SARS-CoV-2

Rapid COVID-19 Tests To Help Prevent Further Transmission

Quick tests show value for stopping COVID’s spread, says an article on Nature.

Less effective than PCR test

Rapid coronavirus tests performed by hand-held test kits called antigen lateral-flow devices could bolster test-and-trace programs. But such tests are less effective at detecting infections than are slower, gold-standard polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests.

Study conducted to analyze transmission

David Eyre and Tim Peto at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, UK, and their colleagues...

https://mfame.guru/rapid-covid-19-tests-to-help-prevent-further-transmission/

Coronavirus Origin? Five Mysteries That Remain

According to a recently published article on Nature, with the WHO team investigating the origins of Covid-19, there are still few key questions unanswered about when, where and how the pandemic began.

Investigating COVID-19 origins

The World Health Organization (WHO) team investigating the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic concluded that the coronavirus probably originated in bats and passed to people through an intermediate animal.  But fundamental questions remain about when, where and how...

https://mfame.guru/coronavirus-origin-five-mysteries-that-remain/

Plot Yields Bats With a Trove of New Coronaviruses

  • 302 samples of faeces and urine and 109 mouth swabs taken from 342 live bats studied.
  • Team sequenced 24 coronavirus genomes, of which 4 were new viruses closely related to SARS-CoV-2.
  • One of the viruses isolated from a Rhinolophus pusillus bat shared 94.5% of its genome with the pandemic virus.
  • The results suggest that viruses closely related to SARS-CoV-2 continue to circulate in bats.

According to an article published in the Nature, bats in the province of Yunnan in southern China have...

https://mfame.guru/plot-yields-bats-with-a-trove-of-new-coronaviruses/

Older People Vulnerable of Getting Covid 19 Twice

  • An analysis of millions of coronavirus test results in Denmark suggests that natural infection with SARS-CoV-2 protects against reinfection in most people.
  • But this protection is significantly weaker in those aged 65 years or older.
  • Steen Ethelberg and his colleagues at the Statens Serum Institut in Copenhagen mined data from polymerase chain reaction tests.
  • These are the gold-standard method for detecting SARS-CoV-2 infection, conducted in Denmark (C. H. Hansen et al. Lancet https://doi.org/gj...

https://mfame.guru/older-people-vulnerable-of-getting-covid-19-twice/

Kent Variant of Coronavirus Up To ‘Twice’ As Deadly, Study Finds

  • Study led by Exeter University said the variant appears to be 64% more lethal.
  • It suggests risk of death after infection may increase from 1 in 400 to 1 in 250.
  • Downing Street warned in January this might happen but had little evidence.
  • The variant now makes up a majority of all Covid-19 cases in Britain.

According to a new study, the Kent variant of COVID-19 may be up to twice as deadly as previous strains of coronavirus, reports Manchester Evening News.

The more deadly new variant! 

Epidemiolog...

https://mfame.guru/kent-variant-of-coronavirus-up-to-twice-as-deadly-study-finds/

Pfizer Vaccine Effective From Day 11 Post 1st Dose, Study Finds

  • New Australian research suggests that the second ‘booster’ dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine may not increase vaccine efficacy against SARS-CoV-2.
  • The results suggest one dose of the vaccine could be sufficient in providing a robust immune response 11 days after inoculation.
  • The findings could help shape policy as vaccine rollout has been slow in countries such as the United States and Canada.

A team of researchers suggests that one dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine could be sufficient in...

https://mfame.guru/pfizer-vaccine-effective-from-day-11-post-1st-dose-study-finds/

People With High COVID Viral Load Spreading It

  • Scientists found out what makes people contagious with covid.
  • In a rare transmission study, scientists found out people with higher viral load are spreading it.
  • The transmission is found to be more in household contacts than anywhere else.
  • Also the time of onset of covid in such cases are 6-7 days.
  • This indicates high viral load people with shorter incubation period are the superspreaders.

A study conducted in 300 covid infected people reveals that the amount of SARS-CoV-2 in a person’s body...

https://mfame.guru/people-with-high-covid-viral-load-spreading-it/

New Pandemic Likely As Bat Coronaviruses Can Directly Infect Humans

  • New research has revealed the extent of the covid problem by showing some bat coronaviruses can directly infect humans.
  • The two coronaviruses used in the research are similar to covid and they directly infected lung cells. 
  • The infection incited interferon 1 and cytokine inflammation
  • However, they also found that treating it with EIDD-2801 drug reduced the infection.
  • EIDD-2801 is an oral antiviral drug currently undergoing phase 2-3 trials

 Some coronaviruses found in bats could jump directly...

https://mfame.guru/new-pandemic-likely-as-bat-coronaviruses-can-directly-infect-humans/

COVID Losing Its Own Genes To Survive Against Antibodies

Again and again, the new coronavirus has sloughed off small chunks of its genome, leading to changes in a viral protein that is frequently targeted by antibodies, says a new report published in nature.

  • SARS-CoV-2 emerged from a yet-to-be defined animal reservoir and initiated a pandemic in 2020.
  •  It has acquired limited adaptions, most notably the D614G substitution in the spike (S) glycoprotein.
  •  Humoral immunity to S glycoprotein appears to be the strongest correlate of protection and...

https://mfame.guru/covid-losing-its-own-genes-to-survive-against-antibodies/

COVID19 Spike Protein Mutation Making New Variants 8 Times More Infectious

  • Scientists identify a mutation in the coronavirus spike protein making new variants more infectious.
  • The D614G mutation appears in all the 3 new variants, the UK, Brazil and South African Strain.
  • This mutation allows the virus to enter cells more effectively causing infections.
  • It also makes it  transmit8 times more quickly.
  • Booster Shots of different spike proteins from these variants could be a way out.
  • Research is underway to access the vaccine effect on this mutation. 

The team found that...

https://mfame.guru/covid19-spike-protein-mutation-making-new-variants-8-times-more-infectious/

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