Elke Hausmann
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drelke.bsky.social
Elke Hausmann
@drelke.bsky.social
440 followers 450 following 1.2K posts
German, English, Spanish
Sociology, Medicine, General Practice
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drelke.bsky.social
#Measles
#vaccinations
The amazing, incredible consequence of years of high rates of Measles vaccination was that for 20 or so years in England, Measles essentially disappeared. In 2016, almost fifteen years after Wakefield, The World Health Organization declared Measles eliminated (no or very little local transmission) in England. We'd gone from hundreds of thousands of cases, and hundreds of deaths a year before vaccination to basically none. But nationally, by 2025 only 84% of 5-year olds had had 2 doses of MMR, a long way off the 95% threshold required to keep Measles eliminated. So while 96 cases in the first few weeks of 2026 may not be a huge number, it is worrying because the susceptible population is growing not shrinking and providing more room for local epidemics to grow. Measles is a serious illness and the more it spreads, the more likely people will develop complications or even die. In 2024, 5 people died from Measles (including 1 child), and last year saw 2 Measles deaths (including 1 child) (UKHSA data). And when it comes down to it, 96 cases in just a few weeks is huge when we know it can be zero or close to zero. There mustn't be any shrugging of shoulders, or acceptance of these outbreaks. We know that they are avoidable because we did avoid them - for years, and not long ago.
February 17, 2026 at 8:28 AM
drelke.bsky.social
#LongCovid
#ME
Most notably, Mendenhall's vision does not include a call for ramping up research programs into biological causes and treatments of these complex chronic conditions. That's what patients—at least the ones I know-desire more than anything. Given this absence as well as the book's overall orientation, it is not surprising that many in the patient community have flatly rejected it.
February 16, 2026 at 7:34 PM
drelke.bsky.social
This article also mentions Joe Dispenza, somebody I hadn’t heard of before (at least the writer locates him at the ‚wackier‘ end of the spectrum of ‚experts‘). I worry that many people are being influenced by these sort of ideas. Especially if a GP endorses them. Aaargh!

#LongCovid
Joe Dispenza's approach to Long COVID focuses on the belief that the body can heal itself from chronic, "incurable" conditions by shifting from a state of survival (stress) to a state of creation (healing). He argues that chronic illness, including Long COVID and fatigue, is often maintained by the brain and body being addicted to the emotions of the past and the stress of the present. a Based on his work and testimonials from his followers, here is what Joe Dispenza has to say about recovering from Long COVID: • Move Out of Survival Mode: Dispenza argues that living in "emergency mode" (chronic stress) downregulates genes and creates disease. Long COVID is viewed as a state where the body is stuck in this survival mode. To heal, one must break the habit of being their old self and stop focusing on the symptoms.
February 16, 2026 at 11:37 AM
drelke.bsky.social
As Shielding Cournoyer writes: ‚good histories of medicine are always transgressive, illuminating the politics behind treatments later seen as neutral science‘.

On Mendenhall’s ‚domesticating narrative‘ in her book ‚Invisible Illness‘:

#LongCovid
#ME
,Public Health is off the hook if the problem is never one infection' ,Societal investment in clean air never appears alongside Mendenhall's endorsement of meditation' On CBT and GET - ,both therapies are ultimately vindicated in Mendenhall's telling' We are left with the impression that some patients would rather tear down the only ME treatment available than give healing a try' , She never seems to grasp the stakes for the most vulnerable among the groups she examines' ‚That the sickest patients' survival may hinge on a cure, and that virology may provide it, is beside her point' Erased are the people for whom pacing means survival, not catharsis' ,It ignores the injustice of letting people die of preventable illness'
February 15, 2026 at 7:52 AM
drelke.bsky.social
How many people like this doctor are walking around thinking that ‚maybe this was what being in my mid-30s entailed: I had begun an early neurocognitive decline, and that was that‘.

