A Mixed Tale of COVID Response

University Health Network vaccination clinic for medical staff.  The Star

 

"Health-care workers in general should be vaccinated to protect themselves, their family and their patients."

"We know that COVID-19 vaccines are safe and effective, and we're seeing that across Ontario. They keep numbers coming down, and we're seeing improvements in terms of hospital capacity, ICU capacity."

"I think it's important to understand that we have flu vaccine campaigns and many flu vaccine protocols."

"It's institution-specific, but the vast majority of the [places] where I've worked do have a mandated policy for flu vaccines."

"I think anything that increases hesitancy or makes people more reluctant to pursue vaccinations should always be thought of as a potential side effect for any policy measure."

Dr.Adam Kassam, president, Ontario Medical Association

Humber River Hospital ER physician Dr. Tasleem Nimjee describes what the COVID-19 vaccine will mean for the health-care workers who’ve been on the front lines of the pandemic    CBC

"I believe it is not unreasonable that when you choose to work in health care, like any profession that includes certain bonafide occupational requirements, that you acknowledge that you will take vaccinations and tests that are required."

Isobel Mackenzie, Seniors Advocate, British Columbia

"When it comes to our health-care workers, I think it's really important that they're protected, not just for them and their families but also for the people that they treat. We don't want to have a situation where unvaccinated health-care workers are falling ill and then transmitting the virus to people they're treating."

"We're all human. I think the reasons behind people being uncertain about getting the vaccine have shifted. People are still influenced by family and culture. If you've been raised where your parents or grandparents may not necessarily believe in certain kinds of medications or vaccines, that can still influence people, even when they're science-literate and have that education."

Dr. Krishana Sankar, biologist, science communicator, COVID-19 Resources Canada

Personal support worker Michael Gellizeau gets a dose of COVID-19 vaccine from nurse practitioner Victoria Pierri at a clinic put on by the University Health Network in Toronto. (Evan Mitsui/CBC)

 

Many within the sphere of Canadian public health fully applaud the news that several countries now require their health-care workers to be vaccinated against COVID. Some epidemiologists and advocates don't hesitate to urge Canadian authorities to adopt similar measures in Canada -- while others feel concerned over mandatory shots' messages and how they will be received by their target audience.

In the U.S. the Department of Veterans Affairs was the first federal agency in the country to require employees be vaccinated. That has now been extended to all federal employees in the U.S. Greece and France both announced they will require working doctors, nurses and other professionals in the field of medicine to be vaccinated. Italy was ahead of the game with a similar mandate announced in April. In hours following the announcement, vaccination appointments increased in France.

Greece options unpaid suspension from work for any who fail to be inoculated against COVID, as health-care professionals. Quebec now requires oncologists to be vaccinated or to take three COVID tests every week, following a deadly outbreak in a Sherbrooke hospital cancer ward. In Ontario, staff at long-term care homes are required to be vaccinated or to have proof of medical exemptions. 

The largest hospital network in Ontario -- the University Health Network in Toronto -- states that any staff refusing vaccination must undergo mandatory and frequent testing. The province, however, still hesitates to ensure that vaccinations are picked up by health workers by enacting mandatory provisions. The majority of young adults contracting COVID-19 in the past three months in Ontario were unvaccinated.

Dr.Sankar is among several volunteers operating a twice-weekly Zoom call to listen to people with concerns about the COVID vaccine, responding to their questions. Anyone may use the service, despite that when it opened in January it was geared specifically to people working in long-term care homes. It seems puzzling that people exposed to science education through their profession would hesitate to become vaccinated, even though they have experienced harrowing episodes of sick and dying patients infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

"It's a complete slap to the face. I'm really just so confused why we're removing the only safety net we have left in place to protect everybody", stated Dr.Shazma Mithani who works at the Royal Alexandra Hospital emergency room in Edmonton, Alberta. She is responding to the news from the province that close contacts of confirmed COVID cases are no longer obligated to isolate, and from mid-August onward isolation requirements will be lifted even for those who test positive for the virus. Masks will no longer be required anywhere.

In Alberta, all COVID-19 testing centres are to close by the end of August, changes announced by the province's chief medical officer of health, Dr.Deena Hinshaw. This, despite a surge in Alberta's COVID-19 daily case rates. The province's rate of immunization lags far behind the average in Canada as a whole, despite announcing 233 new cases on Thursday, 188 of them linked to the Delta variant.

"I guess we're back to personal responsibility, where if you're not vaccinated, you need to be willing to suffer the price, and if you can't be vaccinated or if you can't have a good response to vaccine due to comorbidities or medication, well that's too bad, you live in Alberta."

"It's hard to believe Hinshaw's saying this, that this is like any other respiratory virus, when it's nothing like the other respiratory viruses that are around. Any way you look at it, it just doesn't make any sense."

Dr.Alain Tremblay, Pulmonologist, University of Calgary

And then, there is Sydney, Australia's most populous city, where despite an extended lockdown since an outbreak of the  highly infectious Delta variant, 239 new locally acquired coronavirus cases were counted over a 24-hour period. "We can only assume that things are likely to get worse before they get better given the quantity of people infectious in the community", stated Premier Gladys Berejiklian, New South Wales state, where Sydney is the capital.

The situation in Sydney is considered so desperate that the Australian military has been called on to help enforce a new lockdown in the city of six million residents. New curbs are set to be imposed on the southwestern and western areas of the city where most COVID-19 cases are found. Residents of those areas must wear masks outdoors and are warned to remain within five km of their homes. New South Wales police had requested 300 military personnel to assist in enforcing lockdown orders.

The army was also used to help enforce a lockdown in Melbourne last year   Getty Images

Settling The Science of General Relativity

Researchers observed bright flares of X-ray emissions, produced as gas falls into a supermassive black hole. The flares echoed off of the gas falling into the black hole, and as the flares were subsiding, short flashes of X-rays were seen – corresponding to the reflection of the flares from the far side of the disk, bent around the black hole by its strong gravitational field. (Image credit: Dan Wilkins)

"Fifty years ago, when astrophysicists started speculating about how the magnetic field might behave close to a black hole, they had no idea that one day we might have the techniques to observe this directly and see Einstein's general theory of relativity in action."

