As of early fall 2024, flu activity is minimal across the US. But, if it worsens in the winter, are you protected if you had a flu shot in September? Is it too late to get vaccinated now, or is it better to wait to see how active this flu season gets in the fall?
Why Post-Infectious Syndromes Like Long COVID Defy Conventional Medical Understanding and How You Can Reverse It PART ONE: Markers of Inflammation Chronic inflammation: With COVID-19, we’ve come to one of the major cruxes of the modern immune dilemma. Between late 2019 and 2022, we had a global pandemic of unprecedented proportions, and it uncovered an
Once again, it’s fall respiratory virus infection season. Every day for the last few weeks, my patients ask about vaccination. Should I get the new COVID vaccine? These are the four main questions they want to know more about: They also want to know my personal experience. So, let’s start there. At the beginning of
Though we’re in the waning stage of more than three years into the pandemic, “long COVID” retains the stigma of a mystery disease. But is it a mystery? Or an ambiguous, complex syndrome not uncommon in other post-infectious conditions? Long COVID is not an unexpected mystery disease—many other infections cause similar symptoms. Don’t be misinformed
Avoidance is your best defense against viral infection. If you’re not exposed, you won’t get sick. The second-best defense is resilient viral immunity. I’ll give you a tool to evaluate your viral immunity in the article. Winter Is Peak Season for Respiratory Viral Infections It’s late December 2022. In the Northern Hemisphere, the winter cold
The flu season is just starting, and with COVID and seasonal viruses present, already there’s an increase in influenza activity. The dominant strain this year is influenza A, subtype H3N2v. It’s a variant (denoted by the small “v”) of the swine flu pandemic strain H1N1 of 2009. And it has the potential to cause severe
I wish the SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic were over. But it’s not. In fact, we’re still in the OMICRON wave that started with BA.1 in late 2021 and mutated to BA.5 by summer 2022. Nor have we haven’t reached herd immunity or vaccinated our way out of this pandemic. We’re at an elevated plateau, but no longer
Stay vigilant because of combination infection by the flu and SARS-CoV-2, which health experts call Flurona. It’s hard enough keeping up with the latest pandemic twists and turns. We also must deal with seasonal influenza outbreaks. I’ve written extensively on surviving pandemic influenza in my books Viral Immunity and Beating the Flu. Many immune-supportive protocols
According to international influenza tracking sites, like FluNet and FluView, this year’s flu season infection rate is starting slow. Check your state’s health department website for local outbreaks. For example, in Florida, it’s FLU REVIEW. However, that could change. Typically, January through March are peak influenza season, so keep up your guard in the months
COVID vs Flu: catching a cold and getting the Flu are routine seasonal illnesses. We accept the inconvenience. Each fall through winter, 64 percent of those 18-30 years catch a cold. Adults in the U.S. get two to four colds every year. Children fare worse, getting up to eight colds each season. And every year,