Recently we have been having a go at some of the bad Lab practises, like taking blood samples from eyes that was banned over thirty years ago in the UK, of Chinese labs when it comes to animal issues. Therefore, we wonder if they have conspired to get rid of TeamG by creating the deadly COVID-19, by another bad practice…….selling live, wild animals for food.
It is thought the virus originated in bats and then infected pangolins (an artichoke with legs), which were being eaten despite being an endangered species.
Why do I say about the conspiracy theory? Because when you look at our demographic (age-range) you can see that the more senior members of the team are in the flesh-zone, so our chance of being in the green zone (survivor after infection) is not as good as we think. So once you hit 50 the risk of COVID-19-related death if bad enough to be hospitalised increases. So whilst we are lulled into the belief that there is a death rate of 1-3%, you can see this is skewed and yound people survive meaning older people do worse. So if you are over 50 your straw gets shorter. If you are into pensionable age, the straw gets even shorter. Maybe the conspiracy is a plot to deal with the pensions crisis:-(.
Warning the next bit of reading for older people like myself is not good news. It does not seem to a have surfaced yet..Remember Don’t Panic
Clinical predictors of mortality due to COVID-19 based on an analysis of data of 150 patients from Wuhan, China. Ruan Q, Yang K, Wang W, Jiang L, Song J. Intensive Care Med. 2020 Mar 3. doi: 10.1007/s00134-020-05991-x.
Most of these deaths are related to respiratory failure (Lung issues), but some are associated with inflammation of the heart (Myocarditis) and heart issues seem to be a risk factor.
Wei-jie Guan et al. Clinical Characteristics of Coronavirus Disease 2019 in China. NEJM February 28, 2020 DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa2002032
The median incubation period was 4 days (interquartile range, 2 to 7). Fever was present in 43.8% of the patients on admission but developed in 88.7% during hospitalization. The second most common symptom was cough (67.8%); nausea or vomiting (5.0%) and diarrhea (3.8%) were uncommon. Moreover, the presence of any coexisting illness was more common among patients with severe disease than among those with nonsevere disease (38.7% vs. 21.0%).
This is a bit doom and gloom, so on the plus point you may be interested that there are already over 40 different companies, generating a vaccine, but this is going to take a while to test. There are regulatory procedures to follow to check safety before human use and remember vaccines are only really any good when they are given before you become infected.
However, on the plus side I have seen two different reports of an anti-viral effect by an old anti-malaria drug costing about $0.04 or about $5 in the USA. I won’t give its name as I sure the World stocks will disappear overnight…I know what you are like:-). Mention 600mg Biotin one day and you are scoffing 30 Holland & Barrett 2mg biotin tablets the next. Anyway in one study the anti-malarial drug was given in combination with an anti-viral. It is good to keep what we have for the people that need them. I went to get a paracetamol (which is anti-fever and so will counter an issue that happens when you are infected) for MsMouse’s headache and the shops were stripped. It may be a problem to have a normal Pooh soon as we head for a Loo Roll Shortage……….
The Doomsday scenario stuck on the toilet with the last square of paper…is perhaps a driver for hoarding.
On the plus side, spring is coming. At least the grass is starting to grow if we get desparate:-). But now we will realize that we can’t import grass from the EU. Who would have thought “Grass for the Ass” would be a problem from Brexit -). Given the bushfires and I guess no grass, may explain the scences from Australia above.
Also certain places (e.g. Italy) are recommending we stop shaking hands, maybe that is what your left hand is for:-). profG did say we had to think of alternatives….Perhaps too long in South Africa or the Army:-)
Anyway I digress, this anti-malara drug is mildly immunosuppressive, but the good news of interest is that Beta interferon was also shown to suppress the SARS virus (We would need evidence on COVID-19). It seems that the cornoaviruses have mechanisms that limit the early production and action of interferons. Indeed trying to understand the immunology was the reason. I started this reading. What gets rid of the virus and what is a cause of the lethality. It seems the answer to both questions is the immune system.
As the world is witnessing the epidemic of COVID-19, a disease caused by a novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, emerging genetics and clinical evidences suggest a similar path to those of SARS and MERS [Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and in 2011 by Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS)]. The rapid genomic sequencing and open access data, together with advanced vaccine technology, are expected to give us more knowledge on the pathogen itself, including the host immune response as well as the plan for therapeutic vaccines in the near future. This review aims to provide a comparative view among SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV and the newly epidemic SARS-CoV-2, in the hope to gain a better understanding of the host-pathogen interaction, host immune responses, and the pathogen immune evasion strategies. This predictive view may help in designing an immune intervention or preventive vaccine for COVID-19 in the near future .