#LongCovid underdiagnosis
The word-finding difficulties were the most debilitating and bothersome to me. I often found myself frozen in time, unable to verbalize words that were familiar to me, while delivering patient reports or presentations to my supervisors or in casual conversations. I had the words in my mind and could visualize them, but I simply could not verbalize them. I was unable to piece together what was happening to me. I thought that maybe this was what being in my mid-30s entailed: I had begun an early neurocognitive decline, and that was that. However, I was determined to not let these symptoms beat me. I decided to do something about the situation. Since coming to terms with long COVID, I have had many conversations with family members and friends who have reported similar symptoms that followed their acute COVID-19 illness, persisting for months and even years. They too have realized that they have been casualties of COVID-19 and have been suffering with long COVID well after their acute infection.
February 13, 2026 at 7:05 AM
drelke.bsky.social
I have more questions…

#LongCovid
#ME
Is Long Covid with PEM simply ME? Or is Long Covid with PEM the intersection of a Venn diagram, with features of Long Covid without PEM and features of ME? If so, is it closer to Long Covid without PEM, or to ME? Is it different for different individuals? Is there a separate underlying pathophysiology for Long Covid without PEM, or is the same pathophysiology present, but PEM just not clinically apparent yet? Is that why people get worse with subsequent infections: they are further down the road of the underlying pathophysiology becoming clinically relevant? If so, could physical rehabilitation eg GET in patients with Long Covid without PEM trigger the clinical appearance of PEM? Is Long Covid without PEM on a continuum with ME, just a very early stage of it? Is Long Covid without PEM something separate that people can truly and fully recover from without long term consequences? Is Long Covid with clinically apparent PEM the rule or the exception among Long Covid patients? Can Long Covid without PEM be divided into different subgroups - if so, is their underlying pathophysiology the same, but with different clinical presentations, or are there different pathophysiological processes driving different phenotypes? Should we think of PAIS generally as a spectrum of disease or a collection of different diseases?
February 12, 2026 at 7:15 AM
drelke.bsky.social
Interesting.

I can think of other areas that could be analysed through the lens of ‚toxic experts‘

#LongCovid
#ME
Table I. Virtue-based framework of professional and intellectual vices in toxic experts. Organised along Domains (professional and intellectual) Virtue Vice (Excess) Vice (Deficiency) Manifestation example in toxic experts Professional (Domain) with subcategories: Honesty (example Virtue) Oversharing (example Vice -excess) Deception (example Vice -deficiency) Deliberate falsification of data or credentials (Fanelli, 2009) (manifestation example in toxic experts) Integrity Rigidity Opportunism Exploiting vulnerabilities for gain, undisclosed conflicts of interest (Kish-Gephart et al., 2010) Confidence Hubris Diffidence Destruction of value due to unchallenged overconfidence (Maclean et al., Humility Self-deprecation Arrogance Overestimation of one's expertise beyond areas of competence (Russell and Greenhalgh, 2014) Intellectual (domain) - with subcategories: Open-mindedness Gullibility Dogmatism Rigid adherence to beliefs despite contradictory evidence (Mercier and Sperber, 2011) Diligence Pedantry Intellectual sloth Failure to rigorously scrutinize assumptions and methods (Paul and Elder, 2006) Objectivity Detachment Motivated reasoning Selective interpretation of information to suit personal biases (Kunda, 1990) Intellectual courage Recklessness Cowardice ersisting in discredited theories or avoiding necessary intellectual risks (Greenhalgh et al., 202l, 2022)
February 11, 2026 at 10:40 AM
drelke.bsky.social
#LongCovid
#ME
The 2026 games put a spotlight on how collective public health failures of governments and the IOC have made specific teams and athletes take their own precautions as the world continues to ignore the COVID-19 pandemic. Like many disabled and immunocompromised people, these athletes and teams are forced to put their health first, despite overwhelming stigma against masking and other COVID-19 precautions and despite the overwhelming research that shows the adverse effects of SARS-CoV- 2 infections.
February 11, 2026 at 10:07 AM
drelke.bsky.social
@davetuller1.bsky.social quoting @anilvanderzee.bsky.social

The times, they are a-changin’?

