Cont: The One Covid-19 Science and Medicine Thread Part 5

[dann]

Deborah Lupton on X, Sep 28, 2025
Me on LI this morning

 

[dann]

Denis - The COVID info guy - on X, Sep 27, 2025
Sharp rise in memory and thinking problems among U.S. adults, study finds
"A growing number of U.S. adults—particularly under 40—are reporting serious challenges with memory, concentration and decision-making, according to a new study in Neurology"
https://archive.md/kiCqm

Sharp rise in memory and thinking problems among U.S. adults, study finds (MedicalXpress, Sep 24, 2025)
Researchers excluded responses from people who reported depression, along with data from the year 2020 due to the unique impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
(...)
Researchers found adults with household incomes below $35,000 consistently reported the highest rates—rising from 8.8% to 12.6% over the study period.
By contrast, those with incomes over $75,000 had substantially lower rates, increasing only from 1.8% to 3.9%. For education, rates among adults without a high school diploma rose from 11.1% to 14.3% while rates among college graduates rose from 2.1% to 3.6% over the study period.

Pandemic has become a weasel word meaning lockdowns instead of the virus. The unique impact?! The virus wasn't unique to 2020.

Denis - The COVID info guy - on X, Sep 27, 2025
Study: Rising Cognitive Disability as a Public Health Concern Among US Adults
Trends From the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, 2013–2023
Published: September 24, 2025
Rising Cognitive Disability as a Public Health Concern Among US Adults (Neurology, Sep 24/Oct 21, 2025)

From the study:

The prevalence of cognitive disability among younger adults aged 18–39 years nearly doubled, increasing from 5.1% (95% CI 4.8%–5.3%) to 9.7% (95% CI 9.2%–10.2%), making this age group the primary driver of the overall rise in cognitive disability in the United States.

 

[dann]

AJ Leonardi on X, Oct 1, 2025
When I told everybody here and argued with many overly confident people that the evidence appeared to me to show that Covid was a serious and exceptional infection, and that the long Covid risk would remain and probably increase after infection, I was accused of not understanding that immunity builds with infection.
I tried to explain that the virus harms immunity and was called an alarmist by people that had more advanced credentials than I, whilst I was still a medical student.
For a while, many people brushed me aside and did not credit me given my understanding of the immune system as shown by my work in the olearly 2010s on T cell differentiation and death which I was awarded a PhD by the National Cancer Institute for.
In fact, the National Cancer Institute was threatened for hosting me with a NYT oped that I was spreading misinformation.
Now, the NYT is raising the alarm on increasing long covid incidence on reinfection in children- over double.
It’s hard to convey the indignant rage I feel over my future- and your futures- having been robbed from us.
Long Covid Risk for Children Doubles After a Second Infection, Study Finds (NYT, Sep 30, 2025)

Risk of long COVID in children may be twice as high after a second infection (MedicalXpress, Sep 30, 2025)
A new study published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases involving over 460,000 children and adolescents across 40 pediatric hospitals in the U.S. suggests that children who were infected with COVID-19 for the second time during the omicron wave had more than double the risk of developing long COVID.

Long COVID associated with SARS-CoV-2 reinfection among children and adolescents in the omicron era (RECOVER-EHR): a retrospective cohort study (Lancet, Sep 30, 2025)
Children and adolescents face a significantly higher risk of various PASC outcomes after reinfection with SARS-CoV-2. These findings add to previous evidence linking pediatric long COVID to multisystem effects and highlight the need to promote vaccination in younger populations and support ongoing research to better understand PASC, identify high-risk subgroups, and improve prevention and care strategies.

Children twice as likely to get long COVID after second infection, study finds (CNBC TV, Oct 1, 2025)
The study analyzed the health records of over 4,65,717 465,717 children and teenagers across the US between January 2022 and October 2023.

If your memory isn't what it used to be due to brain fog, let me remind you that cases from Jan 2022 to Oct 2023 would have been caused by what we were told was the MILD Omicron variant, so nothing to worry about. Besides, children were immune to this disease, face masks were child abuse, and ventilation and air purification in schools much too expensive to be wasted on ordinary people and ordinary people's ordinary children. #DavosStandard

 

[dann]

Summary/explainer of the pediatric long COVID study above:

Zdenek Vrozina on X, Oct 1, 2025
This is the strongest evidence yet that ignoring the chronic impacts of COVID in children carries population-level consequences.
A massive Lancet Infect Dis study of >465,000 kids shows:
Reinfections double the risk of long COVID.

