Coronavirus (Covid-19) informational thread

[BigMcGuire]

Fears arise that lambda COVID-19 variant from Peru may be resistant to vaccines

The Lambda mutation, or C.37, appears to have emerged in Peru last August — and is now being blamed for the country having the highest pandemic death rate in the world.

nypost.com

Fresh threat: Ultra-contagious mutant Covid strain emerges

It started in Peru, where it laid waste to the population. Now it's on the move.

www.nzherald.co.nz

Lambda variant: What is the new strain of Covid detected in the UK?

Scientists are concerned the latest strain could be more infectious and resistant to vaccines

www.independent.co.uk

Interesting. I guess it was only a matter of time? My wife's family in Peru - we've lost 6 relatives (2 of whom I've met several times in Peru). COVID has decimated the family in Peru.

 

[Falhófnir]

BioNTech/Pfizer vaccine less effective at preventing Delta coronavirus cases: study

Based on data from June, the vaccine demonstrated 64 percent efficacy at preventing cases and 94 percent effective at preventing hospitalizations.

www.politico.eu

It's good the vaccines seem to be holding up in preventing hospitalisations, but that's a big drop off (94% to 64%) in preventing people catching and passing it on for the Delta variant.

 

[pshufd]

BioNTech/Pfizer vaccine less effective at preventing Delta coronavirus cases: study

Based on data from June, the vaccine demonstrated 64 percent efficacy at preventing cases and 94 percent effective at preventing hospitalizations.

www.politico.eu

It's good the vaccines seem to be holding up in preventing hospitalisations, but that's a big drop off (94% to 64%) in preventing people catching and passing it on for the Delta variant.

I'm pretty sure that we're getting a booster. The question is when. It had better include lambda.

 

[Falhófnir]

I'm pretty sure that we're getting a booster. The question is when. It had better include lambda.

Lambda has only fairly recently come to attention as a variant of interest (literally last month) so i'm not sure whether they will have included it in the round of boosters currently under development for later this year. There is the possibility they will be more effective against it anyway, though.

 

[pshufd]

Lambda has only fairly recently come to attention as a variant of interest (literally last month) so i'm not sure whether they will have included it in the round of boosters currently under development for later this year. There is the possibility they will be more effective against it anyway, though.

The current ones under development likely cover Delta but the important aspect of Lambda is a mutation to evade the anitbodies for the vaccines and for those who have had COVID. That makes protection against Lambda important. Lambda may well be a variant of Delta so a booster targeting Delta should provide some benefit against Lambda.

 

[smirking]

I'm pretty sure that we're getting a booster. The question is when. It had better include lambda.

Vaccine scientist, Peter Hotez, said in a podcast last week that he thinks it's very unlikely that we'll see a truly vaccine resistant variant. It's because there are only so many places where a mutation can produce a deadlier virus. The virus can't just freely spin up slightly more deadly versions of itself with each mutation. It has a fixed number of pathways it can move in and they're all known to the scientists.

 

[pshufd]

Vaccine scientist, Peter Hotez, said in a podcast last week that he thinks it's very unlikely that we'll see a truly vaccine resistant variant. It's because there are only so many places where a mutation can produce a deadlier virus. The virus can't just freely spin up slightly more deadly versions of itself with each mutation. It has a fixed number of pathways it can move in and they're all known to the scientists.

Hopefully one of the vaccine-makers can confirm the efficacy against Lambda soon.

 

[44267547]

Vaccine scientist, Peter Hotez, said in a podcast last week that he thinks it's very unlikely that we'll see a truly vaccine resistant variant. It's because there are only so many places where a mutation can produce a deadlier virus. The virus can't just freely spin up slightly more deadly versions of itself with each mutation. It has a fixed number of pathways it can move in and they're all known to the scientists.

First off, welcome back. Haven’t seen you in forever.

The pharmacist who administered my vaccine a while back (She’s been in this field for 30 years), said based off her opinion is the unique factor about C/19, is that will continue to keep ‘morphing’ or mutating, and it becomes more intelligent with every strain that we see, which makes it difficult that we could ever actually have one ‘omega’ vaccination that would cover all the variants.

