by Pierre Kory, Pierre Kory’s Medical Musings:
Here, I do a deep dive into the”mysterious” rise of infectious diseases worldwide—and my straightforward, practical approach to treating infectious illnesses if they were to strike me or my family.
This post was triggered by the above Bloomberg News article from last year – it has been sitting in my drafts for a while so forgive me. The article’s global “spike map” of infectious disease surges post-COVID caught my attention—not only for what it included, but for what it left out. Let’s break down the data, the explanations offered, and the “elephant in the room,” i.e the mRNA campaign’s effects on global immunity.
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Methodology
The team of journalists tracked 13 diseases ( chickenpox, cholera, dengue, measles, mycoplasma pneumoniae, parvovirus B19, invasive Group A Streptococcus, pertussis, influenza, RSV, wild poliovirus type 1, vaccine-derived poliovirus and tuberculosis). They included year-to-date data for 2024 since significantly higher cases were being recorded for certain diseases than in any other year included in the study. They admitted that they relied heavily on data reported by certain countries or regions and that some geographies may have been more accurate due to superior surveillance and reporting and some areas may have had higher testing.
Below is the map of “spikes” (no pun intended?) they concocted (which only includes spikes for 6 of the 13 diseases that were raging). Note the tallest spikes represent 30X rises from pre-pandemic and the smallest ones are 10X:
The resulting research, based on data collected from more than 60 organizations and public health agencies, shows that 44 countries and territories have reported at least one infectious disease resurgence that’s at least ten times worse than the pre-pandemic baseline.
Although 10X to 30X rises are insane to contemplate, less troubling rises are also very concerning. As you will see below, numerous countries are also reporting significant (but smaller) rises in other diseases than those detailed above.
The Human Impact
So, is everyone getting sick more often? From the opening paragraph:
Since February, Kathy Xiang and her entire family have been under siege. Her 12-year-old daughter has had whooping cough, rhinovirus and parainfluenza: She’s missed more than five weeks of school in total. Xiang, a software developer in Shanghai, caught all three too. Her elderly parents, who were helping care for her 10-month-old, tested positive for Covid-19 in early March, and her father got shingles. Then the baby caught parainfluenza and pneumonia, necessitating five days on an IV drip. “I was literally numb after the baby boy got sick despite all our efforts to protect him,” Xiang said. “I was physically and mentally exhausted.” Around the world, a post-Covid reality is beginning to sink in: Everyone, everywhere, really is sick a lot more often.
Highlights Of The Reported Surge
Now, lets survey the state of the world in terms of how bad these “surges” are, a topic appearing frequently in mainstream media:
- Influenza cases in the US have jumped about 40% in the two post-Covid flu seasons, compared with the pre-pandemic years
- Whooping cough, or pertussis, cases have climbed by 45 times in China in the first four months compared with last year.
- RSV – In some parts of Australia, cases of respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, have nearly doubled from a year ago.
- Dengue – Argentina is battling its worst-ever dengue outbreak.
- Streptococcal A – Japan is seeing a mysterious surge of strep throat.
- Measles is making a comeback in more than 20 American states, the UK and parts of Europe.
- Tuberculosis: 2022 was the worst year on record since 1990 (please appreciate that my new non-profit is funding a study of chlorine dioxide in TB in a purposely unnamed country).
- Norovirus – as per this NY Times article, there were 91 norovirus outbreaks in the U.S last December
- Walking Pneumonia – from this WSJ article, rates were 10X higher in 2024 than 2023.
- Sexually transmitted diseases: another Bloomberg article reported a sudden 26% increase in syphilis cases from 2020 to 2021 (vs. only a 7% rise from 2019 to 2020).
- Brain Abscesses – this article highlighted a surge in brain infections, many of them requiring craniotomies. In Nevada, they had 18 cases in 2022 compared to an average of 4 from 2015-2021. Weird. The cases were predominantly in young males around the age of 12 (who did not start getting jabbed until mid 2021, which is why I suspect the rise occurred in 2022).
The Lame Explanations Offered
Now, let’s examine the journalist’s list of possible causes for these resurgences:
The post-Covid global surge of illnesses — viral and bacterial, common and historically rare — is a mystery that researchers and scientists are still trying to definitively explain. The way Covid lockdowns shifted baseline immunities is a piece of the puzzle, as is the pandemic’s hit to overall vaccine administration and compliance. Climate change, rising social inequality and wrung-out health-care services are contributing in ways that are hard to measure.
OK, so they came up with: dropping vaccination rates, climate change, “immunity debt” from lockdowns (from 4 years ago), rising social inequality, and stressed-out health services. Let’s go through them.
Immunity Debt
Hmm. Let’s first take on the “immunity debt” hypothesis from lockdowns, explained as follows:
The theory of immunity debt has become a popular, if controversial, explanation for the post-Covid surge in illnesses. It basically means that pandemic lockdowns offered an artificial layer of insulation from routine pathogens but left people more vulnerable when the world reopened. The effect is worse for young kids, whose brand-new immune systems were cosseted by social distancing, online classes and masks.
Counter-argument (well done Bloomberg!):
Public health experts aren’t convinced. Immunity debt might account for some resurgence of illnesses reported post-Covid, but probably not all of it, said Ben Cowling, chair of epidemiology at the University of Hong Kong’s School of Public Health.
“Immunity debt, it definitely happens, but I don’t think it results in enormous epidemics after Covid,” he said, adding that greater surveillance and testing could also contribute to higher reported numbers.
What’s more, if immunity debt were the only factor, the countries that lifted pandemic restrictions two or three years ago should be caught up by now, and they’re not. The waves of illnesses keep coming.
Climate Change and Social Inequality
Now, although they list climate change and social inequality as possible explanations, they did not spend any time trying to explain how these factors might contribute to such outcomes. So, if you agree, let’s skip those (because they are stupid – social inequality and climate change (ugh) did not surge enough suddenly to explain sudden 10-30 X rises in illness rates).
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