It’s a compilation of conditions, and we can’t be sure who is getting what or even anything at all. — I had a colleague who seemed to suffer from long-Covid two years ago. She had symptoms of fatigue and brain fog, which were severe enough to render her unable to work for months. She’s better now but lamented that she doesn’t feel as energized as before. She’s only 24. But…

Three problems with the promise of gut microbiota being the holy grail of medicine. — Though I was just a master’s student, I’ve published over 10 papers in reputable scientific journals, mainly as the first author. Neuroscience, infectious diseases, and vaccines are my research interests. Looking back, the first paper I published was a research review on the potential of different probiotic bacterial strains to…

It proved what we thought couldn’t be proved. — In 1868, Jean-Martin Charcot, a neurologist at the Hôpital de Salpétrière in France, first coined the disease “la sclérose en plaques,” which means multiple sclerosis (MS) — to distinguish it from another type of movement disorder later known as Parkinson’s disease. Though described in 1868, the cause of MS puzzled…

A newsletter providing a short account of the articles published in the previous month. — Hello all! It’s time for me to send another monthly update on what has been published in Microbial Instincts, an independent publication about infectious diseases and vaccines, in June 2023. As usual, here is a short list (friend-linked) that I hope will keep you more scientifically informed: Covid-19 vaccines

#5. Consider metformin if you caught Covid-19 — As a researcher who has written a few important topics on long-Covid in Medium, as well as published a few scientific papers about it, I’ve come to understand long-Covid quite well, including realistic and actionable ways to reduce its risk. First, let’s clarify what long-Covid is. It’s an umbrella term…

Whether this syndrome is real or not depends on how you interpret the evidence and define this syndrome. — In early 2022, Science journal published a controversial article titled “In rare cases, coronavirus vaccines may cause Long Covid–like symptoms,” which stirred both the scientific-medical community and the general public. It shed light on the uncomfortable risk of Covid vaccines triggering long-lasting symptoms mirroring those of long-Covid.

Let’s dive into the fascinating and complex world of virology to find out. — When Covid-19 first shook the world in late 2019 and 2020, an eerie disappearance of the sense of smell and taste plagued about half of the infected. This then became the tell-tale sign of Covid-19. One famous man even engulfed raw onions and garlic paste to prove his taste had…

A newsletter providing a short account of the articles published in the previous month. — Hello all! It’s time for me to send another monthly update on what has been published in Microbial Instincts, an independent publication about infectious diseases and vaccines, in June 2023. As usual, here is a short list (friend-linked) that I hope will keep you more scientifically informed: Covid-19 Vaccines

The strongest causal evidence yet from a ‘natural experiment’ study. — I did a joint BSc(Hons) degree in biology-psychology and then an MSc in life sciences (major in neuroscience). I believe I went through over 50 textbooks throughout my student years. (Yes, I was a study freak.) But nowhere in the textbooks did I ever come across the theory that infections…