/oss/taxonomy/term/1894/all en /oss/article/covid-19-medical/theres-more-covid-death-rate <hr /> <p><em>This article was originally posted in the <a href="https://montrealgazette.com/opinion/columnists/christopher-labos-theres-more-to-covid-than-the-death-rate">Montreal Gazette.</a></em></p> Wed, 27 Jul 2022 18:06:06 +0000 Christopher Labos MD, MSc 9190 at /oss /oss/article/covid-19-health-and-nutrition/great-covid-19-immunity-test-kit <p>The kit arrives in the mail. You swab the inside of your cheek and mail it back. Two weeks later, the company emails you a report. You are told you have a 2% risk of getting COVID-19 and a 5% chance of passing the virus on to another person. The report claims these risks will never change. You decide that the risk is low enough and return to your pre-pandemic lifestyle.</p> Sat, 23 Oct 2021 08:00:00 +0000 Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. 8907 at /oss /oss/article/covid-19-health/what-wont-protect-you-covid-19 <hr /> <p>This article was first published in <a href="https://montrealgazette.com/opinion/columnists/christopher-labos-what-wont-protect-you-from-covid-19">The Montreal Gazette.</a></p> <hr /> <p>In the early days of the pandemic, one of the big worries was the possibility that COVID-19 could survive and be spread by inanimate objects. This idea of fomite transmission led many to disinfect their groceries, put their mail in quarantine for three days before opening it, and worry excessively about touching any physical surface.</p> Fri, 16 Apr 2021 21:47:54 +0000 Christopher Labos MD, MSc 8705 at /oss /oss/article/covid-19-health/loss-smell-and-covid-19-80-those-infected-sars-cov-2-virus-report-losing-their-sense-smell <hr /> <p class="note"><strong>Take-home message:</strong><br /> -30 to 80% of people with COVID-19 report loss of smell, known as anosmia.<br /> -The likely targets of the SARS-CoV-2 virus are supporting cells in the nose that support growth of the nerve cells that allow us to smell<br /> -Anosmia treatments being studied include: Retraining the brain to smell, calming nasal inflammation and finding ways to regrow damaged nasal cells</p> Wed, 14 Apr 2021 21:44:10 +0000 Gaia Remerowski, MS, Science Journalism 8700 at /oss /oss/article/covid-19-student-contributors-health/giving-worried-sick-whole-new-meaning <p>Everybody experiences stress differently, from the circumstances that cause it, to the ways that we cope with it. What doesn’t differ is that we all experience it, one way or another. There are a multitude of reasons why we get stressed: academic deadlines, social pressures and work-related responsibilities.</p> Fri, 09 Apr 2021 19:44:07 +0000 Cat Wang 8694 at /oss /oss/article/not-all-viruses-are-villains <p></p><p></p> Mon, 16 Nov 2020 18:53:35 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 8489 at /oss /oss/article/health-nutrition/good-bacteria-prevent-flu-interpreting-data-messy <p><span>“We have a ton of studies that have shown that eating [Danone’s DanActive yogurt with </span><span><em>L. casei probiotics</em>] at a dose of about two containers per day can actually decrease your incidence and severity of things like cold and flu.”</span></p> <p><span>So claimed postdoctoral fellow Mary Scourboutakos on the investigative program</span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMz2aVBdKJQ"> <em>CBC Marketplace</em></a>, which aired on April 6.</p> <p><span>“A ton of studies”?</span></p> Thu, 24 May 2018 14:52:45 +0000 Jonathan Jarry, MSc 7105 at /oss /oss/article/you-asked/should-we-be-anti-all-anti-microbial-products <p>We received a question about antibacterial soaps, namely why should or shouldn’t we be using them? And if we’re supposed to avoid antibacterial soap, why is Purell, an antimicrobial agent, allowed?</p> Thu, 08 Feb 2018 15:29:04 +0000 Ada McVean B.Sc. 6919 at /oss /oss/article/health-and-nutrition/h3n2-influenza-why-it-called-h3n2 <p>It may seem as if flu viruses get chosen based on a sluggish and never-ending game of bingo.</p> <p>H1N1? … Does anyone have H1N1?</p> <p>The next number is… H7N9. Please check your cards, the number is H7N9….</p> <p>H5N1… do we have a bingo? Please bring your card in to be validated. The prizes tonight include congestion, fever, and sore throat.</p> <p>The majority of flu cases this season are said to be “A(H3N2)”. Who comes up with these designations and what do they mean? As is often (but not always) the case in science, there is a method to this apparent madness.