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Do Masks Do Anything to Prevent Transmission of Influenza or Influenza-Like Viruses? Clinical Trials Show No Clear-Cut Effect

by Dr Carl Heneghan and Dr Tom Jefferson
16 August 2022 1:00 PM

Professor Carl Heneghan and Dr Tom Jefferson have launched a Substack newsletter called ‘Trust the Evidence’. As regular readers of this site will know, they are two of the most authoritative sources when it comes to COVID-19, as well as other viruses. Unlike many medical doctors and public health scientists, they are strictly guided by the evidence and call it as they see it, regardless of whether it complements or contradicts the prevailing consensus. The article below was first published on their Substack account, which you can subscribe to here. The staff of the Daily Sceptic strongly encourages all our readers to subscribe.

Some of us started reviewing the evidence of the effects of physical interventions on the spread of viral respiratory infection two decades ago. The Cochrane review, now in its fourth update, concludes there is still uncertainty about the effects of face masks.

“Physical interventions” include hand washing, distancing, disinfection and barriers, including all types of masks.

SARS-CoV-2 had not been identified when we did the last update (published in November 2020), so we reviewed what physical interventions did to affect the spread of influenza and influenza-like illness. Most identify these two as “Flu”. We have already shown the lack of knowledge that accompanies this microbiological simplification.

Influenza-like illness is a syndrome made up of a constellation of signs and symptoms: fever, cough, runny nose, malaise, fatigue and so on, with which everyone is familiar. It is a multiagent syndrome caused by scores of known viruses (including seasonal coronaviruses) and many more which are unknown; Influenza (which cannot be distinguished clinically from the rest of influenza-like) illness is caused by two specific viruses (Influenza A and B) that can be diagnosed only after a laboratory test.

Before the pandemic, clinical trials in widely different settings and using different types of masks show no clear-cut effect against Influenza-like illnesses and influenza.

Although trials of medical/surgical masks are logistically challenging, the message is unequivocal: they do not appear to do much. Their effect on the broader community is unknown. These are broadly the same conclusions of the only two available randomised trials of masks conducted on COVID-19.

In previous versions of the Cochrane review, we included observational studies; some carried out after the 2003 SARs-1 epidemic. These lower quality studies showed an apparent effect, which higher quality studies failed to confirm. This is not an unusual situation that we find ourselves in Evidence-based medicine.

Who should you believe? Those that espouse low-quality evidence and its certainties or those rely on higher quality trial evidence – as we did in version 4 – with its inherent message of uncertainty.

The bottom line for evidence is to address the uncertainty. Throughout this pandemic, many seem to have had difficulty coping with uncertainties; they have jumped on any evidence that provides an element of certainty – at the time, this can feel reassuring. However, we have a tried and tested way of dealing with uncertainty in science: randomised trials.

It is a terrible indictment of the current leadership that no such trials have been planned or done, those which are on the stocks have had problems with funding and recruiting enough participants, and some researchers have been subjected to malicious personal attacks.

Any government “following the science” should have sponsored a range of trials testing different types and mixes of physical interventions in various populations and settings. They should have mandated genuine scientific efforts to diminish uncertainty. But politics, social media and the fatal attraction of spurious certainty underpinned by low-quality studies seem too much to overcome.

Dr. Carl Heneghan is the Oxford Professor of Evidence Based Medicine and Dr. Tom Jefferson is an epidemiologist based in Rome who works with Professor Heneghan on the Cochrane Collaboration.

Tags: COVID-19InfluenzaMasks

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16 Comments
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CircusSpot
CircusSpot
1 year ago

Andrew Doyle presented a very fair analysis of the Cass report on GB news last night. The biggest victims are the children. The second biggest group of victims have been gay people, especially lesbians who have been criticised by Stonewall for not accepting men who now identify as women into lesbian only groups.
The fear is that children who would go on to be gay are being forced to ‘change’ their sex instead and this is supported by Stonewall who were originally started to support gay people.

85
0
Mogwai
Mogwai
1 year ago
Reply to  CircusSpot

Yes, quite. It’s like a form of gay conversion for the older kids. Many who ‘trans’ are same-sex attracted anyway but because the whole ideology opposes homo/heterosexuality and instills confusion to vulnerable young minds, by this warped logic it is deemed better to be trans, and on they go on their pathway to royally screwing up their health and lives. The greatest shame, in my opinion, is the fact that parents are also swept up in this madness and actively encourage younger kids and teens through this whole shitshow. It’s within the parents’ power to make or break this entire process. I can understand young kids and vulnerable people, such as mentally ill or autistic people, being more easily brainwashed but the parents too?? I’m a parent and it’s like these people are a species from a different planet.
And as for the adults, ( predominantly men ) it’s like the meme says; ”So let me get this straight. You hate women but you want to become one?” Make it make sense.

55
0
CircusSpot
CircusSpot
1 year ago
Reply to  Mogwai

My fear, as always, is the 6% of the population who are sexually attracted to children. We have fought this group out of the Church, Care homes, Schools, Sports and Social groups and the Overseas charities and many went to live abroad.
By making Trans yet another subject which cannot be questioned we enable this group to get closer to the vulnerable children to harm them. Based on a population of 80million this would be 6 million people.
I think this explains the fight back against Cass and the use of outside charities and other groups to infiltrate the schools and to go for the very young.

32
0
10navigator
10navigator
1 year ago
Reply to  CircusSpot

I can’t resist the temptation to leaven what is a very serious subject by an image that springs to mind whenever I read about this topic. 40 years or so ago, I saw, scrawled on a public urinal wall, ‘My mother made me a homosexual’. Under it in totally different handwriting was written ‘If I buy her the wool, will she make me one?’

30
0
Ron Smith
Ron Smith
1 year ago

OT. The latest on Reiner Fuellmich
https://rumble.com/v4qkpgr-reiner-fuellmich-greg-reese-report.html?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=HealingEarth

15
-3
WyrdWoman
WyrdWoman
1 year ago
Reply to  Ron Smith

Thanks for posting. 👍

6
-1
Ron Smith
Ron Smith
1 year ago
Reply to  WyrdWoman

No problem, some people don’t seem to appreciate it though LOL.

4
0
Jackthegripper
Jackthegripper
1 year ago

Stonewall should have its charitable status removed, all public funding stopped and proscribed as a terrorist organisation.

42
0
ellie-em
ellie-em
1 year ago

I’ve cancelled my monthly direct debit to this organisation as of this morning. I’ll put extra items in the local food bank boxes instead.

13
0
Ron Smith
Ron Smith
1 year ago
Reply to  ellie-em

Just seen an advert asking for donations to the RNLI. The only people to fund them now are surely just the woke left and the ignorant.

14
0
CircusSpot
CircusSpot
1 year ago
Reply to  Ron Smith

I hope this is true, but my sceptical mind wonders how they could find enough volunteers to work FOC to operate the taxis 24/7 not to mention the cost of fuel and maintenance.

8
0
ellie-em
ellie-em
1 year ago
Reply to  Ron Smith

I used to regularly donate to them – over several years – but cancelled my support a couple of years ago. I’ve better things to spend my money on.

7
0

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