Pandemic Aftermath: Why Infectious Diseases Are Surging—And How I’d Treat Myself If I Fell ILL

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.

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:

1. Influenza cases in the US have jumped about 40% in the two post-Covid flu seasons, compared with the pre-pandemic years

2. Whooping cough, or pertussis, cases have climbed by 45 times in China in the first four months compared with last year.

3. RSV – In some parts of Australia, cases of respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, have nearly doubled from a year ago.

4. Dengue – Argentina is battling its worst-ever dengue outbreak.

5. Streptococcal A – Japan is seeing a mysterious surge of strep throat.

6. Measles is making a comeback in more than 20 American states, the UK and parts of Europe.

7. 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).

8. Norovirus – as per this NY Times article, there were 91 norovirus outbreaks in the U.S last December

9. Walking Pneumonia – from this WSJ article, rates were 10X higher in 2024 than 2023.

10. 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).

11. 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).

Dropping Vaccination Rates

Now, let’s move on to their more predictable explanation (and likely the point of the article), which is that these rises are due to declining vaccination rates. Here, they focus on pertussis:

Pertussis, which can induce coughing fits so violent that patients have been known to break their ribs, has been staging a global comeback. Deaths, usually in young babies who struggle to breathe, have been reported in China, the Philippines, the UK, the Czech Republic and the Netherlands. Canada, South Africa, Bolivia, the US, Malaysia and Israel have all seen resurgent outbreaks.

“Deaths have been reported?” You don’t say.

Next, the journalists reach out to our friend (not) Jeremy Farrar for guidance in how to address this situation:

To move past the current situation, rebuilding society’s trust in vaccines is an absolute must, said Farrar. “We’ve got to make the case for science and for vaccines and explain and explain and explain the importance. We can’t just say some people are anti-science or anti-vaccine and forget them,” he said. “We need to listen, explain, and try to reach everybody.”

Here is my take: the “dropping vaccination rates” argument could certainly hold water, except two data points would have to be overlooked: 1) why would non-vaccine preventable diseases be rising at similar or even greater rates, and 2) why would the spikes of illness be so large compared to the tiny decreases in global vaccination rates? See this chart, which shows that, contradicting this argument, the measles vaccination rate was 76% in 2024, up from 71% in 2019, and as for polio and TB, they are only down by 2% compared to pre-pandemic:

Sorry, Mr. Farrar, but blaming these epidemics on dropping vaccination rates might sell more vaccines, but the data do not support the argument. Vaccination coverage is simply stagnating (gee, I wonder why?), not falling. Moving on.

“Wrung-Out Health Services”

Methinks they have conflated “cause and effect” here. I maintain that it is actually the surge of illnesses that has overwhelmed the health system, and not an overwhelmed system that has led to a rise in illnesses. I first detailed this reality in one of my most popular series of posts, called “Nursing Reports From The Front Lines of The Vaccine Catastrophe,” which drew on firsthand eyewitness accounts of what was happening inside a major academic medical center during the mRNA campaign. Also, why would a “stressed-out health system” make me more likely to get sick? Oh yeah, because I might not be able to access vaccines or antibiotics (for viral illnesses?). Right.

Overwhelmed Systems

Anecdotal Evidence

One of the main staff members at our Leading Edge Clinic, Mark Bishofsky (who also works as a respiratory therapist at several hospitals), told me a few months ago that “there are no slowdowns in the hospital anymore from May to September, it seems they are constantly going full-tilt. Med-surg units, ICU’s, the whole hospital is always full.”

This is also supported by a number of reports and studies. From Perplexity AI: After the initial pandemic-related decline in 2020, both hospital admissions and ER visits have risen steadily, returning to or surpassing pre-pandemic levels by 2024, with increased patient complexity and demand posing ongoing challenges for the U.S. healthcare system.

This article was pretty scary:

“A consistent increase in visit numbers from 2020 to 2024; increased patient complexity (both complex medical and social needs); increased patient acuity; and insufficient capacity, which can lead to crowding, longer wait times, and violence toward emergency department staff. Additionally, payment to physicians per emergency department visit is falling.

Workplace Illness

Although the Bloomberg article largely focused on health systems reporting increased case rates from around the world, they also reported on U.S payroll data:

The state of constant illness already is taking a toll on businesses and the economy. Nearly one in three US employees in white-collar jobs took at least one sick day in 2023, according to payroll company Gusto, up 42% from 2019. And when they missed work, they missed more of it, with the average absence up 15%. And a UK study found workplace absences at the highest rate in over a decade, with employees missing nearly eight days on average over the past year, up from six before the pandemic.

We really are getting sicker. Not good.

The Elephant In the Room

OK, let’s (finally) address the elephant in the room, which is that the most significant cause (but not the only) of unprecedented and sudden rises in infectious illnesses around the world is the likelihood that the planet’s citizens are suffering from widespread immune dysregulation in the wake of the global mRNA vaccination campaign. There, I said it.

