Virology
TWiV 906: Long COVID, giant viruses, and smallish pox
By Vincent Racaniello | | This Week in Virology
TWiV reviews human monkeypox infections, evidence for human Mimivrus infections, and incidence of long COVID in post-vaccine SARS-CoV-2 infections.
TWiV 905: COVID-19 clinical update #117 with Dr. Daniel Griffin
By Vincent Racaniello | | This Week in Virology
In COVID-19 clinical update #117, Dr. Griffin discusses duration of virus shedding, association between pre-exposure to steroids and infection outcome, post-infection subtypes, rehabilitation for post-acute infection, Tixagevimab/Cilgavimab for infection prevention, antibody prophylaxis and vaccination in kidney transplant recipients, remdesivir and bebtelovimab fact sheets for providers, the updated guidelines on treatment with Famotidine, Paxlovid rebound symptom characterizations, antigen test positivity duration, viral dynamics of variants and isolation, association of inflammation in CS fluid, and transmission dynamics in Ghana.
Herd Immunity and this Pandemic
By Gertrud U. Rey | | Basic virology, Gertrud Rey
by Gertrud U. Rey Herd immunity occurs when a large enough percentage of the population has acquired either natural or vaccine-induced immunity against an infectious disease, thereby indirectly protecting a minority of non-immune individuals who are dispersed throughout the population. During this pandemic, many prominent scientists have stated that it is impossible to achieve herd …
TWiV 904: 50 years of reverse transcriptase
By Vincent Racaniello | | This Week in Virology
Vincent travels to Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory to speak with David Baltimore, John Coffin, and Harold Varmus about the discovery in 1970 of retroviral reverse transcriptase and its impact on life sciences research.
Richard R Ernst Lecture 2022 – Vincent Racaniello
By Vincent Racaniello | | Basic virology, Information
It was my great honor to be selected as the Richard R Ernst Lecturer for 2022. The aim of the Richard R. Ernst Lecture is to strengthen the relationship and understanding between the sciences, society, and politics and to raise awareness for the questions and challenges our global society is facing today and will face in the future.
TWiV Special: Monkeypox clinical update with Dr. Daniel Griffin
By Vincent Racaniello | | This Week in Virology
In this special episode, Dr. Griffin answers questions about the recent cases of monkeypox including their origin, clinical presentation, diagnosis, treatment, and overall risk.
David Tuller
Trial By Error: Interview with Karen Hargrave, Co-Founder of #ThereForME
By David Tuller, DrPH Karen Hargrave is co-founder of an advocacy campaign called #ThereForME, which was launched this past summer to draw public awareness to the UK’s lack of care and treatment and to call “for an NHS [National Health Service] that’s there for people with ME and Long Covid.” The campaign has drawn significant …
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Trial By Error: My Letter to BMJ Seeking Correction to Editorial on REGAIN Trial of Mental-and-Physical-Health Rehab for Long Covid
By David Tuller, DrPH I have recovered sufficiently from my post-election coma to send off another of my irritating letters to journals–this one to The BMJ. As I mentioned in a post earlier this week, The BMJ has corrected a major paper: “Clinical effectiveness of an online supervised group physical and mental health rehabilitation programme …
Trial By Error: Professor Chris Ponting on “Replicated Blood-Based Biomarkers” for ME in Big Data Pre-Print Study
By David Tuller, DrPH Along with several colleagues, Professor Chris Ponting, a geneticist at the University of Edinburgh and a leading ME/CFS researcher, recently posted a pre-print called “Replicated blood-based biomarkers for Myalgic Encephalomyelitis not explicable by inactivity.” (A pre-print is a paper that has not yet been formally peer-reviewed.) For this analysis, the investigators …
Trial By Error: The BMJ Corrects REGAIN Study’s Expansive Claims; Results Only Applicable to Post-Hospitalized Long Covid Patients
By David Tuller, DrPH In February, The BMJ published a study called Clinical effectiveness of an online supervised group physical and mental health rehabilitation programme for adults with post-covid-19 condition (REGAIN study): multicentre randomised controlled trial.” (Post-Covid-19 Condition, or PCC, is one of many current definitions for Long Covid.)The study, led by a team from …
Trial By Error: My Tour of Ireland, Through Wind and Rain; Slides of My Talk
By David Tuller, DrPH Last month, I took a quick speaking tour around Ireland at the invitation of the Irish ME/CFS Association. I first became acquainted with Tom Kindlon, the association’s assistant chairperson, about ten years ago. I was beginning to look into the background of the PACE trial, which purported to have proven the …
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Trial By Error: Guardian Columnist George Monbiot on the “Bizarre Cult” at the London-Based Science Media Centre
By David Tuller, DrPH October is a crowdfunding month at University of California, Berkeley. If you’d like to support my work, you can make a donation to the university (tax-deductible for US taxpayers) here. Last week, Guardian columnist George Monbiot wrote another scathing piece about the failure of the UK health care system to address the …