Professor Roger Blandford,  Luke Blossom Professor, School of Humanities and Sciences, Stanford professor of physics and SLAC professor of particle physics and astrophysics

"Any light that goes into that black hole doesn’t come out, so we shouldn’t be able to see anything that’s behind the black hole."

"The reason we can see that is because that black hole is warping space, bending light and twisting magnetic fields around itself."

"This magnetic field getting tied up and then snapping close to the black hole heats everything around it and produces these high energy electrons that then go on to produce the X-rays."

"I've been building theoretical predictions of how these echoes appear to us for a few years. I'd already seen them in the theory I've been developing, so once I saw them in the telescope observations, I could figure out the connection."

"It's [Wide Field Imager detector] got a much bigger mirror than we've ever had on an X-ray telescope and it's going to let us get higher resolution looks in much shorter observation times. So, the picture we are starting to get from the data at the moment is going to become much clearer with these new observatories."

Dan Wilkins,  research scientist, Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology, Stanford and SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

An artist’s impression of a supermassive black hole. Photograph: ESO/L Calçada/EPA

Predicted in 1915, Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity has undergone many challenges to its accuracy but in the final analysis there has been no question that his theory has been upheld time and again. And now, yet again irrefutable proof of that theory has emerged with the detection of light being emitted from the back end of a black hole. His prediction was that the gravitational pull of black holes warp the fabric of space to such a degree that they twist magnetic fields and bend light.

 

It should be possible, he predicted, to witness the emergence of light waves as they eject from the far side of black holes resulting from the distorted magnetic fields that act as a mirror. The theory, while accepted by experts in the field, remained untested. The phenomenon was never directly observed. Now, however, given modern telescopes and the development of technologies to produce sensitive instruments, the spectacle was indeed witnessed.

 

The result of which is that an international team of researchers made use of X-ray telescopes in their study of a massive black hole some 800 million light years distance from Earth, located at the centre of a distant galaxy. The expected and frequently observed black hole hallmarks were seen but now researchers also were able to detect light in the form of X-rays being emitted by the far side of the black hole under scrutiny.

 

An astrophysicist at Stanford University, Dan Wilkins was in the process of studying the mechanics of a black hole ripping atoms and electrons apart which subsequently produces X-rays. Inspecting the accumulated data, he expected and saw X-rays spewed directly toward Earth from the black hole's core. Then he also saw shortly following this, unexpected echoes which he identified as X-rays flung out in the opposite direction to Earth, reflected by the black hole's mangled magnetic field.

 

That finding described in a release published in the journal Nature proved again, in supporting Einstein's theory of general relativity, how correct a theory Albert Einstein gifted to science. This celestial giant's immense gravitational pull, ingesting everything and anything in its near vicinity into its great maw was assumed to be insatiable in appetite, its interior a dense mysterious darkness emitting no light. 

 

Now an international team of researchers, with the use of X-ray telescopes revealed that light is indeed emitted as X-rays, in the opposite direction to which the black star swallows all it surveys. 

 

Credit: CCO Public Domain

 

 

We Have Seen The Future -- And Hope It's Not Us

"These estimates will allow policymakers and decision makers to better understand the expected increases in the number of individuals with dementia as well as the drivers of these increases in a given geographical setting."

"The large anticipated increase in the number of individuals with dementia emphasizes the vital need for research focused on the discovery of disease-modifying treatments and effective low-cost interventions for the prevention or delay of dementia onset."

Emma Nichols, MPH, researcher, Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, University of Washington School of Medicine

 

"Dementia is our greatest long-term medical challenge."

"These striking figures, from the latest American research, lay bare the shocking global scale of dementia."

"To have 57 million people already living with this devastating condition is 57 million too many. However, with that number set to almost triple, we need to see concerted global action now to transform the prospects for the next generation."

"There is robust evidence that what's good for the heart is also good for the brain. Not smoking, only drinking within the recommended limits, staying mentally and physically active, eating a balanced diet, and keeping blood pressure and cholesterol levels in check can all help to keep our brains healthy as we age."

Hilary Evans, chief executive, Alzheimer's Research U.K.

 

"Improvements in lifestyle in adults in developed countries and other places -- including increasing access to education and greater attention to heart health issues -- have reduced incidence in recent years, but total numbers with dementia are still going up because of the aging of the population." 

"In addition, obesity, diabetes and sedentary lifestyles in younger people are rising quickly, and these are risk factors for dementia."

Dr. Maria C. Carrillo, chief science officer, Alzheimer's Association 

Researchers from the University of Washington School of Medicine, led by Emma Nichols, presented their findings at the Alzheimer's Association International Conference taking place in Denver, Colorado. The research, published in the journal Alzheimer's & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer's Association, by Dr. Nichols and her team of researchers concluded Alzheimer's mortality rates increased by 38.0% between 1990 and 2019.

 

The research team led by Dr.Nichols made it clear that the prevalence of dementia in the public arena can be attributed to factors such as smoking, high body mass index (BMI) along with high fasting plasma glucose. The risk factors between these issues and the onset of dementia is a relationship that can be interrupted with public education, in their opinion. Between 2019 and 2050 they theorized an increase of global dementia cases of 6.2 million directly related to such risk factors.

On the other hand, they also found that changes in education levels as a natural consequence of teaching the public about risk and avoidance has the potential to lead to a decline in the prevalence of dementia of some 6.2 million people globally between that same period of 2019 to 2050. These opposing trends would seem to cancel each other's impacts on the prevalence of the disease.

In total their prediction for the number of individuals contracting dementia is a tripling in 30 years' time, with 152 million people affected internationally by 2050, according to international projections. Much of that increase is expected to be based on growing population numbers, along with a steadily aging population base. 

