@mhornig
Translational MD-scientist, mom, 🎶 | Bklyn born + bred Pathogen/microbe-host interactions + 🧠outcomes across the life course | gut-immune-🧠 axis #ASD #ADHD #PANS/#PANDAS #OCD affective disorders/#TRD Alzheimer’s #MECFS #LongCOVID All posts = my views
Other critical ?s
Do persistent virus/viral fragments or other molecules/pathways they induce (immune/inflammatory, redox shifts/oxidative stress/mitochondrial dysfunction/MCAS?) degrade collagen/other connective tissue components?
Might these findings represent an infection-associated EDS subset?
The only way to prevent long COVID is to avoid getting COVID19. With every infection, there is a risk of developing long COVID.
www.nyc.gov/site/doh/cov...
#medsky
Long COVID (and life) teaches you this.
Research imagines what medicine could be, but medicine often shrugs.
The best doctors chase the questions.
The worst don’t even look up.
bsky.app/profile/mhor...
So please do what you can, at all times, to avoid infection/reinfection. Ask for formal olfactory testing (UPSIT or similar)! #SARSCoV2 may compromise your olfactory tracts (and, subsequently, your 🧠) even if you are unaware.
Olfactory Dysfunction After SARS-CoV-2
jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...
NB: ↓ sense of smell may be early sign of Alzheimer’s, Parkinson's. Olfactory tracts are key paths for pathogen entry into brain, where they may wreak neurodegenerative havoc.
And - this is key - abnormal olfactory tests were associated w/self-report of cognitive deficit, in both those reporting and in those not reporting olfactory problems in the context of SARS-CoV-2 infection.
But what was rather astonishing is that 66% of those *not* reporting change in/loss of sense of smell after infection *also* had abnormalities in olfactory testing.
Important new work from @leorahorwitzmd.bsky.social + NIH RECOVER (incl my son Max 🥰). Link👇
Nearly 80% of those with self-reported change in/loss of sense of smell after SARS-CoV-2 infection were found to have ↓ olfactory function on formal testing. Rate ↑ but not entirely unexpected.
NIH logo Home News & Events NIH Research Matters September 23, 2025 Overactive immune responses in ME/CFS At a Glance Researchers found signs of overactive immune responses in people with myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome, or ME/CFS. The findings provide insights into the causes of ME/CFS and suggest new treatment approaches. ME/CFS involves unexplained fatigue that may worsen after exertion and cause problems with thinking and memory that lasts at least six months. People with ME/CFS often report symptoms consistent with infection before developing ME/CFS. Yet no single microbe has been found to be responsible. This suggests that ME/CFS may be caused by a more general immune response to infection. To test this idea, a research team from several institutions, led by Dr. W. Ian Lipkin at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, collected blood samples from
The NIH in the US have highlighted a recent ME/CFS study they funded:
"Overactive immune responses in ME/CFS"
www.nih.gov/news-events/...
#MyalgicEncephalomyelitis #ChronicFatigueSyndrome #MEcfs #CFS #PwME @mhornig.bsky.social
Great to speak w/@jasongale.bsky.social to add much-needed depth back into the still-unfolding story of autism pathogenesis. Hopefully helps to course-correct Monday's WH presser, which put forth clinical guidance many find worrisome + dangerous for pregnant women + their developing offspring.
COVID Isn’t a Cold. It’s Cigarettes All Over Again The Damage Is Everywhere – That Is the Definition of Long COVID Look, we’ve been here before. My grandpa smoked two packs a day for most of my memory of him. Everyone did. Doctors literally prescribed cigarettes for stress. They said it was good for you. Made you look cool. Helped you lose weight. Whatever. He felt fine until he didn’t. That’s exactly what’s happening with COVID right now, and nobody wants to hear it. People are catching this thing two, three times a year and acting like it’s nothing. Just a cold. Just the sniffles. Meanwhile, their blood vessels are getting shredded. Their organs are taking hits. Their brains are leaking.... More at the link in the main post
🚨🧵 by @david.notesforfriends.com about Covid's damage & a cigarette metaphor:
"Your Body Is Keeping Score
Here’s the thing nobody gets: COVID doesn’t give a shit about your positive thinking. It’s not checking your Instagram to see..."
