Notice For the Coming Week

Christmas running away, and an idea worth considering in regards to the Strep A surge.

*Cover image from Your Financial Wisdom.

A crazy week ahead…

I’m sure many of you are dealing with all of the craziness going on right now as Christmas nears.

Also, Happy Hanukkah to those celebrating!

Anyways, right now a ton of different things appear to be going on this week including a lot of plans that are constantly changing. Paired with my last-minute Christmas preparations I may be a bit swamped this week, so this is a bit of a heads up that I may not be able to post as frequently this week if the circumstances don’t allow it.

Now, I may try to cover a few things here or there, such as some stuff covered in the news, or things that may not take up too much time.

Otherwise, my posting this week may be limited.

I apologize for that, because there’s been a lot of things that I’ve wanted to cover that have run away from me, and it appears Christmas is running away from me now.

In the coming weeks I hope to cover more on the microbiome and the relationship between the microbiome and viral infections, so that will be a continuation of more bacteria talk.

I will also try to revisit and cover a series on parkinsonism, or a syndrome in which people show manifestations of symptoms similar to Parkinson’s Disease. This was something I meant to cover when several people began reporting on a case report of a man diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease who became vaccinated and had his symptoms exacerbated.

An example of one perspective is Joomi Kim who broke down the study below:

A case report showing spike protein in heart and brain tissue raises more questions

This came after (or possibly during) my time writing my series on catecholamines:

The Catecholamine Anthology Series

It was that series that made me want to look into these reports of cognitive decline and parkinsonism, and see to what factors contribute to the symptoms of Parkinson’s Disease.

Surprisingly, many factors are responsible for parkinsonism, including infections. A bit of a spoiler, but there’s been some debate about a sudden climb in parkinsonism post-the 1918 flu outbreak, with this onset being attributed to the virus and widespread infection.

It’s somewhat similar to remarks made by Brian Mowry noting that amyloid formation may be a common feature of infections, and may serve as some sort of protective reaction by our bodies to these infections:

It's Probably Not an Alzheimer's Virus

All this to say that there’s many things that science has yet to figure out, and in fact things that may seem novel may actually be commonplace- scientists may not have bothered to search.

I’ve noted this in previous posts as well such as Long COVID, which appears to be part of a broader series of post-viral sequalae (not a term used in the literature, but something I’ve used) seen with common viruses such as adenoviral and Epstein Barr viral infections.

Anyways, the point being that many things that are going on right now may not be as unique or novel as they appear. It’s likely that many things that we are seeing are actually common but not fully investigated just yet.

That’s what I hope to investigate with the parkinsonism topic, but I shelved for quite some time but may try to revisit after the microbiome series.

So, to summarize for the coming weeks:

• This week: No idea! A few smaller posts, or I may be absent drowned in Christmas madness. Just a heads up in case I go silent!

• Starting Next Week (at the latest): more on the microbiome, including viral infections and their role in dysbiosis. Also, a look into how to aid the microbiome if sufficient evidence can be found.

• Coming Weeks: Hopefully a look into parkinsonism and breaking down some of the contributors to the syndrome using some context.

Also, if anyone finds anything interesting they would like to see covered that is science-related please let me know! I mention science-related because many people may have question on DARPA, the WEF, or anything like that, and I believe other people would be better suited at discussing those topics at length than I am.

Also also, I know I mentioned previously that I was considering having a discussion to go over studies for paid members. However, I wasn’t sure how to properly implement it and have a lot of engagement.

The new chat feature may be something I will consider in the future that may help flesh out this idea, but in the meantime I would have to sort out how to organize such a discussion.

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Something worth considering for Strep A

Now, with that being said there is an update, and some food for thought with respect to the microbiome and the current Strep A outbreak.

User Bango made this poignant comment on a prior post (Everything is on the rise):

This was something I completely overlooked in my discussion, and yet it’s something that should be considered when looking at everything going on right now, including the current Strep A outbreaks occurring.

It’s important to remember that the argument over masks not working is based on the size of mask pores, which are far too big relative to virions and won’t provide much protection.

However, for bacteria and fungi the argument is different as their sizes are far larger than viruses, and masking may actually block the transfer of bacteria as well as fungi.

This was seen in the Japanese masking study where the inside of masks were predominately comprised of bacteria from the mouth and skin of participants, suggesting a host-role in these bacteria. Fungi were found predominately on the outside of masks, suggesting an inability to penetrate the masks:

Masking, Bacteria, and Fungus

And was pointed out in Figure 1b and 1c of the study, which notes the pore size of commonly used masks, as well as the size of various particles (Park, et al.¹):

From Park, et al.

Even though I cited this article recently I did so when discussion immunosuppression and completely overlooked the fact that masking may have halted bacterial infections and may have contributed to a gap in immunity.

That may also be paired with dysbiosis of the microbiome, as masking may not allow cross-pollination of microbiomes, and that the wearing of masks may prevent exposure to beneficial bacteria:

The Bursting of the Sterility Bubble

So the current Strep A predicament may me one of our own doing, and may be a twofold consequence of the lockdowns which may have reduced routine exposure to bacteria via masking and sterility, which includes both beneficial and harmful bacteria.

Now, if this was the case one may immediately argue that we should bring back masks, as that should actually be effective in suppressing the Strep A infection

Therefore, it may be worth considering how much of a role masking and constant cleanliness have in the current Strep A outbreak. This may be saved for a later post, or an avenue worth considering for others.

So that’s a bit of an update for the coming week. I apologize for the possibly slower week ahead, and my sporadic schedule.

With that said, I hope you all have a…not as stressful week! Enjoy the time with loved ones, find joy in the little things, and above all, remember that it’s never a bad idea to give a gift card, that is if you can still find some…

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1. Park, AM., Khadka, S., Sato, F. et al. Bacterial and fungal isolation from face masks under the COVID-19 pandemic. Sci Rep 12, 11361 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-15409-x