Coronavirus good Uplifting and hopeful news only
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Anonymous
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The evidence that people who contract the coronavirus develop immunity-conferring antibodies is steadily growing. Last week’s roundup included multiple studies indicating that COVID-19 survivors develop neutralizing antibodies and thus face no immediate risk of reinfection (how long such immunity lasts remains unclear). Now, a study of 160 French doctors and nurses who contracted mild cases of COVID-19 finds that 159 possessed neutralizing antibodies 41 days after showing symptoms. This is significant because many have feared that mild cases of COVID-19 might be insufficient to confer immunity. https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/05/coronavirus-studies-updates-good-news-bad-news-herd-immunity.html |
Anonymous
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It is possible that a significant number of people who’ve never been infected with the novel coronavirus already possess some immunity to it. In last week’s roundup, we featured a study that found that a survivor of SARS possessed an antibody that ostensibly confers immunity to COVID-19. This was auspicious for our odds of developing an effective novel-coronavirus vaccine since an antibody capable of neutralizing viruses as distinct as SARS and the COVID-19 bug should be versatile enough to neutralize all mutated versions of the latter. This said, even if every SARS survivor were immune to the novel coronavirus, it would make little immediate difference epidemiologically, as only an infinitesimal fraction of humans were ever infected with SARS. But SARS and MERS weren’t the only forerunners of our present affliction. Several common colds are also coronaviruses. And if a significant percentage of people who’ve recovered from such colds possess cross-reactive immunity to SARS-CoV-2, then the population liable to contract COVID-19 — and spread the novel coronavirus — would be smaller than previously feared. A recent study from the Center for Infectious Disease and Vaccine Research and the La Jolla Institute for Immunology suggests that this might be the case. Examining blood samples taken between 2015 and 2018 (when the novel coronavirus was still just a twinkle in Satan’s eye), researchers found that roughly 50 percent of these blood-givers possessed “SARS-CoV-2-reactive CD4+ T cells” — which is to say, their immune systems appeared capable of immediately recognizing and combating the novel coronavirus. Since none of these individuals could have been exposed to SARS-CoV-2, the most likely explanation for their possession of such T cells is previous exposure to a common-cold coronavirus. Now, this was just a single study of blood samples. It remains unclear how prevalent these T cells actually are in the general population and how effective they truly are in combating COVID-19. But it’s at least possible that SARS-CoV-2 will suffer a fate not entirely dissimilar to the 2009 H1N1 swine flu, whose spread was undermined by the “immunological head start” humanity had derived from similar influenza strains. https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/05/coronavirus-studies-updates-good-news-bad-news-herd-immunity.html |
Anonymous
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Anonymous
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It is all still there.... 
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Anonymous
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Healing... 
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Anonymous
| Bump |
Anonymous
| Some may see this as scary, I see it as science turning a corner to understand this virus: https://elemental.medium.com/coronavirus-may-be-a-blood-vessel-disease-which-explains-everything-2c4032481ab2 |
Anonymous
| bump |
Anonymous
You guys really don't understand mutation. The virus can mutate and still be seen by the vaccine. Mutating doesn't mean becoming totally different. The things the vaccine looks for will still be there and other things change/mutate. |
Anonymous
And isn’t it a normal thing for viruses to mutate, but to become less dangerous? So mutation can be a good thing! |
Anonymous
Very interesting, thanks for sharing! |
Anonymous
Yes, interesting and scary but also shows the science developing. This reinforces did me why I do want to continue to try not to get the virus at this time. Scientists keep learning things that will hopefully lead to treatment improvements. |
Anonymous
Perfectly said... |
Anonymous
From the article: "The good news is that if Covid-19 is a vascular disease, there are existing drugs that can help protect against endothelial cell damage. In another New England Journal of Medicine paper that looked at nearly 9,000 people with Covid-19, Mehra showed that the use of statins and ACE inhibitors were linked to higher rates of survival. Statins reduce the risk of heart attacks not only by lowering cholesterol or preventing plaque, they also stabilize existing plaque, meaning they’re less likely to rupture if someone is on the drugs. “It turns out that both statins and ACE inhibitors are extremely protective on vascular dysfunction,” Mehra says. “Most of their benefit in the continuum of cardiovascular illness — be it high blood pressure, be it stroke, be it heart attack, be it arrhythmia, be it heart failure — in any situation the mechanism by which they protect the cardiovascular system starts with their ability to stabilize the endothelial cells.” Mehra continues, “What we’re saying is that maybe the best antiviral therapy is not actually an antiviral therapy. The best therapy might actually be a drug that stabilizes the vascular endothelial. We’re building a drastically different concept.” |
Anonymous
Beautiful. |