COVID-19 daily science article thread

[Disco King]

Antibodies to the new coronavirus may last only two to three months, especially in people who never showed symptoms.

The strength and duration of immunity after infection are key issues for ‘shield immunity’18 and for informing decisions on how and when to ease physical distancing restrictions19,20. Previous studies have shown that circulating antibodies against SARS-CoV or MERS-CoV last for at least 1 year21,22. Sustained IgG levels were maintained for more than 2 years after SARS-CoV infection23,24. Antibody responses in individuals with laboratory-confirmed MERS-CoV infection lasted for at least 34 months after the outbreak25. Recently, several studies characterizing adaptive immune responses to SARS-CoV-2 infection have reported that most COVID-19 convalescent individuals have detectable neutralizing antibodies, which correlate with the numbers of virus-specific T cells26,27,28,29. In this study, we observed that IgG levels and neutralizing antibodies in a high proportion of individuals who recovered from SARS-CoV-2 infection start to decrease within 2–3 months after infection. In another analysis of the dynamics of neutralizing antibody titers in eight convalescent patients with COVID-19, four patients showed decreased neutralizing antibodies approximately 6–7 weeks after illness onset30. One mathematical model also suggests a short duration of immunity after SARS-CoV-2 infection31. Together, these data might indicate the risks of using COVID-19 ‘immunity passports’ and support the prolongation of public health interventions, including social distancing, hygiene, isolation of high-risk groups and widespread testing. Additional longitudinal serological studies profiling more symptomatic and asymptomatic individuals are urgently needed to determine the duration of antibody-mediated immunity. In addition, low levels of anti-viral IgG in asymptomatic patients, who might be more likely to become seronegative, further support the need for timely serosurvey to study the true infection rate.

Long, Q., Tang, X., Shi, Q. et al. "Clinical and immunological assessment of asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infections." Nature Medicine (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-020-0965-6

One thing to keep in mind is that you don't necessarily want antibodies active in your bloodstream for years to come, as it could lead to autoimmune disorders. Rather, you probably want your memory cells to be able to respond effectively to re-infection. This study only looked at the presence of antibodies, as studying the preparedness of memory cells is a lot more difficult (I think you'd pretty much need to have subjects who had been infected before and who have since recovered, and to see what happens to them upon reinfection, and that would be hard to monitor unless you infected them yourself as part of the experiment).

[buzzard]

I haven't gone so far as to search out an original publication, but this is an angle on things I don't recall hearing so far:

Coronavirus may have lain dormant across the world and emerged when environmental conditions were right for it to thrive – rather than starting in China, an Oxford University expert believes.

Dr Tom Jefferson, senior associate tutor at the Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine (CEBM) at Oxford, and visiting professor at Newcastle University, says there is growing evidence the virus was elsewhere before it emerged in Asia.

Last week, Spanish virologists announced they had found traces of Covid-19 in samples of waste water collected in March 2019, nine months before the disease was seen in China.

[reprise85]

[yo soy el mejor]

humanity is the worst

blow us up. i wanna be made into a star.

[FoolofaTook]

ok i will start by blowing tim

[yo soy el mejor]

u crazy n quirky always pushing the envelope in general chat

[FoolofaTook]

[yo soy el mejor]

[ninsp]

I’ve read a lot on experts expecting future pandemics due to the fact climate change in a melting permafrost releasing viruses into the air that have been frozen for thousands of years. Gotta wonder if this is something we’re going to have to face in the future.

[myosis]

A stretch of DNA linked to Covid-19 was passed down from Neanderthals 60,000 years ago, according to a new study.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/04/h...nderthals.html

Could explain why Africa appears to be spared...

[reprise85]

Neanderthals lived in Europe and Asia

edit: oh ok, they are saying this gene is hurting people with Neanderthal DNA, potentially

i did just do a dna test and i have virtually no neanderthanl dna (which was disappointing to me, they were really smart!) but you know, maybe it's good...

i also found out i'm in the lowest risk group for alzheimer's based on one set of genes with a ton of research behind it so that made it completely worth the money

[vixnix]

Not sure how that squares with https://www.theguardian.com/society/...19-coronavirus

[reprise85]

they really need to account for preexisting conditions if they want to find genes linked to worse outcomes

if they just want social data OK, but otherwise it's too much of a confounding factor to say genes related to race (like origin of dna sequences to africa vs europe etc) are responsible vs. social factors leading to more pre-existing conditions, less access to medical care, etc

[MplsTaper]

UCSF scientists create molecules for nose spray they say can kill coronavirus

AUGUST 11, 2020

https://outline.com/FZjBmJ

[myosis]

Long podcast but interesting discussions about health policy.

https://soundcloud.com/plenarysessio...pboard&p=a&c=0

[myosis]

shorter podcast highlighting some of the same points, more condensed. (can't embed)

https://zdoggmd.com/vinay-prasad-3/

[yo soy el mejor]

kewl

i dont think i've ever listened to a podcast