West Nile Story 6 Mar 6:04 AM (3 days ago)
by Gertrud U. Rey On February 7, 2025, the world lost Dickson Despommier, a formidable parasitologist, gifted storyteller, and original co-host of the podcast This Week in Virology. Being a life-long learner, Dickson developed a keen interest in medical ecology, an interdisciplinary field that investigates how our ever-changing environment impacts human health. In his book …
Trial By Error: Australian Survey Seeks Input for New ME/CFS Guidelines 3 Mar 12:40 PM (5 days ago)
By David Tuller, DrPH Australia’s National Medical Health and Research Council (NMHRC) recently released what it calls a “scoping survey” as a first step in developing new clinical practice guidelines for ME/CFS. The survey was posted online on February 21st; the deadline for responding is April 27th. The plan calls for the new guidelines to …
Trial By Error: Australian Survey Seeks Input for New ME/CFS Guidelines Read More »
Trial By Error: New Hyped-Up Lightning Process Study from New Zealand 2 Mar 9:19 AM (6 days ago)
By David Tuller, DrPH In January, the Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care published a paper from New Zealand called “An audit of 12 cases of long COVID following the lightning process intervention examining benefits and harms.” It reads like a Lightning Process marketing effort cosplaying as an academic study. As a reminder, the …
Trial By Error: New Hyped-Up Lightning Process Study from New Zealand Read More »
Trial By Error: Some Things I’ve Read Recently… 1 Mar 1:12 PM (7 days ago)
By David Tuller, DrPH With so many people impacted by Long Covid and ME/CFS, it is impossible to keep up with all the non-academic articles, posts, and commentaries out there. The gusher of material is really overwhelming. Given that, sometimes it seems worthwhile to highlight a few things worth reading. (Note: Recommending something as worth …
Trial By Error: Some Things I’ve Read Recently… Read More »
Trial By Error: Trudie Chalder Is Co-Author on Another Bad Exercise Paper 28 Feb 3:36 PM (8 days ago)
By David Tuller, DrPH It is a truth universally acknowledged (or at least universally acknowledged by smart researchers), that if the list of authors on an article includes Trudie Chalder, King’s College London’s mathematically and factually challenged professor of cognitive behavior therapy, then the article in question should most assuredly be expected to be short on, or utterly devoid of, …
Trial By Error: Trudie Chalder Is Co-Author on Another Bad Exercise Paper Read More »
Trial By Error: A Letter to Cochrane’s Editor-in-Chief 20 Feb 10:01 AM (16 days ago)
By David Tuller, DrPH This morning, I e-mailed the following letter to Dr Karla Soares-Weiser, Cochrane’s editor-in-chief, about the decision to abandon a planned update of a review of exercise therapy for ME/CFS. (I cc’d Toby Lasserson, Cochrane’s deputy editor-in-chief.) That decision was made public in an abrupt announcement dumped on the patient community right …
Trial By Error: A Letter to Cochrane’s Editor-in-Chief Read More »
Trial By Error: GET Ideologues Try to Rebut Muscle Abnormality Study–and Fail 15 Feb 8:27 AM (22 days ago)
By David Tuller, DrPH It is a pleasure to read a pointed and effective smack-down of an ill-informed argument, especially when the argument is pushing the graded exercise therapy/cognitive behavior therapy (GET/CBT) paradigm for ME/CFS, Long Covid and related illnesses. That’s how I felt about the excellent rebuttal this week to a letter from some …
Trial By Error: GET Ideologues Try to Rebut Muscle Abnormality Study–and Fail Read More »
Some Things I’ve Read Recently…in STAT, The Sick Times, Van Der Zee’s Blog 14 Feb 12:00 PM (22 days ago)
By David Tuller, DrPH Embedding ME/CFS in NIH’s RECOVER initiative Ian Lipkin is a well-known professor of epidemiology at Columbia University and director of the Center for Solutions for ME/CFS, funded by the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH). In a recent opinion piece for STAT, he and ME/CFS patient advocate Elizabeth Ansell, the founder …
Some Things I’ve Read Recently…in STAT, The Sick Times, Van Der Zee’s Blog Read More »
An Extremely Successful Vaccine Story 6 Feb 5:49 AM (last month)
