Anita Y Cheng · @anitaycheng
368 followers · 632 posts · Server mastodon.publicinterest.town

From a listener question re: if wildfire exposure affects COVID outcomes: Dr. Griffin doesn’t know of any studies about , but there have been flu studies that show that exposure to poor air quality can make someone more susceptible to flu lower in the lungs.

13/13

#COVID #twivtldr

Last updated 1 year ago

Anita Y Cheng · @anitaycheng
365 followers · 624 posts · Server mastodon.publicinterest.town

Renowned scientist Bob Krug writes in about Xofluza, a Tamiflu alternative. You have to take it within 48 hours of symptoms starting, but it is VERY effective! Dr. Griffin points out there was some observation of flu virus mutations, and it’s about $150 a pill.

12/

#flu #twivtldr

Last updated 1 year ago

Anita Y Cheng · @anitaycheng
365 followers · 623 posts · Server mastodon.publicinterest.town

From listener q re: vaccine efficacy w/ variants & not being able to get Paxlovid: Vaccines continue to protect against severe disease and hospitalizations even w/ current . Evidence coming in that being vaxxed also protects against . But if you’re at risk and can’t get , Dr. Griffin suggests to talk to your doctor about other treatments like metformin. (Although he also points out that it’s not officially recommended by any society anywhere...)

11/

#variants #longcovid #Paxlovid #twivtldr #COVID

Last updated 1 year ago

Anita Y Cheng · @anitaycheng
365 followers · 623 posts · Server mastodon.publicinterest.town

From a listener question: Reactivation of herpes virus happens in but also in other post-viral conditions.

10/

#longcovid #twivtldr

Last updated 1 year ago

Anita Y Cheng · @anitaycheng
365 followers · 623 posts · Server mastodon.publicinterest.town

A meta-analysis of convalescent plasma (CCP) studies show that CCP treatment reduces hospitalization by 30%. But the antibody levels in the plasma have to be high, and the CCP has to be given within 5 days after symptoms start. Otherwise there’s no benefit at all. CCP is more an option for people who literally cannot be treated with anything else.

9/

#COVID #twivtldr

Last updated 1 year ago

Anita Y Cheng · @anitaycheng
365 followers · 623 posts · Server mastodon.publicinterest.town

Real world data about Paxlovid - it reduces hospitalization by 69%. The effect is greater in people who didn’t finish the primary vaccine series, while it didn’t help as much for people who finished the primary series. (Although, definitely helped people severely immunocompromised or over 70, when their last shot was more than 6 months ago.)

8/

#vaccine #Paxlovid #twivtldr #COVID

Last updated 1 year ago

Anita Y Cheng · @anitaycheng
365 followers · 618 posts · Server mastodon.publicinterest.town

Dr. Griffin reiterates that boosters are really only for people like, over 85 with multiple health conditions. It doesn’t really help others. Generally, they believe the primary vaccine dosing should be standardized to 3 shots, with the last shot at least 6 months out from the second.

6/

#twivtldr #COVID #boosters

Last updated 1 year ago

Anita Y Cheng · @anitaycheng
365 followers · 617 posts · Server mastodon.publicinterest.town

FDA recommended monovalent XBB.1.5 vaccines for , not bivalent because of the concerns of “original antigenic sin”. (Basically, the idea that your immune response is lower if it’s seen an antigen before.) Dr. Griffin mentions that the data shows there doesn’t seem to be a huge difference in immune response between monovalent or bivalent formulas. But this belief has already permeated science, hence the focus on monovalent vaccines now…

5/

#COVID #vaccines #twivtldr

Last updated 1 year ago

Anita Y Cheng · @anitaycheng
365 followers · 616 posts · Server mastodon.publicinterest.town

…Dr. Griffin is not happy with the binary of “cultureable” and “not cultureable” virus, when in the lab it’s really a wide spectrum. And Dr. Racaniello says if there was transmission “without cultureable” virus, then their assay was not sensitive enough! (Lots of talk about how plaque assays are “a dying art.“)

So yeah, science is hard. 😅

4/

#twivtldr #COVID

Last updated 1 year ago

Anita Y Cheng · @anitaycheng
365 followers · 615 posts · Server mastodon.publicinterest.town

Finally, a study on cultureable virus over time in positive cases and how it impacts COVID transmission in households! But uhh, hold up: 21% of people WITHOUT culturable virus transmitted it to household members in this study. With wide confidence intervals..

3/

#COVID #twivtldr

Last updated 1 year ago

Anita Y Cheng · @anitaycheng
365 followers · 615 posts · Server mastodon.publicinterest.town

The CDC also officially endorsed the RSV vaccines for people over 60. Although, not everyone on the advisory committee was totally on board, so the takeaway is that high risk individuals should talk to their doctors about the .

