Covid-19 just keeps on giving

Overuse of azithromycin to treat Covid-19 (hint: it doesn’t work) — as well as a slowdown in STD testing — has helped lead to the spread of “super gonorrhea” that’s just about untreatable.

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To be filed under the ever-growing list of post-Covid issues is now psychosis: “Most had no history of mental illness and became psychotic weeks after contracting the virus. ”

Diabetes and your dog

Here’s an interesting tidbit: “The owners of dogs with diabetes are more likely to acquire type 2 diabetes themselves.”

Or, more accurately, it’s the other way around:

The link is not a total surprise, as previous research has found that people with overweight who own dogs tend to have overweight canines as well, perhaps due to a shared sedentary lifestyle. Having overweight increases a person’s risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

Think mink

It’s hard not to make jokes about minks and Covid — “Zombie Danish Minks” is both a perfect headline and a great name for a rock band — but the Atlantic* would like to tell you that “The Mink Pandemic Is No Joke.”

If the virus keeps spilling over into wild animals, it could circulate in parallel and keep reseeding outbreaks among humans.

* “World’s Most Depressing Magazine”

Ketamine loosens your brain

We know ketamine works as a virtually instant treatment for major depression, but it’s not entirely clear why. Kiwi researchers think they have an idea, though.

In short, ketamine seems to help reprogram the brain to be, in a sense, more willing to accept new ideas — specifically, new ideas about yourself. So if the idea that you’re a failure is too deeply ingrained, ketamine can help your brain get out of the rut.

Securing those vaccines

For all the stories about how people are hesitant to get a Covid-19 vaccination, that doesn’t mean they’re above stealing it. And that means pharmacies have to install all sorts of security measures.

[H]ealthcare systems have learned from the opioid epidemic, where threats of theft can come from both outside the hospital — and from the people working there.

You might be eligible for a PPP loan now

The new stimulus bill just passed by Congress includes a continuation and expansion of Paycheck Protection Program loans. Could your pharmacy be eligible? Maybe — small businesses are included this time. It might be worth talking to your financial advisor or the Small Business Administration.

An eight-month window

One of the biggest questions about the Covid-19 vaccine is how long immunity lasts. Would it be permanent, like the measles vaccine, or would it require annual shots like the flu?

The latest: An Aussie study finds that it seems to last at least eight months.

What that means: Assuming it’s true, we have at least an eight-month window to achieve herd immunity.

For the pandemic to be brought well under control, if not eradicated altogether, we’ll need at least 70 percent of a population to be immune within the same window of time. Only then can we be sure the virus will have so few places to hide, it just might vanish.

Winning the war on two fronts

You can attack pathogens with a chemical, and the body can attack as well. Scientists at the Wistar Institute says they’ve got a way to use both at once. This “creative, double-pronged strategy” not only kills the bacteria directly, but summons a rapid immune response. Together, they figure, it can overcome antimicrobial resistance.

“We believe this innovative [dual-acting immuno-antibiotics] strategy may represent a potential landmark in the world’s fight against [anti-microbial resistance], creating a synergy between the direct killing ability of antibiotics and the natural power of the immune system.”