According to the University of Washington School of Medicine researchers' calculations the number of people living with the condition in 2019 was an estimated 57 million worldwide, with trends moving the total to the point where it is set to climb by 2050 to a total of 152 million. Sub-Saharan Africa, North Africa and the Middle East are three areas where a surge in dementia is seen to be fuelling global numbers.

In Britain, however, the rate of increase may, according to recent data, be decelerating. Chief executive of Alzheimer's Research U.K., Hilary Evans speaks of encouraging populations to make "positive lifestyle changes" for the purpose of "help[ing to] tip the scales in our favour" of reducing the opportunities for the condition further developing.

Researchers at Maastricht University in the Netherlands produced the results of their own study, estimating that annually about ten new cases per 100,000 people of "young onset" dementia emerge. This is the form of dementia discovered among people of age 65 and younger.

Barbecuing Tonight?

"There's nothing quite like creating delicious, nutritious meals in the great outdoors. If  you find that your food tastes better when it hits a red-hot grill, whether gas-powered or charcoal, it's not your imagination."

"In fact, it has a name: the Maillard Reaction, which is when the heat from your grill breaks down the proteins in your food into amino acids, which react with the carbohydrates in the food, making it more flavourful."

"But as delicious as barbecuing your favourite food is, the way you prepare and grill it could increase your risk for certain types of cancer."

Andy De Santis, RD, healthing.ca

Columbia University Department of Surgery

It could be a little more hygienic when using your barbecue to place a stainless steel rack over the grill in your barbecue when using it to ensure that nothing gross you may have overlooked in cleaning the grill remained. That stainless steel rack can be removed with each use, left in the sink under soapy water briefly, cleaned off with a Brillo pad, then stuck in the dishwasher along with your dishes, each time you use the barbecue. 

That's just the hygienic element, the aspect of cleaning up before and after. Far more serious and to the point is what you may be doing to the food you eat to change its nutritional goodness to a delicious, but potentially cancer-causing state by over-exposing the food, be it meat or vegetables, to high heat resulting in charred food. That may hit the taste buds delightfully in some people's gustatory opinion, but present a risk of contracting cancer.

Any biological compound that may comprise an increased risk of causing cancer is referred to as a carcinogen. Such carcinogens work by damaging living tissue. In grilling meat, two types of carcinogens can be produced (vegetables too, to a lesser degree are susceptible to the same dangerous alterations): heterocyclic amines (HCA), forming when meat, fish and poultry is grilled at high temperatures, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), which form when fat drips from the meat onto the flame; the resulting chemicals infuse the smoke that sticks to the meat.

 

HCAs form by mixing amino acids and creatine, specific to meat. However, charring vegetables produces carcinogens such as benzopyrene, a carcinogen typically found in cigarette smoke. There's a useful antidote that can be practised to flavour and tenderize meat, while also acting as a safety barrier in reducing the formation of carcinogenic compounds on meat. The use of a combination of vinegar, lemon juice, herbs, spices and oil can represent that magical do-it-all formula.

A study found that three herbal marinades were effective in lowering HCAs: a) rosemary and thyme mixed with pepper, allspice and salt, b) oregano mixed with thyme, garlic and onion; and c) oregano mixed with garlic, basil, onion and parsley. Placing food in the grill centre, trimming away visible fat also helps to reduce the formation of HCAs and PAHs.

The important thing to bear in mind is the greater exposure to high heat with meat ending up charred, the greater opportunity for HCAs and PAHs to accumulate and that you will be exposed to. Avoiding the use of very high heat or large flames in cooking meat is therefore critical. Vegetables should be handled the very same way to avoid carcinogenic exposure risks.

Consuming no more than 12 oz of red meat weekly minimizes risk of colorectaal cancer, the third most common cause of cancer in Canada, according to a 2017 study in the journal Gastroenterology. That works out to the equivalent of two six-ounce servings or one single 12 oz.steak weekly. The risk of colorectal cancer and other health conditions such as diabetes and liver disease is posed with the consumption of processed meats like sausages and hotdogs; they too should be limited on the dinner plate.

And then there's a study in the journal Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery which published findings that about 1,700 Americans needed emergency room attention after ingesting wire bristles stuck to food illuminating the risks inherent in using a wire brush on barbecue grills. Try a wooden scraper or pumice stone in place of the wire bristle brush. And think about that stainless steel removable rack.

In summation:

1. Avoid flame flare-ups. ...
2. Marinate meat for 30 minutes before grilling – several studies suggest marinating meat leads to fewer HCAs.
3. Limit portion sizes. ...
4. Choose leaner cuts of meats. ...
5. Do not overcook* or burn meat. ...
6. Switch to fruits and vegetables.

Healthing.ca

Wildfires and Planned Burns ... Tidying Up The Forest

"Even if we were able to turn back the dial on climate change we would still have wildfires that are severe and would burn people's houses down."

"Climate change just makes everything worse." 

"We're learning that by protecting our forests we're really just building a bigger bomb."

Jesse Zeman, director, fish and wildlife restoration, B.C.Wildlife Federation

Vegetation and fuels management plays a vital role in wildfire prevention. One of the best ways to mitigate wildfires in high-risk areas is to treat the landscape ahead of time. B.C.Forests

In Oregon ecologists spent years setting low-level fires to bolster stands of Ponderosa pines. They cleared away underbrush through localized, controlled burns which removed much of the fuel that wildfires grow on when they erupt in dry forest atmospheres. As a result of that clearing, when wildfires surged into Sycan Marsh Preserve in the state they failed to burn as widely and wildly as they might have and were easier for firefighters to control. 

 

"Generally speaking, what firefighters were reporting on the ground is that when the fire came into those areas that had been thinned ... it had significantly less impact", explained Pete Caligiuri, one of the preserve researchers. 