Remember, it is just one view and it may not be the right view
The primary mode of infection is human-to-human transmission through close contact, which occurs via spraying droplets from infected individual through their cough or sneeze. If infected wear a mask is you can find one. COVID-19 has a probable asymptomatic incubation period between 2 and 14 days during which the virus can be transmitted. The longer incubation period is probably due to corona virus immune evasion properties, efficiently escaping host immune detection at the early stage of infection.
So yet conspiracy against Team G as we use the tube and spend most of our mornings and nights sniffing other people’s arms pits.
Anyway back to the Doom and Gloom. Most patients infected developed lymphopenia and leukopenia (reduced white cell counts) and pneumonia. In addition, high-levels of proinflammatory cytokines including IL-2, IL-7, IL-10 (T & B cell growth factors) , G-CSF (neutrophil growth factors), IP-10, MCP-1, MIP-1A (chemoattractive proteins), and TNFα were observed in the COVID-19 severe cases. Therefore, you are making immune growth factors
These findings are in line with SARS and MERS in that the presence of lymphopenia and “cytokine storm” may have a major role in the pathogenesis of COVID-19.
This so-called “cytokine storm” can initiate viral sepsis and inflammatory-induced lung injury, which lead to other complications
including pneumonitis, acute respiratory distress syndrome
(ARDS), respiratory failure, shock, organ failure and potentially death.
Increased neutrophils (maybe responding to G-CSF granulocyte growth factor) and decreased lymphocytes (this may be because they are going to the lung) correlate with disease severity and death. Furthermore, patients needing intensive care had higher blood levels of many innate (macrophage and neutrophil) cytokines, IP-10, MCP-1, MIP-1A, and TNFα. These clinical features suggested the likelihood of involvement of highly pro-inflammatory condition in the disease progression and severity. This early high rise in the blood levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines were also observed in SARS and MERS coronavirus infection, suggesting a potential similar cytokine storm-mediated disease severity . Excessive alpha interferon with the infiltrated monocytes are a cause of lung dysfunction and negatively impact the outcome of the infection.
It is speculated that upon SARS or MERS-infection, delayed type I IFN compromises the early viral control, leading to influx of hyperinflammatory neutrophils and monocytes-macrophages. Could people on beta interferon have an advantage here? I don’t know.
Active viral replication later results in hyperproduction type I IFN and influx of neutrophils and macrophages which are the major sources of pro-inflammatory cytokines.The increases in these innate immune cells yields deteriorating consequences to infected host that manifested in lung immunopathology, including pneumonia or acute respiratory distress syndrome
Th1 type immune response plays a dominant role in an adaptive immunity to viral infections. Cytokine microenvironment generated by antigen presenting cells dictate the direction of T cell responses. Helper T cells orchestrate the overall adaptive response, while cytotoxic T cells are essential in killing of viral infected cells. Humoral immune response, especially production of neutralizing antibody, plays a protective role by limiting infection at later phase and prevents reinfection in the future (Yep this is the standard view of immunity to infection). Strong T cell responses correlated significantly with higher neutralizing antibody while more serum Th2 cytokines (IL-4, IL-5, IL-10) were detected in the fatal group .
A Th1 response is thought to important for disease control. CD8+ T cell response, even though crucial, needs to be well controlled in order not to cause lung pathology.
Delayed and weak antibody response are associated with severe outcome. Although limited serological details have been reported the first wave of antibody developed(IgM) with a peak of 9 days and switched to Ig by about 16 days. Therefore B cells are important part of immunity.
The reality will become clearer as more information surfaces. So remember to wash your hands with soap and avoid touching your face
Stay Safe.
COI: Non relevant
About 85% recover from the infection
Chinese doctors are taking serum from those that survive and give to those who are infected
It work in 65% of the patients
🙂
Watching film outbreak. Feeding.cow to cow gave us mad cow….watch next the son of covid. It shows you need your B cells
Oh Mouse Doctor, who needs the theatre with a post like that?! Smirk inducing humour, high drama
and a dollop of peril. Thank you – it made my breakfast. 🙂
It would be necessary to take measures and save scientists over 65 years of age and infect participants in realities.
But isn’t that figure biased? It seems that those are cases that were bad enough to be hospitalized.
That looks to be the case (as pointed out in the article) but it certainly seems that the older you are the more vulnerable, particularly if you have another underlying health condition such as cardiac or lung problems.
Can we sue china for the virus.😌
Threaten to not.ny goods made in China 🙂