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#covid

93 posts80 participants13 posts today

Press release:
"Pregnancy may reduce long COVID risk"
eurekalert.org/news-releases/1

Long COVID after SARS-CoV-2 During Pregnancy in the United States
nature.com/articles/s41467-025

I personally would find this more interesting if this related to the ME-CFS/similar subgroup rather than a mixed LC group

@longcovid
#LongCovid #PASC #PwLC #postcovid #postcovid19 #LC #Covidlonghaulers #PostCovidSyndrome #longhaulers #COVIDBrain #NeuroPASC

@covid19 #Coronavirus
#COVID19 #COVID #COVID_19 #COVIDー19 #SARSCoV2

No worse than the flu?

I've lost track of how many different ways this claim is false. But here's yet another:

Healthcare workers with chronic condition miss more days of work due to COVID than flu

67% vs 12% of absences due to COVID, flu

cidrap.umn.edu/covid-19/health

CIDRAPHealthcare workers with chronic condition miss more days of work due to COVID than flu, data show

📗 "Viral Modernism: The Influenza Pandemic and Interwar Literature" by Elizabeth Outka

Have you wondered too: why is covid barely visible in modern media? Why do I never pick up a book with someone wearing a mask, even though it's 2020 in the story? Why do I watch tv shows set in 2021 and they act like everything is fine? I have to dig deep for any text that dares to mention the unmentionable (ongoing) SARSCoV2 pandemic, and that really bothers me.

Turns out this is not a rare phenomenon. The same happened after Spanish Flu a full century ago. This book from 2019 digs into the why of it, and then goes on to analyze the presence of the 1918 pandemic in the very few books that did mention it.

The book is divided into three parts. Part 1 zooms in on 'why?'. Why was the flu silenced in literature? Why was it such a taboo? Even if you're not interested in reading the rest of this book, this part is worth it if you've been wondering the same. It has some interesting theories. Partly the war overshadowed the pandemic. But partly it's also a problem of a lack of language and narrative. War is easy to explain: us, the goodies, fight a 'them', the baddies, and someone wins. But a virus is invisible and not well-understood. The 'enemy' doesn't invade from the outside, but spreads throughout your loved ones, penetrates your body and blurs all the lines of who's what. There was a lot of guilt about participation and ignorance. On top of the grief, there's a societal view of sickness as weakness, and of caring and ill health with femininity, which didn't help. I won't recap all of the book here, but it was a fascinating read to see why the pandemic was hidden in media, and how so much can be applied to the current times too. Plus there were lots of archival pictures that I'd never seen before!

In part 2 several books from around that era are discussed and the role of the pandemic in the story is analyzed. I was afraid that it might be too academic for me, but it was quite readable. Most notably I've gotten a more negative view of Virginia Woolf. Although she was one of the few acknowledging sickness in her literature, she also minimized Spanish Flu in daily life, not wanting to engage with it. I was also surprised to see 'look to windward' appear, which I've only known as a quote on war through Bank's books. And wow, the amount of 'living dead' analogies that pop up, interesting stuff.

Part 3 goes into two major trends that became popular post-pandemic: spiritualism and zombie tales. Both are forms of the dead coming back, one for mourning and peace of mind, the other for an outlet for fear and anger. I got quite upset reading about seances where ghosts of flu victims return to earth to exonerate their families from guilt of infection, hmpf. Either way, I thought it was engrossing. In hindsight, it all makes sense, and it helps me understand the way people behave now.

At the end the book states that we're not ready for a new pandemic, although we could be, if only we'd look reality in the eyes and prepare well. Covid started and... here we are. Millions dead, many more millions chronically ill, ableism abound, covid still around and mutating. And probably more pandemics coming at us in the near future. Every day I feel stronger about not letting this truth go unsaid. It's uncomfortable, but more tragedies will occur if the majority of people keep avoiding unpleasant realities. Don't look away, don't underestimate yourself -you can bear it and do your part to keep the people around you safe and well.

As the book says: "Reading the letters and stories told by the survivors of the pandemic —and the literary representations that simultaneously revealed and hid these very stories— launch us into new narrative streams, allowing us to hear voices long ignored in part because the viral, dust-like form at the heart of the story was itself invisible and silent."

I'm adding this book under #PlagueBook and I've also gone back and tagged all previous books that talk about pandemics that I've reviewed with that too (in a tiny effort to not lose these works into silence once again). You can view them all here:

c.im/@reading_recluse/tagged/P

Please stay safe and #WearAMask !

