PinnedMember-onlyQuo Vadis, Corona?No evil lasts a hundred years. — On the current pandemic, saturation affects the general population and front-line health care providers. There is a fed-up among people about SARS-CoV-2 and its many circumstances: political, economic, media, and health. All we need is breath! It is not prudent playing to be Nostradamus or pretending to guess the future…Coronavirus6 min readCoronavirus6 min read
PinnedMember-onlyLetter from a recent deceased.About the tragedy of the elderly besieged by the coronavirus. ‘Señores’ ―said Don Quixote― no so fast because in the nests of yesteryear there are no birds this year. Don Quixote (Chap. LXXIV) Dear all: While you are at home self-protecting from the crowned virus (Are you?), I died. I…Covid 195 min readCovid 195 min read
PinnedMember-onlyIs the Columbian hypothesis about the much-disputed origin of Syphilis a remote fake news?In the history of medicine, some issues caused great controversy when they surged. It usually occurs in science in general. Time is a great sculptor of life’s avatars. It usually resolves the conflicts, but, occasionally, some disputes are perennial. An excellent example of a non-resolved argument is Syphilis’s geographical origin…Syphilis8 min readSyphilis8 min read
PinnedMember-onlyLes poètes mauditsThe writing process is not always a creative art. — I want to vindicate a forgotten and excellent writer: Heinrich von Kleist. Literature, like life, is unjust and cruel on many occasions. When I speak of literature, I am referring to the creative art of oral or written expression. I compare literature to life because, according to John, the evangelist…Heinrich Von Kleist7 min readHeinrich Von Kleist7 min read
PinnedMutate or die, stupid!Mutations are like identity cards of many viruses. — Viruses do not mutate because they want to do it. It is a random phenomenon of nature. Life’s avatars live in a combination fortuitous of four letters. They are Adenine (A), Guanine (G), Cytosine ©, Thymine (T) in the DNA, and A, G, C, and Uracil (U) in the RNA…Coronavirus5 min readCoronavirus5 min read
Published in Microbial Instincts·Dec 12, 2022Member-onlyTriennium: A 3-year Pandemic RecapAlthough time seemed to stand still, many things happened in the last three years. — The current month of December 2022 will mark the first three years since newscasts around the world, social networks, and the communication offices of official health agencies spread a news item of unsuspected scope at the time. It was the outbreak of a new epidemic infection in a populous Chinese…Coronavirus23 min readCoronavirus23 min read
Published in Microbial Instincts·Nov 2, 2022Member-onlyThere is Life Beyond the Coronavirus Spike ProteinThe accessory proteins matter. — As is well known and repeated countless times in many publications, the SARS-CoV-2 genome is one of the largest among RNA viruses (about twice as large as most) because it totals about 30,000 nucleotides (29.9 kilobases or kb). Moreover, it is a feature shared with other genera (SARS-CoV-2 belongs to…Coronavirus12 min readCoronavirus12 min read
Published in Microbial Instincts·Oct 28, 2022Member-onlyVisceral Fat Cells Are Highly Prone to SARS-CoV-2 InfectionOne more reason to lose weight, Mr. Pickwick. — “Mr. Pickwick awoke the next morning, there was not a symptom of rheumatism about him.” When discussing cardiovascular risk factors, it is common to cite obesity as one of the most important. It is associated with metabolic syndrome, insulin resistance, and diabetes mellitus. Similarly, in infectious medicine, obesity also occupies…Sars Cov 28 min readSars Cov 28 min read
Published in Microbial Instincts·Oct 22, 2022Member-onlyOn Monkeys, Semen, and Home Fomites.Viruses, true professionals of evolution, do not rest on the weekend. — “Evolution never looks to the future.” (Richard Dawkins). “Viruses are blind.” (self-citation, with apologies for the audacity) Once upon a time in the days of AIDS. Some two decades ago, an international congress on AIDS shook the unstable social calm. Someone suggested sharing glasses and other utensils could contaminate the AIDS virus (HIV). …Pox5 min readPox5 min read
Published in ILLUMINATION·Jul 9, 2022Member-onlyDid Some Infectious Diseases Names Descend from Monkey?When the illness terminology is an aggression against the ‘other.’ — It is a long-established custom in international medical literature to define many infectious diseases with a geographical name. Sometimes it refers to a city (Marburg, in Germany) or town (Lyme, in Connecticut, USA). It can also be a country, state, or nation (Crimea, Democratic Republic of Congo) or a specific…Monkeypox14 min readMonkeypox14 min read
