On leap year day last year, I posted a blog about a respiratory-borne illness that had potential to be serious for some of those who have asthma or chronic nasal/sinus symptoms. By reviewing recommended hygienic measures, my expectations were that (a) this illness would just be a bit worse than the 1957-58, 1968, 1976 and 2009...
As 2021 starts, COVID-19 continues. But, so does the rollout of the two vaccines—one from PfizerBioNTech and one from Moderna-- that have been developed from the messenger RNA (mRNA) of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. The PfizerBioNTech vaccine is under emergency use authorization (EUA) for those 16 and older. The Moderna vaccine is...
Last month, one of my patients who has an immunodeficiency said she takes melatonin and asked me if there is a beneficial effect of melatonin on the immune system. The subject came up a few weeks later—around October 1st--in the media when melatonin was mentioned as part of a certain individual’s initial treatment for COVID-19. Since...
I had planned to write this month about the latest research in biologic therapy for allergic diseases—the theme of this year’s annual meeting of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology during March 13th-March 16th in Philadelphia. That plan changed at 4:10pm on Sunday March 8th when I received an e-mail announcing that...
Unless someone has lived under the proverbial rock in the past month and does not obtain current event information, or is not even seeing the financial markets’ numbers from this past week, we are all aware in the USA of the novel coronavirus (named on February 11th as COVID-19) outbreak that began in China about 2 months ago. We are...