 

On Vancouver Island in British Columbia Walter Grant was one of the first settlers. He wrote complaints that "the savages have an abominable habit of burning the woods", and he persuaded upon the-then colonial government the impression that controlled burns should be banned as a condition of treaty negotiations. 

 

Wildfire ecologist Robert Gray, based in Chilliwack B.C. at the present time has vocally advocated for increasing the number of prescribed burns in the forests of British Columbia. Typically, the province's Ministry of Forests earmarks a mere 5,000 hectares for controlled burning annually a number badly needing to reflect tens of thousands of hectares to be effective against wildfires.

 

Smoke billows from a wildfire near Osoyoos, B.C., on July 19, 2021, in this picture obtained from social media. Photo by TWITTER @DylanGaleas via REUTERS

British Columbia began experiencing fire seasons from 2017 that were far more serious than any such events in the recorded history of wildfires in the province. That was the year 1.2 million hectares burned by wildfires;fully 40 percent higher than the previous record of 855,958 hectares that burned in 1958. Wildfires surged through 1.35 million hectares in 2018. 

 

Last year saw a quiet wildfire season unusually when 14,000 hectares burned, the lowest in a decade. And then 2021 arrived and the wildfire season is now in competition to shatter previous records. Thanks to climate change, British Columbia was recently assailed by record-breaking heat, courtesy of a heat dome that began the 2021 fire season. Where Lytton, B.C. famously posted the highest temperature in Canadian history and hours later was rendered uninhabitable by the destruction of a follow-up wildfire.

 

Forests have become drier as a result of warming temperatures, the result of which has been the mountain pine beetle able to weather the winter months, their resulting numbers and appetite destroyed entire forests, turning them into flammable stands of dead trees. The severity of thunderstorms as a result of climate change saw British Columbia this summer of 2021 being hit by ten times more lightning strikes as 'normal'.

 

All of these incidentally vital circumstances are aided by the forests in British Columbia being sinks of "fuel load", a term used by wildfire experts represented by the presence of accumulated debris, deadwood, and untreated clearcut areas, all of which are capable of dramatically accelerating the speed and ferocity of a wildfire. 

Following the fire season of 2017, an open letter was sent to B.C.Premier John Horgan by the University of B.C.'s Department of Forest & Conservation Science emphasizing that more prescribed burns were needed to curb fuel load. "In the area of fuels and forest practices, which is the largest component necessary to reduce wildfire severity and threats to communities, there has been little action", the letter read in part.

Before the presence of Europeans, many Indigenous groups practised prescribed burns by tradition in forest management to encourage the growth of edible plants and making forests easier to navigate also resulted from the practise. Now, for obvious reasons, the wisdom of Indigenous ecological practices are being recognized for their proven potential for an entirely other reason; removing the fuel on which wildfires thrive.

Wildfire ecologist Robert Gray points out that in the pre-contact era, the common practise of clearing fires affected areas no larger than 40 hectares, within forests regularly being burned. Their size and the experience Indigenous peoples acquired in controlling them meant that forests rarely acquired the fuel firestorms needed to become the ferocious beasts they now appear as. "Fire inoculated the landscape against large fires", he said.

A prescribed burn can help regenerate species of grasses and woody vegetation that are native to an area and push back the growth of non-native vegetation. (Alex Denonville/CBC)

Opening The U.K. To 'Normal'

"[The British people must learn to live with COVID and] reconcile ourselves, sadly, to more deaths."

"I don't want people to get demob-happy [to go] berserk [over opening up the U.K. but if not now then when?]" 

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson

"We have to be honest with people about the fact that we cannot eliminate COVID."

"We are going to have to learn to accept the existence of COVID and find ways to cope with it -- just as we already do with flu."

British Health Secretary Sajid Javid

"You need to tell people' We're going to get a lot of cases."

"And that's part of the plan -- we have to let it go."

Dale Fisher, head, National Infection Prevention and Control Committee, Singapore Health Ministry

"With flu pandemic, you're into your third or fourth year before pandemic influenza becomes seasonal influenza. COVID is harder than that, but it's like that."

"I think the consensus opinion is that the Brits are crazy -- that it's too early to think we can get back to normal."

"I think Canadians will feel that the price of going back to normal right now is too high."

"There is a bunch of things we can do, without being nearly as disruptive as we were in lockdowns, that I think we can hope will be enough."

Dr.Allison McGeer, infectious diseases specialist, microbiologist, Sinai Health, Toronto

"The flip side, the counter-arguments to that is, we just don't know enough about the long-term consequences of the mild infections."

"I think it's important for us to try to minimize the cases and not just minimize the severe outcomes."

"It's [breakthrough infections; fully immunized people contracting COVID] definitely within what we're expecting."

Dr.Jeff Kwong, epidemiologist University of Toronto

Runners make their way to the start line for the ASICS London 10K on July 25. English people are celebrating their renewed freedoms after restrictions were lifted. (Hollie Adams/Getty)

 

COVID; the Delta variant and all others that may surface as the original SARS-CoV-2 virus mutates and variant strains emerge, appears to be here to stay. And the world's population is being informed that there is little option but to accept that fact; COVID as yet another circulating eventually seasonal virus. Certainly we're not as panicked, frightened and confused as we once were when the pandemic was new and raw; we've gained confidence that we will survive and we must adapt and learn how best to live with its presence among a panoply of other threats to human health and longevity.

Britain has, as it were, taken the bull by the horns. Even though the government health minister has himself -- though fully inoculated -- contracted COVID and his close contacts -- including Boris Johnson must self-isolate, Britain is fully committed to opening up, and it has shifted gears to that state of acceptance and adjustment. Most laws mandating face coverings, social distancing and work-from-home orders have been lifted. And Brits are celebrating. For the most part.

