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Scientists find clues on why COVID vaccine causes chronic health problems in some

Scientists find clues on why COVID vaccine causes chronic health problems in some

Fox News24-02-2025

For a majority of people, the COVID vaccine doesn't cause adverse health effects — but a small percentage experience chronic symptoms that can last for months or even years.
Yale researchers recently made some discoveries about why certain people experience this condition, which they have dubbed "post-vaccination syndrome" (PVS).
In early findings, the team recognized "potential immunological patterns" that are unique to people with PVS. The hope is that this discovery will help to enable future treatments and therapies for those who are affected.
"This work is still in its early stages, and we need to validate these findings," said co-senior study author Akiko Iwasaki, Sterling Professor of Immunobiology at Yale School of Medicine, in a press release.
"But this is giving us some hope that there may be something that we can use for diagnosis and treatment of PVS down the road."
People with this condition may suffer from excessive fatigue, exercise intolerance, brain fog, insomnia and dizziness, according to the Yale researchers.
These typically develop within a day or two of vaccination and can worsen over time.
"It's clear that some individuals are experiencing significant challenges after vaccination. Our responsibility as scientists and clinicians is to listen to their experiences, rigorously investigate the underlying causes, and seek ways to help," said co-senior author Harlan Krumholz, professor of cardiology at YSM, in the release.
"Post-vaccination syndrome is real, and has been found [to occur] from many vaccines, including COVID," Dr. Marc Siegel, clinical professor of medicine at NYU Langone Health and Fox News senior medical analyst, told Fox News Digital.
The researchers analyzed blood samples from 42 study participants who experienced symptoms of PVS and 22 who did not.
Those with symptoms were shown to have lower levels of two types of white blood cells. People with PVS who had never had COVID also had lower levels of antibodies against the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, likely because they tended to have fewer vaccine doses, according to the release.
"Post-vaccination syndrome is real, and has been found [to occur] from many vaccines."
"Fewer vaccine doses and no viral infection means the body's immune system has had little opportunity to develop a defense to the virus," said the researchers.
Some of the people with PVS also had higher levels of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, which enables the virus to penetrate and infect host cells. This has also been linked to a higher risk of developing long COVID.
"We don't know if the level of spike protein is causing the chronic symptoms, because there were other participants with PVS who didn't have any measurable spike protein — but it could be one mechanism underlying this syndrome," said Iwasaki.
In addition to the elevated spike proteins, other factors could increase the risk of post-vaccination syndrome. Those include autoimmunity, tissue damage and reactivation of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), the researchers wrote.
"Akiko Iwasaka is a world-renowned immunologist at Yale who has studied COVID (and COVID vaccines) extensively," Siegel pointed out.
"In this new study, she reports that in a very small percentage of those who received COVID vaccines (and experienced prolonged side effects), there may be the presence of persistent spike protein," Siegel confirmed.
"They may also experience immune disruption, which takes the form of elevations in inflammatory immune cells (CD8 and TN alpha) and a decrease in cells that help resolve inflammation and infection (CD4 helper cells)."
The researchers agreed that more studies are essential to guide diagnosis and treatment.
"We're only just starting to make headway in understanding PVS," said Krumholz. "Every medical intervention carries some risk, and it's important to acknowledge that adverse events can occur with vaccines."
For more Health articles, visit www.foxnews.com/health
"Our focus must remain on understanding what these people are experiencing through rigorous science and addressing the needs of those affected with compassion and an open mind."
Siegel agreed, adding, "This needs to be further studied in terms of understanding how common prolonged COVID vaccine side effects are and how to predict them and treat them."