At least, that’s my hypothesis. Part of the evidence I will use to support this assertion comes straight from the article (in a surprising twist, the explanation was literally right under their noses yet they couldn’t sniff it out). Check out the following paragraphs which, to me, are unintentionally comical:

The Biggest Risk: Canada, Japan, Singapore and Germany — places lauded for their successful efforts to contain Covid — are now seeing unusual levels of excess mortality, said Christopher Murray, Washington-based director of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation.

“Lauded for their successful efforts to contain Covid?” Meaning.. mass mandated vaccination? And, lo and behold, they are now seeing “unusual levels of excess mortality?” Weird, right? Seems to support my “vaccine hypothesis” above no? With one caveat – although in this article I will focus on the negative immunological impacts of vaccines, I would argue that the excess mortality they cite above is more from the cardiovascular and endothelial damage of the mRNA spike vaccines. This can be seen in the data showing that during the pandemic, there were significant increases in strokes, heart attacks, and sudden deaths, especially in young people. Associated with a respiratory virus. Go figure.

Surprisingly, they make the vaccine hypothesis even stronger with the next sentence:

“In contrast, places that failed to control the spread of Covid, like Bulgaria, Romania and Russia, are now back to pre-pandemic mortality rates.”

Murray then makes a lame attempt to explain this seeming contradiction:

Why would it be worse in places that did a good job? That seems a bit strange. (ED: not really Doug). Some of this is the idea that those countries kept frail, elderly people alive,” Murray said. Mixed with the immunity debt theory, “it’s a really quite complicated set of things going on,” he said.

You have just got to be kidding me here. They are making my argument for me. Doesn’t happen often, but I’ll take it. Yeesh.

So, their best explanation is that the “best performing countries” in Covid (an oxymoron, obviously) managed to keep the frail elderly alive longer, and that is why we are seeing new excess mortality. “Mortality debt?” Hmm. Good one.

Not-So-Fun Facts About Vaccination and Immune Dysregulation

So, in the above list of “differential diagnoses” generated to explain the surges in illness, the Bloomberg journalists never entertained the possibility that the negative immunological consequences of mass vaccination with an experimental gene technology might be a cause. Oddly, they didn’t even explore the less politically charged (and much more obvious) possibility that patients who recover from Covid-19 itself can exhibit alterations in immune function.

Let’s start with vaccines. A little-known fact is that vaccines, even when they reduce the rate of the targeted infection, are also known to simultaneously increase the risk of other respiratory infections (thus creating a zero- and/or negative-sum game). Don’t believe me? Here ya go (heading is hyperlinked to the study):

• Randomized Controlled Trial in Children (2012, Hong Kong):

  • Flu-vaccinated kids had over 4X the risk of non-influenza respiratory virus infection (rhinoviruses, coxsackie, echoviruses).

• Australian Case-Control Study in Children:

  • Seasonal flu shots doubled the risk of illness from non-influenza virus infections. Overall, the vaccine increased the risk of virus-associated acute respiratory illness by 73%.

In this study comparing VA clinics that mandated flu vaccines to those that did not, even though flu infections decreased markedly, other respiratory infections increased by 26%.

Mechanisms Supporting Immune Dysregulation Caused by mRNA Gene Therapies

Recall that the spike protein is the primary pathogenic factor of the virus. The spike protein generated by mRNA vaccination has been shown to lead to the following immunologic disturbances (headings are hyperlinked to the study). The spike protein:

1. Induces High IgG4 Antibody Levels which promote an immune environment less focused on pathogen elimination.

2. Impairs T Cell Activation which are critical for fighting a broad range of infections

3. Suppresses Innate Immune Responses which is essential for the initial defense against many pathogens

4.Causes inflammation – spike protein triggers both increased inflammatory signals or molecular mimicry, leading to immune dysregulation and autoimmunity.

Spikeopathy

This review by Parry et al (a respected Australian psychiatrist and colleague whose scholarly work exposed numerous research integrity problems in SSRI trials) first coined and described the field of “spikeopathy.” The term is used to describe the collection of autoimmune, cardiovascular, neurological, and possible oncological impacts linked to the spike protein, which they expertly and comprehensively detailed in their review.

• Mechanisms include inflammation, autoimmunity, altered immune responses, and widespread biodistribution of the spike protein along with cross-reactive responses – antibodies generated by mRNA vaccines can cross-react with other pathogens, which could, in theory, also distract or suppress the immune response to other organisms.

The “Inconvenient Science” Problem: How Medical Literature Gets Neutered

What could be more inconvenient to the vaccine industry than the knowledge that vaccination might, paradoxically, actually lead to an overall increase in infectious illnesses? Nothing could be more threatening, really (well, except for the knowledge they cause death I suppose) – which is why Bloomberg carefully (or ignorantly) avoided exploring the possibility.

My readers are, by now, all well aware that when “inconvenient science” emerges, “disinformation campaigns” are deployed via peer-reviewed studies in medical journals, which are then amplified by the media to suppress or neutralize the findings. Whenever a scientific finding threatens entrenched financial interests—or doesn’t fit the preferred narrative—you can bet a flurry of “debunking” studies will follow, with designs engineered to neutralize the original results. All the “other side” has to do is publish conflicting or contradictory data to render the previous finding “controversial, conflicting, and/or inconclusive.” Easy Peezy.