When you look at what the Delta variant is capable of as it continues, now there are states that are flagged like Missouri, Arkansas, Utah, Nevada, is indicating more than ever, the vaccination is crucial for those either who were contemplating the safety of the vaccine or never completed their vaccine series.

 

[benthewraith]

First off, welcome back. Haven’t seen you in forever.

The pharmacist who administered my vaccine a while back (She’s been in this field for 30 years), said based off her opinion is the unique factor about C/19, is that will continue to keep ‘morphing’ or mutating, and it becomes more intelligent with every strain that we see, which makes it difficult that we could ever actually have one ‘omega’ vaccination that would cover all the variants.

When you look at what the Delta variant is capable of as it continues, now there are states that are flagged like Missouri, Arkansas, Utah, Nevada, is indicating more than ever, the vaccination is crucial for those either who were contemplating the safety of the vaccine or never completed their vaccine series.

It only takes one mutation to radically alter the spike protein. One SNP, point deletion, etc and suddenly the spike protein no longer has the same conformation. The problem is, the virus with such a mutation can't propagate, whereas the ones that mutate for the virus to be more infectious survive. These can be predicted at times.

 

[smirking]

First off, welcome back. Haven’t seen you in forever.

Hey thanks. Nice to be back. I typically bounce around and vanish for extended periods when work heats up and I have to shut out distractions, but I don't usually disappear for an entire year.

The past 12 months got real busy. I'm always pleased to see a lot of familiar names pop up each time I wander back. Good to see you're still around.

 

[smirking]

It only takes one mutation to radically alter the spike protein. One SNP, point deletion, etc and suddenly the spike protein no longer has the same conformation.

I think what vaccine scientists are trying to say these days is that while we need to be very concerned about the virus' ability to mutate, it's not as unstable as most people think and if we can just stop giving it infinite chances to come back and kill us, we should be fine. Mutations have the potential to produce a less deadly virus just the same as a more deadly one.

Our current slate of vaccines really do represent some of our finest scientific works all coming together at the right time. Because the SARS-CoV2 virus is far more stable than the other seasonal viruses we're used to dodging, I'm hopeful that we'll eventually return to a world in which pandemic influenza will again be a greater threat than a mystery coronavirus. To point, we have a new flu vaccine every year and reaching a 50% efficacy rate for flu vaccines is considered a pretty decent year because that virus is so unstable.

If anyone out there is hesitant to get vaccinated due to safety concerns and want to talk about this privately, DM me. I'm no expert, but just a former healthcare provider who has to keep up with developments because of what I do for work and because I have immuno-compromised people in my family.

 

[PinkyMacGodess]

It only takes one mutation to radically alter the spike protein. One SNP, point deletion, etc and suddenly the spike protein no longer has the same conformation. The problem is, the virus with such a mutation can't propagate, whereas the ones that mutate for the virus to be more infectious survive. These can be predicted at times.

What I've been reading is that a 'radical change in the spike protein' would essentially create a new virus. From what I've gathered, viruses are grouped by their 'spike protein'. And, yes, some of the world's worst viruses 'end' after a mutation that makes them essentially harmless. Since that harmless form is still in the wild, it's only a matter of time before it mutates again, and pops back up in its largely original state. The fear is that at some time, that swing back to infection stage could also bring other mutations that could make it potentially far more deadly, and/or far easier to spread.

I remember attending a talk where an epidemiologist said that the thing they fear is if a virus changes its mode of infection. At the time HIV was a big thing, and he said they lived in fear of HIV 'making that jump', and becoming transmissible through aerosols. Imagine breathing in HIV. The carnage would have been nothing short of the end of human life.

One other profound thought they said was that one thing that could become common is nation states, and fringe groups could acquire the ability to alter known contagions in such a way that they can be used as biological weapons. Sure, Tomb Raider Cradle of Life was a hilarious version of that story, but the threat is real. It's what has left open the question of 'Did COVID-19 come from a lab?' The fact that it's possible is fear mongering, but totally possible. Reports have come out about the 'Pandora's Box' of contagions that these labs are creating. There was a great article where the writer asked the big question: 'Why?' Should it be done at all? Should researchers be trying to change existing contagions, even in a highly controlled lab environment? And what is the use? Doesn't the chances of an 'escape' completely outweigh any potential benefit for that kind of research? I don't remember the examples the article stated, but an aerosolized HIV virus would be something that should never even be considered. Many other 'research subjects' are creating super-pathogens that would wipe out humanity in months. The article called for regulation of those research labs, and strict control over the devices that allow that level of manipulations possible.

