The Gurney Keeps Rolling
They are rolled down the hallway in a special gurney to the first stop on their journey to eternal rest. They are those who did not make it. Those who, despite our best efforts, lose the fight. BeRead More…
Category: Disease Control
How Good Is One’s Immunity After a Covid-19 Infection?
Several recent studies show that not all who get a positive COVID-19 diagnosis by RT-PCR develop antibodies against the SARS-CoV-2 virus or seroconvert. An Israeli group showed that 5% of all their CRead More…
Covid-19 Vaccines: Do We Really Need Booster Shots?
As humans, our first line of defense against viral pathogens is the innate immune response. That includes things like the skin, cytokines, and macrophages. This response tries to hold the line till tRead More…
Tyranny By The Majority in One of Africa’s Functional Theocracies
When we think of tyrannical theocratic regimes our minds go to the Middle East. Countries like Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, Saudi Arabia or Yemen feature strongly. These nations, unfortunately, appeaRead More…
Vaccine Inequality & International Vaccine Diplomacy; What is The Solution?
In the past months with Covid-19 vaccines available in many countries, implementation programs are rolling out across the globe. The effectiveness of such programs is very important in curbing furtheRead More…
Did We Defend and Protect The Lives of The Most Vulnerable Among Us?
In the past one year we have lost more than half a million Americans to Covid-19. My worst estimate in March 2020 was a quarter of a million in a year. At that time I was very confident we would not Read More…
What Are Our Healthcare Workers Who Have Completed Their Vaccines Are Saying?
This post is my attempt to bring the vaccine experience to a larger audience. To do this I polled about 500 vaccine recipients over about 24 days. A prior survey that I conducted suggested that manyRead More…
What Is The Neutralizing Antibody Response After The 1st Vaccine Shot in Those With Prior Infection?
Interestingly, two pre-prints were released this week that looked at the same issue. These papers were a comparison of the immune response to the first shot of an mRNA vaccine between those who have Read More…
I Am Pregnant; Is It Safe To Get The Covid-19 Vaccine?
As America continues to roll out vaccines across the country many questions are coming up. With the limited experience with our current vaccines some of these questions do not have easy answers. OneRead More…
What Are Our Covid-19 Vaccine Pioneers Saying?
As at January 10th, 2021 the death toll from Covid-19 was about 1.9 million globally and 372,522 in the United States. This is almost as many Americans as died in World War II. In the past week we haRead More…
Were The Covid-19 mRNA Vaccines Developed Too Quickly, & Can They Change our Genetic Code?
Brief History of mRNA Vaccines The first published human trial of an mRNA vaccines was of a rabies vaccine. CureVac a Dutch Company specializing in mRNA vaccines and scientists at the University Read More…
Attitudes Towards The Covid-19 Vaccine, Is This The End or A New Beginning?
About a year ago our world was upended when it became clear the respiratory virus spreading through China was not going to be contained locally. China dragged its feet trying to figure out how to hanRead More…
Facts About Immunization You Did Not Learn From Medical School Immunology
The Boston Smallpox Epidemic For many centuries’ smallpox was the scourge of humanity. It decimated human populations and in the New World wreaked havoc among Native Americans with the influx oRead More…
How is America Going to Respond To A SARS-CoV-2 Vaccine?
After almost 10 months of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic there appears to be some light at the end of the tunnel. There are several SARS-CoV-2 vaccines on the horizon, with two approaching FDA approval. As Read More…
“I am the Only one Who Can Fix it”: Did he Really Fix it?
As we get closer to November 3rd I keep looking at the steady approval of Trump’s handling of the economy. Over the course of his first year Trumps approval for his handling of the US economy has nevRead More…
Synopsis of the Stanford SARS-CoV-2 Seroprevalence in Dialysis Patients Study
Dialysis patients are a group with several risk factors ( advanced age, non-white race, poverty, and diabetes) for contracting SARS-CoV-2 and developing sever COVID-19. Therefore, they form a good grRead More…
Epidemic Control Using Science or Wall Street Ideology
Many countries have seen their peak in cases of SARS-CoV-2 in the rear view mirror. Unfortunately the United States is still forging ahead in this epidemic. I wrote a previous post about preparing fRead More…
Is it all Hemorrhoids or ‘Koh Koh’?
In a recent conversation with an old friend I realized they had medical issues which drove our conversation towards a totally different path. Well this very nice conversation had me going all the wayRead More…
Results from the Phase I trial in humans of a recombinant adenovirus type-5 vectored COVID-19 vaccine: a Synopsis
One of the vaccine candidates for COVID-19 at the Phase I stage is the non-replicating adenovirus type-5 (Ad5) vectored COVID-19 vaccine developed by the Beijing Institute of Biotechnology (Beijing, Read More…
Did Coronavirus turn the US into a third-world country?
As a surgeon who has been working in the US healthcare system for the last twenty years. I never imagined I would ever see what has transpired in the first quarter of the year 2020. Never in my wildeRead More…
Lockdown & its Aftermath in Accra, Ghana, By Teddy Totimeh
Lock down ends. The streets are already beginning to fill again. There is a new item of color on the landscape of faces now: masks. I am learning to recognize people by the pattern on the masks they Read More…
The Land of Three No’s, By Nana Dadzie Ghansah
In the early 1990s, HIV spread like wildfire in the Chinese provinces of Henan, Hebei, Anhui, Shaanxi, and Shanxi. Between 200,000 and 300,000 were infected because of the trade in blood and blood prRead More…
Is There a Disparity in Covid-19 Incidence and Mortality by Sex? By Nana Kwame Ghansah
One very noticeable thing about COVID-19 is the disparity in mortality between men and women. First noticed by the Chinese, it seems to be playing out in other countries too.According to a meta-analyRead More…
Covid-19: Lessons from Autopsies & Biopsies, By Nana Dadzie Ghansah
Autopsies of dead patients and biopsies of diseased organs are a great way to learn about a disease’s pathology. Unfortunately, due to the highly contagious nature of COVID-19, not a lot of them haRead More…
Social Distancing and Abortion Ban in the Time of Covid-19, Dr. Leonard Sowah
Social distancing & Abortion Restrictions With roll out of social distancing rules across the country some states are facing problems likely created by anti-reproductive choice activists. ThiRead More…