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Alan Baxter ♛

@AlanBixter

Apr 18

I have been made aware of a major risk factor some people have that makes COVID a more serious risk for them than for others. As far as I know, there has not been a systematic study to quantify this risk, nor been any public health attempt to warn this group. /2

About 25% of the adult population have a patent foramen ovale. This is a hole between the left and right atria (upper chambers) of the heart. This hole exists in everyone before birth, but most often closes shortly after being born. /3

Normally, a PFO is not a significant problem. A small proportion of blood might pass through it from right to left sides of the heart, by-passing the lungs, but the proportion of air not oxygenated is not functionally significant. /4

Read 14 tweets

Alan Baxter ♛

@AlanBixter

Apr 9

https://twitter.com/CrabbBrendan/status/1777298243048927396

Prof Crab and I took a very similar set of domestic strategies to deal with COVID. I thought I might summarize them below: /2

https://twitter.com/CrabbBrendan/status/1777298243048927396

But first, some basic principles: 1) COVID is primarily transmitted by aerosols - minute micro-droplets that waft in the air like cigarette smoke. 2) It is transmitted from an infected person to an uninfected person. /3

3) Some infected people are much more likely to transmit infections than other people. 4) Some locations are much more likely to allow transmission of infections. 5) Some behaviors are much more likely to allow transmission of infections. /4

Read 16 tweets

Alan Baxter ♛

@AlanBixter

Dec 1, 2023

This is a tricky post. This time, 4 years ago, I was contacted by a person in a major government scientific organization. They said that they (pleural) had tried to warn the (then Morrison) government of an outbreak of a SARS-like virus in China. /2

They said that they had been warned directly by Chinese scientists, who were greatly concerned about the possibility of the disease spreading. They said that the government had not responded. /3

To put this in context, this was around the time of many major bush fires (Hawaii) resulting in a heavy demand for face masks. I posted the alert on Twitter & attempted to purchase N95/P2 masks from pharmacies. /4

Read 6 tweets

Alan Baxter ♛

@AlanBixter

Sep 30, 2023

HOW TO USE COVID RATS.
The RATs that work best, test for the presence of COVID Nucleocapsid protein, a viral protein coat that surrounds the viral genome. It's function is critical for viral replication, so unlike the Spike protein, it has very little tolerance of mutation. /2

That means that these tests, by and large, work as well as they always did. Many people have the experience of feeling ill, testing, and finding they have a negative RAT, and then subsequently getting more ill, retesting, and finding that the RAT now tests positive. /3

The issue is that the tests were designed with a sensitivity that worked early in the pandemic, before vaccination and immunity from prior infection reduced viral replication in people infected. /4

Read 5 tweets

Alan Baxter ♛

@AlanBixter

Sep 22, 2023

I had an GP appointment today. At the end of it, he asked me what I thought that we were experiencing outbreaks of unusual infections - his example was adults with childhood infections, mine was infections normally restricted to those immunocompromised, like monkey pox. /2

So I told him about the effect of COVID on the immune system: the widespread activation of CD4 T cells leaving them prone to activation induce cell death, and the fact that in adults, the thymus involutes, shutting down production of new T cells. /3

He looked shocked and asked me how long that state would last, and I told him that there is no particular reason why it would reverse, and that it clearly lasts as long as the pandemic as been around, so at least 3 years. Then he asked me to check their air filtration.

Read 7 tweets

Alan Baxter ♛

@AlanBixter

Aug 4, 2023

Let's take a hypothetical: Imagine there was a hopelessly corrupt village that happened to be the capital of a small kingdom, rules by a chronically dishonest lay about. /2

And let's say - just as a hypothetical - than in addition to the very many other accusations of sexual assault that have not yet been investigated by the principal guards of the kingdom, one came to the interest of the king. /3

And so the legal processes - such as they were - set about trying the accused, but the people responsible for ensuring this done went to great lengths to say what a lovely bloke he was. /4

Read 10 tweets

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