2/

#rsv #vaccine #twivtldr

Last updated 1 year ago

Anita Y Cheng · @anitaycheng
362 followers · 608 posts · Server mastodon.publicinterest.town

From a listener question: Some people are still having trouble getting before traveling. Dr. Griffin says now that Paxlovid is fully licensed, doctors are able to prescribe Paxlovid “off-label” so that they have more flexibility and use their discretion. But of course, rich people are able to do that more easily than poor people. Dr. Griffin says he hopes the inequities will start to lessen.

16/16

#COVID #Paxlovid #twivtldr

Last updated 1 year ago

Anita Y Cheng · @anitaycheng
353 followers · 605 posts · Server mastodon.publicinterest.town

Dr. Griffin joked (an inexpensive diabetes drug) is now considered a “poor man’s ,” which goes into the next paper: metformin reduced viral load (aka RNA copy number), but only by a teeny bit. The hosts were NOT impressed by the impact, and Dr. Racaniello wanted them to look at infectious virus. Dr. Griffin wryly observed that he wouldn’t be surprised if eventually, rich people got Paxlovid and poor people got the crappier metformin. 😅

14/

#metformin #Paxlovid #twivtldr

Last updated 1 year ago

Anita Y Cheng · @anitaycheng
353 followers · 605 posts · Server mastodon.publicinterest.town

…An earlier study used 1500mg as a dose and they actually had to stop the study because there were too many side effects. People couldn’t tolerate it.

Metformin mostly helped people under 45, the unvaccinated, and those with BMI over 30.

13/

#metformin #twivtldr

Last updated 1 year ago

Anita Y Cheng · @anitaycheng
353 followers · 605 posts · Server mastodon.publicinterest.town

A pre-print they discussed before is now published! Outpatient treatment with metformin helped reduce risk by about 41%, with an absolute reduction of 4%. Dr. Griffin notes that the amount of used in this study needed to be titrated - from 500mg to 1000mg over 2 weeks. Which means if you want metformin, you need to work closely with your doctor on dosing, they can’t just give you a script for the whole regimen at once…

12/

#longcovid #metformin #twivtldr

Last updated 1 year ago

Anita Y Cheng · @anitaycheng
353 followers · 601 posts · Server mastodon.publicinterest.town

Being anemic (hemoglobin under 13 g/dl for males, 12g/dl for females) makes people 2.7x more likely to die if they get . (And people are 2.3x more likely to have a severe case.)

10/

#COVID #anemic #twivtldr

Last updated 1 year ago

Anita Y Cheng · @anitaycheng
353 followers · 600 posts · Server mastodon.publicinterest.town

Two blood cancer patients who were sick with for 6 months (including testing positive the whole time) were successfully treated with Paxlovid over 2 weeks. Both cases finally tested negative after this extended treatment.

9/

#COVID #Paxlovid #twivtldr

Last updated 1 year ago

Anita Y Cheng · @anitaycheng
353 followers · 599 posts · Server mastodon.publicinterest.town

From public opinion polls, 35-42% of US public believe COVID are “very safe” for most children. But opinions of other routine vaccinations for kids are actually higher (54-61% pre-pandemic, up to 70% in late 2022.) Maybe compared to the new vaccines, the “traditional” ones seem safer? Whatever, it’s a relief that COVID anti-vax “spillover” didn’t happen. Support for routine vaccines went up, but people seem to be anti-mandate instead. healthaffairs.org/content/fore

8/

#vaccines #COVID #twivtldr

Last updated 1 year ago

Anita Y Cheng · @anitaycheng
353 followers · 597 posts · Server mastodon.publicinterest.town

...The most virus was emitted on day 3, with very little emission before any symptoms (7%) and “hardly any” (2%) before first positive RAT. Higher viral emissions correlated with higher viral load from nasal swabs vs throat swabs. Stronger symptoms were not correlated with higher viral load. Interestingly, only 2 participants emitted 86% of all airborne virus, which definitely supports the “superspreader” theory.

(Personal note: my hubs did not get COVID when 👶🏻 and I did.)

6/

#COVID #twivtldr

Last updated 1 year ago

Anita Y Cheng · @anitaycheng
353 followers · 596 posts · Server mastodon.publicinterest.town

Some really 👀 updates about : Back in 2021, researchers in the UK recruited 36 unvaccinated, NOVID folks to get (ancestral) COVID up their nose, locked them into negative pressure rooms for 14 days, then took lots of swabs and measured how much virus they “emitted” into the air and on surfaces. Here are the results: thelancet.com/journals/lanmic/

53% of the participants got sick after getting COVID up their nose.…

5/

#COVID #twivtldr

Last updated 1 year ago