After the first infection: about 903 cases of long COVID per million children (within 6 months).
After the second infection: ~1884 cases per million.
That’s more than double the risk (RR = 2.08).

And it’s not just fatigue. Reinfection raised risks across many systems-
myocarditis (RR 3.6),
arrhythmias,
blood clots
kidney injury,
electrolyte issues,
liver enzyme spikes
brain fog, headaches, POTS
anxiety, depression, exhaustion

Key points.
This happened even when the initial infection was mild.
It was seen in both vaccinated and unvaccinated kids.
The biggest increases were in ages 5–11 and 12–20.

Why does this happen?
Each infection brings biological stress - inflammation, immune disruption, vascular strain.
The body may not fully recover before the next hit.
Risks appear to stack up with every reinfection.

This study confirms: long COVID in kids is real.
It’s a multisystem condition - heart, brain, blood vessels, kidneys, liver…
It’s not just in their heads. There’s a clear biological basis

What does it mean?
Reinfections aren’t harmless. Each one adds long-term risk!
Vaccination still matters - it lowers infection risk, which lowers reinfection risk.
Kids need follow-up care after COVID - fatigue, chest pain, cognitive issues may be long COVID.

The bigger picture:
Ignoring long COVID in kids means carrying a huge health burden into the future.
Each wave, each reinfection adds to the risk for an entire generation.

Sum:
Risk of long COVID more than doubles after a second infection.
Effects span multiple organ systems.
Preventing reinfections matters - it protects kids not just in the short term, but for years ahead.

This is the strongest evidence to date that ignoring the chronic impacts of COVID in children has population-level consequences.
Every reinfection adds risk.
Every ignored case adds burden.
What looks mild today may echo across an entire generation tomorrow.

Public health strategy has treated COVID in children as mild and short-lived.
This study shows the opposite - reinfections carry measurable, cumulative risks.
Downplaying this is not just a mistake.
It looks increasingly like gross negligence - with consequences for an entire generation.

 

[dann]

Viral persistence:
New educational tool - no just about COVID-19

Dr. Sean Mullen on X, Oct 2, 2025
I built this interactive timeline to help people see the unseen..how viruses can hide in the body, reactivate years later, and cause damage you might never expect.

It's a work in progress:

But please check it out in the meantime. I'm looking forward to adding key people and papers on the timeline who were the first to forward hypotheses that led to theories on viral persistence. If you're an expert in the area and wish to forward a paper or key data to add to the timeline (or a virus to add to the visual), please pass it along.

Viral Persistence Timeline – Tracing viral persistence through a century of discovery
SARS-CoV-2
Epstein-Barr virus
HIV-1
HSV-1
Varicella-zoster
Cytomegalovirus
HHV-6
JC virus
Hepatitis B
Hepatitis C
Parvovirus B19

 

[dann]

Older adults less likely to be classified as having long COVID, study finds (CIDRAP, Sep 19, 2025)
Nearly 7 in 10 COVID survivors tested didn't know they had a dulled sense of smell (CIDRAP, Sep 26, 2025)
COVID vaccines may have averted thousands of hospital stays in infants, pregnant women over 18 months (CIDRAP, Sep 30, 2025)
Poll shows Americans view COVID-19 vaccines as unsafe for pregnant women (CIDRAP, Oct 1, 2025)
COVID-19 infection associated with increased risk of new-onset vascular dementia in older adults (CIDRAP, Oct 2 , 2025)

 

[dann]

Jess on X, Oct 2. 2025
“People are catching this thing two, three times a year and acting like it’s nothing. Just a cold. Just the sniffles. Meanwhile, their blood vessels are getting shredded”

COVID Isn’t a Cold. It’s Cigarettes All Over Again (Dilate Magazine, Oct 1, 2025)
The Bill Is Already Here
We’re not waiting decades for the smoking gun. It’s here. Young people having strokes. Healthy adults developing autoimmune diseases. Athletes with destroyed hearts. Twenty-somethings with the cognitive function of seventy-somethings.
The data is screaming at us:

• Heart attacks up across all age groups
• Diabetes diagnoses skyrocketing
• Excess deaths still way above normal
• Long COVID affecting millions
• Brain fog becoming endemic
• Fertility issues exploding

But we don’t want to hear it. We want to pretend it’s 2019. We want to believe that if we just ignore it hard enough, it’ll go away.
Viruses don’t care what you believe.

