Recent evidence has emerged to suggest that age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a clinical risk factor for increased risk for infection and mortality. AMD has been reported to confer higher risk of severe complications of SARS-CoV-2 infection, including respiratory failure and death (25 percent), a risk which is higher than Type 2 diabetes (21 percent) and obesity (13 percent).
Comments closedTag: SARS-CoV-2
Topic: pandemic mythsView all posts for the topic: pandemic myths
Ten COVID Facts Health Officials Dangerously Downplay
Do not listen to powers that be who pretend that getting infected with COVID multiple times is now no big deal. They’re asking you to lower your guard for a nasty virus that can invade the brain, disregulate the immune system and damage the vascular system.
This strategy has led to predictable results — more direct deaths, more excess deaths, more disease and some 1.4 million Canadians reporting some form of long COVID over the last two years.
Comments closedTopic: immune systemView all posts for the topic: immune system
Immune systems seriously weakened by COVID
Emergency wards remain busy two years after the first COVID-19 vaccines arrived in Ontario in part because the virus depletes the body’s supply of T-cells, leaving young and old alike vulnerable to secondary infections, says a University of Waterloo immunologist.
T-cells are the front-line soldiers of the immune system, and the number of T-cells typically increases when the body is fighting off an infection, said Barb Katzenback, who studies viruses.
“Individuals who are infected with COVID have many fewer T-cells,” said Katzenback. “That’s a problem for us because T-cells are a really important part of our immune system that helps defend us against infection.”
Comments closedTopic: Corsi-Rosenthal boxesView all posts for the topic: Corsi-Rosenthal boxes
Air filter hack: Sackville groups put together DIY solution
Several Sackville groups are turning to DIY solutions to keep their spaces as virus-free as possible.
They’re making Corsi–Rosenthal boxes, a homemade air purifier system, designed to filter out airborne droplets that could carry the flu or COVID-19.
Comments closedTopic: pandemic mythsView all posts for the topic: pandemic myths
With “Immunity Debt,” Democrats are Having their Ivermectin Moment
As studies pour in showing post-COVID immune system damage, liberals assure us children were harmed by masks.
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“I don’t feel protected”: How a lack of COVID-19 protections is impacting mental health
People who are COVID-aware or at high risk discuss the mental health burden of staying safe.
Comments closedTopic: immunity theftView all posts for the topic: immunity theft
Opinion: We don’t know what’s causing the tsunami of sick kids, but we’d better figure it out fast
Something concerning is happening to our children. Unlike previous autumns, this year there seem to be far more kids falling ill, and far too many…
Comments closedTopic: ChinaView all posts for the topic: China
Why China’s ‘zero COVID’ policy is finally faltering
For nearly three years now, China has had incredible success at keeping its number of COVID deaths relatively low. So far, the country has recorded only about 6,000 deaths among 1.4 billion people. By comparison, the U.S. has recorded more than a million deaths in a population of only 330 million.
China has accomplished this feat with what’s known as a “zero COVID” policy – using strict lockdowns and community-wide testing and other measures to keep case counts close to nil.
Comments closedTopic: anti-vaxxersView all posts for the topic: anti-vaxxers
How COVID Truthers Breathed New Life Into an Antisemitic Symbol
The widespread appropriation by COVID truthers of the yellow star that the Nazis forced Jews to wear is a sign that public displays of antisemitism have become normalised in modern Germany to an unthinkable degree, experts say.
Comments closedTopic: universal maskingView all posts for the topic: universal masking
The evidence shows masks work
They aren’t perfect, but they certainly help curb airborne transmission of viruses.
Comments closedTopic: immune dysfunctionView all posts for the topic: immune dysfunction
Video | Is COVID-19 Dysregulating Our Immune Systems?
Are people becoming sick more often, experiencing more severe symptoms and having more difficulty treating viral infections after having had COVID-19? If so, why? Epidemiologists,…
Comments closedTopic: long COVIDView all posts for the topic: long COVID
Long COVID is ‘not rare’ and can develop after mild illness, says Montreal specialist
The Quebec government is setting up 15 clinics across the province to treat people with long COVID and Lyme disease. The first one to open in Montreal is located at the Jewish General Hospital.
Comments closedTopic: QuebecView all posts for the topic: Quebec
Jewish General Hospital opens long-COVID and Lyme disease clinic
The CIUSSS West-Central Montreal regional health authority announced the opening of a clinic for patients with persistent symptoms of COVID-19 and Lyme disease at the Jewish General Hospital on Monday.
“Although most of the people who get COVID-19 recover within a few weeks, some — even those who had mild versions of the disease — might have symptoms that last a long time afterward,” Dr. Karl Weiss, chief of the Jewish General Hospital’s division of infectious diseases, noted in a statement. “These symptoms can be disabling, making it difficult to perform daily activities or to return to work or school. They may vary in intensity from day to day, and over time.
“Research and knowledge about treating this illness known as long-COVID syndrome is emerging and rapidly evolving. Our goal in establishing the referral centre is to provide patients with leading-edge care, while improving our understanding of the disease.”
Comments closedTopic: MontrealView all posts for the topic: Montreal
Une nouvelle clinique visant la COVID longue et la maladie de Lyme chronique à Montréal
A clinic dedicated to people with long COVID or persistent symptoms of Lyme disease has just opened at the Jewish General Hospital in Montreal. This reference centre, which will combine clinical and research on these two syndromes still poorly understood, is one of the 15 clinics announced last May by the Ministry of Health and Social Services (MSSS).
“Although we do not yet have a very good understanding of the pathophysiology of these two diseases, we know that both of them sometimes cause long-term sequelae that persist even though the infection seems to have disappeared from the organism,” explains Dr Leighanne Parkes, microbiolgist-infectiologist at this new clinic.
Comments closedTopic: human rightsView all posts for the topic: human rights
Wearing a mask is an equity issue
You cannot claim you care about equity, accessibility, or disabled people if you aren’t helping to create safe spaces for everyone — this includes the basic practice of masking.
Comments closedTopic: Corsi-Rosenthal boxesView all posts for the topic: Corsi-Rosenthal boxes
This DIY air purifier costs far less than a HEPA purifier, and studies say it works
This fall, teachers and parents have been sharing photos on social media of do-it-yourself air purifiers that they’ve made for classrooms to help protect kids from COVID-19 transmission.
Comments closedTopic: cardiovascular diseaseView all posts for the topic: cardiovascular disease
Unlike flu, COVID-19 attacks DNA in the heart: new research
Direct research on the hearts of COVID-19 patients who have died from the disease has revealed they sustained DNA damage in a way completely unlike how influenza affects the body.
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