On some tentatively hopeful signs…

#LongCovid
#ME
Last month, he posted a blog titled "Are Dutch psychologists distancing themselves from graded activity in ME/CFS?" It is a thorough (and therefore fairly lengthy) analysis that covers some of the key studies purporting to document the benefits of CBT as well as recent indications that some leading professionals might be shifting their views. (In the Netherlands, CBT for ME/CFS and related conditions is generally combined with graded activity.) Here's the opening: "Clinical psychologists and cognitive behavioral therapists Klaas Huijbregts and Luuk Stronk wrote an interesting_yet critical piece the journal Behavioural Therapy (Gedragstherapie) about the current way in which "ME/CFS" patients are treated through a rigid adherence to a protocolled form of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). They argue that this goes against the principles of CBT and that this form of CBT more often leads to iatrogenic harm...Whereas Huijbregts previously wrote with great astonishment about the negative attitude toward CBT, and tried to straighten out several things that were fundamentally flawed, this new article suggests that, with growing insight, a few more pieces of the puzzle have fallen into place.
February 11, 2026 at 9:22 AM
drelke.bsky.social
A harrowing account of applying for care funding for severe ME

#LongCovid
#ME
In my view, a lack of knowledge about ME has also been influential; in particular, a lack of understanding that PEM can lead to long-term deterioration (and has done on several occasions, in James' case). This means that the risks involved in his care and the level of complexity have not been recognised, and nor has the extent of his limitations. Most difficult to read in our most recent rejection was a persistent framing of James' needs as preferences: that he prefers not to verbalise and that he does not like having people in his room with him. Would they say someone with a severe nut allergy does not like peanut butter? That an asthmatic prefers not to breathe?
February 10, 2026 at 10:37 AM
drelke.bsky.social
Why is it that so often it is only those close to death who can tell us what really matters in life - to recognise our luck, and to follow our moral compass.

Thank you for your last words Carlos Hernández de Miguel

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
I've been a very fortunate person. I was fortunate to have been born in a European country that, although still under the yoke of Franco's regime, very soon afterwards began to progress economically, socially and politically. Luck, and it was only luck, made my destiny infinitely easier than that of hundreds of millions of children who are born in regions of the world ravaged by hunger, poverty and war. I have been fortunate to dedicate the last stage of my professional life to researching and disseminating the recent history of Spain. Meeting survivors of Nazi and Francoist concentration camps, as well as their families, has been one of the greatest gifts that life has given me. The victims of nazism and other dictatorships never stopped repeating that fascism had not died, that it was still lurking, waiting for the moment to resurface. That is why it was, is and will be so important to be aware of history. Looking back is the best way to face the present, to avoid repeating mistakes and to be prepared for future threats. Looking back shows you that freedom, life and democracy are never guaranteed, and that we must fight every day to preserve them.
February 6, 2026 at 7:26 AM
drelke.bsky.social
#LongCovid
#ME

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Dr Rae Duncan is a consultant cardiologist at Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and a Long Covid expert adviser at the World Health Network. "I treat patients from 16 onwards, and to see schoolchildren whose lives have completely destroyed by this virus is horrific," she says. "I also see young parents who are so ill, they cannot care for their children. "What we need desperately is the level of funding research to match the level of need and disability." She believes the new study is "a brilliant idea". "We absolutely need far more biomedical research into the similarities and differences between Long Covid and ME/CFS, examining effects on brain, blood vessels, immune system autonomic nervous system, viral persistence and mitochondrial function, to help identify new and better treatments
February 2, 2026 at 12:19 PM
drelke.bsky.social
‚It's true that the psychiatrists who hijacked this friendless disease decades ago weren't using psychiatry to claim that ME isn't "real". They were, on the contrary, using ME to try and emphasise that psychiatry is real - "Look how properly actually sick your delusions have made you!"‘