It's too possible that an extremist group could manufacture something that would be even more damaging than a nuclear bomb.

Playing God carries a hell of a lot of responsibility, and it's likely that an extremist group hell bent on 'the second coming' could unleash a designer contagion and achieve part of their goal.

This has been in my mind for over a year, with the pandemic happening. And it's gotten me more curious about that part of medicine and research.

 

[SactoGuy18]

Here's what we should do right now:

1. Make sure everyone who is vulnerable get their full recommended dosage of the vaccine.
2. Encourage people to up their intake of Vitamins B6, C, D3, E, and K plus supplemental zinc, particularly in the winter months.

 

[PinkyMacGodess]

Here's what we should do right now:

1. Make sure everyone who is vulnerable get their full recommended dosage of the vaccine.
2. Encourage people to up their intake of Vitamins B6, C, D3, E, and K plus supplemental zinc, particularly in the winter months.

Solid yes on the first point, and 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂 on your second. You are saying that expensive pee helps avoid a virus? Yeah, no...

NOTHING can boost your immune system, and added vitamins mostly go out in our pee, and some can even cause issues win the kidney's, bladder, and, yes, can even be toxic!

Get your vaccines. And, unless there is a deficiency, skip loading the body up on extra stuff it doesn't need.

That said, the industry is insane! There are vitamins for your hair (WASTE OF MONEY! Hair is dead), eyes (not likely to fix anything except the bottom line of the company selling it), glucosamine chondroitin (has been shown to have positive effects in dogs, but no conclusive effects have been found in humans), and on and on. BUT don't ignore the placebo effect.

People 'feel better' by taking a supplement even if it doesn't do a thing, and that's how the industry survives. Proving a negative is hard, but proving their stuff works is even harder, and more expensive. And in the end, the placebo effect is just your brain lying to you. It doesn't fix anything, and just costs you money...

 

[pshufd]

Solid yes on the first point, and 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂 on your second. You are saying that expensive pee helps avoid a virus? Yeah, no...

NOTHING can boost your immune system, and added vitamins mostly go out in our pee, and some can even cause issues win the kidney's, bladder, and, yes, can even be toxic!

Get your vaccines. And, unless there is a deficiency, skip loading the body up on extra stuff it doesn't need.

That said, the industry is insane! There are vitamins for your hair (WASTE OF MONEY! Hair is dead), eyes (not likely to fix anything except the bottom line of the company selling it), glucosamine chondroitin (has been shown to have positive effects in dogs, but no conclusive effects have been found in humans), and on and on. BUT don't ignore the placebo effect.

People 'feel better' by taking a supplement even if it doesn't do a thing, and that's how the industry survives. Proving a negative is hard, but proving their stuff works is even harder, and more expensive. And in the end, the placebo effect is just your brain lying to you. It doesn't fix anything, and just costs you money...

You can go on Pubmed or ask your doctor about specific supplements.

I take specific supplements because they were indicated by bloodwork or research.

Platinum chemotherapy, particularly cisplatin, is commonly associated with electrolyte imbalances, including hypomagnesemia, hypokalemia, hypophosphatemia, hypocalcemia and hyponatremia. The corpus of literature on these dyselectrolytemias is large; the objective of this review is to synthesize the literature and summarize the mechanisms responsible for these particular electrolyte disturbances in the context of platinum-based treatment as well as to present the clinical manifestations and current management strategies for oncologists and primary care physicians, since the latter are increasingly called on to provide care for cancer patients with medical comorbidities. Correct diagnosis and effective treatment are essential to improved patient outcomes.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5676816/

 

[SactoGuy18]

PinkyMacGodess,

Doctors who have treated COVID-19 patients noted that a fair percentage of them have a deficiency of Vitamin D. In fact, if you read this Harvard Health article, they recommended back in 2008 to take more Vitamin D in the winter months:

https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/time-for-more-vitamin-d

I'd follow these recommendations during the winter months at where you live if your location is above 37° North Latitude or below 37° South Latitude. You don't need to overdose on vitamins, but the Harvard article notes that Vitamin D deficiency can cause people to be more vulnerable to airborne virus infections.

