Prioritizing the development of 2nd-generation COVID vaccines, additional first-line treatments, treatment protocols involving more than one treatment, and PrEPs is crucial. IAQ regulations and universal masking in healthcare are also essential. Progress is a collective endeavor.

Could some #LongCOVID symptoms be driven by antibodies that turn against the nervous system? ➡️ Researchers found autoantibodies targeting proteins in the central and peripheral nervous systems in a subgroup of people with LongCOVID, particularly those with neurocognitive symptoms. ➡️ Remarkably, their IgG antibodies reacted with human brain regions and peripheral nerves, and some antibody levels correlated with neurological symptoms. 1/

The dismantling of public health isn’t happening in a vacuum: the unaddressed collective trauma, and the trivialization of COVID-19 infections despite the current knowledge highlighting the high burden of disease associated with them, harm the population.

#LongCOVID may not have a single biological signature—it may be a tangled web of overlapping changes. ➡️ In 312 people studied ~8 months after infection, LongCOVID was linked to subtle shifts across immune, endothelial and viral markers, rather than a single distinct biomarker pattern. ➡️ The strongest immune signal involved IL-1RA/IL-1β, while P-selectin suggested endothelial involvement; EBV reactivation-related responses were also different in LongCOVID. 1/

"It doesn't have to be like this. We're building the evidence that enables schools, families and institutions to take effective control.." Barry Gardiner is right, it doesn't have to be like this! We have solutions. We need Clean Air for Kids...

Changing metrics to reflect lower levels of SARS-CoV-2 transmission happened under the Biden administration too in order to serve the political agenda of the time. Knowledge & ethics must lead the way rather than short-term politics. Protecting the health of Americans is a duty.

SARS-CoV-2 is an occupational hazard and should have been consistently considered as such since the pandemic onset. In addition to this, hospitalized patients are at greater risk of complications and death if infected while receiving care. Transmission matters: time for progress.

Prior infection doesn’t guarantee protection from getting COVID again. Reinfections can happen, and every new infection is another opportunity to develop Long COVID. Reducing the number of times we’re infected still matters. #COVID #COVID19 #LongCOVID #CovidIsNotOver #CleanAir

We are looking forward to collaborating with US and global advocates to help decision-makers adopt this pilot #CleanAir model. Together, we can reduce sickness, student absences, and parental productivity losses in major cities like NYC!

"Our children drink about 2 litres of water every day. But they breathe 11,000 litres of AIR. A school would be closed down if it gave kids dirty water!"

Around 30,000 people have shortened lives due to air pollution - and that is not including the impact of airborne infections The time to act is now. The science is clear. The costs of improving indoor air quality will be rapidly repaid. We must improve indoor air quality. 2/2

I learned that there’s a bill we can support RIGHT NOW (NYC Council Introduction 699) which would set air quality standards in schools and implement real-time reporting! intro.nyc/0699-2026+

Why should we clean the air in schools? - Reduces pollutants which cause asthma, multiple cancers, and dementia. - More resilient to airborne disease and pandemics We need health-based standards for air quality in schools. Fund ventilation filtration and maintenance. #HIAS2026

RECOVER-TLC has published a list of 82 blood biomarkers to be measured in its Long COVID treatment trials. It's not a diagnostic test, and it won't change anything in the clinic for now. But it's worth looking at what's on the list, and especially what isn't🧵

Five-year Quantitative Chest CT and Hyperpolarized Xenon 129 Ventilation MRI Findings in Survivors of COVID-19 Pneumonia 🚨BREAKING: 5 YEARS post COVID pneumonia, symptoms, broken gas exchange, and xenon-MRI ventilation defects are still there. CT mostly stopped changing after year 2. The lungs didn’t reset! ➡️This longitudinal Chinees imaging study(143 participants, mean age 6y’s, severe and non-severe Covid-19 pneumonia, with a healthy control group) followed survivors of COVID-19 pneumonia out to five years using quantitative chest CT plus hyperpolarized 129Xe ventilation MRI, a functional method that maps where inhaled gas actually reaches the airways and alveoli, ➡️At five years, a subset of survivors still had: - Persistent respiratory symptoms, - Abnormal diffusion capacity (impaired gas transfer), - Regional ventilation defects on 129Xe MRI, ➡️Important temporal finding: - Pulmonary function and chest-CT structural abnormalities largely stabilized between year 2 and year 5, - Improvement was not complete, but progressive worsening was not the dominant pattern in this window., - Xenon MRI continued to show functional defects even when anatomic CT changes had plateaued, consistent with earlier shorter-term Xe-MRI work that found gas-exchange and ventilation abnormalities after near-normal CT, ➡️This study adds an IMPORTANT late time point that most prior post-COVID imaging series (3–24 months) haven’t reached. ‼️So, five years on, some lungs still do not ventilate or exchange gas normally. Recovery is incomplete for a subset. The damage did not quietly disappear. Findings support a combined structural and functional assessment in long-term follow-up of COVID-19 pneumonia survivors. ‼️Millions of people had COVID pneumonia. If functional defects and reduced diffusion persist at five years and then stall rather than resolve, that is not “post-viral fatigue” rhetoric, it is measurable, durable lung injury. It affects who still needs follow-up, who may have lasting exercise limitation, and why research should keep targeting small-airway and microvascular repair instead of assuming time alone will finish the job!😡 I’m one of these patients! #AvoidSars2 #AvoidReinfections pubs.rsna.org/doi/10.1148/ra…

