News from Australia

Hutan said:
I just heard this woman speak on New Zealand radio about the Australian response to Covid-19:
WHO advisor and Professor of Epidemiology at the University of New South Wales, Mary-Louise McLaws.

She mentioned the risk of Long Covid, specifically talking about how the risks to young adults, those aged less than 39, have not been given the weight that they should have had. She said that it is these people who will raise the children and keep the economy going, and great care must be taken not to handicap them with Long Covid. She mentioned at one point 'ever-lasting symptoms'.

I think it's the first time I've seen someone in her sort of position being so explicit about the risk of Long Covid. I think she could be a good person for Australian advocates to be in touch with. @Simone
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Surprising, given Australia's low infection rates, they are one of the few countries that could simply never discuss it given the low number of expected cases. Especially as opposed to some who do have high rates and have to suppress LC to pursue herd immunity.
 
Hutan said:
I just heard this woman speak on New Zealand radio about the Australian response to Covid-19:
WHO advisor and Professor of Epidemiology at the University of New South Wales, Mary-Louise McLaws.

She mentioned the risk of Long Covid, specifically talking about how the risks to young adults, those aged less than 39, have not been given the weight that they should have had. She said that it is these people who will raise the children and keep the economy going, and great care must be taken not to handicap them with Long Covid. She mentioned at one point 'ever-lasting symptoms'.

I think it's the first time I've seen someone in her sort of position being so explicit about the risk of Long Covid. I think she could be a good person for Australian advocates to be in touch with. @Simone
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Thanks, Hutan. Mary-Louise is very well respected here, though I’ve not heard her mention long-COVID much. There is some longitudinal research on COVID patients at UNSW, led by Greg Dore, but I’m not sure if she’s involved in that.
 
rvallee said:
Surprising, given Australia's low infection rates, they are one of the few countries that could simply never discuss it given the low number of expected cases. Especially as opposed to some who do have high rates and have to suppress LC to pursue herd immunity.
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Our low infection rates have created a problem for the small number of patients here who have developed long-COVID, in that they’ve been largely overlooked. And, when journos have wanted to write articles about long-COVID, they’ve struggled to find people to interview. There is a one hour doco on ABC TV tomorrow on COVID which will also include some mention of long-COVID, so we’ll see how much is discussed.

The rhetoric around COVID here is (understandably) on the risk of hospitalisation and death, with almost no mention of the possibility of long-COVID.
 
Here we go again:
Common drug could be a simple solution to a complex disease
A common drug could provide a simple but life-changing treatment for sufferers of chronic fatigue syndrome, world-first new research has discovered.

Griffith University researchers have identified in lab experiments that low doses of naltrexone reverse abnormal cell functions associated with chronic fatigue syndrome, which clinicians refer to as myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME).
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I've already had a number of excited family members contact me today about this article. Yet again, I've had to be the Grinch that ruins their excitement by pointing out that this group of researchers have a history of making grandiose claims.

I am seething.

There's been very little reaction in Australian ME/CFS social media groups. No doubt they're all used to this hype from Griffith by now.
 
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Simone said:
There is a one hour doco on ABC TV tomorrow on COVID which will also include some mention of long-COVID, so we’ll see how much is discussed.
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One Australian patient with long covid was briefly interviewed for this documentary. Overall it was very disappointing in that there was no mention of post-viral illness (even in the context of past pandemics) or ME/CFS. At least there was no suggestion that her symptoms were caused by psychological factors.

It may be able to be viewed here depending on your location:

Cracking COVID
 
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Art Vandelay said:
Here we go again:


I've already had a number of excited family members contact me today about this article. Yet again, I've had to be the Grinch that ruins their excitement by pointing out that this group of researchers have a history of making grandiose claims.

I am seething.

There's been very little reaction in Australian ME/CFS social media groups. No doubt they're all used to this hype from Griffith by now.
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Sean said:
low doses of naltrexone

Surely LDN will work this time? :rolleyes:
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Thread about the Griffith team's paper on LDN here:
https://www.s4me.info/threads/poten...atin-3-ion-channels-2021-cabanas-et-al.21440/
 
I don't know the history of the research team, but if I ignore that then I thought it was a well written article.
A friend sent me a link to it, and I have to confess I put off reading it thinking it'd misrepresent the patients, but it came across well. If the history of the researchers isn't great then that's a shame, but I was pleased that's what my friend read and then associated with me.
 
This should be viewed as a pilot or exploratory study. There are always problems with such studies, and I am not going to even start making a list (it would be long), but one in a good number of pilot studies will advance the science. We have to see where it goes, and be prepared to critically analyze any follow-up study. As we get to more careful studies we should expect to see more potential biases and confounds dealt with in the experimental design. Failure to do so will be more obvious then.
 
Any radio/podcast listeners in here? 35 min.

The long COVID doctors (Part 1 of 2)

https://www.abc.net.au/radionationa...nts-uk-symptoms-coronavirus-pandemic/13467564

In October 2020, three UK doctors shared with us their devastating personal experiences of COVID-19's bizarre and disabling symptoms.

Months after they were initially infected, they were still grappling with 'long COVID' symptoms.

We're bringing you their stories again, because in Science Friction's next episode, Natasha follows up with each nearly a year on, as UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson controversially lifts all pandemic restrictions in England.

What they have to say about what's happened in their lives since will surprise and shock you.

A cautionary tale for Australia too as we grapple with a major outbreak of the coronavirus's Delta variant.

Long COVID doesn't discriminate. Healthy people. Young people. Those who apparently had a mild case of COVID-19.

Are we facing another pandemic ... this one silent, confusing, and harder to diagnose? Will vaccinations help?​


Edit: it appears to be a re-broadcast of an October program, not 100% sure
 
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Trish said:
That was a very interesting re broadcast from last October. We have to wait until next Sunday for part 2 where we'll hear how the 3 doctors are now, with a suggestion that some of it will shock us.
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Uh, weird the broadcast date is marked as yesterday. Although it does say right in the description that it was from October so: my bad.
 
Ariel said:
We could do with someone to counteract the PG narrative in the UK - who are they? I hope this programme was helpful.
I cannot investigate further myself at the moment.
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2 of them are long haulers and the 3rd one, MacDermott, may also be but I recognize her name more from research.

Frayling and Small are relatively good allies but still shy away from mentioning ME unless prompted.
 
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