When I began writing this daily musing 960 days ago, there seemed to be no real consensus on what to do with "covid" the word. Some articles had it as I've used it up to now, in all lower case. Others gave it an initial capital, while still others used all capitals. The third means, all caps, has become the standard meaning that anything else is marked as a typo or misspelling. Having gotten tired of seeing the squiggly red line under my "covids," I'm switching to the all-caps version. I probably should have done so a long time ago, but I've been lazy. It's just easier to type it in all lower case, with no shift or caps key involved.
I mentioned that Shanghai Disney had been locked down due to COVID with visitors shut inside. A visitor can now leave after testing negative for COVID. I wonder if they're keeping the attractions open so that the people have something to do while they wait.
Hospitalizations from influenza are at an all-time high paralleling the rise of RSV (respiratory syncytial virus). RSV is said to be up because of COVID mitigation measures that prevented many infants from being exposed and gathering some immunity. As one pediatrician put it, "The virus is now playing catch-up in these kids." Most adults can, if they come down with RSV, fight it off in a week or two, since they have some immunity from prior infections. These people may assume that RSV is a mild cold or even a mild case of COVID. Primary symptoms in adults and children are cough, runny nose, and fever. For infants, RSV may present as lethargy, irritability, decreased appetite, and a change in breathing. Besides less immunity, young children have much narrower airways. Unlike COVID, RSV can spread through touch. Viral discharge is in the form of respiratory droplets; where these droplets land becomes temporarily infectious.
According to a new article in Nature Communications, COVID can reduce the number of bacterial species in a person's gut, with the resulting drop in diversity meaning there is more space for dangerous microbes to thrive. The wide use of antibiotics has killed off the disease-causing bacteria that are most susceptible to drugs. Antibody-resistant strains of bacteria can escape into the circulatory system and put a person at greater risk for life-threatening secondary infections. This migration to the bloodstream occurred in 20 percent of the patients studied. COVID, the gift that keeps on giving in so many ways.
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