SARS-CoV-2 may turn our own neutrophils into weapons against the lungs. ➡️ Researchers found that the viral #SUD2core protein targets a protective neutrophil protein called #HEBP2 and causes it to be destroyed. This releases the brakes on neutrophils, triggering excessive granule release, NETosis and inflammatory signals—potentially worsening tissue damage. 1/

Post-infection increases in Cardiometabolic Disease Staging (CMDS) scores are associated with increased odds of long COVID in a longitudinal retrospective cohort 🚨After COVID, if your metabolic risk score rose, your odds of LongC0VID rose 36%. Science again showing that SarsCoV2 can leave you with a metabolic fingerprint! ➡️Interesting USA retrospective cohort of 6,364 adults (mean age 57, 58% female) used the Cardiometabolic Disease Staging (CMDS) score, built from BMI, glucose, blood pressure, cholesterol and triglycerides, measured up to three years before and after COVID-19, ➡️Findings: 1. People who later developed Long COVID already had slightly higher CMDS scores before infection (0.21 vs 0.19) and a clearer gap afterward (0.24 vs 0.19), 2. An increase in CMDS after infection raised Long COVID odds by 36% (OR 1.36; 95% CI 1.08–1.71), and the association held after adjustment for social determinants and comorbidities, 3. The study does not prove that worsening cardiometabolic disease causes Long COVID, it shows the two travel a common path! 4. Clinical implication: cardiometabolic control after COVID is not only about diabetes and heart risk, it may also mark who is more likely to stay compromised! ‼️COVID does not finish when the virus leaves. In this cohort, the people whose metabolic risk worsened after infection were the ones more likely to become LongC0VID patients. Patients with worse weight, glucose, lipids, or blood pressure after COVID deserve closer follow-up, they may be on a Long COVID trajectory. Other science indicates that reinfections aren’t without a further risk! Treating post-COVID blood pressure, glucose and lipids is not optional housekeeping, it is part of a possible common disease trajectory. ‼️So, LongC0VID clusters among patients who developed new metabolic risks post-infection, proving the virus damages more than just the lungs and immune system. It leaves a measurable metabolic scar. With growing scientific evidence, dismissing this damage under the guise of "watch and wait" care is essentially clinical negligence!! #AvoidSars2 #AvoidReinfections diabetesresearchclinicalprac…

CDC inaction delays COVID shots for low-income children Although COVID-19 hospitalizations are climbing, the CDC has not yet announced when COVID shots for low-income kids will be available. Read more: bit.ly/4xCpKVO

Important coverage from CTV News: Outdated assumptions about airborne transmission have shaped and continue to shape the response to COVID and infection-control policies more broadly We know COVID is airborne. Our policies need to catch up Worth seeing ctvnews.ca/calgary/article/o…

SARS-CoV-2 has another mitochondrial “trick”—and researchers are trying to block it. ➡️ The viral protein #ORF9b binds to #TOM70, a #mitochondrial protein that helps trigger the cell’s type-I interferon antiviral response. By interfering with this pathway, ORF9b can help the virus dampen the host’s early immune defence. 1/

This USA study shows CVD roughly doubled mortality and raised ICU use in hospitalized COVID-19 patients. That is consistent with CVD acting as an important risk amplifier. From a prevention standpoint, this supports treating people with established CVD as a high-priority group for measures that reduce severe COVID-19, including staying current on recommended COVID-19 vaccines, rather than restricting that offer by age alone! My bottom line as expert: all patients with CVD, regardless of age, should be offered COVID-19 vaccine updates! #AvoidSars2 #AvoidReinfections #VaccineUpdates link.springer.com/article/10…