#ME

2/2
It's true that the psychiatrists who hijacked this friendless disease decades ago weren't using psychiatry to claim that ME isn't "real". They were, on the contrary, using ME to try and emphasise that psychiatry is real - "Look how properly actually sick your delusions have made you!" They've filled the gulfs in their knowledge with ideology instead of evidence, and they respond to valid criticism with (increasingly desperate) parades of intellectual and moral bankruptcy. Their folly has inflicted appalling misunderstanding and mistreatment, for decades now, on hundreds of thousands of people - and that's not even counting Long Covid. But they were allowed to make us their playthings in this way by a medical establishment that simply doesn't want to bother with ME. Progress in understanding this disease is slowly being made now, but it's being made by doctors who started by believing their patients. I don't think that's a coincidence; I think it's vital.
February 2, 2026 at 6:14 AM
drelke.bsky.social
‚I can choose to exceed my limits, but I can't choose to recover from exceeding them, and telling me to try is like telling a diabetic who's being forced to eat a box of fudge to "try" not to become hyperglycaemic.‘

Great piece on #ME and #PEM

1/2
First of all, the problem with fatigue in ME is not up front, in how much you can do in the first place. The problem is how much you can recover from. The disease is defined by exertion intolerance, which sounds like a euphemism for laziness, but in fact it means that your body doesn't respond to exertion in the normal biological way and you don't recover properly from even trivial effort. It's not the presence of fatigue that disables me: it's the absence of energy. I want to do stuff, but, as Byron put it, the sword outwears the sheath. So let's say you put me at the bottom of a flight of stairs. (Let's say this is ten years ago when I could still walk.) It's not that l'd feel already drained, or feeble, or in a deep fug of lethargy that prevented me from summoning up the will to move. The problem is that after I get to the top of the stairs I'll be spent, there'll be an onslaught of disabling symptoms - "fatigue" is a little effete for my taste - and my stamina during this acute period will become exponentially smaller, so that tiny things which would normally be within my powers will now take further huge chunks out of me. And unlike the tiredness that healthy people feel after exercise, it isn't the short-term effect of a process that is making you stronger. This catastrophic response to exertion is usually known as post-exertional "malaise" (PEM), as though patients are feeling kind of languidly unwell like Baudelaire on a fainting couch, but that doesn't really capture it. For me it's a ghastly sensation as though my muscles are being burned up by acid or poisoned, peeled, perished, fuzzed or suffocated, on a microscopic level, but it doesn't usually stop me wanting to fidget instead of rest. It can last days, weeks, or, for some people, months. Researchers have for some time now been corroborating patients' reports that trying to improve this problem the way you would with someone who was simply unfit and deconditioned, i.e. by carefully challenging yourself with activity, does not work and makes it worse. This is a problem because many doctors believe inactivity to be a cause of ME rather than an effect, and so we end up with "treatments" which make sense for people who don't exercise, but which are useless or harmful to people who can't exercise.
February 2, 2026 at 6:12 AM
drelke.bsky.social
Thank you

@sarahbarleymc.bsky.social

for your ongoing advocacy for all of us with #LongCovid - now with the WHO 👏

www.who.int/europe/event...
Sarah's story underscores why tackling myths and false information matters: long COVID is real, complex and life-changing. Increasing understanding of the condition is essential to reducing stigma and supporting those affected. Guided by international good practices in risk communication, the long COVID myth-busters series was developed to reflect the realities of patients' experiences, share evidence-based facts, address misconceptions, and empower communities with reliable information to support informed decisions and those living with long COVID. Seven patient stories from 5 European countries - Czechia, Iceland, Slovenia, Switzerland and the United Kingdom - were collected and paired with these myths to ensure authenticity. These stories illustrate the varied and complex ways that long COVID affects individuals, making the facts more relatable and fostering deeper understanding and empathy.
January 31, 2026 at 12:34 PM
drelke.bsky.social
#LongCovid
#ME
Unter diesen Vorzeichen ist Samuels Reddit-Post kein „Abschiedsbrief", sondern ein verzweifelter Versuch, gehört zu werden - und damit letztlich ein Ausdruck von Hoffnung. Zumindest für andere Betroffene. Wenn aber ME/CFS-Betroffene erst ernstgenommen werden, wenn sie am Rande des Suizids stehen, ist das ein Armutszeugnis für unser Gesundheits- und Sozialsystem. Es darf nicht sein, dass strukturelles Wegsehen, Abwiegeln oder Zuständigkeitsverschiebungen Not zusätzlich verschlimmern. Politik und Medizin müssen rasch handeln, damit Ignoranz und mangelnde Versorgung nicht weiter zu lebensbedrohlichen Eskalationen führen.
January 30, 2026 at 3:40 PM
drelke.bsky.social
Danke.

