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Jul 31Liked by Eric Topol

Fabulous podcast Eric, and it is so great to hear from Shane Crotty again and all of the awesome folks at La Jolla Institute for Immunology. I can hardly wait to finish exploring this deep-dive on Upper-airway Mucosal Immunity between you and Shane! Super excited!

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Thanks Shannon! What an important study

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I will admit that this is a bit over my nose--I mean head. But I have two very lay-person questions.

1. What about all the people who had their adenoids and tonsils removed at a young age? Does any of that tissue regrow?

2. Are people with asthma generally out of the running for any kind of nasal vaccine because this sounds so hopeful but if a COVID nasal spray were to be like FluMist, a lot of folks would be left out. I want to start being sad in advance. :)

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There’s still lymphoid tissue after tonsillectomy

Don’t judge the Covid nasal vaccine prospects (a highly effective one is already approved in India, that came from a US lab, with a notable publication today) with the weak FluMist background.

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I was also wondering about the effects of prior adenoidectomy and tonsillectomy on COVID. It may be that enough tissue remains post resection to make a difference, though I'd expect its value to decrease as one ages.

I did find a study about COVID in patients with a history of tonsillectomy (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33970896/). These researchers found "(p)atients with previous tonsillectomy showed a greater risk of fever, temperature higher than 39°C, chills and malaise. No significant differences in hospital admissions were found."

In any case, it's so good to hear that work by Shane Crotty and others to clarify the upper respiratory immune response to SARS CoV-2 is continuing, and I'm optimistic about nasal mucosal vaccines. I just wish the public and governments understood the need for continued research, mitigation, and surveillance.

Thanks, as always for staying on top of this.

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Thanks for posting the study on patients with a history of tonsillectomy. I had both tonsils and adenoids out as a kid, as did many in my Boomer generation. It's good to know that at least it doesn't appear to result in more hospitalizations. I hope the nasal vaccines will be equally effective in those of us with naked throats! :)

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Thanks!

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