 

[dann]

Harry Spoelstra on X, Oct 3, 2025
Differences between influenza and COVID-19 patients who required hospitalization: A study of the 2024–2025 season
Interesting Japanese study for all those still believing that C19=Influenza, ITS NOT!
In the study they compared 193 patients with COVID-19 Omicron XEC subvariant and 98 patients with influenza H1N1 pdm09 who required hospitalization(winter and spring of 2024–2025).
"There were many differences between the COVID-19 group and the influenza group that required hospitalization."
"The rates of severe illness and mortality in the elderly remain high in the COVID-19 group."
Again stark evidence to stop minimising C19 and get vaccinated, especially for the elderly
Differences between influenza and COVID-19 patients who required hospitalization: A study of the 2024-2025 season (ScienceDirect/Respiratory Investigation, Vol 63, #6, Nov 2025)

 

[dann]

Roger Gustafsson on X, Oct 3, 2025
1/
The Double-Edged Sword: New research suggests #SARSCoV2 might be an unseen accelerant for #LungCancer. Beyond acute illness, the virus's long-term effects could fuel cancer development and progression. This is a critical public health warning. #COVID19 #Oncology

The double-edged sword: How SARS-CoV-2 might fuel lung cancer: Investigating the potential oncogenic mechanisms of the novel coronavirus in lung carcinogenesis (ScienceDirect, Molecular Aspects of Medicine, Vol 106, Dec 2025)

 

[dann]

Jeffrey Tucker, of Browstone and GBD infamy, tweeted this yesterday:

Jeffrey Tucker on X, Oct 3, 2025
Medical Safety Signals Israel 2021-2024
15.6% rise in Pulmonary Embolism rate
2.5-fold increase in Cardiac Arrest Deaths, age 40-50
Ischemic Stroke: 13%-20% rise
Fertility – 4-fold increase in fertility clinic referral rate
15-24% increase in Infant Mortality Rate
Sarcoidosis: 16%-35% rise in case rate
ALS : 26%-48% rise in annual case rate
Sudden Hearing Loss cases peaked in 2021, all age groups, up to 409%
https://israelab.substack.com/p/medical-safety-signals-israel-2021

A thread about the 'study':

IntegralAnswers on X, Oct 4, 2025
1/ A viral Substack claims “massive safety signals” in Israel prove COVID vaccines caused deaths, strokes, infertility & ALS.
It’s based on a non-peer-reviewed PDF of raw counts, not a study.
Let’s fact-check what it actually shows — and what real data say.

IntegralAnswers on X, Oct 4, 2025
2/ The document lists spikes in pulmonary embolism, cardiac arrest, stroke, sarcoidosis, hearing loss & infant mortality in 2021–22.
It then blames vaccination timelines.
Problem: no exposure data, no control groups, no age standardization, no infection adjustment.

(...)

IntegralAnswers on X, Oct 4, 2025
14/ Bottom line: the “Israel 2021-2024 Safety Signals” report mixes ecological noise with anti-vaccine rhetoric.
When checked against peer-reviewed data, none of its major claims hold up.

 

[dann]

COVID-19 infection associated with increased risk of new-onset vascular dementia in adults ≥50 years (npj dementia/Nature, Oct 1, 2025)
prior COVID-19 infection may be associated with significantly increased risks of all-cause dementia and VaD, but not AD, when compared to non-COVID otherwise unspecified individuals. Specifically, we found that COVID-19 infection was associated with a 58% increased risk of all-cause dementia and a 105% increased risk of VaD after full covariate adjustment. However, when compared to individuals with non-COVID respiratory tract diseases, COVID-19 did not confer a significantly higher risk of dementia (including all-cause dementia, AD, and VaD), suggesting that the observed associations may reflect a broader impact of respiratory conditions on cognitive health rather than a COVID-19-specific effect.

VaD: vascular dementia
AD: Alzheimer's disease

Yes, I know!
The it's-no-worse-than-the-flu minimizers will celebrate this finding - and ignore that people don't get the flu once or twice a year!

Other characteristics [besides prior hospitalisation due to COVID-19] associated with an increased risk of new-onset VaD following prior COVID-19 infection included female sex, aged ≥65, weekly or more frequent alcohol intake, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular diseases, neurological diseases, mental illnesses, and lack of COVID-19 vaccination.