Es müssen endlich alle über PEM Bescheid wissen!!

#LongCovid
#ME
Im Herbst 2022 verschlechterte sich mein Zustand zunehmend: Zu den kognitiven Problemen entwickelten sich Mus-kelschwäche, Herzprobleme und ein übermäßig hoher Puls. Ich kannte damals das Konzept des "Pacing" noch nicht und bemühte mich, aktiv zu bleiben. So habe ich mich im Endeffekt selbst nach und nach heruntergewirtschaftet. Solche Überforderungssituationen hatte ich mehrfach: Eine Kardiologin, bei der ich war, hat mir Sport empfohlen. Das war natürlich fatal. Im Frühjahr 2023 hat ein anderer Kardiologe ein Belastungs-EKG angeordnet. Diese Untersuchung hat mich total zurückgeworfen. Danach hatte ich eine solche Erschöpfung, dass ich Monate brauchte, um wieder einigermaßen auf die Beine zu kommen. Im Sommer 2023 bewarb ich mich für eine Reha-Studie bei der Charité, wurde aber abgelehnt, weil mein Zustand zu schlecht war. Doch in dem Rahmen wurde schließlich ME/CFS diagnostiziert. Da habe ich erst erfahren, wie wichtig gezieltes Pacing ist, um meinen Zustand nicht weiter zu verschlimmern. Von da an begann ich, mich umfassend in das Krankheitsbild einzulesen und meinen Alltag entsprechend anzupassen.
January 28, 2026 at 8:44 PM
drelke.bsky.social
#LongCovid
Nur ein Beispiel: In den frühesten Tagen der Pandemie habe ich in meiner Praxis in Heidelberg gerade eine Patientin ver-abschiedet. Nach einer langen Begleitung war bei ihr alles geordnet und sor-tiert, ihr Leben aufgeräumt. Bei unserem letzten Termin hustete sie sehr stark und konnte kaum noch die Treppe hochkom-men. Es stellte sich heraus, dass sie sich mit dem Wildtyp, dieser allerersten CO-VID-19-Variante angesteckt hatte. Weder beim Lungenarzt noch beim Kardiologen ergab sich ein erklärender Befund. So wurde sie ständig wieder zu mir zu-rückgeschickt. Dabei wusste ich sehr klar, dass bei ihr psychisch alles völlig stabil ist. Aus einer psychosomatischen Reha kam sie dann praktisch als "Wrack" zu-rück. Heute hat sie einen Pflegegrad 5 - ein klassisches Beispiel für Fehlsteuerung durch ein falsches Verständnis der Krankheit.
January 28, 2026 at 4:29 PM
drelke.bsky.social
#LongCovid
#ME
Kira Stoops has found that while many specialists understand their patients' conditions, too many build up hope for families seeking answers and treatments that simply don't exist. There aren't any widely accepted biomarkers for ME; there isn't a single drug approved to treat it. Many patients are in a cycle of seeking help, feeling grateful to be heard, and benefitting from small improvements like a new diagnosis or medication to slightly improve quality of life — and yet they still can't return to work or their previous lives. "We're grateful for incremental changes because that's what we can get," Stoops said. "But that isn't how practices [like Metrodora] are being marketed." The former Metrodora employee said they learned a lot from their underserved patients, and that for a while, the institute offered a beacon of hope. "I really wish it would've worked out," they said. "Its presence and the idea of it will be missed." Rachel Graves said Metrodora's mission to cure complex chronic conditions was simply unattainable. "The dream of Metrodora was never possible because they promised something that was ahead of the science, " she added. "Telling us they could help us was either incredibly naive or a lie."
January 28, 2026 at 3:23 PM
drelke.bsky.social
No exercise? Not drinking alcohol?

