Dr. Timothy Hernandez

10/27/2023

11/12/2022

For those who served and those who continue to serve.

Thank you for your service!

10/22/2022

Awaiting Halloween

10/22/2022

AWAITING HALLOWEEN

06/13/2022

American College of Chest Physicians, President, Dr. David Schulman and Interstitial Lung Disease (ILD) expert, Dr. Andrew Limper from the Mayo Clinic were nice enough to invite me to do a podcast with them regarding the challenges that physicians face when trying to diagnose ILD.

I enjoyed working with them and perhaps I may get a chance to work with them in the future.

I am great-full to Dr. Anoop Nambiar, South Texas’s regional ILD expert at Ut Health (UTHSCSA) for introducing me to them.

Bottom line is that ILD is essentially scarring in the lungs from a multitude of causes (including CoVID-19). ILD is a serious problem that can be life threatening.

Unfortunately, it is often diagnosed too late for us to help patients.

https://chestpodcasts.podbean.com/e/bridging-specialties%e2%84%a2-timely-diagnosis-for-ild-patients/

̇d19

06/04/2022

Dr. Robert Haley and his team discovered that
Gulf War Syndrome is due to a genetic susceptibility to SARIN nerve gas.

Let your veteran friends who served our country during the Gulf War know that they may have service connected disability as a result of exposure to Sarin.

On top of being one of the most humble humans that I have the pleasure of knowing,
“Robert W. Haley, M.D., is Professor of Internal Medicine and Director of the Division of Epidemiology in the Internal Medicine Department at UT Southwestern Medical Center and holder of the U.S. Armed Forces Veterans Distinguished Chair for Medical Research Honoring America's Gulf War Veterans.”

https://www.utsouthwestern.edu/newsroom/articles/year-2022/sarin-nerve-gas-gulf-war-illness.html

05/25/2022

Regarding Paxlovid “Rebound” CoVID-19

Symptoms of CoVID-19 may recur 2-8 days after recovery and treatment with Paxlovid.

“Rebound” symptoms are typically mild and last for a median of 3 days.

No additional treatment is currently recommended.

It is not known how contagious a person is when experiencing “rebound” symptoms.

“People with recurrence of COVID-19 symptoms or a new positive viral test after having tested negative should restart isolation and isolate again for at least 5 days. Therefore, CDC recommends re-isolation.

Per CDC guidance, they can end their re-isolation period after 5 full days if fever has resolved for 24 hours (without the use of fever- reducing medication) and symptoms are improving. The individual should wear a mask for a total of 10 days after rebound symptoms”

https://emergency.cdc.gov/han/2022/pdf/CDC_HAN_467.pdf

05/22/2022

While we all hoped that getting infected with SARS-CoV-2/developing CoVID-19 would give you permanent immunity or at least annual immunity from re-infection, it looks like the Omicron variant didn’t get the message.

Instead of being protected for a year or longer after infection, you will likely only have immunity for 3 to 6 months. This means that currently you can be re-infected with a SARS-CoV-2 variant/sub-variant 2 to 4 times a year.

The good news is that re-infection tends to be mild for most patients. We still should try to keep from spreading it to others who might become severely ill.

If you do become infected, call your doctor as soon as possible to discuss medication.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/16/health/covid-reinfection.html?smid=url-share

04/30/2022

Unfortunately, the SARS-CoV-2 virus will not likely go away during our lifetime.

On many occasions I told my patients that tracking the hospitalization rate of CoVID-19 patients is the key to tracking the severity of the pandemic.

It is less of a public health concern if patients only develop minor symptoms and a greater concern if there are a large number of hospitalizations due to the virus.

Too many CoVID-19 hospitalizations and a hospital becomes unable to care for patients who have other health problems (heart attack, stroke, broken bones, etc).

Fortunately, the CDC decided to emphasize hospitalizations rates when making decisions about public health policy.

As time passes we will learn more, have better treatments and be better able to live with this virus.