Israel, like Britain, has experienced its hills and valleys; a large percentage of the population inoculated with the Pfizer vaccine, but yet Delta has thrown the country back to emerging daily cases after it too had spurned masks and social distancing, fully opening its businesses and resuming normalcy. It has shifted gears, toward a "soft suppression" strategy, foregoing daily case counts focusing only on severe disease. Singapore has reached a similar conclusion in its surprise repeat of the contagion.

It had lifted its COVID safety rules and then a karaoke cluster sent it back to the drawing board ("heightened alert"), suspending indoor dining and social gatherings capped once again to 'two'. Britain has its skeptics, those who feel that "learning to live" with COVID is a reckless and premature choice; the game plan released by the U.K. will invariably lead to hundreds of thousands of new infections, and possibly it will. Others are confused about just what "living with COVID" means in practical terms.

Bars and clubs are packed as COVID-19 cases continue to fall. (Rob Pinney/Getty)

Yet the knowledge and belief that COVID isn't prepared to burn itself out of existence is plain to be seen. American epidemiologist Dr.Michael Osterholm is confident that the SARS-CoV-2 virus plans to become a permanent resident on Planet Earth. And COVID will be recognized as a permanent seasonal contagious respiratory risk. In Canada, 80 percent of the eligible population has been vaccinated with one dose, while close to 60 percent have been double-dosed; one of the most-vaccinated countries globally.

What's next is uncertain. In acknowledgement of Delta's high reproduction rate "we're going to need extremely high vaccine coverage -- up in the 90 percent range -- for this pandemic to peter out in more locales", advised Dr.David Naylor, co-chair of Canada's COVID-19 immunity task force. In the U.K. the general consensus is that numbers of cases are not as relevant as the number of serious cases requiring hospitalization. And to date Delta, now the leading infection, while proving to be heavily contagious fails to deliver serious cases in contrast to the original strain of COVID.

 

Confirmed cases are seen to be rebounding in the U.S. and in Israel. While in Israel with 61 percent of its population fully vaccinated, even as weekly hospitalizations are now a mere fraction of their peak in January with the original COVID. The good news is that the vaccines are effective even in the face of COVID's evolutionary trajectory, an unknown yet, to reveal itself at some future date. The  Pfizer vaccine is able to prevent infections by 64 percent and symptoms by the same percentage, with two doses protective at 93 percent in preventing serious illness.

 

Sport is also back, with crowds gathering at Old Trafford to watch the cricket. (PA Images via Getty Images

 

Only "modest differences" were found in vaccine effectiveness against Delta compared to Alpha, the once-dominant 'U.K. strain, according to a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine. Two Pfizer doses gave 88 percent protection against symptomatic disease with Delta, and two shots of AstraZeneca provided 67 percent protection. Up to the present, breakthrough infection numbers are not alarming. The elderly and health-compromised remain most at risk.

"We are slowly transitioning to a better place. This is why living with this virus makes absolute biological sense -- it's not going anywhere as long as it can jump into new humans."

"All sorts of people are saying 'Oh it's going to get less pathogenic.' Some people are saying more, or it's going to be resistant to all the vaccines. We don't know that. We absolutely don't know."

"[As Canadians begin travelling once again] we will all get exposed to one of the variants. And if you do get infected the most likely scenario is the symptoms will be like a bad cold, or, in the worst case, like flu."

Dr. Marc-Andre Langlois, virologist, University of Ottawa; head, Canada's Coronavirus Variants Rapid Response Network

"[Exhaustion is driving the] 'learn to live with COVID' [narrative]. And the realities of Western society, that, economically, we cannot carry on like this. I just don't think we can go on much longer with lockdowns."

"Opening nightclubs [in Britain], I mean, wow. Really? It's great everyone is having fun, but when you look at the age cohort, the vaccination rate of that cohort, the fact that it's indoors, that fact that there are no rules and there's alcohol -- I have nothing against partying by the way. But when you load all those things together that sounds like giving up to me."

"[The situation is] awful [in other part of the globe; sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America]. And if it's awful out there, we've got risk."

"I can't see it getting better globally for quite some time because we're not doing much about it."

"But there's much less anxiety. People are a lot more relaxed. I think there's kind of an acceptance that this is the way it's going to be, an element that this is the best we can do. And we have to move on."

Dr.Kerry Bowman, bioethicist, conservationist, University of Toronto

Beware Blacklegged Ticks ... Transmitting Lyme Disease and Anaplasmosis

"There has been a rise in cases. Anecdotally, my colleagues and I are seeing a larger number than in past years."

"This is the first year I can remember that we have seen multiple cases in a relatively short period of time."

"They both [Lyme disease and Anaplasmosis] make people feel pretty dreadful."

Dr.Gerald Evans, infectious disease specialist, Kingston Health Sciences Centre, Queen's University

Although cases of anaplasmosis can occur during any month of the year, the majority of cases reported to the CDC have an illness onset during the summer months and a peak in cases typically occurs in June and July.

This period is the season for nymphal blacklegged ticks. Nymphal blacklegged ticks bite people and can spread the pathogen.

A second, smaller peak occurs in October and November when adult blacklegged ticks are most active.

Health officials in upper New York State are seeing a spike in cases of anaplasmosis; from early July cases had quadrupled from a year earlier in Warren County, New York, not far from the Canadian border. Authorities caution this to be yet another reason for precautions to avoid tick bites. For Lyme disease transmission ticks generally must be attached to human skin for over 24 hours to transmit the pathogen, but evidence exists that faster transmission of anaplasmosis takes place, with no telltale rash left, as occurs with Lyme disease.

 

Facty Health

 

The poppy-seed-size and slightly larger ticks are difficult to notice, making it imperative that when people are in wooded areas where wildlife abound, particularly mice and deer, that they carefully scrutinize themselves and their pets after exposure, to detect the presence of these tiny creatures and to take careful steps to extract them, particularly the head, from adhesion to the skin. 

