Looking forward to the microbiome post. I hope it will include fecal transplant information: how it's done, who and where is it done; & who benefits the most or the least.
On that cheery note, may the sights and sounds of the holidays lift our spirits.
It's hard to find robust information in regards to aiding the microbiome, mostly because it's a rather new concept with a ton of variables. Age, sex, ethnicity, nutrition, genetics, all play a factor in the microbiome, and there's really no example of a what an "optimal" microbiome should be, and whether that microbiome would benefit under all circumstances. There's also the fact that most studies have looked specifically at the gut microbiome, yet we know that the skin, mucous membranes, lungs, urinary and reproductive tract all have their own microbiota, each containing a unique combination of bacteria. And so how one restores or maintains each individual microbiota is a rather difficult thing to assess.
I've heard that fecal transplants seem to work well for people who have used antibiotics for a long period, but most of the fecal donors appear to be family members, so it's like a shared association there.
Hopefully I can find decent information on the subject!
And thank you! Same to you and your family Patty! As crazy as this year has been we should try to be in good spirits when possible!
It's a little crazy here too, still. I still have a Christmas Eve service to support, but I am hoping it will be less pre-work than the last two events. I've been interested in the relationship between the microbiome and viral infections for a number of years, after having noticed what seems like a pattern of gut dysbiosis preceding and continuing through viral infections.
Good luck with the service! Everything seems to have snuck up on me this year, so I guess with New Year's my resolution should be better time management 🤷♂️.
Yes so from what I've seen so far it's not actually a rare phenomenon, and is quite possibly rather common. It raises some questions to the secondary infection one experiences, as in many regards it appears that secondary infection is likely transfection of bacteria to other places they should be in. As to why this happens is a difficult matter given that the field is fairly new.
"During 2022, France, Ireland, the Netherlands, Sweden, and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, have been observing an increase in cases of invasive group A streptococcus disease and scarlet fever, mostly affecting children under 10 years of age."
"Once again, the RS virus season is thus unusually powerful, which surprised when a milder season was expected after last year's record. At first, Katrin Adrian speculated that it was about children who didn't get sick last year - but now it happens that they meet the same children this year as last year."
Interesting. With lockdowns it's likely not a possible factor for Sweden, although I think the option of masking may have allowed people to choose to mask. As to immunity debt, there may be a factor for a global cross-pollination of microbes that may have been attenuated? It's hard to parse with Sweden sort of acting as the black sheep.
Which is funny, because that was the initial argument against masking due to fomite transmission as seen with the flu. It's also why children seem to get so sick because they just can't seem to stop putting things in their mouths!
I may not have a peaceful holiday, but hopefully it'll be good! Same to you though Dr. Lazarevic!
It certainly doesn't help that we are entering the winter months where many people may not go outside, so the only exposure one may get to bacteria will be indoors, so constantly cleaning may not be conducive for our overall microbiome health.
I’ve seen a meme doing the rounds showing the list of side effects from the Flumist (nasal spray flu vaccine given to children) which includes strep A infection. That might also be a cause?
So this is one of the things I discussed in a previous post that Igor Chudov brought up in his Substack when citing a paper about Strep A infections after receiving a flu vaccine.
The paper in question looked at an intranasal, attenuated flu vaccine, so the virus is weakened but still active.
As such, it's likely that the virus can still be infectious, and that mimicry of an infection is likely to be what leads to secondary bacteria infection, as it appears that many viral infections increase the risk of secondary infection.
Flumist appears to be an attenuated whole virus vaccine.
So in that regard, it's not as if the vaccine has something unique to it that is increasing susceptibility, but it's the fact that the vaccine is still acting similar to the virus that is likely causing this effect.
The issue is that when we look at these side effects it's easy to draw conclusions and make assumptions, and so present people with this information and they'll make with it what they want without fleshing out the information.
We saw this when VAERS contained information of reports on impotence after the COVID vaccine, but we know that impotence is also a possible consequence of a COVID infection.
The vaccine skeptic side will go, "well I'm not going to get vaccinated if it means I can't get an erection!" and the vaccine zealot side will argue that people should get vaccinated to keep their erection (there was an editorial that had the phrase "Mask Up to Keep it Up" that I saw...).
And so both sides choose a narrative, when in reality the proper approach is to see this similarity, find the similarity, and comprehend the phenomenon. In this case, it's likely that the spike is causing microvascular damage in both scenarios, leading to impotence. It's also likely that alterations in blood pressure may be one of the factors as well.
So just a word of caution when one sees this information, and take some time to figure out why exactly that may be.
Looking forward to the microbiome post. I hope it will include fecal transplant information: how it's done, who and where is it done; & who benefits the most or the least.
On that cheery note, may the sights and sounds of the holidays lift our spirits.