I have hammered this concept home repeatedly in this Substack and my book called “The War on Ivermectin.” Note that the Hong Kong study I cited above was a prospective RCT, published in 2012, which found that kids who got the flu vaccine had a 4X increased rate of other viral illnesses compared to those who didn’t. 4X.

Cue the disinformation “rebuttal” study. This beauty was published within a year, in the same journal:

Not so fun fact: three of the authors of this study (including the first and senior authors), received direct research funding from MedImmune LLC. What is Medimmune LLC you ask? Read it and weep:

“MedImmune LLC is a biotechnology company that was formerly (Ed: like at the time of this study in 2013). a wholly owned subsidiary of AstraZeneca, focused on the research, development, and commercialization of biologic medicines.”

Unsurprisingly, that study had issues:

In summary, from AI:

“While Sundaram et al. provides valuable evidence, its conclusions are limited by age restrictions, selection bias toward care-seeking individuals, exclusion of certain groups, limited pathogen testing, possible residual confounding, and single-region data. These factors should be considered when interpreting the study’s findings.” Ed: Ya don’t say.

At this point, my cynicism and skepticism towards the published literature has left me to approach any published paper with an overly simplistic (and likely somewhat error-prone) approach. I start by asking, “Does the therapy or topic being studied support an immense financial profit or, conversely, does it threaten an entrenched financial interest?

If the answer is yes to either of the two prior questions, I immediately side with the “inconvenient” scientific finding. Does that make me biased? Yes. Ultimately, given Pharma’s takeover of Science, I maintain that it is nearly impossible to know what the truth is in modern medical peer-reviewed literature but I think my system leads to far more correct (and safer) conclusions than not.

Are Patients At Increased Risk Of Infections After Recovering From Covid-19?

The Bloomberg journalists, for whatever reason, did not entertain the possibility that Covid itself can cause immune dysregulation and thus might explain the data they are reporting, so I will do it for them.

So, could Covid be a cause? The short answer is yes, it can. First, mechanistically, just like any other infectious illness, (especially the more severe ones like I saw in my ICU career), they trigger “immune cell exhaustion, reduced function of white blood cells, and changes in inflammatory signaling, all of which weaken the body’s ability to fight off new infections.” I suspect this might occur even more so after Covid given it is a lab-engineered bioweapon. To wit:

• The Lancet Infectious Diseases (2025) analyzed data from over 800,000 people. Those who had Covid-19 had a 17% -46% higher rate of non-COVID respiratory, bacterial, fungal, and viral infections for at least a year.

Not 10X rises but still significant.

Conclusion and Solutions

In summary, although Covid-19 could undoubtedly be a contributor to this “mysterious” surge in illnesses worldwide, the number of studies on vaccine-induced immune dysregulation mechanisms far outweighs those showing an increased risk of other infectious diseases after contracting Covid.

Although I think Covid is a factor, it doesn’t explain the discord in post-Covid-19 illness surges between the “best Covid-managed countries” and the “worst Covid-managed countries,” as the journalists remarked on above. They admit that the “countries that did the best” (which I can only take to mean “vaccinated the most”) are now faring the worst in terms of rising illness and deaths. Thus, my vaccine hypothesis wins.

Navigating Illness: My Own Strategy for Viral and Bacterial Infections

As highlighted in the Bloomberg article, managing viral and bacterial infections is increasingly challenging, especially in resource-limited settings where access to physicians, patented antivirals, or antibiotics is scarce. Existing FDA-approved antivirals are costly and only marginally effective, while antibiotics only address bacterial infections.

Thus, with conventional medicine offering few effective, affordable solutions — it’s more urgent than ever to explore alternative, evidence-informed options.

Drawing on years of frontline clinical experience, global research collaborations, and firsthand therapeutic trials, I’m pulling back the curtain on the exact, multi-layered strategy I would personally use if I or my family faced one of these infections today – not as a prescription, but as an informed, transparent guide.

Given the current climate around medical information and the personal nature of the approaches I describe, I have chosen to make this section available only to paid subscribers. This allows me to speak candidly and share methods that go beyond mainstream protocols, in a more private, trusted setting. I can also better foster a community of engaged readers who value thoughtful, practical discussion outside the noise of the public arena.

I decided to share how I would treat myself if I contracted “avian influenza,”, a.k.a “bird flu.” Not that it is a threat (unless you forget about the ever-active bioweapons industry) but more that, from my approach to bird flu, one can glean how I would approach all other less severe, viral or bacterial illnesses. My approaches are not typically found in mainstream protocols, but they are the result of relentless research, clinical observation, and practical success. Further, as a former ICU specialist, they are clearly “aggressive” in nature, unlike what most outpatient or generalist physicians are capable of. So, if you want to know what I keep in my medicine cabinet and the exact plan I would follow in a high-stakes infection – read on.

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