incorrect. I’ll review two of them here. One study examined …
TWiV 645: Lions and tigers and zookeepers (oh my)
By Vincent Racaniello | | This Week in Virology
Daniel Griffin provides a clinical report on COVID-19, followed by a review of the State Department document on the Wuhan BSL-4 laboratory, the report on infection of tigers and lions in the Bronx Zoo, and, answers to listener questions. Click arrow to playDownload TWiV 645 (98 MB .mp3, 163 min)Subscribe (free): iTunes, Google Podcasts, RSS, email Become a patron of TWiV! Show notes …
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David Tuller
Trial By Error: My Unexpected E-Mail Exchange with Alem Matthees
By David Tuller, DrPH In recent months, one of the most high-profile people with myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS)—Australian Alem Matthees—has reported significant improvement in his condition. He is still bed-bound, and is still not speaking. This is not, by any means, “recovery.” Nonetheless, the change in Alem’s ability to read, consume information and communicate …
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Trial By Error: Journal Publishes Confusing Section on “Enduring Symptoms”
By David Tuller, DrPH As part of its December issue, Future Healthcare Journal, sponsored by the UK’s Royal College of Physicians, has published a special section called “Challenging Myths: Debunking Functional Disorders.” The special section title itself creates confusion. In what way are functional disorders being “debunked”? I assume the idea is to debunk the …
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Trial By Error: More on the Canadian Long COVID Trial with Plans to Lie to Participants Receiving an Exercise Intervention
By David Tuller, DrPH I recently posted a blog about the protocol for a Canadian Long COVID exercise trial in which the investigators proposed lying to the participants about the nature of both the study and the intervention being assessed. While acknowledging that a significant number of people with Long COVID report experiencing post-exertional malaise …
Trial By Error: In Protocol for Long COVID Exercise Trial, Investigators Advocate Lying to Participants
By David Tuller, DrPH Researchers are planning yet another trial of a rehabilitative exercise program for Long COVID—but, in this one, they propose to lie to all the participants about the nature of the study and the intervention being investigated. BMJ Open has recently published a paper called “Pursuing Reduction in Fatigue After COVID-19 via …
Trial By Error: Some Things I’ve Read Recently: Anil van der Zee on Sex, “Mold Warrior” Johnson, and a Rant Against the Word “Journey”
By David Tuller, DrPH Anil van der Zee says “Fuck M.E.” One aspect of ME and ME/CFS that receives perhaps too little attention is the impact on someone’s sex life. Engaging in sexual activity takes a significant amount of energy—and is therefore likely to trigger post-exertional malaise for many with this illness. Especially for those …
Trial By Error: Some Things I’ve Read Recently–Aboriginals and Long COVID, Tips for Disability Claims, Profile of Ron Davis
By David Tuller, DrPH Failure to address Long COVID in Australian Aboriginal communities Croakey Health Media is a small but feisty Australian news outlet that covers social and structural inequities in healthcare. Croakey recently published “a call for action to address Long COVID in Aboriginal communities,” which focused in particular on the situation in the …