</p> Tue, 09 Jan 2018 23:49:20 +0000 Jonathan Jarry, MSc 6876 at /oss /oss/article/did-you-know-health/categorization-pathogens <p>Some pathogens are much more dangerous to handle than others, which has led to their classification for laboratory purposes into categories. Category 4, the most dangerous, contains those potentially fatal viruses where no treatment is available, for example Lassa, Ebola, Marburg, smallpox. These call for total isolation and maximum security. Category 3 includes viruses such as hepatitis, HIV, rabies, bacteria like M. tuberculosis, anthrax, and plague, and some fungi and protozoa; these are handled in separate laboratories.</p> Wed, 24 May 2017 23:13:36 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 2486 at /oss /oss/article/controversial-science-health-history-news-quirky-science/strange-treatments <p style="text-align:justify"><a href="http://blogs.mcgill.ca/oss/files/2014/12/illness.png"><img alt="illness" height="150" src="http://blogs.mcgill.ca/oss/files/2014/12/illness-150x150.png" width="150" /></a> Today we have a pretty good grasp of what causes illness. We know about infections, carcinogens, pollution, genetics, anatomical abnormalities and the consequences of a poor diet. We also have effective pharmaceutical and surgical treatments, albeit not always as effective as we would like. But at least they are based upon science. But that has only been the case since we’ve had a good grasp on how the body functions, which is basically the last hundred or so years. Before that desperate people resorted to some pretty wacky treatments, at least wacky in retrospect. At the time I suppose they seemed rational. The ancient Greeks introduced the idea of “like cures like,” later adopted by homeopaths. A poisonous snake was unaffected by its own poison, so Greek physicians believed snakebite should be treated by applying the flesh of a snake, or a concoction made by boiling a snake, to the wound.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">This same principle was used in the fourteenth century when Europe was struck by the Black Death. This plague which killed about a million and a half people in Britain alone was believed to be spread by bad smells. That of course was not the case. The plague is a bacterial infection that is spread by fleas which live on rodents such as rats. Rodents are more likely to inhabit filthy areas which smell so there may actually be an association between the plague and smells but the smell does not cause the disease. Nevertheless, the belief was that the disease was caused by deadly vapors, and in the spirit of like cures like, the foul vapors could be warded off by other evil smells. Some physicians even recommended keeping goats inside homes to produce a therapeutic stink. Even more bizarre was the suggestion of using human flatus which was supposed to be stored in a jar and inhaled when the plague struck. How people were supposed to make the collection isn’t clear.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">The flatus treatment sounds just about as crazy as a doctor’s recommendation in 1728 for curing coughs with snail syrup. Take garden snails, early in the morning while the dew is upon them, he said, take off their shells; slit them; and with half a pound of sugar, put them in a bag and hang them in a cellar and the syrup will melt and drop through, ready to be swallowed when a cough appears. That recommendation is about as hard to swallow as the snail juice. Modern science hasn’t wiped out all outlandish therapies. In Hong Kong snake soup remains the remedy for a cold with venomous snakes like the king cobra being the most highly prized ingredient. Sometimes a living snake is skinned and the gall bladder removed to be used as a cure-all. The treatment does have a dangerous side effect. Escape of snakes from shops is a problem.</p> <p><a href="http://blogs.mcgill.ca/oss/2014/12/06/strange-treatments">Read more</a></p> Sat, 06 Dec 2014 21:45:10 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 2218 at /oss /oss/article/news/time-flu-shot <p>Influenza is a nasty illness. It isn’t just a bad cold. This viral infection kills up to half a million people in the world every year. And that’s in a good year. In a bad year, like 1968, the Hong Kong flu killed a million people and back in 1918-20 the Spanish Flu sickened about 500 million and resulted in over 20 million deaths. So it seems that if there is an effective way to reduce the risk of catching and spreading this nasty bug we should take advantage of it. And there is. The annual flu vaccine. Does it work 100 percent of the time? No. No medication does.</p> Thu, 22 Nov 2012 21:05:03 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 1829 at /oss