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By David C. Pate, M.D., J.D. Background In May of 2020 at the World Health Assembly, a resolution was passed recognizing that managing mis-and disinformation would be critical to managing the COVID-19 pandemic, and then on September 23, 2020, the World Health Organization (“WHO”) declared an “infodemic” in a joint statement by the WHO andContinue reading “A Comprehensive Response to Disinformation Campaigns by Physicians”

Boost Now or Wait for the New Booster? I have been asked many times in the last few weeks, especially now that we are having signs of a new surge (as a reminder – when I use the word surge, I mean a significant and sustained increase in COVID-19 cases; I am not using itContinue reading “The Most Common Question I get Now”

What to Know Unfortunately, with end of the public health emergency, we can no longer see the earliest and best indicator of disease transmission levels – cases (reports to the CDC of all those testing positive by a PCR test performed at a hospital or commercial laboratory). Instead, we now have to resort to wastewaterContinue reading “Cases of COVID-19 are on the Rise”

Planned Parenthood Greater Northwest, et al. v. Raul Labrador in his official capacity as Attorney General of the State of Idaho, Members of the Idaho State Board of Medicine and Idaho State Board of Nursing, in their official capacities, and County Prosecuting Attorneys, in their official capacities. Case No. 1:23-cv-00142-BLW This case was decided onContinue reading “A Fascinating Case in Idaho”

I have written many times previously on my blog about Long COVID or PASC (post-acute sequelae of COVID-19 infection), its manifestations and potential pathogenesis. Now, a new paper looks at the immunology of Long COVID: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41577-023-00904-7. In my discussion below, I will include parts of this paper, as well as some other recent information aboutContinue reading “The Immunology of Long COVID”

Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever (CCHF) is a vector-borne disease (recall that this means transmission by an insect rather than human-to-human transmission or animal-to-human transmission (zoonotic transmission). However, unlike the several diseases I discussed in the last three posts that are transmitted by mosquitoes, this disease is transmitted by a tick. The virus responsible for this diseaseContinue reading “Crimean – Congo Hemorrhagic Fever Outbreaks in Europe”

This is part IV of a blog series that examines recent U.S. outbreaks of diseases that are not yet endemic to the U.S. and for which we usually do not see cases in the continental U.S. other than in international travelers. In part I, I reviewed the history of some of these outbreaks. In partContinue reading “What is Chikungunya?”

In my last two blog pieces, I began a blog series addressing the fact that we have seen a number of diseases that are not endemic to the U.S. pop up and cause outbreaks. Some of these are infections that we have not previously seen people acquire in the continental U.S., but rather were involvingContinue reading “What is Zika virus disease?”

In my last blog piece, I wrote that we have seen a number of diseases that are not endemic to the U.S. pop up and cause outbreaks. Some of these are infections that we have not previously seen people acquire in the continental U.S., but rather were involving international travelers who acquired the infection elsewhere,Continue reading “What is Dengue Fever?”

It should be concerning to everyone that is paying attention that we are experiencing disease outbreaks in the US of diseases that we generally shouldn’t see outside of international travel. In some cases, these are the emergence of diseases that are endemic to other countries of the world, but not the US, and frustratingly, othersContinue reading “The emergence of new infectious diseases and the resurgence of others in the U.S.”