A weekly update on new research and developments concerning COVID-19 (and occasionally other infectious diseases that hit the news).
We take questions via call-in during the live broadcast, Mondays at 7:33am Pacific, streaming via kpfa.org. Podcasts with show notes go up later the same day. Between live shows, we take questions via email at [email protected] .
Our guest most weeks is Dr. John Swartzberg, clinical professor emeritus of infectious diseases at UC Berkeley’s School of Public Health. Our question-wrangler most weeks is Brian Edwards-Tiekert, host of KPFA’s morning public affairs program, UpFront.
Music: Now Son by Podington Bear, licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 International License.
Discussed in this episode: H5N1 Avian Influenza has produced its first human death in the US. This was a different strain (D1.1) from what’s moving through dairy herds (B3.13). The victim is believed to have contracted the virus directly from bird flocks he kept in his yard. Virus samples from the victim showed genetic changes … Continued
Discussed in this episode: There’s another case of confirmed severe bird flu requiring hospitalization — this time in Louisiana.This is a different strain (D1.1) from the one infecting cattle herds (B3.13); the most likely source of infection was a bird. A recently-documented case of the D1.1 strain in a teenager in British Columbia required three … Continued
To send us a question in advance of next week’s show, write to: [email protected] Tune in live Monday mornings at 7:30am Pacific at kpfa.org. Podcast music credit: Now Son by Podington Bear, licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 International License.
Discussed in this episode: The CDC’s dashboard shows little indication of a winter surge in cases so far. This may only indicate a delayed surge, owing to residual population immunity from a summer case surge that carried into the fall. Brian (who is writing this) screwed up! A child illness in Marin possibly related to … Continued
Discussed in this episode: The USDA has announced a national program for testing milk samples from dairies for H5N1 avian influenza. A new study on health data in Singapore suggests getting boosted with newer bivalent vaccines reduced the chances of getting Long Covid after infection by about 38% (when compared to people who just got … Continued
Discussed in this episode: To head the National Institutes of Health, incoming President Donald Trump has picked Jay Bhattacharya, a medical doctor who’s never practiced medicine, and co-author of the Great Barrington Declaration — an early-covid manifesto that basically called for . . . letting it rip. To send us a question in advance of … Continued
Discussed in this episode: Donald Trump has announced his picks to hold key public health positions: prominent anti-vaxxer Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is up for Secretary of Health and Human Services; former Republican lawmaker David Weldon, a frequent critic of vaccination programs run by the Centers for Disease Control, is his pick to run . … Continued
To send us a question in advance of next week’s show, write to: [email protected]. Tune in live Monday mornings (or Tuesdays when Monday’s a holiday) at 7:30am Pacific at kpfa.org Podcast music credit: Now Son by Podington Bear, licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 International License.
Discussed in this episode: After considering reams of data, the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) has recommended another round of COVID vaccination in the spring for people who are older or more-vulnerable for other reasons. The federal government has started to put some significant money into the development of next-generation COVID vaccines, including nasal … Continued
Discussed in this episode: California now has 13 confirmed cases of H5N1 Avian Influenza in humans – an order of magnitude more than any other state. It might be possible to build a vaccine using virus-like particles that induces long-lasting B-cell immunity, by placing the spike proteins closer together. To send us a question in … Continued
