The Road goes ever on and on ... Day 392 (892)

It did not surprise me to read that the administration of the previous president (who shall not be named) tried to "bully" the FDA to reauthorize hydroxychloroquine. It had been given emergency use authorization in March 2020, but that authorization was revoked in June 2020 after the drug had been found to be ineffective and potentially dangerous. The goal was to help that previous president politically before the election he ended up losing. The FDA was also pressured to approve vaccines so that shots could be started before election day. When this would clearly not happen, the previous president tweeted, "Just another political hit job!"

On the long covid front, it seems that something similar happened after a pandemic in 1889 and the 1918-19 influenza pandemic. Viral infections in general can lead later to debilitating conditions. Danish researchers have found association between neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's not just with covid but also with influenza. There is a proposal to begin a National Institute for Postviral Transmission. Some terminology should probably be standardized first. The CDC defines long covid as "a wide range of symptoms that can last more than four weeks or even months after infection." WHO defines it in terms of conditions that are present "for at least two months and cannot be explained by an alternative diagnosis." Both agencies cite similar symptoms including fatigue, shortness of breath, cognitive dysfunction, brain fog, pain, digestive symptoms, depression, anxiety, cough, headache, and sleep disturbances. 

Another slow day. Queen Elizabeth still lives, Ukraine is still at war, and if Kilroy was ever here, he's gone now.