Here is Dr. Klotman’s Week 173 COVID update. Sporadic COVID outbreaks continue to occur – nobody should be surprised. The SARS-CoV-2 virus is still mutating and will continue to do so. Fortunately, America’s immunity status is somewhere in the mid-90% range – partly due to infections and partly due to vaccination. There’s a lot of hybrid immunity as well (folks who had both vaccination and infection). China is not so lucky.
The wastewater viral levels have begun to increase across the country suggesting many more infections, but without big increases in hospitalizations or deaths, we are probably looking at an increase in mild infections from strains that are able to partially escape our acquired immune defenses – particularly new strains like XBB.1.5, XBB.1.16 and a newer EG.5 strain. All are variants of the Omicron lineage.
Florida has recently reported six cases of locally acquired Malaria, and Texas has had one in Cameron County (the Texas Valley that is home to SpaceX, and more importantly, to my friend Cornelio). In the Week 173 video, Dr. Klotman mentions that Plasmodium falciparum is the most severe form of the Malaria parasite. This is true, but the Cameron County case was caused by Plasmodium Vivax – a somewhat less nasty species of the malarial parasite. Vivax is endemic to parts of South America from Columbia through Central America. Is it possible that these locally-acquired cases are due to climate change? Maybe, but more likely they are the result of human migration and travel.
It’s been so mercilessly hot that most of us dare not venture out except in the early mornings and evenings. All I can say is, protect yourselves from mosquitoes when you are out during those hours – that’s when the she-devil mosquitoes are out looking for a good bloodmeal.