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COVID & Health News, 12/14/25
I’m taking a break from the full newsletter until after the holidays, but here is a skeleton version of articles and data for this week.
Seasonal influenza (Flu) continues to increase in most areas of the country with 8.1% positive tests for influenza this week. The dominant strain is Influenza A(H3N2). Outpatient visits for Flu are highest for children ages 0 to 4 years of age and flu is especially high in Louisiana, Colorado and New York.
RSV activity is increasing in the Southeastern, Southern, and Mid-Atlantic areas of the country with emergency department visits and hospitalizations increasing among children 0-4 years old.
While the CDC calls COVID levels in wastewater “Low”, WastewaterSCAN shows that they are HIGH in the Northeast and Midwest.
Michael Hoerger used CDC data (last available 11/29/25) and Biobot data and estimates that about 1 in 102 Americans had COVID through November 29th with higher levels in Arizona, Indiana and Vermont. His data will update on Monday.
BA.3.2 descendant RE.2.2 is making its move in Europe where it is causing COVID cases to increase in the Netherlands and Germany. BA.3.2 descendants are expected to cause the next COVID wave.
From: https://x.com/snpoehlm/status/1999133454340964812
12/4/25 Int J of Infectious Diseases: Persistent Attenuation of Lymphocyte Subsets After Mass SARS-CoV-2 Infection https://buff.ly/afm14YW
“SARS-CoV-2 causes lasting immune dysregulation for over 20 months.” A study of >40,000 people shows that key immune cells (T cells, B cells, NK cells) dropped during widespread COVID infection and stayed below pre-pandemic levels for nearly 2 years. Persistent immune dysregulation, especially in people with cardiovascular disease, may be a hallmark of Long COVID.
From: https://www.ijidonline.com/article/S1201-9712(25)00509-0/fulltext
12/10/25 Nature: Multiplex serology reveals age-specific immunodynamics of respiratory pathogens in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic https://buff.ly/3mh8b3V
“respiratory virus immunodynamics differed between individuals <5 years of age and older individuals, with young children experiencing larger boosts and quicker waning of antibodies across pathogens.”
12/4/25 JAMA: COVID-19 mRNA Vaccination and 4-Year All-Cause Mortality Among Adults in France https://buff.ly/SP0sCpJ
A large study of over 28 million adults in France found that those who received an mRNA COVID-19 vaccine had a 25% lower risk of death from any cause over four years compared to their unvaccinated peers.
12/12/25 Diagnostics (Einstein): Risks of Stroke and Transient Cerebral Ischemia up to 4 Years Post-SARS-CoV-2 Infection in Large Diverse Urban Population in the Bronx https://buff.ly/KZsfT3R
“Hospitalized and non-hospitalized COVID-19 patients had a higher long-term risk of ischemic stroke while only non-hospitalized COVID-19 patients had a higher long-term risk of transient cerebral ischemia (TCI).”
11/6/25 Cureus: Exploring the Effects of Pemivibart Monoclonal Antibody Infusion in Long COVID: A Case Series Offering Initial Clinical Insights https://buff.ly/Qj9ztZt
Case series of 3 patients with Long COVID who received Pemivibart monoclonal antibodies and all had some improvement of LC symptoms, although symptoms recurred in some over time.
12/10/25 BMC Infectious Diseases: Blood pro-thrombotic analytes and platelet activation are associated with post-acute sequelae of COVID-19 https://buff.ly/XZD6W3J
“individuals who went on to develop PASC exhibited a distinct phenotypic signature between 1 and 35 days post-infection, such as significantly elevated plasma Factor-IX, Tissue factor, and tPA, which reflected hyperactivation of immunothrombotic pathways. Similarly, pathway enrichment analysis revealed ongoing neutrophil degranulation, platelet activation, and extracellular matrix remodeling—indicating unresolved inflammation and immunothrombosis which persisted beyond 77 days post-symptom onset.”
12/8/25 Nature: Long-COVID research just got a big funding boost: will it find new treatments? https://buff.ly/CXuqHs7
“The German government has committed half a billion euros to research into long COVID and other post-infection syndromes.”
12/7/25 MedRxiV (Stanford): Systems Immunology of Long Covid: Insights from the STOP-PASC Clinical Trial https://buff.ly/cVbUxtO
@atranscendedman.bsky.social
“Stanford researchers found no clear signs of autoimmunity, EBV reactivation, or microclots in 152 Long COVID patients.
They saw lasting immune activation in monocytes, neutrophils, and T/NK cells, even though Paxlovid caused only short-term immune shifts.”
12/12/25 Nature Immunology: Long COVID involves activation of proinflammatory and immune exhaustion pathways https://buff.ly/HQQ49sj
“The LC group was characterized by persistent immune activation and proinflammatory responses for more than 180 days after initial infection compared with convalescent controls, including upregulation of JAK-STAT, interleukin-6, complement, metabolism and T cell exhaustion pathways.”
12/7/25 “March 2026” Brain and Cognition: Kinematic handwriting impairments in olfactory dysfunction-related post-acute covid syndrome: short and long-term neurophysiological considerations https://buff.ly/YruQ7Ns
“Post-Acute COVID-19 Syndrome (PACS) frequently includes persistent olfactory dysfunction (OD) and may share neurocognitive features with Alzheimer’s disease (AD).” Fine motor impairments in handwriting in OD-PACS mimic those in Alzheimer’s disease.
12/6/25 Nature (Croatia): Esophageal motility disorders after COVID-19 infection https://buff.ly/VjNriJu
Mild SARS-CoV-2 infection can worsen preexisting esophageal dysmotility.
11/26/25 Nature (Korea): Distinct brain alterations and neurodegenerative processes in cognitive impairment associated with post-acute sequelae of COVID-19 https://buff.ly/SznTDgJ
A study from Korea shows that people with Cog-PASC (Long COVID with cognitive impairment after mild COVID infection) demonstrate MRI signs of brain injury and neurodegeneration, and elevated blood markers showing neuronal and glial damage compared with other Long COVID patients.
12/2025 eClinical Medicine: Effect of subcutaneous lidocaine–hydroxypropyl-β-cyclodextrin (HP-β-CD) on quality of life in patients with post-COVID condition: a 36-week observational interrupted time series study https://buff.ly/tQtyDqC
Long COVID patients self-administered subcutaneous lidocaine 5% with HP-β-CD with improvement in symptoms.
12/10/25 NBC: South Carolina measles outbreak is ‘accelerating,’ driving hundreds into quarantine https://buff.ly/FgAgU0q
12/10/25 Nature (Stanford): Erythropoietin receptor on cDC1s dictates immune tolerance https://buff.ly/MsBMf4N
Stanford researchers found that dendritic cells require the erythropoietin receptor to promote immune tolerance. Without this receptor, the cells fail to induce regulatory T cells, highlighting a potential mechanism for controlling autoimmune disease.
12/10/25 Nature: Gut micro-organisms associated with health, nutrition and dietary interventions https://buff.ly/cGxSw3U
Have a great week,
Ruth Ann Crystal MD
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