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Dakota15 said:
Counter Punch: 'Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and COVID'

By Leonard Jason & Arthur A. Mirin

'ME/CFS, already a long-neglected condition, has been thrust into the spotlight by COVID-19...'

'Whether this moment catalyzes meaningful scientific and policy advances will depend on the willingness of stakeholders across health systems, government, and society to respond proportionately to the scale of this emerging crisis.’
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First paragraph gives some estimates:
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Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS), already a long-neglected condition, has been thrust into the spotlight by COVID-19. ME/CFS is characterized by debilitating fatigue, post-exertional malaise, cognitive impairment, and unrefreshing sleep. The projections we summarize in this essay underscore the profound and growing public health burden posed by ME/CFS in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. An estimated 5.7 million individuals in the United States now are potentially affected by ME/CFS. The condition demands urgent attention not only for its debilitating impact on individual lives but also for its substantial economic ramifications. The estimated annual cost of ME/CFS, ranging from $225 billion to $305 billion, reflects both the direct strain on healthcare systems and the indirect costs of lost productivity and diminished quality of life.
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Article explains logic behind them.
 
www.cuimc.columbia.edu

One Universal Antiviral to Rule Them All?

Taking inspiration from a rare mutation that makes people impervious to viral diseases, a Columbia researcher is developing a therapy that could bestow this superpower on the rest of us.
www.cuimc.columbia.edu www.cuimc.columbia.edu

AI Summary (English):
Columbia immunologist Dusan Bogunovic is developing a universal antiviral therapy inspired by a rare genetic mutation (ISG15 deficiency) that grants a few individuals natural resistance to all viruses. These people show persistent antiviral inflammation but do not get sick from viruses like flu or chickenpox, despite evidence of exposure.

Bogunovic’s new experimental therapy mimics this immune effect temporarily, delivering 10 specific mRNAs (instead of disabling ISG15) via lipid nanoparticles, similar to COVID-19 mRNA vaccines. In tests on mice and hamsters, it prevented viral replication of influenza and SARS-CoV-2 and reduced disease severity.

The approach could offer broad protection in future pandemics, even against unknown viruses, and may be used to protect high-risk groups like healthcare workers and nursing home residents. However, challenges remain, including optimizing delivery and dosage for human use and extending the protection, currently estimated to last 3–4 days.

“We were not looking for an antiviral,” Bogunovic says, “but the studies have inspired the potential development of a universal antiviral for everyone.”
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Crain's Chicago Business: 'Rush scopes out long COVID's financial toll on workers, employers'

"The impact on these patients is massive...the missing amount of work, the delay in getting back to the office, the impaired function and the loss of opportunities for advancement all build on each other" - Dr. Michael Gottlieb, an emergency medicine physician and vice chair of research at Rush University Medical Center

"It's largely a hidden population whose suffering goes unseen," Gottlieb said. "The financial hardships are harder to recognize in a virtual workforce."
 
CDC officials escorted from headquarters as chaos engulfs public health agency
AP News said:
The nation’s top public health agency was left reeling and leaderless as the White House works to expel its handpicked director from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and three senior officials were escorted from its headquarters on Thursday.

The turmoil triggered rare bipartisan alarm as President Donald Trump’s health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., tries to advance anti-vaccine policies that are contradicted by decades of scientific research.
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AP News said:
Kennedy has not explained the decision to oust Susan Monarez as CDC director less than a month after she was sworn in, but warned that more turnover could be coming. ...

The White House has only said that Monarez was “not aligned with” Trump’s agenda. There is no word on when a replacement could be named.

Monarez’s lawyers said that she refused “to rubber-stamp unscientific, reckless directives and fire dedicated health experts.” She is fighting her dismissal, saying the decision must come directly from Trump, who nominated her in March.
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Several top CDC officials (Dr. Deb Houry, Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, and Dr. Daniel Jernigan) have resigned. You can read their resignation letters here:

Breaking News: Read three top CDC officials' resignation emails

Here's one section from the formal resignation letter written by Dr. Daskalakis (some line breaks added)
Eugenics plays prominently in the rhetoric being generated and is derivative of a legacy that good medicine and science should continue to shun.

The recent shooting at CDC is not why I am resigning. My grandfather, who I am named after, stood up to fascist forces in Greece and lost his life doing so. I am resigning to make him and his legacy proud.

I am resigning because of the cowardice of a leader that cannot admit that HIS and his minions’ words over decades created an environment where violence like this can occur.

I reject his and his colleagues’ thoughts and prayers, and advise they direct those to people that they have not actively harmed.
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UC-Davis: 'Total-Body PET Imaging Takes a Look at Long COVID'

'Using total-body PET imaging to get a better understanding of long COVID disease is the goal of a new project at the University of California, Davis, in collaboration with UC San Francisco. The project is funded by a grant of $3.2 million over four years from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health.'

'Omidvari will collaborate with CellSight Technologies Inc. of San Francisco to use a tracer called 18F-AraG, which specifically tags activated T cells. Using dynamic total-body PET imaging and sophisticated modeling, she aims to see how activated T cells collect in different organs at different times, where blood vessel damage is occurring, and whether these processes are related to each other.'

'The study will work with patients from UCSF’s long COVID program (LIINC - Long-term Impact of Infection with Novel Coronavirus) who will be scanned at baseline, four and eight months.'
 
#MEAction: 'Guiding Minnesotans Living with Long COVID & ME/CFS to Secure In-Home Help'

www.meartistsproject.com

Guiding Minnesotans Living with Long COVID & ME/CFS to Secure In-Home Help

Pilot program offers free support for Minnesotans with energy-limiting illness
www.meartistsproject.com www.meartistsproject.com

'We’re excited to announce the official launch of the Minnesota Home Help Navigation Program, a new pilot program created by #MEAction and funded by a grant from the Minnesota Department of Health’s Long COVID Program.

'Our navigator provides one-on-one support applying for in-home help through Minnesota's Medical Assistance (Medicaid) program. It's free for Minnesotans living with Long COVID, ME/CFS, and related energy-limiting illness.'
 
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Genetic Literacy Project by Henry Miller: "The lingering pandemic: The chronic toll of untreatable long COVID"

Henry I. Miller, a physician and molecular biologist, is the Glenn Swogger Distinguished Fellow at the Science Literacy Project. A veteran of the NIH and FDA, he was the founding director of the FDA’s Office of Biotechnology.

'Long COVID may well lead to a broader health crisis, but it is also a scientific opportunity. It forces medicine to confront complex chronic conditions that defy easy categorization. It also renews attention to post-viral illnesses such as ME/CFS, and invites deeper investigation into how immune responses interact with various organs.'

'Strikingly, many of these symptoms resemble those found in myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), a poorly understood disorder often triggered by infections and long dismissed by parts of the medical community. The overlap between long COVID and ME/CFS is currently the subject of serious research and may provide a long-overdue window into post-viral illnesses more broadly'

'Despite the enormous global burden of long COVID, effective treatments remain elusive. Clinical trials are underway, but the diversity of symptoms and absence of clear biomarkers make it difficult to predict which therapies will help which patients.'

'Personalized treatment, tailored to individual symptoms and immune markers will be necessary.'
 
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