Full🎯thread here:
threadreaderapp.com/thread/19645...
Sweet; thank you.
Hoping for more opportunities to examine impact of illness duration in both LC and ME, as well as other IACCIs. Need multiomics that includes epigenetics as well as right and sufficiently-powered study design.
Thx 🥰
Thx Jaime ☮️
Not just scientists and universities anymore: threat to nonprofits: insurance companies are cancelling insurance because of environmental advocacy
eedition.timesunion.com/infinity/art...
When the moment came, Harvard didn’t hedge or flinch—it stood up. A reminder that integrity isn’t complicated, it’s just rare.
Jesse Welles delivers one more time what you’ve probably been trying to put into words…
RED
#singersongwriter #country #folk #song
👇👇👇
👍👍👍
Agree - so many clues to adverse neurobehavioral sequelae, but they need to be followed up w/rigorous study designs.
Then the even harder part - getting anyone in public health leadership to take PPE/IAQ and prophylactic antivirals seriously.
What about kids’ neuromotor/cognitive development?
"Driving under viral impairment"
▶︎ #SARSCoV2 PCR positivity rates (CDC) associated w/car crashes: OR 1.25 [1.23-1.26]
▶︎ independent of Long COVID status/vaccination status
▶︎ risk analogous to driving impairment w/EtOH at legal limits
dx.plos.org/10.1371/jour...
h/t Collab for Health & Environment @che-healthenv.bsky.social
Lawyers for Good Government is providing legal advice/support for all qualifying federal grantees w/funding at risk.
1:1 consultations pro bono to EPA, USDA, DOE grantees.
See: www.lawyersforgoodgovernment.org/fund-protect...
Art piece with an American flag, slashes of paint, and large white splotches.
1. Today in Santa Barbara I saw an extraordinary abstract art piece—or so it seemed—from Hank Willis Thomas.
As we speak, Trump seeks to erase large swaths of our history, attempting to erase the most shameful parts of our history, and paint over the triumphs and sacrifices of people of color.
🥰
Persistent pathogens (replicating or fragments) - e.g., SARS-CoV-2 or reactivated EBV and/or other infections, or microbiome components - or other factors may be involved, including autoimmunity, mitochondrial or peroxisomal dysfunction. All these may drive changes in immune responses over time.
Studies in Long COVID should include deep clinical interrogation along w/serial sampling + omics analyses. Understanding of pathogenesis would benefit from comparing LC w/other infection-associated illnesses, yielding clues to the most effective treatment avenues (shared or condition-specific).
For context, as we extend past 5 years from the start of the pandemic:
Although some findings in Long COVID are reminiscent of the illness duration effect we found in ME/CFS 👇, immune analyses over time in rigorous prospective, long-term studies of Long COVID are imperative to pursue now.
The Seattle Times "There's nothing you need to do - we've deducted the funds from LEONARD A. JOHNSON's account." Uh oh. It itemized how $5,201 had been stricken from their bank account, on the grounds that Ned wasn't justified to get those benefits - because he was dead. That was for payments he'd received in December and January. Ned found that his February Social Security check hadn't been paid, and he's yet to receive his March check, either. His Medicare insurance had been canceled. He also learned that when you die, your credit score gets marked as "deceased, do not issue credit," which makes it tough to get a loan.
DOGE/SSA marked this person dead and *removed his savings from his bank account,* cancelled his social security and Medicare. #seattle https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/heres-a-dead-person-on-social-security-in-seattle-with-plenty-to-say/
Walz: "The idea that the secretary of education would not know what IDEA is -- individuals with disability in education act -- that's like your mechanic not knowing how to put air in your tire. And she's in charge of this nation's education progress. It is catastrophic."
