News: 2024 Apr 25
Op-Ed in The Hill about ME, Federal Register adds CFS to Neurologic disorders, Neosporin in nose to prevent COVID
Op-Ed about Myalgic Encephalomyelitis in The Hill
Hillary Johnson and Maureen Hanson combined forces to bring awareness about the importance of funding research for Myalgic Encephalomyelitis via an opinion piece in The Hill on April 23, 2024. The Hill is a widely read publication in Washington D.C. Hopefully this will lead to more members of congress having a better understanding of the situation.
The piece titled Sanders’s long COVID funding bill misses opportunity to aid a similar chronic condition gives some of the history (including outbreaks) of ME.
I appreciate they included this basic information about ME. I don’t think this is common knowledge.
“One reason for this neglect has been the public’s failure to understand how high their chances of acquiring Myalgic Encephalomyelitis are and just how serious it actually is. Impaired cognition, a major feature of the disease, results in a devastating loss of mental acuity that interferes with the ability to maintain a semblance of normal life.
Myalgic Encephalomyelitis victims find they cannot exert themselves for the simplest demands of daily life without heightening all their symptoms. Indeed, patients aren’t “tired” — they’re often too weak to stand or walk unaided. Another crippling problem is a lack of blood flow to the brain, a serious circulation defect that can prevent patients from remaining upright without blacking out.”
It is available in audio format HERE.
Hillary Johnson is the journalist who wrote Osler’s Web as well as The Why: The Historic ME/CFS Call To Arms. I recommend following her on Substack HERE. A discussion about the op-ed can be found HERE.
Maureen Hanson researches ME and other diseases at The Cornell Center for Enervating NeuroImmune Disease. She has a long history of quality research and a deep understanding of ME. See some of her research in ME-ICC Info’s list of ME studies HERE.
I wrote about Sen. Sanders’s bill HERE. I highlighted the importance of spending money wisely when researching these various patient groups including the need to stratify patients.
Let’s hope A LOT of the people who have the power to change things see this article and act accordingly.
Federal Register adds Chronic Fatigue Syndrome under Neurological disorders.
I came across an interesting update from the U.S. Federal Register posted on April 23, 2024 labeled:
It states on page 30662:
“We proposed to codify the list of specific conditions (and subconditions) that have been identified as meeting the statutory criteria and avoid ambiguity regarding related but unlisted conditions…”
Then continues on page 30663:
“• Adding fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, and spinal cord injuries to the Neurologic disorders conditions category;”
It is discussed in the National Archives article HERE (page 30448) which states:
“This final rule will revise the Medicare Advantage (Part C), Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit (Part D), Medicare cost plan, and Programs of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE) regulations to implement changes related to Star Ratings, marketing and communications, agent/broker compensation, health equity, dual eligible special needs plans (D-SNPs), utilization management, network adequacy, and other programmatic areas. This final rule also codifies existing sub-regulatory guidance in the Part C and Part D programs.
Effective date: These regulations are effective June 3, 2024.”
I am not clear on what changes this may lead to (if any), but I wanted to bring this update to your attention.
NOTE: In the U.S., CFS is listed under the same ICD coding as ME. So it is my assumption that this will apply to those diagnosed with ME as well. See info HERE to understand the U.S. ICD code G93.32 for ME, CFS, and ME/CFS.
To understand the issue with using the CFS label see my article The meaning of CFS depends on who you ask.
Neosporin in the nose to prevent catching viruses (including COVID)
Over the years I have come across a number of odd health hacks, but I don’t remember seeing this one… or maybe I saw it and rolled my eyes. It looks like this is worth looking into after all.
Akiko Iwasaki from the Yale School of Medicine, posted a thread on Twitter (X) about the study, Intranasal neomycin evokes broad-spectrum antiviral immunity in the upper respiratory tract.
I recommend reading the entire thread on X, but these two posts offer the highlights.
“Preventing infection is the best way to avoid diseases like #PAIS. A new study from our team @tianyangmao, Jooyoung Kim, @marioph13 et al shows that a generic antibiotic neomycin acts on the host immune system in the nose to trigger antiviral resistance.”
“In a nutshell, we showed that over-the-counter cheap generic antibiotic neomycin can be repurposed in nasal formulation to prevent & treat infection, block transmission, and reduce disease burden against a wide array of viruses. Since this is a host-directed strategy and virus-agnostic, it holds promise as a prophylactic strategy against any viral threat.”
From the study’s abstract:
“In this study, we found that intranasal delivery of neomycin, a generic aminoglycoside antibiotic, induces the expression of interferon-stimulated genes (ISGs) in the nasal mucosa that is independent of the commensal microbiota. Prophylactic or therapeutic administration of neomycin provided significant protection against upper respiratory infection and lethal disease in a mouse model of COVID-19.”
An article in U.S. News titled Neosporin Ointment in the Nose Might Be Potent Antibiotic talks about the study. They include the following info:
“A fingerful of Neosporin antibiotic swabbed inside your nose might help you fight off a range of invading respiratory viruses, a new study claims.”
I wish I had known about this sooner. I am highly prone to picking up airborne viruses and this has impacted my life many times over the years. I look forward to more research giving us better options to prevent and treat all viruses.
Until next time…
Colleen
Information provided here or in comments is not to be considered medical advice
We live in interesting times. Thank you for this update.
Great updates, thanks Colleen. Was there a sense that one could simply put some OTC neosporin directly up the nose as a prophylactic? Or does a version have to be specially formulated for the nasal cavity?