News from Australia

Discussion in 'Regional news' started by Kalliope, Oct 14, 2020.

  1. rvallee

    rvallee Senior Member (Voting Rights)

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    Surprising, given Australia's low infection rates, they are one of the few countries that could simply never discuss it given the low number of expected cases. Especially as opposed to some who do have high rates and have to suppress LC to pursue herd immunity.
     
  2. Simone

    Simone Senior Member (Voting Rights)

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    Thanks, Hutan. Mary-Louise is very well respected here, though I’ve not heard her mention long-COVID much. There is some longitudinal research on COVID patients at UNSW, led by Greg Dore, but I’m not sure if she’s involved in that.
     
  3. Simone

    Simone Senior Member (Voting Rights)

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    Our low infection rates have created a problem for the small number of patients here who have developed long-COVID, in that they’ve been largely overlooked. And, when journos have wanted to write articles about long-COVID, they’ve struggled to find people to interview. There is a one hour doco on ABC TV tomorrow on COVID which will also include some mention of long-COVID, so we’ll see how much is discussed.

    The rhetoric around COVID here is (understandably) on the risk of hospitalisation and death, with almost no mention of the possibility of long-COVID.
     
  4. Trish

    Trish Moderator Staff Member

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    Moderator note: A thread linking a Guardian article about Australia's low vaccination rate has been removed as political and outside the scope of this forum. See this message from the moderation team.
     
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  5. Art Vandelay

    Art Vandelay Senior Member (Voting Rights)

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    Here we go again:
    I've already had a number of excited family members contact me today about this article. Yet again, I've had to be the Grinch that ruins their excitement by pointing out that this group of researchers have a history of making grandiose claims.

    I am seething.

    There's been very little reaction in Australian ME/CFS social media groups. No doubt they're all used to this hype from Griffith by now.
     
    Last edited: Jul 15, 2021
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  6. Art Vandelay

    Art Vandelay Senior Member (Voting Rights)

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    One Australian patient with long covid was briefly interviewed for this documentary. Overall it was very disappointing in that there was no mention of post-viral illness (even in the context of past pandemics) or ME/CFS. At least there was no suggestion that her symptoms were caused by psychological factors.

    It may be able to be viewed here depending on your location:

    Cracking COVID
     
    Last edited: Jul 15, 2021
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  7. Sean

    Sean Moderator Staff Member

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    low doses of naltrexone

    Surely LDN will work this time? :rolleyes:
     
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  8. Trish

    Trish Moderator Staff Member

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    Thread about the Griffith team's paper on LDN here:
    https://www.s4me.info/threads/poten...atin-3-ion-channels-2021-cabanas-et-al.21440/
     
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  9. Simone

    Simone Senior Member (Voting Rights)

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    Me too.
     
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  10. ringding

    ringding Senior Member (Voting Rights)

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    I don't know the history of the research team, but if I ignore that then I thought it was a well written article.
    A friend sent me a link to it, and I have to confess I put off reading it thinking it'd misrepresent the patients, but it came across well. If the history of the researchers isn't great then that's a shame, but I was pleased that's what my friend read and then associated with me.
     
  11. alex3619

    alex3619 Senior Member (Voting Rights)

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    This should be viewed as a pilot or exploratory study. There are always problems with such studies, and I am not going to even start making a list (it would be long), but one in a good number of pilot studies will advance the science. We have to see where it goes, and be prepared to critically analyze any follow-up study. As we get to more careful studies we should expect to see more potential biases and confounds dealt with in the experimental design. Failure to do so will be more obvious then.
     
  12. rvallee

    rvallee Senior Member (Voting Rights)

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    Any radio/podcast listeners in here? 35 min.

    The long COVID doctors (Part 1 of 2)

    https://www.abc.net.au/radionationa...nts-uk-symptoms-coronavirus-pandemic/13467564

    In October 2020, three UK doctors shared with us their devastating personal experiences of COVID-19's bizarre and disabling symptoms.

    Months after they were initially infected, they were still grappling with 'long COVID' symptoms.

    We're bringing you their stories again, because in Science Friction's next episode, Natasha follows up with each nearly a year on, as UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson controversially lifts all pandemic restrictions in England.

    What they have to say about what's happened in their lives since will surprise and shock you.

    A cautionary tale for Australia too as we grapple with a major outbreak of the coronavirus's Delta variant.

    Long COVID doesn't discriminate. Healthy people. Young people. Those who apparently had a mild case of COVID-19.

    Are we facing another pandemic ... this one silent, confusing, and harder to diagnose? Will vaccinations help?


    Edit: it appears to be a re-broadcast of an October program, not 100% sure
     
    Last edited: Jul 26, 2021
  13. Sly Saint

    Sly Saint Senior Member (Voting Rights)

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    not PG :)
     
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  14. Ariel

    Ariel Senior Member (Voting Rights)

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    We could do with someone to counteract the PG narrative in the UK - who are they? I hope this programme was helpful.
    I cannot investigate further myself at the moment.
     
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  15. Trish

    Trish Moderator Staff Member

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    That was a very interesting re broadcast from last October. We have to wait until next Sunday for part 2 where we'll hear how the 3 doctors are now, with a suggestion that some of it will shock us.
     
  16. rvallee

    rvallee Senior Member (Voting Rights)

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    Uh, weird the broadcast date is marked as yesterday. Although it does say right in the description that it was from October so: my bad.
     
  17. rvallee

    rvallee Senior Member (Voting Rights)

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    2 of them are long haulers and the 3rd one, MacDermott, may also be but I recognize her name more from research.

    Frayling and Small are relatively good allies but still shy away from mentioning ME unless prompted.
     
  18. Snow Leopard

    Snow Leopard Senior Member (Voting Rights)

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    It will "shock" us? I guess that suggests they are still ill.
     
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  19. Ariel

    Ariel Senior Member (Voting Rights)

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    Sounds like a responsible way of dealing with the subject matter :facepalm:
     
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  20. Art Vandelay

    Art Vandelay Senior Member (Voting Rights)

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    Part 2 is now up (even though it says the broadcast date is 1 August).

    The long COVID doctors (Part 2 of 2)
    https://www.abc.net.au/radionationa...-on-uk-symptoms-coronavirus-pandemic/13477284

    Spoiler alert: while interesting, there's very little in this podcast that would surprise and shock anyone with any familiarity with ME/CFS.
     
    Last edited: Jul 31, 2021

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