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Aethlon Medical to Present New Pre-Clinical Data at the Keystone Symposium on Long COVID and Other Post-Acute Infection Syndromes
Aethlon Medical to Present New Pre-Clinical Data at the Keystone Symposium on Long COVID and Other Post-Acute Infection Syndromes

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Aethlon Medical to Present New Pre-Clinical Data at the Keystone Symposium on Long COVID and Other Post-Acute Infection Syndromes

Poster Presentation Reviews the Hemopurifier® Affinity Resin's Ability to Bind Extracellular Vesicles in Long COVID Samples SAN DIEGO, June 9, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Aethlon Medical, Inc. (Nasdaq: AEMD), a medical therapeutic company focused on developing products to treat cancer and life-threatening infectious diseases, today announced that an abstract has been accepted for poster presentation at the Keystone Symposium on Long COVID and Other Post-Acute Infection Syndromes being held at Eldorado Hotel & Spa, Santa Fe, NM, United States, August 10-13,2025 ( Long COVID refers to persistent symptoms following acute SARs-CoV-2 infection (COVID-19). These symptoms - including fatigue, post-exertional malaise, shortness of breath, chest pain and cognitive difficulties such as "brain fog" - may last for weeks or months after the initial illness. Long COVID is estimated to affect between 44 and 48 million people in the United States alone with a projected economic burden of $2 billion for those with symptoms lasting a year. Despite over $1 billion allocated to Long COVID research funding, no treatment has proven effective. Extracellular vesicles (EVs), nanoparticles 50-500nm in diameter, released from all cell types and involved in cell-to-cell communication, have been implicated in the pathogenesis of Long COVID. EVs have been found to contain viral particles and other cargo associated with abnormal blood clotting and inflammation. Aethlon Medical's Hemopurifier® is an investigational extracorporeal device designed to bind and remove harmful EVs from the blood through a combination of plasma separation, size exclusion and binding to a proprietary affinity resin containing the plant lectin Galanthus nivalis agglutinin (GNA), previously found to bind to the sugar mannose. The Hemopurifier has previously been shown to remove EVs in a patient with severe acute COVID-19 infection. Aethlon Medical collaborated with the University of California San Francisco Medical Center Long COVID clinic to evaluate plasma samples from participants with Long COVID and control participants who had fully recovered from COVID-19 in order to examine whether individuals with Long COVID would have EVs with the mannose target on their surface that would bind to the affinity resin in the device. The data to be presented will review the binding of both larger and smaller EVs to GNA lectin and the lectin-based affinity resin, respectively. Presentation details and times are as follows: Title: Extracellular Vesicles from Participants with Long COVID are Mannosylated and Bind to the Galanthus Nivalis Agglutinin Resin in the Aethlon Hemopurifier® Authors: Miguel Pesqueira1, Rosalia de Necochea Campion1, Thomas Dalhuisen2, Emily A. Fehrman2, Jeffrey N. Martin2, Timothy J. Henrich2, Steven G. Deeks2, Michael J. Peluso2, Steven P. LaRosa1 Aethlon Medical Inc., San Diego, CA, USA University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA Presenter: Steven P. LaRosa, M.D, Chief Medical Officer, Aethlon Medical, Number: 2001Date and Time: August 12, 2025, 1930, MDT. This poster will be available following the meeting on the Aethlon Medical, Inc. corporate website at About Aethlon and the Hemopurifier® Aethlon Medical is a medical therapeutic company focused on developing the Hemopurifier, a clinical stage immunotherapeutic device which is designed to combat cancer and life-threatening viral infections and for use in organ transplantation. In human studies, the Hemopurifier has demonstrated the removal of life-threatening viruses and in pre-clinical studies, the Hemopurifier has demonstrated the removal of harmful EVs from biological fluids, utilizing its proprietary lectin-based technology. This action has potential applications in cancer, where EVs may promote immune suppression and metastasis, and in life-threatening infectious diseases. The Hemopurifier is a U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) designated Breakthrough Device indicated for the treatment of individuals with advanced or metastatic cancer who are either unresponsive to or intolerant of standard of care therapy, and with cancer types in which EVs have been shown to participate in the development or severity of the disease. The Hemopurifier also holds an FDA Breakthrough Device designation, and an open Investigational Device Exemption (IDE) application related to the treatment of life-threatening viruses that are not addressed with approved therapies. Additional information can be found at Company Contact:Jim FrakesChief Executive Officer and Chief Financial OfficerAethlon Medical, Inc. Jfrakes@ Investor Contact:Susan NoonanS.A. Noonan Communications, LLCsusan@ View original content: SOURCE Aethlon Medical, Inc. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data

Ivermectin is now available without a prescription in some places. Good luck finding it.
Ivermectin is now available without a prescription in some places. Good luck finding it.

