Certain viruses favored to spread

Dear Dr. Roach: The newest COVID variant is reputed to be less deadly but highly contagious. What precisely makes one virus variant more contagious than another virus variant?

S.

Answer: The factors that make a virus more contagious are varied. Viruses that can reproduce faster and make more of themselves are favored. Those that contain lots of spike proteins, which attach to human cells and start the process of getting the virus into the cells, are also more likely to spread.

Getting around your body’s immune system is another factor that predicts greater infectiousness.

Being up-to-date with the vaccine, using personal protection (especially masks) and staying away from crowds when risk is high remain the best ways of avoiding infection with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.

Dear Dr. Roach: I suffer from burning mouth syndrome and dry mouth. Have there been any new treatments for these problems? I’ve tried “magic mouthwash,” but it made things worse. I was prescribed 100 mg of gabapentin three times a day, which really started to work, but I could only tolerate it for two months. I also tried Lyrica, but the side effects were too much, and I only took it for five days.

I’ve been to an ENT, my family doctor and my gastroenterologist over this. Are there specialists for this condition? K.H.

Answer: Burning mouth syndrome is an uncommon condition, frequently misdiagnosed or diagnosed only after many years of, as its name describes, a burning sensation in the mouth without any other diagnosis to explain it. Although a dry mouth sensation is common, objective findings of dry mouth would make me consider another condition — Sjogren’s syndrome.

Burning mouth syndrome is thought to be a neurological disease. Pregabalin (Lyrica) and gabapentin (Neurontin) are very similar medicines frequently used for pain due to nerve damage. A neurologist would be the expert in managing this condition.