Health (Page 103)

A recent report from Public Health England showed that 83% of people who had had COVID were protected from reinfection five months later. Given that 3.7 million people in the UK have had COVID, should those with antibodies be at the back of the vaccine queue? With the current high death rate, rising case numbers, closed schools and a seemingly interminable lockdown, it is natural to look for ways to speed up the vaccination rollout. Surely those who have already had COVID and recovered can be deprioritised so that people shielding at home can receive the vaccine sooner? Certainly, the government is not afraid of hacking the process to increase short-term vaccine coverage. The recent example of lengthening the waitContinue Reading

west_photo/Shutterstock A lot of conspiracy theories and fake news surrounding the pandemic are doing the rounds. Among the disinformation is a suggestion that COVID-19 vaccines might cause infertility in women. This seems to be based on perceived similarities between the coronavirus’s spike protein – which is the key part of the virus that the vaccines target – and a protein found in the placenta called syncytin-1. This has led to the unfounded theory that antibodies against the spike protein will attack syncytin-1, stopping it performing its important role in the placenta. This is simply not true. The similarity between the proteins is insufficient for this to be of any concern. All proteins are made up of long strings of individualContinue Reading

The 10,000 step target has more to do with marketing than scientific fact. Brocreative/ Shutterstock When it comes to being fit and healthy, we’re often reminded to aim to walk 10,000 steps per day. This can be a frustrating target to achieve, especially when we’re busy with work and other commitments. Most of us know by now that 10,000 steps is recommended everywhere as a target to achieve – and yet where did this number actually come from? The 10,000 steps a day target seems to have come about from a trade name pedometer sold in 1965 by Yamasa Clock in Japan. The device was called “Manpo-kei”, which translates to “10,000 steps meter”. This was a marketing tool for theContinue Reading

Hopes that rolling out vaccines would control the the pandemic have been dealt a blow by an emerging dispute between the EU and AstraZeneca. The manufacturer has said that because of production problems in Belgium, it will not be able to supply as many vaccines as expected to the EU, but that its supply to UK will be unaffected. In response, the EU has said it should be given a share of AstraZeneca doses manufactured in Britain, and politicians have suggested it could control exports of other vaccines – such as Pfizer’s – out of the bloc. This is despite the European Medicines Agency not yet having authorised the AstraZeneca vaccine, although approval is expected soon. But the EU stillContinue Reading

Repurposed drugs and senolytics could bring us five more years of disease-free life. Zoran Pucarevic/ Shutterstock While more people may be living longer than ever before, this increase in life expectancy is accompanied by the development of age-related diseases – such as cancer or type 2 diabetes. This is why the a major new parliamentary report has been published in the UK, advocating greater investment in novel treatments that slow ageing, in a bid to bring people five more years of healthy, disease-free life. The hope is that such treatments would either shorten the period of disease we experience at the end of our life, or extend our total lifespan while keeping the disease period the same. Ageing is soContinue Reading

NIAID-RML/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA Several coronavirus variants have emerged in recent weeks that have got scientists worried. The variants, which were first identified in the UK (B117), South Africa (B1351) and Brazil (P1 and P2), have several mutations in the spike protein – the little projections on the surface of the virus that help it latch onto human cells. This protein is the target for all the COVID vaccines currently being rolled out. So will the vaccines protect us from these new variants? Viruses are often not very good at making identical copies of themselves. This means that each time they replicate, changes or “mutations” in their genetic sequence can occur. Most of these mutations are harmless and have noContinue Reading

Israel is rolling out a fast-tracked COVID-19 vaccine programme, giving a first dose to 45% of its population of 9 million in five weeks. The country’s aim is to vaccinate 80% of the population by the end of May 2021. But questions have also been raised about the way the programme has been carried out. So what can be learned from Israel’s experience? A deal with Pfizer The Israeli government struck a deal with Pfizer for accelerated access to the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, in return for providing the anonymised age, sex and demographic data of vaccinated people. This is made possible by the fact that Israel has a universal healthcare system and each person has a digitised health record. The countryContinue Reading

Microgen/Shutterstock The link between COVID and smell and taste disturbance became apparent in March 2020 as the pandemic swept around the globe. To date, nearly 1 billion people have been infected with coronavirus. Around 60% will have experienced smell and taste disturbance – with 10% having persistent symptoms. This means that about 60 million people – and rising – have this symptom. So what can be done about it? Smell loss has traditionally received little attention in the field of medicine and so there has been a lack of clinical trials for treatments. A project is underway to address this matter, but it will be a while before the first research findings are published. However, an international groups of experts,Continue Reading

vladaphotowiz/Shutterstock The approximately 850,000 people living with dementia in the UK have been badly affected by COVID-19. Many live in care homes, which have arguably been hit hardest by the pandemic, experiencing a heavy death toll during the first wave. The pandemic has also caused significant global disruption, affecting people’s daily lives, mental health and wellbeing. The estimated two-thirds of people with dementia who live in the community may be particularly vulnerable to the effects of this disruption, and face distinct challenges when transitioning out of lockdown. I have conducted research with Professor Pam Briggs at Northumbria University to examine how COVID-19 has impacted these individuals. We interviewed people with early- to middle-stage dementia about their experiences of the pandemic,Continue Reading

Jim Barber/Shutterstock When the efficacy of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine was announced in late 2020, there was some confusion. The overall efficacy of the vaccine at stopping people developing symptomatic COVID-19, two weeks after the second dose, was 70%. But this wasn’t the whole picture. This figure was based on averaging the results from two groups. In one group, which was given two full doses, the vaccine was 62% effective at stopping people developing symptoms. But in the second group, a dosing error meant that volunteers received a half dose followed by a full one. This ended up being 90% protective against developing COVID-19. This was intriguing. Why would giving people less of the vaccine lead to a more effective immuneContinue Reading