Well that’s a different way to vaccinate

Is your mucus the best it can be? British researchers can make it better — as a way to protect you from meningitis and other respiratory infections.

Researchers at the University of Southampton found that some people have a bacteria in their noses (N. lactamica) that protects them from getting meningitis, even if they’re also carrying the nasty N. meningitidis bacteria.

So what did they do? Took some of that N. lactamica, edited its genes to make it even better, and stuck it up the noses of, presumably, well-compensated volunteers. There it established colonies and became a permanent defense against meningitis infection.

Et tu, PPI?

Antibiotic resistance is bad enough when it’s just antibiotics you have to worry about. Now a new Israeli study says there are three other classes of drugs — proton pump inhibitors (PPIs), beta-blockers, and antimetabolites — where use leads to resistance to some of the strongest antibiotics around.

How? They don’t know. They only know there’s a strong correlation between the two, although it’s possible it comes from the drugs’ effects on the gut biome.

“We urgently need larger studies with more drug classes to confirm the discovery and to clarify the biological link between common prescription drugs and antibiotic resistance.”

Covid notes

Cases are up an eye-popping 47 percent week to week, according to Johns Hopkins data, with a third of them in just Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana, Missouri, and Nevada. More than 99 percent of them are in unvaccinated people.

“If they’re sick enough to be admitted to the hospital, they are unvaccinated. That is the absolute common denominator amongst those patients. I can see the regret on their face. You know, we ask them, because we want to know, are you vaccinated? And it’s very clear that a lot of them regret (not being vaccinated).”

The death rate typically lags infection by two or three weeks, so with ICUs filling up expect a spike in deaths in early August.

Pfizer really really wants people to get booster shots

After all, the government will pay for it. The company says they’re probably necessary, while U.S. health experts say it’s not clear yet.

(What is clear is that a single shot of either the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines does not protect much against the Delta variant.)

A flu shot might offer some protection

So say University of Miami researchers.

The analysis of nearly 75,000 Covid patients found significant reductions in stroke, deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and sepsis, and fewer admissions to emergency departments and intensive care units, among those who had been given the flu jab.

They aren’t sure what the deal is; it could simply be that the type of people who got a flu shot (even during a lockdown) are the kind to be in better health overall. Or maybe it’s just boosting the immune system oveall.

You know the mantra: Further studies are needed.

A test for long Covid

Soon we’ll no longer have to take someone’s word that, after suffering from Covid-19 someone still has breathing problems, brain fog, accelerated heart rate, or any of the other symptoms that persist.

The Brits have found a marker for long Covid, and they say a test could be available within months. The secret: autoantibodies.

The team analysed blood samples from dozens of people and identified a group of antibodies in long Covid sufferers that appear to attack healthy tissues in the body, similar to those seen with autoimmune diseases, that weren’t found in a healthy control group.

Unfortunately, there aren’t any treatments for long Covid — nor does anyone know exactly how it happens — so other than reducing the symptoms, the test is more about ruling out other chronic issues.

Antibiotic use drops a teeny tiny bit

Prescribers might finally be getting the message about antibiotics. Looking at data from the VA health system, researchers there — led by PharmD Haley Appaneal — found that outpatient antibiotic prescriptions dropped by about 4 percent from 2011 to 2018. Not great, not terrible, but at least a start.

(Inpatient antibiotic use dropped 12 percent from 2008 to 2015.)

Too much of a good thing

The health crisis no one saw coming: “Short-Acting Beta Agonist Overuse” is becoming a problem for people who use more than two canisters in a year.

“Each additional SABA canister resulted in an 8% to 14%” increase in the risk for asthma-related exacerbation in children and “a 14% to 18%” increase in that risk in adults.

I mean, it might work

Another downside to the rushed approval of Aduhelm: “We May Never Know Whether the $56,000-a-Year Alzheimer’s Drug Actually Works.” Why? Because Biogen has years to do follow-up trials, it’s gonna be hard to get people to enroll, and the FDA hasn’t had the bandwidth to follow up.

Perish the thought!

Senator Amy Klobuchar will be chairing a Judiciary subcommittee hearing today at 2:30 pm to look at anti-competitive conduct by the pharma industry. You can watch the hearing here … or wait for us to tell you if anything interesting came out of it.

Good luck with that

A British charity is asking people to stop using the word “leper” to mean “outcast,” because it’s offensive to actual lepers. And what about people who actually have leprosy? What should you call them? By their name: “This is Steve. He has the L word.” And yes, they refer to it as “the L word.”