News from the USA, United States of America

In Austin, Texas, we've had 2 measles cases recently, 1, an unvaccinated infant, and the other, a vaccinated adult man. For this 2nd case, the local news has provided a list of places he went to recently before getting diagnosed.

Texas now has 646 cases of measles since late January of this year.
 
4/28/25, Long COVID Clinical Podcast: “Innovative Research with Dr. Amal Amer”

‘..Andrew Schamess and Anita Chopra discuss recent research on Long COVID at Ohio State University. They are joined by Dr. Amal Amer, a Professor of Microbial Infection and Immunity, and Dr. Heba Amer, who works in Dr. Amal's lab. Dr. Amal shares her personal experience with Long COVID and details her research on the inflammasome and caspase-4/11, proteins linked to severe inflammation and cognitive issues in Long COVID.'

Dr. Amer: “I thought I recovered, but when I went back to work, I realized I couldn’t understand the papers that I had to read. I couldn’t put my ideas together..or type an email..when my students were presenting their data, I couldn’t follow..I realized something was really wrong.."

Dr. Amer: "It feels like the cytokines have gone rogue..."

Host: "What are you able to tell us about your findings so far?"

Dr. Heba Amer: "What I believe that I can say, using the experiment designs that we've laid out, we have been able to see and prove that Long COVID mice really do have very, very distinctive differences in their behavior and their cognitive functions than mice who have never been to exposed to Long COVID...we're pretty excited about our findings so far, and we hope to get it published relatively soon.."

Dr. Amal Amer: "I think this is a major finding in the field....you lose the ability to do sequential steps in your brain to achieve something...this is what this amazing machine does, so the mouse has to do sequential steps...we focused on sequential thinking, remembering...even in the mouse model, you can see they cannot process sequential thinking and deep thinking to achieve something...I hope this paper will help researchers everywhere..."

Host: "..one of the great mysteries in post-COVID, is what is happening now? Why are these symptoms still persisting and what the pathophysiology is...it is so frustrating to be speaking with someone dealing with these symptoms and not have a firm answer...I think the solution for this illness is to nail down the pathophysiology..."

Dr. Amal Amer: "..we are fortunate in Ohio State there are several biobanks, many of them were collecting samples during the pandemic, we have a lot of samples of the acute form...for the samples of Long COVID...there was a huge initiative from the NIH to collect samples from acute and Long COVID patients and they have thousands of samples...you can apply for these samples to continue the work your doing..."
 
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Bangor Daily News: 'Maine bill offer better recognition and treatment of post-infection related illnesses'

By Kristi Woods, a resident of Augusta.

"..in Maine, there is a big move being made towards change. The Maine Legislature is reviewing LD 1688: An Act to Encourage Continuing Education Relating to Certain Infection-Associated Chronic Conditions for Physicians and Nurses.This bill does not cost any government funding but will bring a spotlight to long neglected conditions such as postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) and chronic Lyme in addition to the more recent phenomenon of long COVID. For those who are suffering from these diseases, getting diagnosed in this state is extremely challenging."
 
Sharing two recent provider resources produced by MDH’s (MN Dept. of Health) Long COVID Guiding Council below for sight (both uploaded on 4/28/25)

1) Minnesota Dept. of Health, Long COVID Guiding Council: 'Long COVID and Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: Informational Tool for Primary Care Providers"

'Activity management strategies that incorporate scheduled, regular increases in activity (such as graded exercise therapy) are not recommended.'

'Thank you to Dr. Stephanie Grach of Mayo Clinic for lead authorship of this document, and work group members, Dr. Ravindra Ganesh of Mayo Clinic and Dr. Bazak Sharon, Independent Consultant, and the Long COVID Guiding Council for their review and input. Special thank you to the members of MEAction Network and the members of the MN Chapter of MEAction for their review and helpful feedback.'

2) Minnesota Dept. of Health, Long COVID Guiding Council: 'Update from the Field: Low Dose Naltrexone for Treatment of Long COVID'

'Naltrexone may suppress cytokines and other pro-inflammatory factors acting on microglia, astrocytes and which are known to promote nociception, allodynia, and hyperalgesia. Furthermore, transient receptor potential melastatin 3 (TRMP3) restoration via LDN has been suggested as a mechanism for regulating abnormal natural killer cell function. Based on the neuroinflammatory mechanisms of Long COVID, LDN therefore presents an opportunity for potential management in at least a subgroup of patients. It is also being explored in related conditions such as myalgic encephalomyelitis and autoimmune conditions such as inflammatory bowel disease.'