 

[PinkyMacGodess]

PinkyMacGodess,

Doctors who have treated COVID-19 patients noted that a fair percentage of them have a deficiency of Vitamin D. In fact, if you read this Harvard Health article, they recommended back in 2008 to take more Vitamin D in the winter months:

https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/time-for-more-vitamin-d

I'd follow these recommendations during the winter months at where you live if your location is above 37° North Latitude or below 37° South Latitude. You don't need to overdose on vitamins, but the Harvard article notes that Vitamin D deficiency can cause people to be more vulnerable to airborne virus infections.

I live in a place that my doctor told me to take vitamin D, and it was the SUMMER! Yuck... But it was 'suggested' by my physician. Vitamin D is also toxic in large doses, so...

 

[pshufd]

I live in a place that my doctor told me to take vitamin D, and it was the SUMMER! Yuck... But it was 'suggested' by my physician. Vitamin D is also toxic in large doses, so...

My Oncologist recommended supplements and said that we could consider prescription strength D3 if levels remained depressed. My sister told me that she took it but it apparently isn't absorbed well with her - so it could be a genetic issue with us.

 

[poorcody]

Found one study (although still in pre-print) that found Pfizer and Moderna vaccines effective against Lambda:

https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.07.02.450959v1.full

 

[PinkyMacGodess]

My Oncologist recommended supplements and said that we could consider prescription strength D3 if levels remained depressed. My sister told me that she took it but it apparently isn't absorbed well with her - so it could be a genetic issue with us.

My doc said if the over the counter capsules didn't work, I'd have to 'go prescription', and that would be big bucks. I lucked out. It seemed to work fine. I can only imagine what prescription vitamin D costs.

 

[44267547]

Found one study (although still in pre-print) that found Pfizer and Moderna vaccines effective against Lambda:

https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.07.02.450959v1.full

Interesting piece.

Also on the mutated strain variants, Moderna has openly stated that their vaccine is protective against the Delta strain. Apparently, Pfizer has a lower efficacy rate against Delta due to a smaller number of antibodies, but still effective in combating either or.

Pfizer vaccine less effective against delta variant

A study conducted in Israel found that the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine is somewhat less effective against the more infectious delta variant, though it was still found to be effective at preventing seve…

thehill.com

 

[0128672]

My doc said if the over the counter capsules didn't work, I'd have to 'go prescription', and that would be big bucks. I lucked out. It seemed to work fine. I can only imagine what prescription vitamin D costs.

I had to take high dose D3 for a while and my insurance covered all but the minor copay. After the level increased to a normal range, I was able to maintain on OTC D3. Just part of life in the north.

 

[pshufd]

I had to take high dose D3 for a while and my insurance covered all but the minor copay. After the level increased to a normal range, I was able to maintain on OTC D3. Just part of life in the north.

Living in the North and working long hours inside probably contribute to low levels.

There has been a fair amount of research between vitamin D3 deficiency and the incidence of colorectal cancer. Here's the conclusion section of one study.

Since Garland et al.(2) proposed vitamin D for colon cancer prevention 25 years ago, functional studies on vitamin D or its analogs have provided supportive evidence for its anti-tumour effect in colorectal cancer. Evidence from both in vitro and in vivo experiments suggests that anti-proliferation, pro-differentiation, pro-apoptosis, anti-angiogenesis, immune modulation, and microRNA regulation are involved in the anti-tumour effect of vitamin D. Recent studies also explore the local expression and impact of vitamin D metabolizing enzymes and VDR, which may lead to discovery of predictive biomarkers for vitamin D treatment response.