by Gertrud U. Rey One of the most noteworthy advances in biomedical science is the vaccine for human papillomavirus (HPV). It has significantly changed the diagnostic and prognostic landscape in the field of cervical cancer. Cervical cancer is the fourth most common cancer in women globally, and it is a particular problem in low-income countries …
An Extremely Successful Vaccine Story Read More »
Trial By Error: My Article on the Cochrane Mess in The Sick Times 4 Feb 12:07 PM (last month)
By David Tuller, DrPH In November, 2023, journalists Betsy Ladyzhets and Miles Griffis launched The Sick Times, a publication whose tagline is “chronicling the Long Covid crisis.” Since then, the publication has diligently tracked the political and medical developments of this post-pandemic pandemic and has become a go-to source for intelligent reporting on the situation. …
Trial By Error: My Article on the Cochrane Mess in The Sick Times Read More »
Trial By Error: Professor Edwards’ Letter to BMJ on the Cochrane Mess 2 Feb 7:00 PM (last month)
By David Tuller, DrPH The Cochrane mess, which I wrote about the other day, is threatening to take on a life of its own. Perhaps Cochrane thinks the fuss over the big Christmas “fuck you” it delivered to members of the ME/CFS community will blow over quickly. That could happen, I suppose, but I suspect …
Trial By Error: Professor Edwards’ Letter to BMJ on the Cochrane Mess Read More »
Trial By Error: Norwegian Long Covid Rehab Trial Misrepresents Clinically Insignificant Findings As “Effective” 29 Jan 9:13 PM (last month)
By David Tuller, DrPH If the results for a trial’s primary outcome do not meet the threshold for what is considered a “clinically significant” benefit, it goes without saying—or at least it should–that investigators have no legitimate grounds for promoting their intervention as “effective.” This is especially true when the trial in question is unblinded …
Trial By Error: Cochrane’s Decision on Exercise Review is Hurting Patients, Says Longtime Insider 23 Jan 10:44 PM (last month)
By David Tuller, DrPH I have written frequently about Cochrane, the organization renowned for its systematic reviews of medical interventions, and its deeply flawed review of exercise therapies for ME/CFS–including its decision last month to abandon its commitment to produce a new version. Now Hilda Bastian, an Australia health consumer advocate and longtime Cochrane insider, …
Trial By Error: Interview with Betsy Ladyzhets and Miles Griffis, Founders/Editors of The Sick Times 20 Jan 10:49 AM (last month)
By David Tuller, DrPH In November, 2023, journalists Betsy Ladyzhets and Miles Griffis launched The Sick Times, a publication devoted to, per its tagline, “chronicling the Long Covid crisis.” Both of them had been covering the pandemic, and Griffis had written of his own Long Covid experience. The Sick Times has gained both readers and …
Trial By Error: BMJ Has Corrected the REGAIN Trial Paper–But Not the Editorial or Systematic Review Touting REGAIN’s Findings 16 Jan 9:03 AM (last month)
By David Tuller, DrPH Last February, The BMJ published a paper called “Clinical effectiveness of an online supervised group physical and mental health rehabilitation programme for adults with post-covid-19 condition (REGAIN study): multicentre randomised controlled trial,” from McGregor et al. The study purported to have proven that this multi-disciplinary intervention was “clinically effective” in reducing …
Trial By Error: Video of October Talk in Ireland on How “Biopsychosocial” Research on ME, Long Covid, and Related Illnesses Harms Patients 6 Jan 10:30 AM (2 months ago)
By David Tuller, DrPH In October, I spent 10 days traveling around Ireland and giving a talk called “Bad Science, Bad Medicine: How Flawed Biopsychosocial Studies on ME, Long Covid, etc Harm Patients.” (I wrote about the trip here.) I came as a guest of the Irish ME/CFS Association, which had previously arranged similar tours …
Trial By Error: Some Things I’ve Read Recently–Long Covid and Fertility Issues, Psychotherapy Ethics, How to Fake Your Results 3 Jan 10:40 AM (2 months ago)
