URGENT FDA COMMUNICATION

“FDA warns that getting alcohol-based hand sanitizer in the eyes can cause serious injury”

Infection vs vaccine, take two

Yesterday we told you that “Full vaccination still beats infection” — catching Covid-19 gives some immunity, but not as much as being vaccinated.

Today we have the extension/complication. Here’s what Johns Hopkins suggests I tweet: “…study finds vaccinated people who had COVID19 before shots have more antibodies longer.”

The gist is that people who get infected, then get two doses of an mRNA vaccine have more-durable antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 than people who were simply vaccinated.

It’s almost as if we’re still learning about this virus and how best to fight it.

(Oh, and to make it even more complex, antibody levels are hardly the end-all measurement of protection. You’ve still got memory T-cells doing their job even when antibody levels drop….)

Afternoon delight, vaccine style

The title of the paper is “Time of day of vaccination affects SARS-CoV-2 antibody responses in an observational study of healthcare workers.” It’s been tweeted and written about.

But here’s the thing: Everyone mentions that vaccination time affects antibody response, but you have to dig into the paper to find what the heck the difference is. Talk about burying the lede!

Let me save you some trouble:

Researchers at Oxford and Harvard found that people who get an mRNA Covid-19 vaccination after 1:00 pm seem have a greater antibody response. It’s not so much more that it makes a lot of difference, but they felt it’s worth noting. You’re welcome.

Something good in the litter box

So you know Toxoplasma gondii — the bacteria often found in cats’ litter boxes that can cause toxoplasmosis, especially in pregnant women? Turns out (say radiology researchers from the UK and China) that it might be able to treat some cancers.

One of T. gondii’s tricks is weakening the host’s immune system so it can invade. So the researchers tweaked some so it couldn’t grow, then injected it into mouse tumors. Not good news for the tumors — it triggered an inflammatory response and it made the tumors more responsive to other drugs.

The usual mantra: More testing is needed.

Holy bleep, the drugmakers won one!

In Yet Another Opioid Lawsuit, a California judge has ruled in favor of AbbVie, Endo, Johnson & Johnson, and Teva (and against Santa Clara, Los Angeles, and Orange counties (and the city of Oakland)).

“[E]ven if the drugmakers’ marketing contained any misleading statements, the counties put forward no evidence to show that their promotional activities caused any medically inappropriate prescriptions to be written.”

Samoans know pain (and how to treat it)

“If you want to party,” a Samoan once said to me, “You want to be with Samoans!” Moments later, he was dancing and juggling torches.

So when it turns out (per a study published Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences) that the traditional Samoan medicine for pain relief — the leaves of the matalafi tree — are as good at relieving inflammation as ibuprofen, I’m tempted to believe it.

Don’t want a cold? Zinc actually works

…for some conditions. Specifically, it really can reduce the chance of getting a cold, and it can make it go away sooner — and we’re talking a significant difference, according to a group of Aussie, Canuck, and Yankee researchers.

When zinc was used for prevention, there was a 28% lower risk of contracting symptoms consistent with the common cold and a 68% lower risk of contracting a flu-like illness.

It doesn’t work well, though, if someone is purposely infected. So it’s about preventing the infection in the first place. But it does shorten the duration of symptoms “by around 2 days.”

Cool beans. One caveat: They don’t know which formulations, doses, and administration routes are best: “At the moment there just isn’t enough research to say whether a zinc nasal spray, versus a nasal gel, versus a lozenge, versus oral zinc is any better or worse than the others.”

(Zinc is good stuff, as the Simpsons explains.)

Deer really are out to get us

We told you back in 2019 how deer were giving TB to hunters. Now the latest proof that Bambi’s revenge: Researchers in Iowa found that “Up to 80 percent of deer sampled from April 2020 through January 2021 in the state were infected” with Covid-19.

They got it from humans, but the question is: Can they give it back?

“If deer can transmit the virus to humans, it’s a game changer. To have a wildlife species become a reservoir after transmission from humans is very rare and unlucky, as if we needed more bad luck.”