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Ivermectin is now available without a prescription in some places. Good luck finding it.

Boise, Idaho, pharmacist Matt Murray has no choice but to disappoint the handful of people who call him every day asking for a drug used to treat parasitic worms. He could give them the medication, called ivermectin, but only with a doctor's note. The callers aren't in the throes of an active intestinal worm infestation, Murray said. They simply want access to the pills without having to see a doctor first. 'A lot of people are calling, asking, 'Do you guys have it for sale? Can I buy it? How do I get it?'' said Murray, the director of operations for the independent Customedica Pharmacy. 'Not so much, 'How does it work? What is it for?'' The volume of such calls has increased sharply since mid-April, when Idaho Gov. Brad Little, a Republican, signed a bill into law mandating that ivermectin be available to anyone who wants it over the counter. While the law technically says that pharmacists like Murray can sell the drug over the counter, the Food and Drug Administration hasn't approved it to be used this way. 'I don't feel that we could just sell prescription ivermectin,' Murray said. 'It's not designed or packaged for retail sale.' That hasn't stopped frenzied social media claims about ivermectin's supposed 'miraculous' abilities to cure everything from Covid to cancer. 'Ivermectin eliminated the cancer on the skin of my shoulder and it only took 3 weeks,' one person wrote on X. 'It's also working wonders on my eczema,' another wrote on the platform. Ivermectin has never been formulated or labeled specifically for over-the-counter use, like aspirin or an antacid. Without proper guidance, there is concern that people could overdose on the medication. Interest in using drugs or experimental treatments in unapproved ways has gained steam with Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s appointment as head of the Department of Health and Human Services. Kennedy recently said on a podcast that people should have access to controversial alternative therapies like stem cells and chelation therapy to remove heavy metals from the body. The FDA has warned that neither should be used without oversight from a doctor. The hype has prompted lawmakers in 16 states, including Idaho, to propose and in some cases pass legislation to make the pills readily available for anyone without a prescription. While health insurance covers many prescription drugs, including ivermectin, it doesn't cover over-the-counter medicines. This year, two other GOP-led states — Arkansas and Tennessee — passed over-the-counter ivermectin laws. NBC News called 15 independent pharmacies in those states, plus Idaho, to ask whether pharmacists could provide ivermectin without a prescription. Not a single one said they'd sell the drug over the counter, despite the new laws. All, however, appeared to be sympathetic to the request. One pharmacist in Arkansas took the time to explain that he needed to wait until the FDA provided guidance on over-the-counter ivermectin. Until then, he and all the others said, over-the-counter access to ivermectin would have to wait. Pharmacists say that just because over-the-counter ivermectin is written into law doesn't mean it should be made available to anyone who asks for it. They still rely on federal health guidance. 'Most over-the-counter drugs, especially ones that were prescriptions at one point, go through some FDA approval process,' Murray said. 'In that process, it gets decided what the labeling is going to say,' including warnings and directions. Republican lawmakers in Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Minnesota, Mississippi, New Hampshire, North Carolina, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and West Virginia have also proposed bills to make ivermectin available over the counter. Nearly all would simply permit health care providers and pharmacists to distribute ivermectin without a prescription. Most, like the one proposed in Alabama, would also protect pharmacists from any possible disciplinary action such as fines or license suspension from pharmacy licensing boards for dispensing it. Maine's proposed legislation specifically permits ivermectin to be sold to people who want to try it for Covid, cancer or the flu. Mississippi's bill would limit over-the-counter ivermectin to anyone 18 and older. The drug likely wouldn't be placed on store shelves, but be kept behind pharmacy counters, much like some cold medicines. Even if states do pass laws protecting pharmacists from disciplinary action, like the proposed legislation in Alabama, Murray said that he and his colleagues remain concerned. 'If you dispense something that doesn't have directions or safety precautions on it, who's ultimately liable if that causes harm?' Murray said. 'I don't know that I would want to assume that risk.' The Food and Drug Administration warns that taking large doses of ivermectin 'can be dangerous' and cause vomiting, diarrhea, low blood pressure, seizures, coma and even death. The drug could also interact with other medications like blood thinners, the FDA says. A spokeswoman for CVS Health said that while its pharmacies are able to dispense ivermectin with a prescription, they are 'not currently selling ivermectin over the counter' in any state. Walgreens declined to comment. Ivermectin was discovered by Japanese biochemist Satoshi Ōmura in the 1970s, first as a veterinary drug and then as a groundbreaking treatment for dangerous and disfiguring tropical diseases such as river blindness, as well as tapeworms, scabies and other worm-related infections. Hundreds of millions of people in mostly underdeveloped countries have used it safely with minimal side effects, such as fatigue or diarrhea, for decades. During the pandemic, the true benefit of the drug got twisted and distorted amid a social media frenzy. When mainstream doctors and scientists insisted that ivermectin didn't treat Covid, mostly conservative groups embraced it in direct opposition to public health officials. Podcaster Joe Rogan told his tens of millions of followers that ivermectin worked to cure him of Covid in 2021, prompting many people to seek out the drug as a way to treat mild or moderate cases of the virus. While there was early hope that ivermectin could ease Covid symptoms, it didn't treat respiratory viruses. It still doesn't. Ivermectin has also been touted as a cancer cure. On the same podcast, actor Mel Gibson claimed ivermectin had wiped out Stage 4 cancer in three of his friends. Gibson offered no proof. Some cancer patients believed the promises, with potentially devastating results. 