It's hard to find robust information in regards to aiding the microbiome, mostly because it's a rather new concept with a ton of variables. Age, sex, ethnicity, nutrition, genetics, all play a factor in the microbiome, and there's really no example of a what an "optimal" microbiome should be, and whether that microbiome would benefit under all circumstances. There's also the fact that most studies have looked specifically at the gut microbiome, yet we know that the skin, mucous membranes, lungs, urinary and reproductive tract all have their own microbiota, each containing a unique combination of bacteria. And so how one restores or maintains each individual microbiota is a rather difficult thing to assess.
I've heard that fecal transplants seem to work well for people who have used antibiotics for a long period, but most of the fecal donors appear to be family members, so it's like a shared association there.
Hopefully I can find decent information on the subject!
And thank you! Same to you and your family Patty! As crazy as this year has been we should try to be in good spirits when possible!
It's a little crazy here too, still. I still have a Christmas Eve service to support, but I am hoping it will be less pre-work than the last two events. I've been interested in the relationship between the microbiome and viral infections for a number of years, after having noticed what seems like a pattern of gut dysbiosis preceding and continuing through viral infections.
Good luck with the service! Everything seems to have snuck up on me this year, so I guess with New Year's my resolution should be better time management 🤷♂️.
Yes so from what I've seen so far it's not actually a rare phenomenon, and is quite possibly rather common. It raises some questions to the secondary infection one experiences, as in many regards it appears that secondary infection is likely transfection of bacteria to other places they should be in. As to why this happens is a difficult matter given that the field is fairly new.
Sweden seems to be falsifying either a lockdown/immune debt or masking etiology for the RSV and strep surges.
https://www.who.int/emergencies/disease-outbreak-news/item/2022-DON429
"During 2022, France, Ireland, the Netherlands, Sweden, and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, have been observing an increase in cases of invasive group A streptococcus disease and scarlet fever, mostly affecting children under 10 years of age."
https://www.gp.se/nyheter/göteborg/rekordmånga-sjuka-barn-rummen-med-syrgas-räcker-inte-på-barnakuten-1.88098051
"Once again, the RS virus season is thus unusually powerful, which surprised when a milder season was expected after last year's record. At first, Katrin Adrian speculated that it was about children who didn't get sick last year - but now it happens that they meet the same children this year as last year."
Interesting. With lockdowns it's likely not a possible factor for Sweden, although I think the option of masking may have allowed people to choose to mask. As to immunity debt, there may be a factor for a global cross-pollination of microbes that may have been attenuated? It's hard to parse with Sweden sort of acting as the black sheep.
oh the microbiome is a huge topic! regarding masks tho- in addition anything that can stop a person from touching their face (after touching random objects) reduces colds https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-11-24/stop-touching-your-face-it-could-help-you-stay-healthy ...
have a peaceful holiday!
Which is funny, because that was the initial argument against masking due to fomite transmission as seen with the flu. It's also why children seem to get so sick because they just can't seem to stop putting things in their mouths!
I may not have a peaceful holiday, but hopefully it'll be good! Same to you though Dr. Lazarevic!
Yep. Lots of kids have strep. I’ve noticed a correlation in masking as well; the super-maskers of yore seem to be “getting everything” this year.
It certainly doesn't help that we are entering the winter months where many people may not go outside, so the only exposure one may get to bacteria will be indoors, so constantly cleaning may not be conducive for our overall microbiome health.
I’ve seen a meme doing the rounds showing the list of side effects from the Flumist (nasal spray flu vaccine given to children) which includes strep A infection. That might also be a cause?
So this is one of the things I discussed in a previous post that Igor Chudov brought up in his Substack when citing a paper about Strep A infections after receiving a flu vaccine.
The paper in question looked at an intranasal, attenuated flu vaccine, so the virus is weakened but still active.
As such, it's likely that the virus can still be infectious, and that mimicry of an infection is likely to be what leads to secondary bacteria infection, as it appears that many viral infections increase the risk of secondary infection.
Flumist appears to be an attenuated whole virus vaccine.
So in that regard, it's not as if the vaccine has something unique to it that is increasing susceptibility, but it's the fact that the vaccine is still acting similar to the virus that is likely causing this effect.
The issue is that when we look at these side effects it's easy to draw conclusions and make assumptions, and so present people with this information and they'll make with it what they want without fleshing out the information.
We saw this when VAERS contained information of reports on impotence after the COVID vaccine, but we know that impotence is also a possible consequence of a COVID infection.
The vaccine skeptic side will go, "well I'm not going to get vaccinated if it means I can't get an erection!" and the vaccine zealot side will argue that people should get vaccinated to keep their erection (there was an editorial that had the phrase "Mask Up to Keep it Up" that I saw...).
And so both sides choose a narrative, when in reality the proper approach is to see this similarity, find the similarity, and comprehend the phenomenon. In this case, it's likely that the spike is causing microvascular damage in both scenarios, leading to impotence. It's also likely that alterations in blood pressure may be one of the factors as well.
So just a word of caution when one sees this information, and take some time to figure out why exactly that may be.
Haha, no worries there! 😜