Has anybody thought that this might have something to do with #LongCovid (post-exertional malaise, alcohol intolerance)…
Other striking statistics revealed by the survey included that 27% of adults were inactive by participating in less than 30 minutes of exercise a week, 46% of adults had at least one longstanding illness or condition, and 10% currently used e-cigarettes or vapes. The Department of Health and Social Care has been approached for comment.
January 27, 2026 at 6:59 PM
drelke.bsky.social
6/n
Ultimately, COVID-19 should be understood not only as a biomedical crisis but as an epistemic formation - a moment that reorganized how knowledge about health, vulnerability, and care is produced and governed. While the early pandemic revealed ruptures in institutions and infrastructures, the narrative of its ending has resealed those cracks, disqualifying the realities of those still living through its consequences. Drawing on Gessen (2025) and Das (2007), we argue that states perform normality as a discursive act, displacing responsibility, justifying withdrawal, and rendering suffering administratively irrelevant to the pandemic.
January 27, 2026 at 11:01 AM
drelke.bsky.social
5/n
Drawing from the 'narrative compression' of our interlocutors discussed earlier in the paper, we propose engaging the experiences of those who are outside of the narratives of closure. Think of the emergency room nurse providing oxygen to the patient dying of COVID in the year 2025, the long COVID patient house-bound after half a decade of therapeutic intervention, the individuals whose experiences seeking medical treatment or public health guidance left them mistrusting of traditional biomedical and state authorities. Without those narratives, our understanding of the pandemic's impact is incomplete; anthropology enables their entry into this ongoing dialogue.
January 27, 2026 at 11:01 AM
drelke.bsky.social
4/n
In many Global North contexts, the call to 'return to normal' was used to justify retraction, displacing responsibility away from the collective and toward the individual. Citizens were tasked with managing their risk of illness and exposure as they resumed their pre-pandemic work experiences and education. This resonates with longstanding critiques within medical anthropology of neoliberal health governance that institutions project responsibility onto populations and abdicate their responsibility for the public's health (see Nguyen and Peschard 2003; Petersen and Lupton 1996).
January 27, 2026 at 11:00 AM
drelke.bsky.social
3/n
Our interlocutors in the UK peppered their observations of the pandemic with statements of fatigue, defensiveness, or a shrugging assertion that 'we all went through it'. We term this deflection narrative compression: the narrowing of conceptual, emotional, and narrative space to engage the pandemic's ongoing temporality. 1 The crisis has not disappeared but its continued presence is met with interpersonal exhaustion. This is particularly consequential for those whose experiences fall outside dominant trajectories of recovery such as individuals with long COVID, individuals grappling with mental health conditions originating during the pandemic, and children and teenagers managing the consequences of over a year of disrupted education.
January 27, 2026 at 11:00 AM
drelke.bsky.social
2/n
Consider the bureaucratic liminality of long COVID. Patients experiencing chronic symptoms often find themselves caught in a diagnostic vacuum - they are not ill enough to be recognized, but not well enough to resume their pre-illness lives. Medical anthropologists have studied how similar forms of contested illness, such as ME/CFS, chronic pain, cancer, or environmental toxicity, fail to conform to biomedical legibility (Dumit 2006; Jain 2013). Long COVID joins this genealogy but carries a unique political resonance; it constitutes a post-crisis condition that persists in a system already reoriented toward closure. Sufferers must navigate not only the uncertain pathophysiology of their symptoms but a public imaginary that has already moved on.
January 27, 2026 at 10:59 AM