By David Tuller, DrPH It’s been a slow period. Here are a few things I’ve read recently… “The pandemic’s untold fertility story” While Long Covid disproportionately affects women, its impact on their reproductive lives has not received the attention the issue deserves. Recently, Australia’s ABC News addressed the issue with a moving piece called “The …
Effect of Diabetes and Obesity on Influenza Outcomes 2 Jan 5:27 AM (2 months ago)
by Gertrud U. Rey Flu season is in full swing, and hospitalizations related to influenza virus infection are on the rise. During the 2009 “swine flu” pandemic it became evident that diabetes and obesity increase one’s risk for severe influenza disease, a correlation that was also later observed in the context of COVID-19. A series …
Effect of Diabetes and Obesity on Influenza Outcomes Read More »
Trial By Error: Cochrane Continues Telling ME/CFS Patients to Go F–k Themselves 23 Dec 2024 12:23 PM (2 months ago)
By David Tuller, DrPH Update/Correction: Below, I initially wrote that Cochrane was lying in describing the update plan as a “pilot project.” However, it turns out that the organization did describe its plan to engage community partners as a “pilot project.” Here’s the statement from March, 2020: “Cochrane is conducting a pilot project for engaging …
Trial By Error: Cochrane Continues Telling ME/CFS Patients to Go F–k Themselves Read More »
Trial By Error: Cochrane Tells ME/CFS Patients to Go F–k Themselves 17 Dec 2024 5:44 PM (2 months ago)
By David Tuller, DrPH Cochrane has just given the finger to the international ME/CFS community. After jerking everyone around and promising for five years to conduct a new review of exercise interventions for the illness, the organization abruptly abandoned that commitment this week. On Monday, Cochrane posted the following message on its website: “In 2019, …
Trial By Error: Cochrane Tells ME/CFS Patients to Go F–k Themselves Read More »
Trial By Error: Agencies Respond to Coroner’s Report in Boothby O’Neill Inquest 11 Dec 2024 3:19 PM (2 months ago)
Update: Maeve’s mum, Sarah Boothby, has commented on this blog. I am posting her comment here: Sorry if this seems picky but Maeve did not die in hospital [DT: Fixed! Not sure how I made this error] and the RDUH Trust document is what we call a treatment pathway. It is the first of its …
Trial By Error: Agencies Respond to Coroner’s Report in Boothby O’Neill Inquest Read More »
Trial By Error: Letter to BMJ Editor Seeking Correction in New Review of Interventions for Long Covid 9 Dec 2024 10:51 AM (2 months ago)
By David Tuller, DrPH The BMJ recently published a review of interventions for Long Covid that–surprise!–recommended CBT and a rehabilitation program as treatments. The review is full of holes. I have focused on one in particular. The review relies for its rehabilitation recommendation on an earlier BMJ study–even though that study has itself already been …
There Is No Need to Panic About Bird Flu 5 Dec 2024 1:00 AM (3 months ago)
by Gertrud U. Rey Public health officials are continuing to monitor the spread of avian H5N1, the strain of influenza virus associated with “bird flu.” Although there is still no evidence that this virus can transmit from one person to another, two recently infected individuals are attracting close attention because the source of their infection …
There Is No Need to Panic About Bird Flu Read More »
Trial By Error: Yet Again BMJ Recommends CBT and Exercise for Long Covid 3 Dec 2024 11:20 AM (3 months ago)
By David Tuller, DrPH What is going on at The BMJ? In May, the journal corrected an obvious error in a paper about a prominent Long Covid mental and physical rehabilitation trial called REGAIN. The trial was conducted among patients who had been hospitalized for Covid-19, but key sections of the paper generalized the findings …
Trial By Error: Yet Again BMJ Recommends CBT and Exercise for Long Covid Read More »
Trial By Error: Canadian Group Seeks Feedback on Recommendations for Exercise and CBT for Long Covid 26 Nov 2024 11:35 AM (3 months ago)
By David Tuller, DrPH A group called Canadian Guidelines for Post COVID-19 Condition (CAN-PCC) has released a new set of draft recommendations related to preventing, diagnosing and treating what is commonly called Long Covid. The current list of nine draft recommendations includes exercise and cognitive behavior therapy, which has understandably raised concerns among advocates for …
