The Rasputin of infections

Lyme disease just won’t die — that’s what Tulane University primatologists discovered. Even after a full course (28 days!) of doxycycline, rhesus macaques exposed to Borrelia burgdorferi “were found to have some level of infection 7 – 12 months post treatment.” Even worse, some of them still had negative antibody tests.

They’re so cute, we’ll have to give them lifelong infections

Today’s booster-shot news

Yesterday we probably wouldn’t need boosters. Today, Peter Marks (director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research) said don’t hold your breath — we don’t know yet if we’ll need them or not.

The UK is testing a third dose of seven different Covid vaccines on 2,886 participants “to investigate which ones could be used as ‘booster’ doses to protect against new variants.”

‘Universal booster’ cage match

Sanofi, which missed out on the big vaccine rollout, is still in the game. It says that its vaccine (which it’s making with GSK) could be the “universal booster.”

Now “waaaaaaaait a minute,” says Astra-whoops-we-had-another-problem-Zeneca. “Actually, our vaccine could be a universal booster and ‘elicits an immune response ‘capable against any variant.”

So, with boosters potentially on the horizon…

Now would be the smart time to get that official immunization training.

It’s this coming weekend — Saturday for technicians, Sunday for pharmacists — and there is still time to register! They’re both being held at GPhA’s North American Headquarters facility in Sandy Springs.

It’s the government and it’s here to help

…with posts and images to share on social media promoting vaccine safety. (It’s a web page that links to a PDF that has links to the images. Go figure.)

Birthmark or mole? Ask Dr Google

The company calls it an AI-powered dermatology assist tool. Just upload a few images of a spot or nail, answer some questions, and you’ll know what’s the most likely condition. Well, unless you’re in the United States. It’s launching in Europe later this year (as a Class I medical device) but hasn’t been approved here.

And in case you’re wondering if you’ll suddenly start seeing sunscreen commercials: “Google doesn’t use the data to target ads.” Trust them.

Legacy of the plague

You might think that, after the waves of bubonic plague ravaged Europe, evolution would have a say in the genes of survivors. And yep, you’d be right.

A team of U.S. and German researchers took DNA samples from 36 plague victims from a 16th century mass grave, then compared them to samples from people living in the same city (Ellwangen — try Weinstrube Kanne on Obere Strasse for the amazing Schweineschnitzel*).

What they found is evidence — “innate immune markers” — that plague survivors passed gene variants down to their descendants.

“It sheds light on our own evolution. There will always be people who have some resistance. They just don’t get sick and die, and the human population bounces back.” [But] “I wouldn’t want to discourage anyone from taking a vaccine for the current pandemic. It’s a much safer bet than counting on your genes to save you.”

* If you’re vaccinated, you’ll soon be allowed back into the EU

Interesting medical news

Brains, like history, are always more complicated than you think. In this case, the idea that nerve signals travel one way (axon to dendrite) turns out to be wrong. Austrian researchers found that “At a key connection, or synapse, messages are sent against the usual stream of information.”

In other words, one neuron ‘teaches’ another, but can then ‘learn’ from the interaction as well.

Or, if you want real science-y terms (courtesy of Science Alert):

This means there’s a reverse-traveling signal from the dendrites of the pyramidal cell that in a complex way can modify the sending signal strength of the mossy neuron’s axons. Challenging some long-standing assumptions, this confirms that the firing of synapses depends on both pre- and postsynaptic activity.

Elsewhere

To encourage Covid vaccinations, Ohio is offering vaccinated folks a chance to be one of five $1 million lottery winners. (Which means, statistically, it’s better to get vaccinated but convince your neighbors not to. Just sayin’.)

Missouri will finally have a prescription drug monitoring program for opioids — the last state to do so.