'Hope for the millions of Americans suffering from Long COVID will rely on how much the U.S. supports affected individuals and to what extent the country invests in groundbreaking research to better understand the condition'.
www.forbes.com/sites/omeraw...
Your periodic reminder that in times of geopolitical instability - domestic, international, or both - an important element of building and maintaining both individual and societal resilience is to stay as healthy as possible. Protect your body and your brain: wear a respirator.
3. I agree entirely with Dr. Nath - dementia will increase in prevalence in the coming years and will also start to develop at younger ages than would otherwise be expected.
This is the primary reason I mitigate against infection: to protect my brain.
/end
2. ...processes that are already underway in an aging population. “The incidence and prevalence of Alzheimer’s is going to just escalate,” he says. “It’s a huge public-health problem.” '
*Parentheses for clarity
1. '(Dr. Avindra) Nath is less cautious. Drawing on patterns he’s seen across autopsies, imaging studies and long-term clinical assessments, as well as population data showing elevated dementia risk after Covid, he’s convinced the virus can accelerate neurodegenerative...
archive.is/2026.02.25-1...
2. archive.ph/sfP52
/end
1. Outstanding article from Tess Finch Lees:
'Meanwhile, when asked why she’s masking during chemo, Meg now says, “I’m training for the Olympics” '.
Please click on the paywalled link first, archived link in next post. Also consider sharing.
m.independent.ie/opinion/comm...
A Belfast cab driver - good guy, does volunteer work helping homeless people - just told me he knows loads of people having strokes, heart attacks and dementia far too young then that he thinks 'Covid was a cull' and blames the vaccines.
The conspiracy rabbit hole is lethal.
Yes it is.
Same here, Michelle!
Exactly Rach - I constantly tell people that infection is not inevitable. And, in fact, to think it is becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Absolutely, Dr. Bari!
This directly weakens the national security of the United States. Removing words from websites and cutting critical programs simply because they are now considered to not match the dominant political ideology is absolute folly. You can't just wish a threat away.
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
The constant discourse on Twitter / X that 'masks don't work' is just tedious. While I never discount the possibility that I may have had an asymptomatic infection, the simple fact is that I haven't been sick once since early 2019. After numerous *confirmed* exposures. FFP2/3 works. The end.
As I've said many times before on this platform, the moment I decided that I was going to avoid infection with SARS-CoV-2 was the moment I read that acute Covid-19 could cause both cognitive dysfunction and anosmia.
nypost.com/2026/02/10/h...
I've seen a few cruel posts on Twitter / X recently, and, as a result, I would remind you all of the following:
If you're trying to avoid infection with SARS-CoV-2, you're being smart.
Mask harassment - online or irl - is done by uninformed, resentful and insecure people. Ignore them.
Waiting at a train station today, I saw an elderly woman on the opposite platform wearing a blue surgical mask.
Every time I see someone in a blue surgical mask it drives home so profoundly to me how public health in this country is failing people. Every single time.
A landscape photograph taken after sunset. The foreground of the photograph is a sandy beach, with the silhouette of a person walking from the left of the shot to the right of the shot visible just where the sand meets the sea. The sea stretches to the horizon in the midground of the shot, the water glistening with muted, reflected light. There are headlands to both the left and right of the shot, and an orange glow rises above the distant horizon; the last light from the sunset. The sky has a dark band of clouds across it but is clear in the top right of the shot. The photograph was unmistakably taken during the blue hour.
West Strand, Portrush, taken during the blue hour this evening.
'Possible risk of autism in children. Dormant cancer cells awakening. Accelerating aging of the brain'.
The last thing I said on my first call with a client regarding SARS-CoV-2, in late Jan 2020, was 'there will be significant sequelae'. It was obvious even then.
www.cbsnews.com/news/covid-l...
Outstanding article from my friend Lucyl Harrison in @theconversation.com today.
'Human character changed in December 2019, when SARS-CoV-2 was discovered and the COVID pandemic began in earnest'.
theconversation.com/on-being-ill...
1. H5N1 antibodies have been found in a dairy cow in the Netherlands. This is the first detection of the virus in dairy cattle outside of the US. This is a concerning signal.
Link to article in next post.
Delighted to have had this wide-ranging conversation with @pathogenscribe.bsky.social covering biological weapons, accidental release, the importance of precision in terminology, mitigating airborne pathogens, dual use research of concern, and much more. Thanks for having me on, Heather!
It's obvious right now that the instability in geopolitics is rapidly heading towards an inflection point. This point may well involve serious civil unrest and / or armed conflict. Should this occur, you will fare better if you are as healthy as possible. Keep your respirator on.
Ok, thank you for your thoughts. To be honest, I'm very dubious that it's all about grant-chasing and reputation. I think those drivers apply across all scientific research.
Thanks for your comments - genuinely very much appreciated.
Who are these people that are lying to me, and what reason would they have for doing so?
'..highlights the urgent need for long-term immune monitoring after SARS-CoV-2 exposure. Persistent T-cell reductions, particularly in CD4+ and CD8+ T cells, raise concerns about *chronic immune dysfunction even in nonhospitalized individuals*'.
*my emphasis.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
We really don't.
Global health threats are inextricably linked to geopolitics. The direction the world is taking is now highly unpredictable, but one thing is absolutely certain to me: the only real winners will be pathogens. The US administration is now a force multiplier for infectious disease.
