One of the most fascinating and heart wrenching outcomes of this pandemic is the almost random way that some individuals become horribly ill from COVID-19. In younger people, it was clear early on that some had genetic errors in their immune systems that made them susceptible to more severe infection with COVID-19. These genetic errorsContinue reading “Why do elderly people have a higher likelihood of dying from COVID-19?”
Category Archives: Antibodies
Canada vs. the US on COVID-19! See the discussion on Flashpoint tomorrow February 20th at 10:00 AM
To loyal readers of pandemicpondering.com. The recent trucker’s protest has sparked interest in the Canadian COVID-19 response. From a medical perspective, the two countries have very similar citizen health demographics, but Canada has had only 1/3 as many per capita deaths than the US (and only 30,000 total). This number is startling compared to theContinue reading “Canada vs. the US on COVID-19! See the discussion on Flashpoint tomorrow February 20th at 10:00 AM”
Antigen Assays: a third type of test for COVID infections.
A third type of coronavirus test has recently been introduced. This test is somewhat like the swab or PCR test, because it directly looks for the presence of COVID-19. Rather than looking for viral RNA like the PCR assay, this test looks for viral proteins (antigens). The antigen test as it is called involves theContinue reading “Antigen Assays: a third type of test for COVID infections.”
Hospitals do make mistakes, and you still can’t trust your COVID antibody test!
Two brief follow-ups before the weekend starts. First, an interesting op ed was published today in the New York Times (you might remember them from yesterday when I found fault with their declaration of “ 36,000 lost souls” based on an unreviewed computer projection). Today they did publish a very nice opinion piece by Dr. DanielleContinue reading “Hospitals do make mistakes, and you still can’t trust your COVID antibody test!”
The beginning of the end of the pandemic?
Today’s big news was Moderna’s press release of the results from the Phase I clinical trial of its Coronavirus vaccine. The vaccine, comprised of RNA coding for the spike protein of COVID, induces the cells in the recipient to produce portions of the coronavirus protein, which then induce an immune response. The vaccine showed noContinue reading “The beginning of the end of the pandemic?”
More news on COVID antibody screening
Three interesting articles came out concerning antibody testing in COVID-19. The first was a prepublication on antibody testing from Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City. The study was conducted from March 26 to April 10, 2020 and looked at 1,343 mildly symptomatic outpatient subjects (only 3% had been ill enough to be seen in the emergency department).Continue reading “More news on COVID antibody screening”
An Update from last night.
The lead story on NBC was again the “rare” auto-inflammatory syndrome. NY State Health Commissioner Dr. Howard Zucker reiterated an alert to medical providers regarding the “potential association” between “multi-system inflammatory syndrome” — or Kawasaki disease — and COVID-19. The major change from yesterday is that according to Dr. Zucker, “there are now sixty-four (64) suspected pediatric clinicalContinue reading “An Update from last night.”
Pandemic Pondering 