Trial By Error: Interview with Karen Hargrave, Co-Founder of #ThereForME 21 Nov 2024 6:21 PM (3 months ago)
By David Tuller, DrPH Karen Hargrave is co-founder of an advocacy campaign called #ThereForME, which was launched this past summer to draw public awareness to the UK’s lack of care and treatment and to call “for an NHS [National Health Service] that’s there for people with ME and Long Covid.” The campaign has drawn significant …
Trial By Error: Interview with Karen Hargrave, Co-Founder of #ThereForME Read More »
Trial By Error: My Letter to BMJ Seeking Correction to Editorial on REGAIN Trial of Mental-and-Physical-Health Rehab for Long Covid 20 Nov 2024 4:43 PM (3 months ago)
By David Tuller, DrPH I have recovered sufficiently from my post-election coma to send off another of my irritating letters to journals–this one to The BMJ. As I mentioned in a post earlier this week, The BMJ has corrected a major paper: “Clinical effectiveness of an online supervised group physical and mental health rehabilitation programme …
Trial By Error: Professor Chris Ponting on “Replicated Blood-Based Biomarkers” for ME in Big Data Pre-Print Study 19 Nov 2024 12:54 PM (3 months ago)
By David Tuller, DrPH Along with several colleagues, Professor Chris Ponting, a geneticist at the University of Edinburgh and a leading ME/CFS researcher, recently posted a pre-print called “Replicated blood-based biomarkers for Myalgic Encephalomyelitis not explicable by inactivity.” (A pre-print is a paper that has not yet been formally peer-reviewed.) For this analysis, the investigators …
Trial By Error: The BMJ Corrects REGAIN Study’s Expansive Claims; Results Only Applicable to Post-Hospitalized Long Covid Patients 18 Nov 2024 1:20 PM (3 months ago)
By David Tuller, DrPH In February, The BMJ published a study called Clinical effectiveness of an online supervised group physical and mental health rehabilitation programme for adults with post-covid-19 condition (REGAIN study): multicentre randomised controlled trial.” (Post-Covid-19 Condition, or PCC, is one of many current definitions for Long Covid.)The study, led by a team from …
Trial By Error: My Tour of Ireland, Through Wind and Rain; Slides of My Talk 12 Nov 2024 8:15 PM (3 months ago)
By David Tuller, DrPH Last month, I took a quick speaking tour around Ireland at the invitation of the Irish ME/CFS Association. I first became acquainted with Tom Kindlon, the association’s assistant chairperson, about ten years ago. I was beginning to look into the background of the PACE trial, which purported to have proven the …
Trial By Error: My Tour of Ireland, Through Wind and Rain; Slides of My Talk Read More »
Where Did HIV Come From? 7 Nov 2024 1:53 AM (4 months ago)
by Gertrud U. Rey As discussed in my previous post, we first became aware of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in the early 1980s. However, when did the virus actually emerge in humans, and where did it come from? There are two strains of HIV – HIV-1 and HIV-2. The vast majority of infections are caused …
Where Did HIV Come From? Read More »
Trial By Error: Guardian Columnist George Monbiot on the “Bizarre Cult” at the London-Based Science Media Centre 25 Oct 2024 1:59 AM (4 months ago)
By David Tuller, DrPH October is a crowdfunding month at University of California, Berkeley. If you’d like to support my work, you can make a donation to the university (tax-deductible for US taxpayers) here. Last week, Guardian columnist George Monbiot wrote another scathing piece about the failure of the UK health care system to address the …
Trial By Error: PACE Authors Respond to Monbiot Column with Tired Arguments 24 Oct 2024 12:23 AM (4 months ago)
By David Tuller, DrPH October is a crowdfunding month at University of California, Berkeley. If you’d like to support my work, you can make a donation to the university (tax-deductible for US taxpayers) here. Last week, Guardian columnist George Monbiot wrote another scathing column about the failure of the UK health care system to address the …
Trial By Error: PACE Authors Respond to Monbiot Column with Tired Arguments Read More »
Trial By Error: Professor Chris Ponting Discusses His Recent Article in The Conversation about the Plight of ME/CFS patients 22 Oct 2024 2:09 PM (4 months ago)