'I tried that last year,' Scott Adams, the creator of the 'Dilbert' comic strip, wrote on X, 'to no effect.' Adams, a vocal Donald Trump supporter, revealed in May that he'd been diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer. 'There are claims of it working, but I am aware of no patient who benefitted from it.' Adams asked his social media followers to stop inundating him with advice to take ivermectin. Adams wrote that his 'odds of survival have probably jumped from zero to 30%' because he decided on a different treatment and will be 'working with top doctors in the field.' When one person pleaded with him in the comments not to discourage people from trying ivermectin, the cartoonist didn't play around: 'Your advice could kill people if they delay other treatments.' There's simply no evidence that ivermectin treats cancer, said Dr. Harold Burstein, a breast oncologist at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. He knows because he's looked for it, without success. Since the Rogan podcast featuring Gibson aired, Burstein has had an uptick in patients asking him about ivermectin. He scoured the medical literature looking for any shred of indication that the drug could be useful to his patients. 'There are exactly zero published clinical trials in a human being on whether ivermectin does or doesn't treat cancer,' Burstein said. 'I can assure you that if any oncologist in America had seen' a benefit to ivermectin, he said, 'they would have been eager to write it up.' Some scientists are indeed trying to figure out whether ivermectin has any impact on cancer outcomes. Researchers at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles have begun a preliminary study combining ivermectin with an immunotherapy drug for patients with metastatic triple-negative breast cancer. Final results aren't expected anytime soon. Ivermectin is manufactured in the U.S. by Merck. The company said in a statement that ivermectin should only be used within the approved FDA framework. 'The use of ivermectin is not supported beyond the doses and populations indicated in the regulatory agency-approved prescribing information,' a Merck spokesperson wrote in an email. Despite the growing push for over-the-counter ivermectin, there's no sales data available for how many people are buying the pills. Focusing on making ivermectin available without a doctor's prescription is the latest in a trend of mostly conservative politicians sidestepping expert medical advice. Utah and Florida, for example, recently banned community water fluoridation, despite decades of widespread evidence that it drastically reduces tooth decay. Dr. Hugh Cassiere, director of critical care services for South Shore University Hospital, part of Northwell Health in New York, said, 'This is about constituents who either heard, read or saw something on social media and now have an idea that this is something good. They're going right to their congressman or senator to demand access.' 'That's not how medicine should work,' he said. Scientists did, in fact, study whether ivermectin helped people with Covid. Dr. Adrian Hernandez, a cardiologist with the Duke Clinical Research Institute in Durham, North Carolina, led a large research project that ultimately showed ivermectin had no benefit in treating acute Covid. 'It's always great that legislators care about the health of the state,' Hernandez said. 'But ivermectin didn't help patients get better any faster.' Hernandez's study was posted on a preprint server called medRxiv in 2022. Studies posted on the site are considered preliminary because they haven't been peer-reviewed. A second 2022 paper published by the New England Journal of Medicine found that Covid patients treated with ivermectin weren't any less likely to be hospitalized than people who didn't get the drug. A third study that did suggest a benefit was later retracted because it contained fraudulent data, according to the publisher. None of this stopped many from demanding access to the drug. During the pandemic, hospitals reported a spike in patients who had been poisoned after taking veterinary-grade ivermectin intended for livestock. Two deaths in New Mexico were linked to the drug. Even the FDA warned that high doses of ivermectin can cause seizures, coma and death. 'You are not a horse. You are not a cow. Seriously, y'all. Stop it,' the FDA tweeted on Aug. 21, 2021. The controversial post was later deleted but can still be accessed through web archives. A Merck spokesperson said the drug shouldn't be used for anything other than clearing parasitic infestations. Northwell Health's Cassiere said medications, especially ivermectin, should only be used after talking with a qualified health care provider, no matter how politicians vote. 'If you're not an expert, if you did not go to medical school, nurse practitioner school, physician assistant school, and don't have the proper training, then you should not be recommending therapies outside of that expertise,' he said. 'Are you going to get a bank loan at the deli on the corner? I don't think so.' This article was originally published on

