Featured Post

Dermatologic Manifestations of Pulmonary Disease

Image
the plague bacteria :: Article Creator Ancestor Of Black Death Has Been Discovered In Bronze-Age Sheep Yahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what's in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience.Generate Key Takeaways An ancestor of the bacteria responsible for plague has been found in the tooth of a sheep that lived nearly 4,000 years ago in a Bronze Age human settlement, scientists report in a new preprint study. Millennia later, the apparent descendants of this pathogen would unleash vicious pandemics that claimed millions of human lives, including the 6th-century Justinian plague and the 14th-century Black Death. In tracing the backstories of diseases like plague, this new research highlights the importance of looking not just at ancient human remains, but also the animals around them, the authors say. Most human pathogens have zoonotic origins, a...
- Post a Comment

COVID Hits Home - AllOTSEGO

Editor's Note: The author, Dr. Richard Sternberg, a retired Bassett Hospital orthopedic surgeon, is providing his professional perspective during the COVID-19 threat. Also a village trustee, he lives in Cooperstown.

Until now, COVID did not hit too close to home for me. My cousin's father-in-law died of it in late 2020 as did that gentleman's sister, but nobody very close to me had.

This past week, my elder daughter came down with COVID. She said it was like a bad flu but she's getting better now. She had been fully vaccinated and boosted. She had been working from home, but with proper masking had gone out to her gym, shopping, and visiting her mother, who is a primary care physician. I'm still anxious because I'm aware of the long-term sequela. It's now clear that one can contract COVID multiple times despite vaccination status. Nevertheless, I'm very glad she's fully vaccinated because with the severity of her symptoms, I hesitate to think how bad things would've been if she weren't.

Queen Elizabeth has COVID. You would think that extraordinary precautions had been taken to prevent this. She is still working at the age of 95, considered super-elderly, and, I suspect, she needs help with many activities of daily living. She meets with her ministers frequently. There is a photograph of her meeting with one of her generals and one of her admirals just two days before it was announced that she was sick. They were not wearing masks.

Additionally, her son, Prince Charles, and his wife, Camilla, both have been COVID-positive in the past 10 days. The announcement also indicated various members and staff of the royal household were positive. Reports so far say her symptoms are relatively mild. She was first vaccinated over a year ago and presumably had a full series and subsequent boosters.

I hope her doctors have placed her on Paxlovid and prescribed other supportive treatments, and that she now goes into quarantine.

I read an intriguing article out of SUNY Stony Brook that shows that the anti-inflammatory drug, famatodine (Pepcid), in high doses, in adults with mild to moderate cases, causes early resolution of symptoms. There have been other articles about this, but those were anecdotal reports. This was a prospective, double-blind study which adds credence to the result.

Over-the-counter famotidine is usually 20 mg, two to three times daily for heartburn. The therapeutic dosage for COVID is 80 mg, three times daily. The study showed short-term use of the drug at high doses did not cause complications.

Famatodine blocks the inflammatory pathway that is the cause for most of the symptoms in COVID. I would suggest, before running out and buying a supply, that you discuss this with your healthcare provider. (The article can be found at medscape.com.)

Finally, I read two articles which appear to have contradictory implications. Both are studies done by the CDC. This helps to explain why people are still very confused about what are the best things to do. One showed that the immunity from having COVID lasted longer than the immunity from vaccination, though at one month after either vaccination or infection there were more antibodies from being vaccinated. Additionally, the doctors involved clearly noted the percentage of their patients with symptomatic COVID that went on to hospitalization or death was about 10 times greater in the unvaccinated than the  vaccinated.

Bottom line, get vaccinated. I personally would still wear an N-95 mask when in public indoors and try and maintain spacing especially since I have some risk factors and I have surgery in the near future, but it's clear for a large percentage of people there can be a return back to some level of normalcy.

-

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular Posts

Preventing, controlling spread of animal diseases focus of forum at Penn State - Pennsylvania State University

Image
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — An outbreak of the highly pathogenic avian influenza virus in poultry in 2014-15 resulted in the destruction of more than 50 million chickens and turkeys in the U.S., causing billions of dollars in economic loss. This animal disease outbreak — the worst in U.S. history — is one example of how devastating a foreign animal disease can be to animal agriculture and the country's economy. The resurgence of avian influenza in multiple states, including Pennsylvania, is once again bringing the importance of preventing animal diseases to the forefront, noted Suresh Kuchipudi, clinical professor of microbiology in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences. Exploring the emergence, spread and control of animal infectious diseases such as avian influenza was the focus of the inaugural Emerging Animal Infectious Disease Conference held Nov. 29-Dec.1, 2021, at Penn State. It was hosted by the College of Agricultural Sciences, the Pennsylvania Department of A...
Read more

Model Monday's: Diana Moldovan

Image
dented can botulism :: Article Creator Three Canadians Sickened In France's Botulism Outbreak Are From Quebec: PHAC The Public Health Agency of Canada has confirmed that the three Canadians who fell ill in a botulism outbreak in France are from Quebec. They're among at least 12 people who have suspected botulism after eating sardines prepared and served at Tchin Tchin Wine Bar in Bordeaux, France. The food was eaten between Sept. 4 and Sept. 10. The Associated Press has reported that some patients have been released from hospital, but most of them are in intensive care or critical condition. Canada's public health agency says it cannot divulge the condition of the patients from Quebec because it is considered private health information. Other tourists from the U.S., Ireland, Germany and Spain were among those sickened. One patient, who was not from Canada, has died. France's public health agency is leading the investigation...
Read more

Navel Orangeworm Plague Might be Growing Out of Control - Growing Produce

Image
JavaScript is required for the gallery to function properly. Start Slideshow When it comes to navel orangeworm control in your pistachio, almond, and walnut orchards in the fall and winter, sanitation is the key. While that sounds simple — destroy any mummy nuts — the truth is there are a lot of factors that can make a simple solution complicated. Advertisement These complications have financial implications, as labor to help clean up the orchard can be costly and time-consuming. These complications can also come in the form of weather issues that make postharvest cleanup more of a challenge. “Although this is a proven practice, we still see some growers are not doing this practice, for whatever reason. Sometimes, it is difficult to do mummy sanitation due to the rainfall in the winter, or due to the heavy ground in some orchards. But it is important to plan in advance considering these factors. Sanitation can be done at any time between October and Feb. 1,” Jhalendr...
Read more