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COVID & Health News, 7/19/25
"Per WastewaterSCAN, SARS-CoV-2 levels in wastewater are HIGH across most of America. The CDC stated that COVID levels were LOW through 7/12/25 although the West and the South were MODERATE. The CDC also states that their data may be incomplete and delayed.
"There are presently about 209,000 new COVID infections per day in the US, with about every 1 in 160 people currently infected with COVID according to JP Weiland.
"Mike Hoerger tweeted on 7/14/25 that “transmission is “high" in Alaska, Hawai'i, Florida, & Mississippi”, with about 1 in 75 infectious in those areas. He also calculated from the last CDC reports (from over a week ago) that about 1 in 103 people in California were infected at that time. However, WastewaterSCAN shows that many places in the Bay Area that were high last week including Palo Alto have decreased. Palo Alto is now down to only 90 PMMoV of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater from a high of 367 PMMoV on July 7th.
"Wastewater data has become harder to track due to data delays and fewer reporting sites. In contrast, rising Emergency Department (ED) visits for COVID offer an early warning of a potential surge. JP Weiland posted that some states are already seeing medium-level increases in ED visits, signaling the start of a summer wave, while other states have not yet shown signs of a rise.
"Emergency Department visits for COVID are Increasing in the highlighted states:
From: https://x.com/JPWeiland/status/1946324098994356226/photo/1
Pediatrics
"Researchers used an AI Deep Learning model to evaluate echocardiograms from 270 children with Long COVID and 400 age-matched controls. The AI showed subtle cardiac abnormalities in children with Long COVID that had been missed by human reviewers.
Antiviral treatments
"150 immunocompromised individuals, including those on corticosteroids or TNF blockers, were given Paxlovid for 5, 10, or 15 days. No difference was found in viral clearance between the 3 groups, but extending Paxlovid for 10 and 15 days reduced viral rebound somewhat and was generally well tolerated.
"InstaDeep announced CoV-UniBind which is a unified database with over 75,000 entries on SARS-CoV-2 antibody binding. It integrates structural and sequence data from multiple sources to support AI benchmarking and improve vaccine and therapeutic antibody design.
Long COVID
"Magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) allows scientists to see changes in metabolism in an organ with a non-invasive scan. A group from Oxford used ultra-high field 7 Tesla MRS to compare brain and muscle metabolism in 24 ME/CFS and 25 Long COVID patients as compared to 24 healthy controls. ME/CFS patients showed elevated lactate in key brain regions of the pregenual anterior cingulate cortex (pgACC) and the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC), suggesting mitochondrial dysfunction, while Long COVID patients had reduced total choline in the dACC, possibly linked to clotting and cognitive issues. Muscle metabolites at rest did not differ between groups on scan. These distinct brain chemistry patterns indicate different underlying mechanisms, meaning ME/CFS and long COVID should be studied separately despite overlapping symptoms in these diseases.
From: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41380-025-03108-8
"A new Stanford study found that lymphocytes from ME/CFS and Long COVID patients show elevated oxidative stress, disrupted redox balance, and mitochondrial damage. These abnormalities lead to excess energy use by immune cells, which may contribute to severe fatigue and other symptoms. The researchers identified increased lipid peroxidation and glutathione metabolism changes, indicating shared metabolic dysfunction in ME/CFS and Long COVID. “Females show higher [mitochondrial] ROS levels and insufficient antioxidant levels (GSH), while males show mitochondrial lipid oxidative damage (Fig. 2). These findings suggest that the pathophysiology for ME/CFS and LC are distinct between sexes.”
"The group also tested ROS-targeting therapies. Metformin showed some benefit on CD4 T cell proliferation in vitro, and the findings suggest oxidative stress could be a target for diagnosis and therapy. In a thread on Twitter, Dr. Akiko Iwasaki commented “I suspect that other therapies to induce autophagy/mitophagy might also benefit restoration of T cell phenotype. #LowDoseRapamycin”
From: https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2426564122
"Feline infectious peritonitis (FIP), a naturally occurring feline coronavirus infection, mirrors SARS-CoV-2 infection and may be a model for Long COVID. Both diseases show systemic inflammation, T-cell exhaustion, lymphopenia, and chronic immune dysfunction. Cats with FIP treated with both antivirals and mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) showed reduced immune overactivation, more regulatory T cells, and better long-term immune memory than those given antivirals alone. The results may offer insights into treating post-viral conditions in humans, such as Long COVID with stem cells.
"In a small Brazilian study of 15 Long COVID patients, 15 recovered individuals, and 15 with acute COVID, researchers found ongoing activation of inflammatory and interferon pathways in the Long COVID group. Interferon-stimulated genes IRF7, IRF3, and IFI16 were significantly elevated in Long COVID and showed high diagnostic accuracy (AUC ≥ 0.90) as compared to recovered or acutely infected individuals. IRF3 was especially elevated in Long COVID compared to acute COVID cases (p = 0.0036). These interferon gene signatures may serve as useful biomarkers and highlight immune dysregulation in Long COVID.