Lyme disease has a more gradual, subtle presence, generally starting with a rash in a bullseye shape. Following symptoms are inclusive of joint and muscle aches, fatigue, headache and low fever. Later stages of Lyme can lead to cardiac and neurological problems. Anaplasmosis, on the other hand, usually causes fever, chills, severe headache, nausea, vomiting and muscle aches. An enlarged liver and spleen as well as low white-blood-cell and platelet counts can also result.

 

Facty Health

 

Anaplasmosis is rarer than Lyme disease, and can be treated with doxycycline, the antibiotic prescribed for treatment of Lyme. Warmer winter seasons have encouraged a rise in the presence of bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi in ticks carrying Lyme disease but those same ticks are also vectors of the bacterium carrying anaplasmosis. The result is increased numbers of anaplasmosis are being seen among the public.

The bactrerium Anaplasma phagocytophilum is transferred by tick bite to cause anaplasmosis in people and livestock. And now it is arriving in Ontario with researchers reporting the first known human case in 2018, acquired from a blacklegged tick, whereas the first cases reported in the United States go back to 1994, in Minnesota and Wisconsin. Doctors had seen the disease in people who had travelled to the U.S. where cases were fairly common, but never before acquired in Ontario.

Now, despite the fact that borders between the two countries have been closed to travel during the global pandemic, and few Canadians are travelling to the United States, cases among Ontarians have arisen indicating that they were acquired through tick bites near home. Recent research from the University of Ottawa found one in three blacklegged ticks tested positive for Lyme disease.

Facty Health

In roughly one percent of cases of this tick-borne illness, it can be fatal, according to the U.S. Centres for Disease Control. Those over age 60 and people who fail to get treatment  quickly are most at risk for severe outcomes. The best possible course of ideal action is, of course, avoidance. Wearing clothing that covers the skin, and vigilance to the presence of ticks on return from an outdoor hike in a forested area.

 

Exploring Nature's Gifts to Medical Science

"This will not only help the hundreds of thousands of people who have a heart attack every year around the world, it could also increase the number and quality of donor hearts, which will give hope to those waiting on the transplant list."

"Usually, if the donor heart has stopped beating for more than 30 minutes before retrieval, the heart can't be used."

"Even if we can buy an extra ten minutes, that could make the difference between someone having a heart and someone missing out. For people who are literally on death's door, this could be life-changing."

Peter Macdonald, professor, Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute, Australia

Australian scientists have developed a drug candidate from the venom of the Fraser Island funnel-web spider that may prevent heart attack damage in humans. Photograph: Samantha Nixon/PR IMAGE

 

Some of the most poisonous creatures on the planet can be found in Australia. Coincidentally, scientists in Australia discovered that spider venom may lead to a new class of drugs that would conceivably be of inestimable help to victims of heart attacks. Spider venom is used by spiders themselves for the purpose of immobilizing or killing their victims so they can be consumed with no fuss by their predator.

Scientists from University of Queensland and Sydney's Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute are focusing on producing a potential drug candidate derived from spider venom. The drug's purpose for use in humans is to block the "death signal" the heart sends during a heart attack causing heart cells to die. No drugs are currently in clinical use to prevent the damage that heart attacks cause.

The protein to be used in a new drug is called Hila, identified originally in the funnel-web spider's venom found on Fraser Island. Researchers have full confidence it could be used as well in the treatment of donor hearts to increase the distance they can be transported, improving the likelihood of a successful transplant. The study that holds out this hope was recently published in the journal Circulation.

A new diagnostic drug currently in development makes use of the venom of the Israeli deathstalker scorpion along with an infrared dye meant to identify and illuminate tumours, so it isn't only spiders' deadly venom that researchers focus on to discover potential new drugs for the human pharmacopeia. The drug derived from the deathstalker scorpion has gone through safety testing and early clinical trials viewing brain tumours in children.

Some scientists regard the funnel-web spider as one of the most dangerous in the world. They possess fangs that are large, powerful, able to penetrate fingernails and soft shoes. While still in its early stages, the Australian heart research has seen scientists involved testing the drug candidate on beating human heart cells that have been exposed to heart attack stresses, to determine whether the drug improved their survival.

The researchers are now proposing to begin human clinical trials within the next two to three years. As the leading cause of death on a global scale, cardiovascular diseases are responsible for taking about 17.9 million lives annually, according to the World Health Organization. At least four of five cardiovascular deaths result from heart attacks and strokes.

A professor at the University of Queensland, Glenn King, earlier had identified a small protein in the venom of the funnel-web spider, demonstrating markedly improved recovery from stroke. The current Australian discovery uses that earlier work as a scaffolding upon which their more current research has been built.

The protein known as Hi1a has been found in the venom of the Fraser Island funnel-web spider. Photograph: Samantha Nixon/PR IMAGE

Chronic Wasting Disease

"I would say this question [whether the wasting disease afflicting deer could infect humans] was answered with 'yes'."

"The more we did, the more we could confirm the macaques [laboratory experimental monkeys] were infected."

Hermann Schaetzl, veterinary scientists, University of Calgary

"It's easy to go down a doomsday scenario but I don't think we're there yet."

"I think it's low-risk."

Dr.Keith Lehman, provincial veterinarian, Alberta  

 

"I was shocked when we first learned of the results. It's absolutely confirmative that this happened — you could give macaques a prion disease through oral consumption of contaminated meat."  

"[For] many people with a spinal cord syndrome, it wouldn't even occur to the treating neurologist that this could be a prion disease. It's going to take some education and alertness to even think of the diagnosis." 

"I hear the alarm bells going off."  

"I would have expected a human case to emerge in the U.S. before Canada. But on the weight of evidence, I think it's not only not impossible, it's kind of expected at this point."

Neil Cashman, prion expert, University of British Columbia 

New research on chronic wasting disease has raised new fears about whether the illness could infect humans. (Radio-Canada)

Decades ago the world was horrified when an outbreak of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease saw people dying horrible deaths in the United Kingdom, linked to the consumption of infected internal organs from cattle finding their way into animal feedlots, butchered animals for human consumption then passing on the disease that causes degenerative brain wasting as a result of proteins called prions that were abnormally shaped. Once infected, deterioration was swift and deadly, a horrendous scenario.

