‘The question now is whether the new reformulated bivalent boosters, which were redesigned primarily for BA.4 and BA.5, would be effective against these two new sub-variants of Omicron.’
AS we lower our guards against COVID-19 because cases are decreasing, unvaccinated individuals, the prime target of the coronavirus, are becoming incubators (where the virus replicates, mutates) and carriers/spreaders churning out new Omicron sub-variants. As a consequence, we now have the BA.4.6 and BG.7 variants as the predominant BA.5 decreases.
BA.4.6 was responsible for nearly 12 percent of the cases last week and is now the most predominant strain behind BA. 5. Ba.7, an “offshoot” of BA.5, accounts for 2 percent of COVID-19 cases.
While the cases are coming down, data show that the daily average cases are still high, about 54,000 a day, with more than 430 deaths each day in the United States. Only 68 percent of the people in the US (224,113,439) are fully vaccinated, and 33 percent (108,806,974) got a booster shot. The vaccination rate for the new bivalent booster is very low, as people start having a false sense of security and becoming bolder and casual.
The question now is whether the new reformulated bivalent boosters, which were redesigned primarily for BA.4 and BA.5, would be effective against these two new sub-variants of Omicron. Only time can tell as clinical pictures evolve.
COVID-19 impacts brain
US researchers reported last Thursday that “people who had COVID-19 are at higher risk for a host of brain injuries a year later compared with people who were never infected by the coronavirus, a finding that could affect millions of Americans.”
The most common symptoms are memory impairments, labelled as brain fog, which 77 percent of those who had COVID-19 infection are prone to have. Fifty percent of them are also likely to have ischemic stroke, which is caused by blood clots, compared to those who never got infected. Those who were infected also have 80 percent higher risk to have seizures, 43 percent more likely to have mental health issues, like anxiety and depression, and 35 percent likely to have headaches and 42 percent higher risk to suffer movement problems, like tremors, compared to non-infected individuals.
This is a vital reason why everyone has to be careful to avoid getting COVID-19 infection, even if the symptoms from the Omicron sub-variants are usually milder, because the potential future “side-effects” could be devastating.
Exercise in a pill
The old-fashioned, time-tested, physical exercise is universally known to confer great health benefits, not only for the muscles and bones, but also for the cardiovascular system and the body as a whole, including the person’s mental health. Brisk-walking for those still able to do it, no matter how old the person is, is highly recommended more than jogging. The long-term side effect of jogging is trauma to the spine, the hip joints, knee joints, and the ankles, which show up in later years.
Scientists reported last week they found a drug that “apparently mimics the effects of vigorous exercise” in the laboratory mice. The “exercise in a pill” is called locamidazole (LAMZ). While it did reinvigorate the muscles and bones, as does physical exercise, they are not sure if the benefits would be the same as conferred by actual physical exercise. If adequate studies show that it is applicable to humans down to the molecular level, it might be recommended to those where physical exercise is no longer safe or practical. For all others, we would continue to do our routine standard exercise.
Tea and diabetes
Scientists investigated the effects of drinking various types of tea (black, green, oolong) on diabetic risk, and found that drinking 1-3 cups of tea decreased the risk for diabetes type 2 somewhat but drinking 4 or more cups a day was associated with 17 percent lower risk. There are around 422 million people around the world with diabetes mellitus type 2. This study was a meta-analysis of 19 cohort studies from eight countries presented at the European Association for the Study of Diabetes Annual Meeting in Stockholm, Sweden. More extensive studies on a global scale are needed to confirm these findings.
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Philip S. Chua, MD, FACS, FPCS, a Cardiac Surgeon Emeritus based in Northwest Indiana and Las Vegas, Nevada, is an international medical lecturer/author, Health Advocate, newspaper columnist, and Chairman of the Filipino United Network-USA, a 501(c)3 humanitarian foundation in the United States. Websites: FUN8888.com, Today.SPSAtoday.com, and philipSchua.com Email: scalpelpen@gmail.com