"The Bateman Horne Center wrote an excellent Clinical Care Guide for Long COVID, ME/CFS and other infection-associated chronic conditions that can be found here.
Mast Cell Activation Syndrome (MCAS)
"In a case series of 47 patients with Mast Cell Activation Syndrome (MCAS), 89% of patients had a significant reduction in MCAS symptoms from Glucagon-Like Peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1RAs) medications, sometimes in very low doses and other times with typical doses. It is thought that the GLP-1RA drugs stabilize mast cells and reduce inflammation. The authors recommend future randomized trials of GLP-1RA drugs in patients with Long COVID and those with autonomic disorders unrelated to COVID-19 infection, as these diseases can be related to MCAS. Of note, in their Unraveled podcast, Drs Kaufman and Ruhoy also discussed that some of their patients with Long COVID and those with MCAS have been significantly helped by GLP-1RA medications both at low and at normal doses.
Measles
"As of July 15, 2025, a total of 1,309 confirmed measles cases were reported by 40 jurisdictions in the United States with 13% of cases hospitalized (164 of 1309) and 3 known deaths.
Other news
"A large Danish study of 1.2 million children over 24 years found no link between aluminum-adjuvants in vaccines and autism, asthma, autoimmune diseases or 47 other conditions.
"GLP-1RA drugs help with diabetes, and weight loss and they also reduce lipids, improve fatty liver and decrease risks of heart disease and kidney disease. Eric Topol MD posted two JAMA articles with patient pages on the importance of diet and lifestyle factors when using these medications.
From: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/fullarticle/2836527
From: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/article-abstract/2836533
"Oops! Novo Nordisk’s lawyers forgot to pay annual patent fees for GLP-1 drugs Ozempic and Wegovy (semaglutide) in Canada, so their drug will lose its patent protection as of January. Hims & Hers plans to offer a generic version of semaglutide in Canada.
"Most parents of children under 18 months say that they will not fully vaccinate their children. "Only 35% to 40% of US pregnant women and parents of young children say they intend to fully vaccinate their child, per survey results from researchers at Emory University and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)."
"Low levels of Growth and Differentiation Factor 15 (GDF15) before pregnancy are linked to very severe nausea and vomiting in pregnancy (aka hyperemesis gravidarum). Metformin increases GDF15. A new study shows that using Metformin before pregnancy can help desensitize patients to GDF15 which significantly lowered the risk of hyperemesis gravidarum. In contrast, cannabis use and SSRI use before pregnancy were associated with an increased risk of hyperemesis.
"ProPublica found that after Texas's abortion ban took effect in 2022, emergency visits for early miscarriages rose 25% and blood transfusions surged 54%. Interviews with patients and physicians suggest that delays in care stem from legal uncertainty, with some doctors withholding standard miscarriage treatments like D&C, leading to life-threatening bleeding.
"A new review in JAMA shows that early-onset GI cancers diagnosed before age 50 are rising sharply globally, especially among people in their 20s and 30s. Lifestyle factors such as obesity and eating ultraprocessed foods and hereditary syndromes both contribute, yet screening rates remain low in adults aged 45–49. Genetic testing should be standard for all early-onset cases, and a comprehensive approach including prevention, early detection, and personalized care is essential.
"A new review outlines how major depressive disorder (MDD) is driven by immune-linked neurotoxicity. It highlights increased immune activation, disrupted lipid metabolism, and elevated reactive oxygen species can damage neurons, and links these pathways to external factors like stress, gut dysbiosis, and infections such as SARS-CoV-2.
"A retrospective EHR study of about 26,400 adults with chronic low back pain found that those prescribed gabapentin 6 or more times had a 29% higher dementia risk and 85% higher risk of mild cognitive impairment over 10 years. The association was stronger in adults under 65 and increased with prescription frequency. Because the study was observational, other randomized trials would be needed to see if there is truly a direct cause-and-effect association.
"Researchers found human pegivirus (HPgV) in the brains of 50% of Parkinson’s disease patients and none of controls, linking the virus to worsened neurodegeneration and altered immune and transcriptomic signaling in both brain and blood.
"A stow-away seagull hitched a ride on an 18-wheeler garbage truck going 80 miles from a San Francisco trash center to a Modesto dump and repeated the ride the next day. When researchers tracking her saw that she was travelling at 60 mph, they realized that she had chosen another form of transportation besides flying.
Photo: SA Shaffer
From: SA Shaffer
"Have a good week,
"Ruth Ann Crystal MD"
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