Epidemiological studies have consistently demonstrated a strong inverse association of plasma 25(OH)D concentration with colorectal cancer incidence and mortality. The MPE approach is valuable in generating hypotheses on potential mechanisms of the observed protective effect of vitamin D, and in identifying molecular pathological signatures as predictive markers for benefit from vitamin D. On the other hand, the effect of vitamin D intake on colorectal cancer prevention is controversial, largely due to three reasons: the slow development of colorectal cancer, the confounding effects caused by sunlight exposure, outdoor physical activity, body mass index, dairy and calcium intakes, etc. in observational studies, and the suboptimal dosage of vitamin D applied in previous clinical trials. Ongoing large randomised controlled trials with high dose vitamin D treatment are promising to tackle these problems and decide the value of vitamin D supplementation. Meanwhile, clinical trials of vitamin D on colorectal cancer survival are scarce and logistically more feasible, suggesting a new direction for future studies. Finally, next generation sequencing and studies of genome-wide gene-environment interactions will likely shed more light on the mechanisms of association between vitamin D and colorectal cancer.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4890569/

 

[bradl]

Lambda has only fairly recently come to attention as a variant of interest (literally last month) so i'm not sure whether they will have included it in the round of boosters currently under development for later this year. There is the possibility they will be more effective against it anyway, though.

The current ones under development likely cover Delta but the important aspect of Lambda is a mutation to evade the anitbodies for the vaccines and for those who have had COVID. That makes protection against Lambda important. Lambda may well be a variant of Delta so a booster targeting Delta should provide some benefit against Lambda.

First off, welcome back. Haven’t seen you in forever.

The pharmacist who administered my vaccine a while back (She’s been in this field for 30 years), said based off her opinion is the unique factor about C/19, is that will continue to keep ‘morphing’ or mutating, and it becomes more intelligent with every strain that we see, which makes it difficult that we could ever actually have one ‘omega’ vaccination that would cover all the variants.

When you look at what the Delta variant is capable of as it continues, now there are states that are flagged like Missouri, Arkansas, Utah, Nevada, is indicating more than ever, the vaccination is crucial for those either who were contemplating the safety of the vaccine or never completed their vaccine series.

Quite apropos that you mention Nevada.

I was listening to KNPR's State of Nevada this morning (during that hour, it's either SoN, or KQED's Forum; both NPR stations), and they were visiting this very topic:

Variant Sparks Pandemic Comeback As Vaccinations Lag In Nevada

The highly contagious delta variant is fueling a resurgence of the pandemic in Nevada, where cases and infection rates are up and vaccinations lag.The…

knpr.org

The key point that I picked up on this show was that the epidemiologist and disease intervention specialist they had on the panel had mentioned something that is available in the mRNA vaccines that I have yet to hear or confirm is available in the viral vector vaccines: The ability to tune the RNA to develop the antibodies to combat the variants. So instead of having to develop a full on vaccine for each variant, all that would be needed is for the instruction set to handle the variant be given to the mRNA, and off we go.

If equating this to something tech, like the Linux kernel source code, having a new vaccine for each variant would be like downloading the full source code tree, while tuning the mRNA would be the equivalent of a patch to bring you up to current based on the tree that you have.

I don't know if this is available to all of the viral vector vaccines, but this, according to the panelists, becomes important as all that is needed is to find out the instruction set for Lambda, and apply that to the mRNA, and off we go.

BL.

 

[pshufd]

Quite apropos that you mention Nevada.

I was listening to KNPR's State of Nevada this morning (during that hour, it's either SoN, or KQED's Forum; both NPR stations), and they were visiting this very topic:

Variant Sparks Pandemic Comeback As Vaccinations Lag In Nevada

The highly contagious delta variant is fueling a resurgence of the pandemic in Nevada, where cases and infection rates are up and vaccinations lag.The…

knpr.org

The key point that I picked up on this show was that the epidemiologist and disease intervention specialist they had on the panel had mentioned something that is available in the mRNA vaccines that I have yet to hear or confirm is available in the viral vector vaccines: The ability to tune the RNA to develop the antibodies to combat the variants. So instead of having to develop a full on vaccine for each variant, all that would be needed is for the instruction set to handle the variant be given to the mRNA, and off we go.

If equating this to something tech, like the Linux kernel source code, having a new vaccine for each variant would be like downloading the full source code tree, while tuning the mRNA would be the equivalent of a patch to bring you up to current based on the tree that you have.

I don't know if this is available to all of the viral vector vaccines, but this, according to the panelists, becomes important as all that is needed is to find out the instruction set for Lambda, and apply that to the mRNA, and off we go.

BL.

I showed this to my son and he said he's going running now but will explain it to me when he gets back.

On another note, there were a fair number of people wearing masks at the grocery store today. My assumption is that they aren't vaccinated because the number of cases in our area is tiny.