Here we sort of go again with new COVID-19 viral versions circulating. The omicron family is breeding a soup, a swarm or a slew of mutated subvariants being identified that seem to be taking over the territory occupied by BA.5 and BA.4 most spring and summer. As of the first week of November…
This Thanksgiving, consider being medically thankful for bacterial antibiotics. It is appropriate to do so because antibiotics have made, and continue to make, our lives much longer and better than before they were discovered in plants. They alleviate suffering and prevent death, when and wh…
Tis the season for Medicare insurance open enrollment, Oct. 15-Dec. 7. And the air is brimming with advertising for “Medicare” plans we oldsters can purchase. Television channels repeatedly run circus-like ads telling you their plans are such a deal. Billboards sport the same messages. And n…
Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) has been in the news lately. Many people don’t know what it is and what medical problems it causes. RSV is a common, highly contagious fall and winter respiratory virus that almost every child in the U.S. has had by the age of 2. It infects the throat first …
‘Tis the “flu season.” For the first time in 2-3 years, we need to pay some attention to that germ, as well as the still-present SARS-CoV-2, in its multiple mutations. Very simply put, influenza is a contagious respiratory disease that spreads around the U.S. every year roughly between Octob…
October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and in the U.S., the word “National” is hooked on to the front — so NBCAM. It is an international annual campaign organized by major breast cancer charities every October to increase awareness of the disease, and to raise funds for research into its …
A recent CDC COVID tracker update offered some useful thoughts about vaccines for all of us going into fall. At a recent White House press briefing, Dr. Ashish Jha, the COVID-19 response coordinator, said what several other sources have been repeating. We should anticipate and prepare for a …
Shin splints (SS) is a term coined long ago to describe pain in the front of someone’s leg (shin), along the edge of a shin bone or tibia. It is mostly on the inside edge at different points where the back tibial muscle attaches but can also happen along the outer edge where the front tibial…
On Oct. 6 this year in Winona there will be two worthwhile events regarding mental health and well-being, a very serious and pervasive problem for and in our society. During the day there will be a free depression screening day at Winona Health. In the evening, Hiawatha Valley Mental Health …
Contracting COVID is bad enough, especially a severe case — but then, a couple months later, you begin to lose hair! Talk about adding insult to injury! But the good news is that it likely will regrow, albeit far more slowly than it falls out. This type of hair loss, or more properly hair sh…
It’s time to be stuck up again, provided you have had primary COVID vaccinations. The reformulated booster containing coding to make specific antibodies against the now dominant omicron variants BA.5 and BA.4, which are almost identical, is now available and being distributed to many places …
Haven’t we been dealing with COVID long enough? We think so, but the viruses don’t seem to have the same idea. So many of us have been good medical citizens, getting our vaccinations and boosters, trying to remember to wear a mask, washing hands (good preventive idea anyway!), etc., But we s…
A COVID viral vagary that is somewhat newly recognized has been observed more carefully in the last half year. It is COVID infection rebound. It was particularly noticed after the significant new Pfizer antiviral drug Paxlovid came out late last year and was given widely.
The story of polio infection and its possible deadly and disabling paralysis outcomes are medical tales and now almost legends in the fading human memory since its near conquest by vaccines. But the virus is rearing its ugly head in a couple places in the world. For those of us who grew up i…
The potential of contracting COVID infections from touching various surfaces came to mind the other day after being in a playground with some outdoor musical instruments that use mallets EVERYONE played with and handled, including me. We were with folks who had recently gotten over COVID wit…
It is summertime, and perhaps a good time take a brief break from the almost endless list of weighty world issues and woes. Around forty years ago this column postulated a theory after observing the three little boys he and their mom generated, and put forth a column positing the proposal. A…
It is summertime, and perhaps a good time take a brief break from the almost endless list of weighty world issues and woes. Around forty years ago this column postulated a theory after observing the three little boys he and their mom generated, and put forth a column positing the proposal. A…
It is likely that you have recently known of folks who have been infected with COVID. The omicron variant BA.5 has become the dominant one in the U.S., as in a majority of countries worldwide. For our discussion we’ll include its close kin BA.4 with only a few different mutations in the same…
Novavax is a new, alternative COVID vaccine that is almost ready to be available for use as of this writing. It was recommended by the CDC just recently, and then approved for emergency use authorization (EUA) by the FDA. It is awaiting distribution. By why, you ask, do we need another vacci…
Osgood Schlatter disease (OSd) is a rather common condition that causes knee pain in active youngsters starting to grow into adolescents and later adults. One such 11-year-old male person in our family has begun experiencing some pain in his lower knee just below his kneecap or patella, espe…
This Hint will be an effort to explain briefly the SARS-CoV-2 omicron BA.5 viral subvariant. (That’s a mouthful, especially after just finishing lunch.) In the last week I have found at least one article per day on BA.5 and its closely related BA.4 cousin. People are SOO done with COVID and …
One of the perplexing problems of this COVID pandemic that has been pondered since its beginning is the odd person out who is unquestionably exposed to the virus and never gets sick or tests positive in any way or at any time. In checking Google for references, there were a remarkable number…
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So, where are we now on this microbial merry-go-round of mutating, mystifying viruses that we have been living and riding with the past two and a half years? The first ride was a death defying and death riddled roller coaster dive into medical mayhem and terror. That slowed down. Then came t…
They are finally here! Vaccinations against COVID-19 were at last approved for the youngest people ages 6 months to 5 years old. Studies in children have been done showing definite protective benefits and no major adverse reactions occurring. The first step was the FDA approval after an advi…
A new study from Germany calculating how many possible COVID germs could be excreted during exercise in a gym setting was published just recently in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Growing up on our Jackson County farm in the 1970s, a bald eagle sighting was something to behold. There were not many eagles left.
Growing up on our Jackson County farm in the 1970s, a bald eagle sighting was something to behold. There were not many eagles left.
Maybe it’s time for a break from writing about COVID almost every week for 2½ years. This inspiration, if you will, came after meeting people out walking, a couple of whom asked, “Say can you take a look at something (on my skin)?” My reply always is “Sure,” because if someone has something …
So, what’s the monkey business over the news of monkeypox (MP) infections? It really is not funny stuff.
Since the beginning of COVID, “guesstimates” have been made about the number and percentage of asymptomatic COVID infections that never produce any illness, but still cause a person to be infected. This has been true for any and every infectious organism in any population, because each perso…
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