"#Russia Dismisses Claims Of Blood-Coughing Mystery Virus, Cites Common Respiratory Infections"

ndtv.com/world-news/russia-dis

Russian #health authorities are probably right, it's probably a common ailment that happens seasonally

The thing is, we can't trust #authoritarian regimes. Look how the govt of #China covered up the initial #COVID outbreak

And now, in the #USA, we can't trust anything the authorities say either, as #Trump and his band of morons gut the govt health agencies we rely on

Replied in thread

@DenisCOVIDinfoguy they also cite pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/358102

which has this absolute adjective of a hypothesis:

SARS-CoV-2 may bind to ACE2 in order to enter the host brainstem cell and change baroreflex sensitivity

because

The integral parts of the brain renin-angiotensin system, as ACE2 enzyme, are highly expressed in the brainstem, which may also be involved in baroreflex sensitivity, playing an important role in HRV.

which would help explain POTS!!

PubMedPotential autonomic nervous system dysfunction in COVID-19 patients detected by heart rate variability is a sign of SARS-CoV-2 neurotropic features - PubMedIncreasing evidence strongly support that the newly identified severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) leads to the development of COVID-19-associated central nervous system (CNS) manifestations. The presence of SARS-CoV-2 viral protein in the brainstem, which includes cardiovas …
Replied in thread

@DenisCOVIDinfoguy I was just reading this!

nature.com/articles/s41598-024 has tidbits that range from interesting to wow

non-hospitalized individuals who had COVID-19 present a decrease in heart rate variability with a predominance of the sympathetic nervous system; (2) above all, those evaluated early in the first weeks after infection have less parasympathetic modulation; (3) moderate to large effect sizes were found when comparing groups; (4) the time after diagnosis influences positively while age is negatively associated with HRV parameters

and in a bit of detail:

the LF band, which reflects both modulations but with greater sympathetic predominance, showed a significant increase in the evaluated group during the first weeks after infection, with a tendency to decrease over time. In contrast, the HF band, which reflects parasympathetic activity, exhibited a significant reduction in those evaluated early, indicating diminished parasympathetic activity. However, no increase in this variable was observed over time.

which they immediately explain:

This behavior can be attributed to the different recovery dynamics of the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems after stressors like infection. Sympathetic modulation tends to normalize more quickly following the acute stress response, whereas parasympathetic modulation requires more time to recover, especially after inflammatory states. Additionally, COVID-19 induces vagal suppression, which reduces parasympathetic activity and prolongs its recovery period

vagal refers to the vagus nerve folks, stay calm

NatureImpact of COVID-19 on heart rate variability in post-COVID individuals compared to a control group - Scientific ReportsThis study investigated the impact of mild COVID-19 on HRV in groups stratified by time after infection and to compare to a healthy group of the same age without previous virus infection and without need of hospitalization. This is a cross-sectional study. We divided the sample into four groups: control group (CG) (n = 31), group 1 (G1): ≤6 weeks (n = 34), group 2 (G2): 2–6 months (n = 30), group 3 (G3): 7–12 months (n = 35) after infection. For HRV analysis, we used the indices of linear (time and frequency domain) and non-linear analysis. For comparisons between groups, ANOVA one way test or Kruskal–Wallis was used according to the data distribution. The effect size was calculated based on Cohen’s d or η2. Simple and multiple linear regressions were performed to investigate the interaction between clinical outcomes and HRV parameters. A total of 130 individuals were included. Groups G1 and G2 showed less parasympathetic modulation when compared to CG (p < 0.05), while G3 showed an increase in parasympathetic modulation when compared to G1 (p < 0.05). Moderate to large effect sizes were found according to Cohen d or η2. The multiple linear regression models identified age and infection duration as significant predictors for RMSSD (adjusted R2 = 0.227) and SD1 (adjusted R2 = 0.242), while age was significant for SDNN (adjusted R2 = 0.213). BMI, hypertension, and dyslipidemia were non-significant in all models. For HF (n.u.), infection duration was consistently significant, with stress emerging as a predictor in Model 2 (adjusted R2 = 0.143). The recovery time since diagnosis and age influences recovery from HRV, suggesting a transient effect of the disease on the autonomic nervous system.

Major funding cuts to the vaccine pipeline announced in the US, but important advances for mucosal Covid vaccines globally:

- 10th mucosal vax reaches phase 2 (in Canada)
- Another human challenge trial as prep for mucosal trials started in Singapore
- Trial results, including one for intranasal vax in kids in China

And lots more in my latest next generation Covid vaccine update now online @PLOS

absolutelymaybe.plos.org/2025/

Absolutely Maybe · Mucosal Covid Vaccine Trials Progress; US R&D Funding Cuts (NextGen Update 27) - Absolutely MaybeThis month, there are results from 3 clinical trials of next generation vaccines, including an early safety study of an intranasal vaccine…