Barts-MS rose-tinted-odometer: zero-★s The scale and intensity of the 2nd or 3rd wave of COVID-19 in London, the SouthEast of England and now in the remainder of the UK is worrying. It is being blamed on a new more infectious ‘British’ variant of SARS-CoV-2. This variant has many more mutations in its RNA genome and resulting changes in its protein structure. Most pundits are confident that this...
People are usually diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) between 20 to 40 years of age, the prime working years of an adult. However, fewer than 50% of people with MS remain at work after 10 years of diagnosis, decreasing to 20-40% after 15 years. Apart from the number of people that become unemployed after a diagnosis of MS, there is also a large proportion of people that need to reduce their...
On Saturday Professor Giovannoni was involved in an accident and sustained a minor head injury, fractured cervical spine, fractured pelvis and several soft tissue contusions. He was struck by a motorcycle travelling at high-speed whilst he was out running. As a result, he will be off work for several weeks and is likely to return to work in January 2021 or later after a period of rehabilitation...
Barts-MS rose-tinted-odometer: ★★★ The ABN have updated their COVID-19 guidelines, which are beginning to move towards the evidence. However, the guidance on cladribine is not supported by the evidence nor the science, i.e. how cladribine actually works and its impacts the immune system. The latest guidance states “the risk of severe COVID-10 disease is increased for many months after...
In the face of a second lock down Europe is waking up to the realization that COVID19 is now here to say. If something is here to say, the chances are that it would become the norm. For most this will mean wearing face masks, limiting social contact and being careful on a day to day based on background population infection rates. For those with MS and others on regular immunosuppressants, things...
I would like to say thank you, thank you and thank you for your kind donations towards the Barts-MS coronavirus antibody study. With gift aid, we have now passed the £10,000 milestone and will be able to start the first phase of the study. This is great news. To raise the additional money I won’t be running a double-marathon, but we have taken up your suggestion of hosting a series of...
Thank you for being such kind and generous supporters for our Barts-MS COVID-19 antibody study. It is clear that Prof G running the virtual NYC marathon this weekend, or next, depending on the weather, is not going to get us to the finish line. Therefore, we are going to take your advice and launch Barts-MS webinars. The webinar idea was suggested by one of you in the comments when we launched...
Barts-MS rose-tinted-odometer: ★ The reason why so many people are coming down with COVID-19 and the second-surge is truly surging is the observation that three-quarters of people who are actively shedding SARS-CoV-2, i.e. have positive tests, are asymptomatic at the time of testing (see the latest study below). In summary, having symptoms suggestive of COVID-19 is a very poor marker of whether...
Barts-MS rose-tinted-odometer: ★★★ I had to have a detailed discussion with a patient this week about starting ocrelizumab during the COVID-19 pandemic. This patient was concerned about (1) the data showing an increased risk of COVID-19 in anti-CD20 treated patients, (2) an increasing number of cases not seroconverting when being infected with the coronavirus and (3) she will not be able to have...
Barts-MS rose-tinted-odometer: ★★★★★ “Did you hear that Professor Giovannoni dropped dead after attempting to complete the virtual New York Marathon trying to raise money for a multiple sclerosis research project?” “Prog G finally throws in the towel and arranges to see an orthopaedic surgeon about his failing right hip. His attempt to complete a marathon to raise money for MS research was one...