Nerd Immunity

 

A study (preprint, not yet reviewed) conducted in India looked at the association between wearing eyeglasses and getting COVID-19, and it found something.

It was based on 200 patients hospitalized in KV COVID Hospital, Kanpur Dehat (a district of Northern India) during the height of the fall COVID-19 surge in India.  The study looked at people who had been admitted for mild COVID-19 (blood oxygen over 96%). It excluded people with moderate and severe cases (blood oxygen under 96%), for reasons that aren't clear from the paper.

The study was simple enough.  It asked patients about their eyeglass-wearing behavior.  It compared people who did and did not wear glasses at least 8 hours per day, and people who did and did not have COVID-19 based on a PCR test.  

The results showed that only 19% of the COVID-19 positive patients regularly wore eyeglasses, whereas 81% of the positive patients did not. The difference was statistically significant.

Speculating on the reason for this difference, the author said people who wear glasses may be less likely to touch their eyes, decreasing the chances that they would pick up the virus from a surface (so-called fomites) and get it in their eye (auto-inoculation).  

I don't know, I wear glasses myself and I think I touch my eyes as much as anybody else (which is to say, not much).  One wonders if there isn't also some effect of diverting aerosols in the air that might otherwise land in the eye.

One also wonders whether this could be a factor in India's infection rate coming under control.  The paper said that 40% of people in India regularly wear glasses. I don't know what the number is in the U.S. but it's sure not 40%.

Image by Christian Dorn from Pixabay 

Popular posts from this blog

Looks Like Immune Responses are Enduring After All

Image
 For some time, public health officials have fretted about whether immunity to COVID-19, acquired via infection or vaccination would stick.  Studies showed rapid declines in antibodies during recovery from infection and thereafter . It turns out that this concern was overblown. A study just released says bone marrow plasma cells are a persistent source of protective antibodies, and that "circulating resting memory B cells directed against the S protein were detected in the convalescent individuals."   Another study , yet to be reviewed, suggests that vaccines boost this effect. In fact, some are suggesting this situation this could actually mean  lifetime immunity .   Whether the same thing happens with vaccination is not clear. Most estimates suggest that vaccine immunity will last about a year . More pessimistic estimates putting the protection period at six months .  The possible shorter time frame, plus the appearance of the new variants, ha...
Read more

Another One Bites the Dust

Image
Hi all. Stepping out of retirement for a moment to say that the day has finally arrived. After four years of successfully avoiding COVID-19 infection I had a positive test yesterday. Symptoms are very mild—I've had worse colds. The provider at urgent care said almost all the cases they are seeing are the same. Mild symptoms may also be due to the fact that I had the original vaccine then the two boosters. All this time I thought I might be a NOVID —one of those people who never get the bug. But no, it must have been my assiduous mask wearing and avoidance of high-risk situations when things were bad. So here's double middle fingers to all the kooks who think masks don't work (I've not been wearing masks for months now). I don't know what variant I have but it's likely JN.1. It is said to be extraordinarily contagious and accounts for 60% of cases worldwide . It also tends to produce mild infections like the one I have.  This article claims that right now every...
Read more

Happy Inject Yourself with Bleach Day!

Image
  It's hard to believe, but it was two years ago today that our moron of a former president took to a news conference to share his awesome ideas about how to combat COVID-19 infections. He suggested we inject the victims with disinfectant, and put "powerful lights" inside their bodies (somehow) to cure them. Here is a  Sarah Cooper mime  of the performance in case you've forgotten how cringe-worthy it was. His poor pandemic expert Dr. Deborah Birx stood next to him, looking on in horror. She has since said that she didn't say anything at the time because her military background taught her to never make her commander look bad in public. Maybe that's a good reason not to have ex-military people in positions like hers. I say that because when a president says something ignorant there are plenty of gullible people who will take it seriously. Like the people who actually misted their body with, inhaled vapors of, gargled with, or drank cleaning products because o...
Read more