Annnnnd we’re back

What’s to expect in the next 100 days, health-wise? As President Biden’s coronavirus coordinator Jeff Zients put it, “This is clearly a national emergency, and we will treat it as such.” The biggest items:

CBD vs gonorrhea

Marijuana laws around the world have eased, and that means more research being done to see exactly what all those cannabis compounds can do. (Nothing against anecdotes, of course. They’re fun at parties.)

Here’s one: Aussie researchers — between dodging spiders, jellyfish, and evil plants — have found that everyone’s favorite cure-all, CBD, “has been shown for the first time to kill the bacteria responsible for gonorrhoea, meningitis, and legionnaires disease.”

Gram-negative bacteria are tough thanks to an extra outer membrane. Bad news for them, though: Cannabidiol is particularly good at breaking down that membrane. And not only does CBD itself work, so do chemical analogs, meaning we could be looking at a whole new class of antibiotic treatments.

“This is particularly exciting because there have been no new molecular classes of antibiotics for Gram-negative infections discovered and approved since the 1960s, and we can now consider designing new analogs of CBD within improved properties.”

Pfizer vaccine works against the British Covid-19 variant

They thought it would work, but now Pfizer is sure — its vaccine will prevent the U.K. variant of Covid-19. Next up for testing: the California and Brazilian variants.

Shaddup, you

British researchers have figured out that “Talking is worse than coughing for spreading COVID-19 indoors” (at least when the space is poorly ventilated).

That’s because when we speak, we generate small droplets that can hang in the air, spread and accumulate in an area without adequate ventilation. On the other hand, a cough produces more large droplets, which quickly fall to the floor and settle on surfaces.

They’ll sense your fear

One of the interesting effects of all this mask wearing is what it’s doing to our ability to communicate, and how it’s affecting babies who are just learning to understand language — verbal and body. Without facial cues, it’s easy to be confused about emotions.

[P]eople readily confused expressions when the lower part of the face was blocked by a surgical mask. Happiness and sadness seemed like neutral poker faces. Signs of anger were especially hard to perceive. Wide-eyed fear, though, came through clearly.

Make sure your older patients are signed up for a vaccination

The official advice is for people to go through their healthcare providers, but a University of Michigan study found that “45% of adults over 65 lack online medical accounts that could help them sign up for COVID-19 vaccinations.”

If you aren’t giving vaccinations, remind your patients that they can find and sign up with a vaccination site through the Georgia DPH (https://dph.georgia.gov/locations/covid-vaccination-site).

Another Covid treatment on the horizon?

While the vaccine rollout continues, don’t forget another prong of our attack on Covid-19: treatment. To that end, researchers at Chicago’s Rush University have developed a nasal drug that they say “proved effective in reducing fever, protecting the lungs, improving heart function, and reversing [the] cytokine storm.”

It’s a hexapeptide, and its trick is preventing the SARS-CoV-2 virus from attaching to the ACE2 enzyme.

A good sign: “The peptide inhibits cytokines that only are produced by the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, not other inflammatory stimuli, indicating that this peptide would not cause immunosuppression.”

Of course, it only works in mice at the moment, but they’re hoping to start human trials soon.

Drug combo heals unhealing broken bones

Let’s say you have a rat with a broken leg that won’t heal. Happens to all of us. But now Swedish and German researchers have found a way to fix that, delivering a drug cocktail that includes a bone substitute as a carrier (a “calcium sulfate/hydroxyapatite biomaterial”) along with “bone-active molecules*” that work together to heal even major fractures.

* Osteoinductive rhBMP-2 and zoledronic acid, obviously

HHS/FDA cage match

FDA: We have oversight of genetically modified animals.

HHS: Nah, we’re giving that to USDA. That’s what the industry wants.

FDA: We protect public health, so this clearly belongs with us.

HHS: We’re going to have a memorandum of understanding giving oversight to USDA, where there’s less regulation.

FDA: We’re not signing it.

HHS: Here’s the MOU, signed by the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture. We put your name on it.

FDA: That’s nice. We’re going to ignore it.

FDA does not support the Memorandum of Understanding that @HHSGov signed with @USDA announced today. FDA has no intention of abdicating our public health mandate. We’ll continue to stay focused on executing our vital public health mission entrusted to us by the American people. (Stephen Hahn, via Twitter)