Third doses: What you need to know

The FDA will be allowing third doses of the Pfizer and Moderna Covid-19 vaccines for certain immunocompromised people. Here are two important resources if you’re planning to offer them:

Captain Obvious will let this one slide

Dr. Danny Branstetter’s title tells you that he knows what he’s talking about: He’s WellStar Health System’s medical director for infectious disease and infection prevention. And he says Covid is “out of control” in Georgia. The data don’t disagree.

Spurred by the highly contagious delta variant, the state saw more than 40,000 positive coronavirus cases in a week for the first time since the January surge […] Overall cases rose by 29%, admissions to intensive care units were up 47% and deaths spiked 34%.

A new type of birth control

Sure, you think of antibodies fighting germs. But why not get them to attack sperm, too, and make a new kind of contraceptive? That’s just what pharmacy researchers at UNC decided to try. They engineered monoclonal antibodies specifically designed to block sperm from ever reaching the egg.

The trick was to build a whole new kind of antibody to do this — one that had a lot of “binding arms” to attach to the sperm. The result: “potent, non-hormonal contraception with a pharmacological mechanism that has already been validated in women.”

So far, they’ve just done animal studies, but they’ve already licensed the tech to a startup that will begin to develop an actual product.

Scanning for Covid

Ever been in a store when someone sets off the alarm on the way out? Now imagine that scenario, but the alarm sounds when they walk in.

Nokia (remember it?) has developed a Covid-19 detection system for use in offices, schools, public buildings … you get the picture.

The device uses thermal camera and real-time video analytics to determine if a person possesses COVID-19 symptoms. The system detects whether a person has a high temperature or is not wearing a face-mask and instantly alerts supervisors.

Artist’s conception

Mom would have wanted it

Pro tip: If you want to show you’re serious about drug-pricing reform, you bring your dead mother into the discussion.

Moist babies get allergies

Using too much moisturizer on babies can result in their acquiring food allergies. The process (explained the British researchers who figured it out) is called “transcutaneous sensitization,” but they aren’t quite sure how it works.

What they do know is that…

Food allergy development and moisturization frequency showed a statistically significant dose-response relationship, with each additional weekly moisturization application corresponding to 20% increased odds of food allergy.

Possible causes? The moisturizers could make it easier for allergens to slip through the skin, or the very act of rubbing them on “might be damaging the skin barrier and allowing the passage of the food allergen.” (And those allergens might come from the environment or from the parents’ hands.)

You never could trust the little ones

Sure, the older kids are more likely to bring Covid home from school, but it’s the younger ones who are spreading it around the house. (So found a study out of Canada.) Once the virus is inside, it’s the kids up to age 3 who you have to watch out for — they’re the ones being held and cuddled.

“We always knew children could get it, could transmit it, and could get sick with COVID. I think we’re learning more and more just how much.”

The right diabetes diet

If you’re working with people with diabetes, you know that dietary changes can help. But — as tasty as those ‘meal-replacement’ shakes are — a review of 90 papers on dietary changes found that they work even better in combination with other changes:

Our review found that meal-replacement diets helped around one in three people successfully achieve remission, while low carbohydrate diets were able to help around one in five people achieve remission. People who lost weight using both of these diets were able to stay in remission for up to two years if they maintained their weight loss.

What didn’t work? Low-calorie and Mediterranean diets.

Facepalm of the day

“Apart from hydrogen, the most common thing in the universe is stupidity.” — Harlan Ellison

“Covid Skeptics Request Blood Transfusions From Unvaccinated Donors” — Kaiser Health News