{"id":9282,"date":"2026-02-22T19:18:40","date_gmt":"2026-02-23T00:18:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/llcspace.site\/?p=9282"},"modified":"2026-02-22T19:18:46","modified_gmt":"2026-02-23T00:18:46","slug":"this-week-in-public-health-50","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/llcspace.site\/?p=9282","title":{"rendered":"This Week in Public Health"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Here is <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/SrLLFgMq1es?si=4LrwU39U-2LoG9Jr\">Dr. Klotman&#8217;s Week 309 video address<\/a>. My comments follow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Vaccination Schedule<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li class=\"\">28 states and DC are following the legacy childhood vaccination schedule and ignoring the CDC&#8217;s <br>&#8220;faux ACIP&#8221; recommendations<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"\">Recent surveys of the public show that trust in the CDC and its recommendations have fallen to a post-pandemic era low<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"\">Today, 50% of Americans express distrust in CDC recommendations<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"\">Trust in vaccines has also declined. Trust in Polio and MMR vaccines is still high, but it falls for Hepatitis B, Influenza, and COVID vaccines. That&#8217;s most unfortunate since those three diseases have a high burden of vaccine-preventable mortality<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Shingles vaccine<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li class=\"\">Shingles vaccine appears to reduce some biological markers of aging<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"\">Six recent research papers suggest that the vaccine can lower the risk of developing dementia<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"\">The risk reduction regarding the development of dementia is 17-20% in at least four studies<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"\">Other studies suggest a 51% risk reduction of dementia among people who received two doses of zoster vaccine<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Leaded or Unleaded?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li class=\"\">A study of coffee drinkers and their risk of developing dementia showed that drinkers of caffeinated coffee had a significantly lower risk of developing dementia. Decaf coffee showed no such risk reduction.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Pets and Stoats<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li class=\"\">Dr. K offers some genetic insights into why some dogs have floppy rather than perky ears<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"\">He also provides some insight into why some dogs have short legs<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"\">Regarding cats, he reports that domestic felines were introduced to Europe only 2,000 years ago<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"\">Stoats are ferret-like mammals that were chosen as the mascots for this year&#8217;s para-Olympics<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Among Dr. K&#8217;s shoutouts during this address was recognition of a Baylor graduate student working in Dr. Mary Estes&#8217; virology lab studying Norovirus. The student developed an effective way of growing Norovirus &#8211; a necessary step in testing anti-norovirus drugs and vaccines. Kudos to graduate student Gurpreet Kaur!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Personal Note:<\/strong> When our son was an IM resident and ID fellow at BCM, he too worked in Dr Estes&#8217; virology lab studying norovirus and was a co-author on one or more of the lab&#8217;s research papers. I remember that he always complained that they couldn&#8217;t get the damned virus to grow! He studied Norovirus under the electron microscope but studying it in action was always a challenge. That was maybe a decade ago. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Basic science research takes decades to yield actionable results because Nature gives up her secrets only reluctantly. This is something that Trump and his cadre of know-nothing, &#8220;short-term thinkers&#8221; cannot understand.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Here is Dr. Klotman&#8217;s Week 309 video address. My comments follow. Vaccination Schedule Shingles vaccine Leaded or Unleaded? Pets and Stoats Among Dr. K&#8217;s shoutouts [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"WB4WB4WP_MODE":"","WB4WP_PAGE_SCRIPTS":"","WB4WP_PAGE_STYLES":"","WB4WP_PAGE_FONTS":"","WB4WP_PAGE_HEADER":"","WB4WP_PAGE_FOOTER":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9282","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>This Week in Public Health - Musings<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"This Week in Public Health - Musings\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Here is Dr. Klotman&#8217;s Week 309 video address. 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