 

[dann]

Two-month-old conference photo:

Charlos on X, Aug 11, 2025
Kicking off #KeystoneSympsoia with a room full of masks led by @VirusesImmunity & @MichaelPelusoMD #LongCovid

Long COVID and Other Post-Acute Infection Syndromes (KeystoneSymposia, Aug 10-13, 2025)

 

[dann]

C19 in pregnant women - Swiss study:

SARS-CoV-2 delta and omicron variants alter trophoblast cell fusion and syncytiotrophoblast dynamics: new insights into placental vulnerability (Nature, Oct 7, 2025)
Pregnancy is associated with an increased risk of severe COVID-19. In addition, SARS-CoV-2 infection during gestation has been linked to adverse obstetrical outcomes and placental abnormalities. ... Altogether, these in vitro and in vivo results suggest that SARS-CoV-2 infection in early pregnancy may alter STB turnover, potentially contributing to placental dysfunction and adverse pregnancy outcomes.

STB = syncytiotrophoblast (Wikipedia)

Dr. Lisa Iannattone on X, Nov 19, 2022 t.co/vGhfXMbbpA

 

[dann]

This one is highly speculative (correlation):
Autism and related pervasive developmental disorders: Old-man sperm? Tylenol? COVID-19? Other(s)?

Ilkka Rauvola on X, Sep 23
In Finland, autism and related pervasive developmental disorders (F84) are up 4.3 times from 2020. Current growth rate is 29.4% per year, or 13x in 10 years if current growth continues (13x13=169x in 20 years, etc.).
There was little growth before the pandemic.
1/x

Autism and other persistent developmental disorders (F84) are more prevalent among 15-24 year olds than in any other age group. Current estimated growth rate is 34% y/y, or power(1.384,10)=19 times in 10 years, if current growth rates continue.
2/x

All age groups are showing rather uniform y/y growth rates (patients).
Annualised September data points to 16% y/y growth (number of patients, September) for total population (32% y/y for 25-49 year olds).
3/x

Megan Ben Dor Ruthven on X, Aug 27, 2022
COVID and development delays.
This study reports: COVID+ during pregnancy associated with 2x rates of their babies DX'd w/developmental delays than controls (6.3% vs 3.0% respectively)
What could COVID infection(s) be doing to kids' development, even after they're born?
Neurodevelopmental Outcomes at 1 Year in Infants of Mothers Who Tested Positive for SARS-CoV-2 During Pregnancy (JAMA, June 9, 2022)

Megan Ben Dor Ruthven on X, Aug 27, 2022
The most common developmental delays the study saw in babies from pregnancies with a COVID+ were motor, language, and speech disorders.
If I was worried about any of those delays, I would protect my child from COVID until studies confirm COVID infections DON'T cause delays.

David Joffe on X, Sep 23, 202
It would seem, perhaps that Cövid rather than older men's sperm and Tylenol may have a role?
Correlation not causation - but we know it crosses the placenta and is decidedly neurotrophic.

Cat in the Hat on X, July 15, 2025
COVID & CHILD DEVELOPMENT
Yet another study has just been published showing the long-term impact of maternal COVID infection on child development.
At 24 months:
36% of infants exhibited cognitive delays
64% communication delays
57% motor delays
Cord blood cytokines/chemokines linked to delays in toddlers exposed to SARS-CoV-2 prenatally (Pediatric Research, June 11, 2025)

 

[dann]

Allison Krug, "Epidemiologist + pro coach specializing in health & wellness" and apparently a fan of MAHA, made a big mistake after Jonathan Howard criticized her for promoting the infection of children to achieve herd immunity by infection. In the summer of 2022, Howard criticized an article she wrote with Vinay Prasad:

Is it “Natural and Healthy” When Children Get Sick With COVID? (Science-Based Medicine (SBM), Aug 26, 2022)
Now, let’s examine one of the pandemic’s more absurd essays, “Should We Let Children Catch Omicron?“, by Drs. Vinay Prasad and Allison Krug. Doctors with real-world responsibility for sick children, unlike Drs. Prasad and Krug, would answer with a resounding “NO”, especially before children have been vaccinated. After all, before he inexplicably turned completely against the pediatric COVID vaccine, even Dr. Prasad conceded that “Vaccines protect against severe disease and side-effects such as MIS-C“. He was absolutely right, and while the vaccine isn’t perfect, this is exactly why pediatricians are eager to vaccinate their patients.

Howard recently referred to the SBM article on Twitter:

Jonathan Howard on X, Oct 8, 2025
In Winter 2022, as Omicron was sending nearly 1,000 kids to the hospital daily, she suggested infecting unvaccinated kids to have them theoretically serve as human shields for more vulnerable adults.