Now, a spread of a fatal wildlife disease in Alberta and Saskatchewan is infecting deer across a wide area of the Canadian Prairies. Research about to be published on Chronic Wasting Disease highlights fears over whether the illness could end up crossing the species barrier and infect humans. A recent report from the Canadian Agri-Food Policy Institute advising the federal government on agriculture policy resulted from a study of Professor Schaetzl's research.

The Institute had concluded that the spread of the disease over the past decade is a dire threat to Western Canada's agriculture, wildlife and food security. Quite apart from, but connected to concerns over transmission to humans. "It's continuing to increase in its spread and the speed of its spread", the Institute's strategy officer, Ted Bilyea, stated.

"The southern range [of caribou] is pretty much the northern range for our survey. If [prions] pass through that, then we have a genuine food security problem for our northern people." Dr.Bilyea is referring to hunters, susceptible to contracting the disease in the closeness of their proximity to infected animals, mostly First Nations hunters. "We don't have any buffer zone. It's not a very pleasant idea, but this is not a very pleasant topic."

 

Chronic Wasting Disease is a prion disease which deer, elk and caribou, in both wild and farmed populations in Canada, the U.S., and more recently in South Korea and Scandinavia are susceptible to; highly contagious between hoofed animals. It is spread through saliva, animal carcasses and fecal matter. Soil and vegetation in areas where infected animals have died can be contaminated with it. The pathogen can survive up to a decade in an area. Data indicates potential transmission to cats, pigs, sheep, cows and rodents.

 

It attacks the nervous system of afflicted animals and its presence is always fatal, the morbid illness is excruciating but fairly swiftly concluded in death. Misshapen prions cause the wasting disease, quite similar to Creutzfeldt-Jakob in humans; the prions are able to persist in the environment and to transfer their disease-causing shape to healthy proteins. 

 

An experiment that was conducted on macaque monkeys -- as the closest animal genetically to humans -- in 2006 by German scientists fed macaques with meat from contaminated animals. With the knowledge that the disease can take years to develop the monkeys were not tested until two years ago with the first tests being ambiguous. It soon enough became clear, however, that the monkeys had developed low-level infections.

 

Dr.Schaetzl had been involved in the confirmatory tests, and although his work is in the process of peer-review before publication it was presented in conferences, subsequently widely discussed among experts in the disease. According to Dr.Cashman of the University of British Columbia, a leading prion expert, his opinion is that people could already be suffering from a human form of chronic wasting disease.

 

Deer and elk farmers are required in Saskatchewan and Alberta to test every animal on their farms that dies, including those that are slaughtered, in an effort to ensure that tainted meat is kept out of the food supply. Although theoretically domesticated cattle could be contaminated by wild animals with the disease, no cases of this occurring have yet been recognized.

Male elk during the late autumn season in the backcountry of British Columbia. Mount Assiniboine Provincial Park. Photo by Matthew James Ferguson /Getty Image

Teatime, Everyone!

"Tea has been consumed for centuries for its relaxing and social benefits. However, research increasingly shows that drinking from childhood to older age offers a range of health and well-being benefits."

"Studies show that benefit for health and well-being are seen at daily intakes of two to four cups -- and it doesn't matter whether you choose regular black tea or green tea."

"While the polyphenol compounds in tea have attracted the most attention for their antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects, other compounds in tea are also important. These include L-theanine and caffeine, which have been proven to influence the brain and cognitive function by improving alertness and helping us to maintain concentration levels."

Pamela Mason, public health nutritionist, Wales 

"We know that tea drinking is a marker of reduced risk of developing cardio vascular disease and dying from a stroke or heart attack, but we also understand why."

"Clinical and laboratory studies show that tea polyphenols limit cholesterol absorption in the gut, and target receptors which regulate blood cholesterol levels. Tea polyphenols also relax blood vessel smooth muscle and boost nitric oxide levels – both of which help to lower blood pressure. Tea is also a potent antioxidant and can lower inflammation in the body."

Tim Bond, member, Tea Advisory Panel 

"The benefits of tea  consumption are present at all stages of life from infancy to old age and long-term tea consumption promotes long term well-being."

"Research increasingly shows that consuming tea Camellia sinensis throughout life from childhood to older age offers health and well-being benefits including hydration, mental and cognitive health benefits, cardiovascular health, metabolic health, bone health, gut health and immune health."

Research study, published in Nutrition and Food Technology

Credit Shutterstock

• Drinking green tea as part of a weight loss diet results in an extra 3.3 kg (1/2 stone) lost over 12 weeks;
• Four cups of tea daily are linked with a 10% reduced risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus;
• Regular tea drinking is associated with a 38% lower risk of osteoporosis – a serious disease which causes bone fractures;
• Tea could help immunity as it can neutralise pathogens found in the upper respiratory tract.

A new study analyzing the results of 60 various investigations into the benefits of drinking tea has been published in the journal Nutrition and Food Technology, clarifying that no matter whether you drink black or green tea the solid benefits, starting at a young age, will last throughout a lifetime to help counter obesity, stress and heart disease, reducing the risk of stroke among the elderly.

 

The study expresses the opinion, surprising to some, that parents should encourage their young children to drink tea, making in part of a daily routine. The combination of flavonoids and hydration imparted by tea, according to the study's main author, Pamela Mason, vastly outweigh any other consideration. Consider tea a substitute for sodas dripping with sugar, or even the empty calories in sweetened fruit juice.

 

The plant from which tea is derived -- Camellia sinensis -- has properties leading to a heightening of cardiovascular  health while invigorating the immune system, with regular consumption over a lifetime of regular tea-drinking. 