By David Tuller, DrPH October is a crowdfunding month at University of California, Berkeley. If you’d like to support my work, you can make a donation to the university (tax-deductible for US taxpayers) here. In the last few years, geneticist Chris Ponting, a professor at the University of Edinburgh, has become a leading researcher in the …
Trial By Error: Actress Jennie Jacques Interviews Guardian Columnist George Monbiot and Me about the CBT/GET Ideological Brigades, and More 21 Oct 2024 4:31 AM (4 months ago)
By David Tuller, DrPH October is a crowdfunding month at University of California, Berkeley. If you’d like to support my work, you can make a donation to the university (tax-deductible for US taxpayers) here. English actress Jennie Jacques is known for her roles in the BBC’s Desperate Romantics, a 2009 series about the Pre-Raphaelites, a police procedural …
Calls for Retraction of Absurd “Effort Preference” Claims from NIH Study 13 Oct 2024 12:30 AM (4 months ago)
By David Tuller, DrPH October is a crowdfunding month at University of California, Berkeley. If you’d like to support my work, you can make a donation to the university (tax-deductible for US taxpayers) here. In February, the journal Nature Communications published the US National Institutes of Health’s long-awaited paper, “Deep phenotyping of post-infectious myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue …
Calls for Retraction of Absurd “Effort Preference” Claims from NIH Study Read More »
Trial By Error: Extensive News Coverage of Exeter Coroner’s “Report to Prevent Future Deaths” 8 Oct 2024 5:13 PM (5 months ago)
By David Tuller, DrPH October is a crowdfunding month at University of California, Berkeley. If you’d like to support my work, you can make a donation to the university (tax-deductible for US taxpayers) here. The case of Maeve Boothby O’Neill, who died in 2021 of malnutrition from severe ME after three hospitalizations failed to halt her …
Trial By Error: Coroner in Boothby O’Neill Inquest Issues Report to Prevent Future Deaths 7 Oct 2024 6:56 AM (5 months ago)
By David Tuller, DrPH October is a crowdfunding month at University of California, Berkeley. If you’d like to support my work, you can make a donation to the university (tax-deductible for US taxpayers) here. ********** For two weeks in late July and early August, His Majesty’s Assistant Coroner Deborah Archer heard testimony regarding the death …
Why Don’t We Have an HIV Vaccine? 3 Oct 2024 2:53 AM (5 months ago)
by Gertrud U. Rey This post was written in honor of Virus Appreciation Day, which occurs annually on October 3. Public awareness of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) began in the early 1980s when separate clusters of infected individuals were identified in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New York. These individuals all shared a group of …
Why Don’t We Have an HIV Vaccine? Read More »
Trial By Error: Interview with Dr Peter Rowe of Johns Hopkins about “Living with Orthostatic Intolerance” 30 Sep 2024 9:01 AM (5 months ago)
By David Tuller, DrPH Dr Peter Rowe is a professor of pediatrics at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and director of the Chronic Fatigue Clinic at the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center. As an expert on orthostatic intolerance, a common component of ME/CFS, Long Covid and related illnesses, he has recently authored “Living Well with …
Trial By Error: Norwegian Tabloid Covers Stupid Gulf War Illness/PEM Study; My Letter to Journal Editor on Bogus Claims 20 Sep 2024 8:54 AM (5 months ago)
By David Tuller, DrPH Earlier this month, I wrote a post about a new study asserting that “exercise does not cause post-exertional malaise in Veterans with Gulf War Illness.” As I explained, the research, led by experts from the University of Wisconsin and published by the journal Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, made no sense. Although …
Trial By Error: UK Health Care Professionals Appeal to Health Secretary for Quick Action on Poor ME Care 18 Sep 2024 9:22 PM (5 months ago)