And Krug replied:

Allison Krug on X, Oct 8, 2025
Not only is this untrue, but it fails to engage in a reasoned debate about what is best for children. I was applauding informed consent and a shift away from universal blanket recommendations for perpetual COVID boosters for children, bringing the US in line with other nations (we've been an outlier).
Let's engage thoughtfully and productively. Hammering away at bad policy is only going to alienate parents from public health, foment more distrust in healthcare, and reduce confidence in highly effective vaccines.

And then she made another mistake by claiming, again, that it wasn't true:

Allison Krug on X, Oct 8, 2025
That's not what I said.

Jonathan Howard on X, Oct 8, 2025
And since she is denying it.

And Jonathan Laxton tweeted this:

Jonathan Laxton on X, Oct 8, 2025

At this point, Krug no longer claimed that it wasn't true, but that was when she made the third mistake: to ask what public health professionals can do "to improve health and wellbeing for children."

Allison Krug on X, Oct 8, 2025
Please describe what you would like to see public health professionals do to improve health and wellbeing for children. What does that look like?

Public health officials (and many others) were more than willing to tell her what can be done!
I doubt that she'll be back.

Jonathan Laxton on X, Oct 9, 2025
Vaccinate them against significant pathogens, take mitigation strategies during epidemic periods, encourage exercise, teaching about good nutrition and make nutritious food readily available, provide affordable mental health care and protect them from gun violence

Jonathan Howard on X, Oct 8, 2025
So repeatedly infect them with a new virus in place of vaccination isn’t on the list?

Jonathan Howard on X, Oct 8, 2025
It starts with honesty, not denying your own words in an obvious and duplicitous way.
For example, I wrote every article here and will take responsibility for every word.
Science-Based Medicine: Author: Jonathan Howard

Rebecca Michalak on X, Oct 9, 2025
Well, I’ll go with shut up and say nothing when you’re silly enough to keep pushing a completely debunked theory premised in immunity ‘debt’ BS, for one. Just shhh. Just stop giving people crap, harmful ‘advice’. That would be lovely

Rebecca Richardson on X, Oct 9, 2025
Acknowledging this is a virus that’s all risk and no upside to catching would be a start. Ensuring clean air in classrooms, paid sick leave, policies to keep sick kids at home so viruses don’t burn through schools. Vax campaigns and push for better vaccines that stop infections

Biology on X, Oct 8, 2025
Air purifiers everywhere indoors
CO2 monitors taken into account
Masks
Easy time off for both adults and kids when sick, no threats, no 100% attendance nonsense
Easy access to covid vaccines
Long covid research
Acute covid research
Public health and responsibility

There are many more, and the thread is still growing.

Jonathan Howard always has the receipts, which never ceases to surprise the antivaxxers and minimizers.

 

[Mike!]

This is making the rounds on FB right now. No links, of course, just a picture. Any truth in there?

 

[steenkh]

This is making the rounds on FB right now. No links, of course, just a picture. Any truth in there?

Even if true, I wonder why it should be a problem that cancer cells pick up spike proteins and express them?

 

[Blue Mountain]

This is making the rounds on FB right now. No links, of course, just a picture. Any truth in there?

It's a single case report published as a letter in the Journal of Dermatological Science. As such it's a starting point for further investigation, not a tried and tested hypothesis. There's a potential association here but it needs further study.

 

[dann]

This is making the rounds on FB right now. No links, of course, just a picture. Any truth in there?

Probably not. Nicolas Hulscher appears to be a well-known anti-vaxxer working for a wellness company as so many of them do:

No, we should not remove COVID-19 vaccines from the market. (medium, Feb 6, 2025)
The paper’s credibility is immediately suspect given its publication venue’s association with IPAK (Institute for Pure and Applied Knowledge), an organization known for promoting vaccine misinformation. The lead author, Nicolas Hulscher, is affiliated with the McCullough Foundation, headed by Dr. Peter McCullough, who has a documented history of promoting vaccine misinformation and notably serves as Chief Scientific Officer of The Wellness Company, which profits from selling unsupported “cures” for supposed COVID-19 vaccination side effects.

Apparently he is talking about one (!) case of breast cancer! And as steenkh points out, even if true, so what? I bet that there is a lot of other stuff that can be found in one particular case of breast cancer, fat and water molecules, for instance, and so what?
It's at best a correlation, but to an anti-vaxxer, it's proof positive that THE VACCINES DID IT!!!

 

[dann]

Rolling Stone on X, Oct 16, 2025
It’s a slow-moving spiral: first their health, then their grades, then their future. Those for whom Covid looms very present are feeling forgotten, subject to pervasive skepticism and a kind of cultural fatigue when it comes to their illness.
Long Covid Is Real - And it's Changing an Entire Generation