Why has there been a global surge of new Covid variant NB.1.8.1?
Why has there been a global surge of new Covid variant NB.1.8.1?

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Why has there been a global surge of new Covid variant NB.1.8.1?

India is the latest country to report a surge in new Covid cases, as the latest variant NB.1.8.1 spreads across the globe. Cases have now been reported in Asian countries such as Thailand, Indonesia and China, while the UKHSA recorded the first 13 cases in England last week. However, the true numbers are unlikely to be known, given the significant decrease in the number of people testing compared to the figures seen during the global pandemic five years ago. NB.1.8.1 stemmed from the Omicron variant and was first detected in January this year. It has quickly spread across China and Hong Kong, and has now been recorded in several states across the United States and Australia. By late April, NB.1.8.1 comprised about 10.7 per cent of submitted sequences globally, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). This rose from just 2.5 per cent one month before. The WHO declared the NB.1.8.1 strain a 'variant under monitoring' on 23 May, which means scientists believe it could potentially affect the behaviour of the virus. Lara Herrero, a virologist from Griffith University in Australia, suspects that NB.1.8.1 spreads more easily than other variants. 'Using lab-based models, researchers found NB.1.8.1 had the strongest binding affinity to the human ACE2 receptor of several variants tested, suggesting it may infect cells more efficiently than earlier strains,' Dr Herrero wrote last month in The Conversation. Dr Chun Tang, GP at Pall Mall Medical, added: 'NB.1.8.1 isn't too different from the Omicron variant, but it does have some tweaks to its spike protein, which might make it spread a bit more easily or slip past some of our existing immunity. 'That said, early signs suggest it doesn't seem to cause more serious illness, but of course, we're still learning more about it.' 'Its spread has been identified in around 22 countries,' said Dr Naveed Asif, GP at The London General Practice. 'The WHO assesses the additional risk to the global public as currently low, and existing Covid-19 vaccines are considered effective in preventing severe disease.' However, Nimbus does appear to be more transmissible than previous variants, with notable increases reported in India, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Thailand, notes Dr Asif. Common symptoms of the NB.1.8.1 variant include a severe sore throat. fatigue, mild cough, fever, muscle aches and congestion. It has also been reported that some patients have experienced gastrointestinal symptoms such as nausea and diarrhoea. Healthcare experts have stressed, however, that there is no evidence that the new strain is more deadly or serious than previous variants, and that current Covid vaccines are expected to remain effective and protect anyone infected from severe illness.

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