Paxlovid is the second new antiviral pill to be approved for Covid in the UK after molnupiravir was approved in November. Again you need to get on drug within about 5 days after symptom onset Apparently according to the media Paxlovid will be made available through 70 new hospital clinics known as NHS Covid medicine delivery units, and sent directly to the door of eligible patients infected. Some...
COVIDMS
If you have MS and live in the UK read this Here are options if you get infected, but you have to get tested (PCR) and act within 5 days of symptom onset…Don’t be the person who spends Christmas and New Year in Hosptial Humoral and cellular immune responses to SARS CoV-2 vaccination in Persons with Multiple Sclerosis and NMOSD patients receiving immunomodulatory treatments Bock, H...
Third Jab and lack of antibody response following anti-CD20 treatment. The same old.
During the COVID pandemic the mantra it seems has been “some immunity is better than no immunity” and so for people taking CD20 depleting antibodies being treated on a 6 monthly cycle the likely reality is that you have produced either no anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies or very low levels of anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies. Therefore, on balance you are likely to have quite poor immunity...
ProfKs Cohort of Off-label Cladribine users
There are three main variants of cladribine. there is oral cladribine marketed under the name of Mavenclad, intravenous cladribine, used in hairy cell leukemia marketed under the name leustatin and subcutaneous cladbribine marked under the name litak and is also used for hairy cell leukemia, which is a B cell cancer. When you eat cladribine you get about 40% of the amount given under the skin or...
DoctorBunny…Is EBV the target in MS?
ProfG has gone off into the sunset to prevent MS and getting rid of Epstein Barr Virus would be one of his favourite approaches. One could test out the approach in MS, but probably it is a bit late for that or maybe in a few school children, but how about animal models. We have said that EBV doesn’t really infect animals. I know this is not quite true as you can get non-human primates...
Block microglia may not always be good
Brutons tyrosine kinase inhibitors are being trialed in progressive MS. What will happen? BTK is not only expressed by B cells but it is also expressed my macrophages. Angy microglia have been considered to be the bad guys in progressive MS, yet they can be the good guys too and you have to remove the myelin debris to get repair. So blocking them could be a good or bad thing. It is going to be a...
Happy Xmas
I just want to say Happy Christmas/Holidays and hope you have a lovely day.
A special thought goes out to those of you stuck at home and self-isolating alone. Hope Santa brought you something fun.
Blocked drains II
When something lands on and penetrates your skin, it is drained down vessels called lymphatics into the lymph glands or is taken there by cells in the skin that gobble the stuff on your skin. In the lymph gland there are cells waiting to be activated in case the something is an infection. The cells then get activated and leave the lymph glands via lymphatic vessels which drain into your blood in...
Blocked Drains an issue for MS. Part I
A decade ago we had the issue of CCSVI, where by it suggested that blocked veins was the cause of MS. People with MS got their veins expanded and claimed success without the need for a neuro. ProfK went straight into the argument to say “hang on a minute” Doepp F, Paul F, Valdueza JM, Schmierer K, Schreiber SJ. No cerebrocervical venous congestion in patients with multiple sclerosis...
MS COVID19 infection and third boosters
Symptomatic infection in CD20/Fingolimod vaccinated individuals More info on MSers gettig COVID-19 and in this study those vaccinate and getting MS were teated with anti-CD20 (ocrelizumab) and fingolimod. This is biology. These two agents are notable because they block antibody responsiveness and it is antibody levels that protect you from infection. To date people have faired reasonably well. If...