Captain Obvious knows his ABCs

A CDC review of Georgia elementary schools found that upgrading the ventilation systems and requiring masks dramatically cut the incidence of Covid-19 infection.

In fact, just “opening windows and doors and using fans lowered the incidence by 35%.” Add better filters and it drops to almost half.

The researchers found that the incidence was 37% lower in schools that required mask use among teachers and staff members.

A reader’s asthma follow-up

After Saturday’s story on three-med asthma inhalers (“3>2”), reader Stephen Shearer, RPh, MS, dropped us note about the current Global Initiative for Asthma guidelines.

For safety, GINA no longer recommends treatment with short-acting beta2-agonists (SABA) alone. There is strong evidence that SABA-only treatment, although providing short-term relief of asthma symptoms, does not protect patients from severe exacerbations, and that regular or frequent use of SABAs increases the risk of exacerbations.

“The combination they [GINA] recommends is budesonide and formoterol (Symbicort),” Steve wrote, “But none of of the pharmaceutical companies have an FDA indication for this use.”

STOP RIGHT THERE! Just to be clear, you don’t get medical advice from a snarky blog, even this one. But it’s worth checking out the details of what GINA has to say at the GINA site.

Faster, puppydog, smell smell

Last week we told you about Covid tests that detected the virus in 30 minutes and one second, respectively. Well if waiting a full second is too long, there’s good news: British researchers have trained dogs to detect it in less than a second. The pups are about 94 percent accurate — almost as good as the 97.2 percent level of PCR tests. (And get this: “It takes eight to 10 weeks to train a Covid-19 detection dog.”)

About the variant in India

The Pfizer (and AstraZeneca) vaccines work against the nasty Indian variant (B.1.617) that’s ravaging the subcontinent and starting to spread in Britain — but only after two doses.

U.S. cases of B.1.617 are at about one percent, if you’re curious.

Contraception update

The CDC is recommending that women be allowed to self-administer subcutaneous DMPA birth control, following a similar recommendation from the WHO earlier this year. The idea is that it has “higher continuation rates than provider-administered DMPA.”

The agency was clear that self-administered DMPA should be an alternative to having it injected (inserted?) by a provider.

Proof we’re living in a Star Trek episode

When it comes do delivering controlled-release drugs, you need to forget about pills, capsules, or external devices. UC Riverside a researchers have made a piezoelectric nanofiber-based drug delivery system.

It’s essentially a tiny piece of fabric with the drug molecules woven in. But here’s the trick: It’s a piezoelectric fabric, meaning it creates electricity when it’s moved or squeezed — just enough electricity to release some drug molecules. “The researchers could tune the drug release quantity by varying the applied pressure and duration.”

If you aren’t astounded by the idea of an implanted nanoweave cloth with electrostatically charged drug molecules that are released based on micro-pascal-level pressure … well, you’re just all dried up inside.

Pfizer mixes it up

The company is testing what happens when it gives patients its pneumococcal vaccine, then follows up with a booster of its Covid-19 vaccine. Will the Covid shot boost the pneumococcal protection? Will it protect against both? Will it turn them into raging face-eating zombie abominations? We’ll know in six months.

(Why are they doing this? It’s looking for an edge over Merck in the pneumococcal vaccine market.)

DIY insulin pumps get a thumbs-up

Way back in 2019 we told you about people who were hacking old insulin pumps to create DIY artificial pancreases — “Loops” they’re called. They’re off-label (duh) and unregulated, but now a new study confirms … yes, they work.

“[A]dults and children with type 1 diabetes can successfully initiate the system, use it safely, and improve their glucose control with it.”

“[P]ositive results were seen in spite of the fact that most users relied primarily on community-developed resources to build and operate the system, with limited informal digital resources and support.”

To be clear, this is a study showing they work, not any kind of official approval.