 

The study points out that L-theanine, an amino acid present in both green and black tea, helps to reduce stress, leads to relaxation, and improves brain function, in conjunction with caffeine. EGC, furthermore, a flavinoid polyphenol in green tea, elevates nitric oxide levels, helping to reduce blood pressure.

 

Credit: Susan Burghart

 

Offending Beijing -- Searching for COVID Answers

"[A Phase Two probe would require] audits of relevant laboratories and research institutions operating in the area of the initial human cases identified in December 2019."

"Finding the origins of this virus is a scientific exercise that must be kept free from politics. For that to happen, we expect China to support this next phase of the scientific process by sharing all relevant data in a spirit of transparency."

"We ask China to be transparent and open and to co-operate."

"We owe it to the millions who suffered and the millions who died, to know what happened."

"[It was] premature to discount the lab theory [As the first WHO probe concluded it to be unlikely.] As you know, I was a lab technician myself, an immunologist, and have worked in the lab. And lab accidents happen. It’s common."

"[A new WHO International Scientific Advisory Group for Origins of Novel Pathogens (SAGO)]will play a vital role in the next phase of studies into the origins of SARS-CoV-2, as well as the origins of future new pathogens."

"[There is a need for more] studies of animal markets in and around Wuhan, including continuing studies on animals sold at the Huanan wholesale market."

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus

World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus wants China to allow a biosecurity audit of some of its virology labs. Jean-Christophe Bott/Keystone vía AP

"It’s a sign that the WHO might be able to do [a] more credible or balanced investigation."

"Right now, the lack of clarity is in China’s interest."

Alina Chan, a gene therapy researcher at the Broad Institute

 

"I’m worried about delays and of course it’s a bit strange. We’re losing valuable time."

"[While it's] logical [to push for lab audits the demand right now could backfire.] It’s not going to be popular with China, so I’m a little bit worried that that will shut the doors to the rest of the studies that we feel are needed."

Marion Koopmans, virologist, veterinarian, Erasmus University Medical Center

Customers select seafood at a wet market in Dandong, Liaoning province, China 

Philip Wen/Reuters

In the early stages of the pandemic WHO Director-General Adhonom Ghebreyesus faced scathing criticism over a number of judgemental lapses; the decision to take Beijing's word for its claim that it took awhile to recognize the appearance of a new virus and its harsh impact, the acceptance of Beijing's assurance it was not communicable, and the lapse of time before the 'Wuhan virus' was declared a pandemic, thus failing to alert the world community in a timely enough manner to a fast-moving viral juggernaut that was soon to upend normalcy everywhere.

Since then, the WHO head appears to have made a reversal. He is not viewed more latterly as being quite as comfortable with China and its assurances as he was back then. And he is under great pressure from some countries -- Australia certainly comes to mind, in its strenuous insistence from the beginning that an investigation into the origins of the SARS-CoV-2 virus was badly needed, if for no other very good reason that would inform scientists of its origins, trajectory and how better the world might respond in future to new such viruses as they appear.

The real pressure, however, comes from the WHO's greatest financial supporter, the United States. Former President Donald Trump had little use for the institution and threatened to halt its funding, and his successor Joe Biden has continued to apply pressure on the World Health Organization for a far more in-depth investigation into the origins of COVID-19, which has taken such a dreadful world toll on the lives of millions of people who succumbed to its lethal complications, much less those living with a wide spectrum of COVID-induced symptoms.

It should have come as no surprise to anyone -- much less Beijing -- that another proposal for a second phase of studies into the origins of the coronavirus would be recommended by the World Health Organization. Suggesting audits of laboratories and markets in Wuhan, requiring greater cooperation and transparency in the process from China. The plan was presented to member states hard on the heels of a declaration that investigations were being held up by the lack of raw data reflecting the initial period of COVID-19's spread in China.

A commitment to Phase Two would encompass studies of humans, wildlife and animal markets in the city of Wuhan and certainly inclusive of the Huanan wholesale animal market where the virus was first thought to have emanated. China which has always been resistant to any deep scrutiny of the virus linked to Wuhan, has no obvious wish to be cooperative in a new study which promises to delve deeper than the previous one did, where researchers submitted to official Chinese scrutiny and oversight and the resulting paucity of requested data and documentation, much less exposure to critical sites for review.

In view of the fact that some scientists have raised their doubts over China's explanations, including its suggestion that the virus emanated from outside China; one theory that U.S. military brought it with them, another that it was imported into China with frozen food; and that the United States is adamantly pushing for a deeper investigation, the WHO has little option but to proceed. The U.S. along with many scientists demand a further investigation, and with particular attention into the Wuhan Institute of Virology which at the time of the virus emergence had been conducting research into virus vectors, bats.

Beijing maintains that the theory the virus could be connected to the Wuhan laboratory is beyond remote -- "absurd", repeatedly claiming that "politicizing" the issue would only serve to hamper any investigation. Any decision on continuing the probe "should be reached by all members through consultation", responded Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian. As in, perhaps, China, as a member of the UN Security Council having the capability of scuppering international investigations of any kind by veto. 

A Chinese produce market.

Felix Wong/South China Morning Post/Getty

"[I wish Tedros had owned up to past WHO] missteps. I don’t think he can simply just take the next step and not worry about what’s happened so far."

"I’m very suspicious about dismissing the initial task force and now allowing individuals and governments to nominate themselves, which will result in a partisan, selective process and not lead to the best composition." 

"They’re not a truly independent body [World Health Organization]. They are the product of a very political world, and what makes their problem 100 times worse is that they don’t have the resources to operate independently."

David Relman, microbiome researcher, Stanford University

 

"The Chinese side noted the draft plan made by Tedros and the secretariat and the Chinese side is looking into it."

"Origin-tracing is a scientific matter. All parties should respect the opinion of the scientists and should refrain from politicizing origin-tracing."

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian

The Wuhan Institute of Virology has carried out research on coronaviruses for years because these pathogens are endemic to the region where it's located.  Credit: Kyodo News via Getty