Corona-zona

  As noted in an earlier post , one of the risks of contracting SARS-CoV-2 is that it may turn into a chronic disease referred to in medical terms as "post-acute sequelae of COVID-19" (PASC). It is known colloquially as long-haul or just long COVID. The CDC says the condition can last anywhere from weeks to years.  They give a long list of possible symptoms, but note that some of them can be "hard to explain and manage:" Clinical evaluations and results of routine blood tests, chest x-rays, and electrocardiograms may be normal. The symptoms are similar to those reported by people with ME/CFS (myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome) and other poorly understood chronic illnesses that may occur after other infections.  Unlike other aspects of the disease where the oldest fare the worst, long COVID is more likely to affect younger people, according to a data  from people with private health insurance.  Nearly a third of victims are 35 or younger, and th...

  I don't know about you, but I've been seeing a lot of coverage about the Delta variant that is confusing and concerning. Do the vaccines protect against it, or not? There is still assurance that the vaccines protect against it, and your chances of getting infected are small. Your chances of getting seriously ill are smaller, and your chances of dying are smaller still.   The data seem pretty unequivocal.  Axios just published a good summary : 164 million Americans have been fully vaccinated in the U.S. as of July 31, 2021 0.077% of those have seen "breakthrough" cases (that's 77 in every 10,000, or about 1 in 130) 0.004% of those have been hospitalized (4 in every 100,000, or 1 in 25,000) 0.001% of those have died (1 in every 100,000) According to my favorite risk-of-dying chart, you're more likely to perish from "electrocution, radiation, extreme temperatures, and pressure" than you are to be hospitalized with a breakthrough infection.  You'r...

  It has always puzzled me how one can be infected with SARS-CoV-2 and not show any symptoms. After all, the bug has invaded you and has hijacked your cells to make copies of itself, rather than doing what they're supposed to be doing. How can that be? A new study just published in Nature Medicine sheds some light on the matter.  The authors claim it is the first study to compare the immune responses of people who have no symptoms to the immune responses of people with a more serious infection. The actual study is full of big words that are probably only meaningful to an immunologist. Fortunately a helpful science reporter has dumbed it down to the point where I can understand it.   Essentially, people who have asymptomatic infections have high levels of B cells (a type of white blood cell) in their noses and other mucous passages. These cells detect pathogens and help initiate an immune response. These cells were missing in people with more serious infections. P...