Virology
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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Preliminary phase I/II results of ChAdOx1 SARS-CoV-2 vaccine
By Gertrud U. Rey | | Basic virology, Gertrud Rey, Information
by Gertrud U. Rey On July 20, 2020, Oxford University’s Jenner Institute and the pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca reported preliminary results from phase I/II clinical trials assessing the safety and efficacy of a vaccine candidate against SARS-CoV-2. The vaccine candidate, named AZD1222 (referred to in the publication as ChAdOx1 nCoV-19), consists of an adenovirus vector with an …
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David Tuller
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 …
Trial By Error: Journalist Simon Spichak on Lack of Focus on Post-Exertional Malaise in Long COVID Exercise Trials
By David Tuller, DrPH According to the headline of a recent article in The Sick Times, “less than 20% of Long COVID trials involving exercise even mention post-exertional malaise.” The news organization analyzed the registration records for Long COVID clinical trials and found that only a small minority assess or take into account post-exertional malaise (PEM), …
Trial By Error: JAMA Touts Long COVID Exercise Trial with Clinically Insignificant Results; Most LC Exercise Trials Ignore PEM, Per Sick Times
By David Tuller, DrPH In its current “Medical News in Brief” section, JAMA is touting and amplifying the questionable claims of a flawed trial to treat or prevent Long COVID published by one of the journals under its umbrella—JAMANetworkOpen. The JAMA headline: “Resistance Training Improves Long COVID Outcomes.” Technically, the headline is true. In the …
Trial By Error: Another Exercise Trial with Clinically Insignificant Findings
By David Tuller, DrPH A recent study from JAMA Network Open, called “Resistance Exercise Therapy After COVID-19 Infection: A Randomized Clinical Trial,” demonstrates some of the flaws that so often mar papers in this field of research. The trial’s reported results do not warrant the optimistic conclusion that the intervention “may be a generalizable therapy …
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