By David Tuller, DrPH Tuesday, September 17th, was World Patient Safety Day. (I didn’t know that either.) In the UK, more than 200 physicians, nurses and other health care providers and professionals marked the occasion by issuing an appeal—in the form of a letter to Wes Streeting, Secretary of State for Health and Social Care …
Trial By Error: Bogus Claims in Study of Exercise and PEM in Gulf War Illness 7 Sep 2024 9:14 AM (6 months ago)
By David Tuller, DrPH A recent study investigated a question no one seems to have been asking. That can be a good thing—if it’s a question that’s worth investigating. But that’s not the case here. The study, published in the journal Brain, Behavior, and Immunity and led by researchers at the University of Wisconsin, was …
Trial By Error: Bogus Claims in Study of Exercise and PEM in Gulf War Illness Read More »
Sloth Fever 5 Sep 2024 1:34 AM (6 months ago)
by Gertrud U. Rey Recent news headlines have featured a mysterious and presumably new illness termed “sloth fever.” More aptly named Oropouche fever, the disease is caused by Oropouche virus (OROV), an arthropod-borne virus that is transmitted primarily through the biting midge Culicoides paraensis. OROV typically circulates in sloths, non-human primates, and birds, but it …
Trial By Error: Little Sign of CBT/GET Ideologues in News Coverage of Inquest and BBC Breakfast Segment on ME and Long Covid 29 Aug 2024 12:01 PM (6 months ago)
By David Tuller, DrPH One interesting aspect of the recent inquest into the death of Maeve Boothby O’Neill was the widespread news coverage. Maeve died in October, 2021, in Exeter, UK, of malnutrition arising from her severe ME, as the coroner ruled a few weeks ago. During the two weeks of testimony, from July 22nd …
Trial By Error: Post-Inquest Comments from Sarah Boothby, Maeve’s Mum 20 Aug 2024 1:36 PM (6 months ago)
By David Tuller, DrPH During the inquest into the death of Maeve Boothby O’Neill, both of her parents refrained from making public statements about the proceedings. The inquest was held in Exeter, in southwest England, UK, from July 22nd till August 2nd. After the coroner, Deborah Archer, issued her findings–that Maeve died of malnutrition as …
Trial By Error: Post-Inquest Comments from Sarah Boothby, Maeve’s Mum Read More »
Trial By Error: A Deeper Dive into the Inquest’s “Findings and Conclusions” 14 Aug 2024 10:25 PM (6 months ago)
By David Tuller, DrPH UPDATE: Sarah Boothby, Maeve’s mum, has commented on this blog. I have posted that comment here. ********** Last Friday, August 9th, assistant coroner Deborah Archer read in court her “findings and conclusions” in the inquest into the death of Maeve Boothby O’Neill, the 27-year-old woman from Exeter, UK. Three hospitalizations in …
Trial By Error: A Deeper Dive into the Inquest’s “Findings and Conclusions” Read More »
Trial By Error: Valerie Eliot Smith on the Inquest Findings 11 Aug 2024 9:00 PM (6 months ago)
By David Tuller, DrPH On Friday, Deborah Archer, the coroner in the inquest into the death of Maeve Boothby O’Neill, issued her factual findings. The bottom line: Maeve died from “malnutrition caused by severe ME.” Archer found that the Royal Devon and Exeter hospital and others involved in her care acted properly. She rejected the …
Trial By Error: Valerie Eliot Smith on the Inquest Findings Read More »
Trial By Error: Whitney Dafoe and Naomi Whittingham Reflect on Severe ME and the Inquest into the Death of Maeve Boothby O’Neill 8 Aug 2024 6:23 PM (7 months ago)
By David Tuller, DrPH *I originally wrote “Whittington” instead of “Whittingham.” I apologize for the error. On Friday, August 9th (tomorrow), Deborah Archer, the coroner who presided over the inquest into the death of Maeve Boothby O’Neill, will issue her findings of fact. Following that, she has tentatively scheduled another day of testimony on September …
Trial By Error: Sean O’Neill’s Inquest Statement 6 Aug 2024 8:49 AM (7 months ago)
By David Tuller, DrPH Last Thursday, both of Maeve Boothby O’Neill’s parents testified at the inquest into her 2021 death from ME-related complications. (I earlier posted Sarah Boothby’s statement as read into the record.) It was the penultimate day of two weeks of court sessions in Exeter, in the south-east of England, UK. The coroner, …
Trial By Error: Sean O’Neill’s Inquest Statement Read More »