Would knowing that you were anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibody-positive change your behaviour? The WHO and other public health agencies are trying to play down the importance of having antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 saying they don’t yet have the data to say these antibodies protect you from reinfection. Yes and no. No in that we don’t have data yet in relation to SARS-CoV-2, but YES in relation to other viral...
As you are aware that about 30% of people with COVID-19 present with loss of smell (anosmia) and/or loss of taste (ageusia). The loss of smell happens because the coronavirus damages the nerve endings in the olfactory epithelium in the nose. The good news is that it looks like most people recover their sense of smell and taste, but the recovery can take many months. At present we don’t know how...
Dare you disagree with Government guidelines? The following are excerpts of the new guidelines posted last night on the Government’s website. Unfortunately, people on ‘immunosuppression therapies sufficient to significantly increase the risk of infection’ are still on the list with no justification of what this risk should be. Based on the experience emerging from pwMS getting...
Don’t mention the C-word as it raises unnecessarily high expectations is what many of my colleagues say. I don’t agree with them. Showing we have cured, or not cured, MS is how we will ultimately test the hypothesis that MS is an autoimmune disease. People with MS (pwMS) want a cure. However, even if we have an MS cure in hand we may not prevent or reverse progressive disease. ...
Today is World MS Day 2020 and its theme is ‘connections’. MS Connections are about building community connection, self-connection and connections to quality care. The event is coordinated by the MSIF, who want to challenge social barriers that leave pwMS feeling lonely and socially isolated. Together, they are advocating for better services and are celebrating support networks. Another action...
I am trying something new instead of blogging, i.e. a podcast and a vlog. This week I cover some initial thoughts on how COVID-19 has affected MS Services and potentially MS research.
Gavin Giovannoni · #COVIDMS Friday #11 lockdown
CoI: multiple
Because cladribine and alemtuzumab are classified as immune reconstitution therapies (IRTs), and probably work in a similar way, they are tarnished with the same brush. However, cladribine’s immune depletion and reconstitution, and adverse event profile are very different to alemtuzumab’s and therefore cladribine should be considered on its own when weighing up the risks and benefits of...
COVID-19 impact has extended to East Africa. Instead of a face-to-face meeting, the East African Neurologists have moved their CPD (continuing professional development) online in the form or regular webinars. In the past, I would probably have had to travel to East Africa to give a guest lecture at their annual meeting. Post-COVID-19 I can now do this online, which is a much cheaper and greener...
Have we optimised the dose of anti-CD20 therapies to target the real MS or smouldering MS, i.e. disease progression independent of relapse activity (PIRA)? I did an iWiMS webinar on Wednesday covering anti-CD20 therapies and the risk of COVID-19 and severe COVID-19. I covered vaccine responses and how to be vaccine-ready or vaccine responsive to a future SARS-CoV-2 vaccine if you are on an anti...
It is one thing calling for scientists to turbocharge the development of a coronavirus vaccine but quite another to get the population to have the vaccine. The anti-vaxxers are organising rapidly and have started circulating content with false information to achieve their aims. The movie plandemic is one example and is covered in a very good article in the New York Times today. The primary...