The work group members included:
• Stephanie Grach, MD, MBBS, Mayo Clinic
• Ravindra Ganesh, MD, MBBS, Mayo Clinic
• Bazak Sharon, MD, Independent Consultant

'This project is funded through the State of Minnesota'
 
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Nebraska Public Media: 'Long-COVID research funding was pulled, then brought back. Patients say the research is vital'

'It made people like Jen Robinson feel stressed, forgotten and frustrated'

“It's already been five years...it's discouraging.”

“It was like my body was out of my control. I was no longer in charge of it. It was just going haywire, and I couldn't stop it,” she said.

'And it’s because of people like Robinson sharing their experiences that funding was eventually restored for some grants to continue researching the chronic illness, according to Meighan Stone.'
 
Wall Street Journal: 'How to Lead a Chronic Disease Revolution'

'Washington has an opportunity to help tens of millions'

By Akiko Iwasaki & Harlan Krumholz

'Millions of Americans struggle with debilitating fatigue, cognitive difficulties and heart palpitations—symptoms of what is called long Covid.'

'Postinfection syndromes aren’t unique to Covid. Such conditions as myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome and chronic Lyme disease also leave patients grappling with life-altering symptoms after an infection. What sets long Covid apart is the scientific momentum and patient advocacy it has generated to study infections’ long-term effects.'

'Advancing this research is one of the most effective ways to improve the lives of the tens of millions of Americans with chronic diseases.'
 
Well, yes. Of course medicos need to communicate clearly.

But the problem isn't so much miscommunication, as that what they are communicating, explicitly and implicitly, is unevidenced garbage, or simply disinterest and sometimes outright hostility.
 
'Clinical trial underway for potential Long COVID treatment'

'Nova Southeastern University and the Schmidt Initiative for Long COVID will study the efficacy of a long-acting antibody for treating Long COVID'

'With funding from SILC, NSU researchers led by Dr. Nancy Klimas are enrolling 100 patients in the multi-year study with the goal of improving their Long Covid symptoms and restoring them to full health. '

'..Long Covid is incredibly complicated and thus little understood,” said Klimas, director of the Institute for Neuro-lmmune Medicine at NSU. “Finding a treatment will be life-changing for patients suffering from the myriad symptoms of Long Covid.”

'The study will test whether the monoclonal antibody sipavibart, which is approved for the pre-exposure prophylaxis (prevention) of COVID-19 in Japan and the EU, is effective in treating Long Covid.'
 
Dakota15 said:
'Clinical trial underway for potential Long COVID treatment'

'Nova Southeastern University and the Schmidt Initiative for Long COVID will study the efficacy of a long-acting antibody for treating Long COVID'

'With funding from SILC, NSU researchers led by Dr. Nancy Klimas are enrolling 100 patients in the multi-year study with the goal of improving their Long Covid symptoms and restoring them to full health. '

'..Long Covid is incredibly complicated and thus little understood,” said Klimas, director of the Institute for Neuro-lmmune Medicine at NSU. “Finding a treatment will be life-changing for patients suffering from the myriad symptoms of Long Covid.”

'The study will test whether the monoclonal antibody sipavibart, which is approved for the pre-exposure prophylaxis (prevention) of COVID-19 in Japan and the EU, is effective in treating Long Covid.'
Click to expand...
Has the protocol been published?
 
Nightsong said:
Anyone know (assuming this goes ahead) if this is likely to affect any ongoing ME studies, biobanks - are there any dependent on NIH funding?
Click to expand...
Jackie Cliff at Brunel has a long standing NIH grant. She moved from LSHTM where the CureME Biobank team are so I don't know if the NIH funding is used to help maintain that team or not. In the early days the NIH funding was helpful to establish the Biobank as it gave them studies to work on while at the same time build a patient cohort.

At least that is my impression from afar. Someone else should have more up to date knowledge.
 
UVA Health: 'Discovery Explains Long COVID Breathing Problems'

'To dive deeper into the persistent respiratory symptoms of Long COVID, Woodfolk and her team examined extensive clinical and immune datasets from 110 patients at UVA Health’s Long COVID Clinic.'

'Researchers used a form of artificial intelligence called machine learning to study long-term changes in patients’ T cells, a type of immune cell'

“By uncovering distinct immune patterns in patients who have different types of restrictive lung disease after infection, we can better understand the immune drivers of lung injury and how these patterns may reflect different stages of the same disease process,” Woodfolk said. “Our ability to distinguish immune changes linked to lung disease from those linked to other disorders typical of Long COVID also adds a new dimension to our understanding of this complex illness.”

Study here.
 
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