The biology of coronavirus COVID-19 - including research and treatments

Past COVID-19 infection provides some immunity but people may still carry and transmit virus

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/...but-people-may-still-carry-and-transmit-virus

 

NIH Director's Blog: Taking a Closer Look at COVID-19’s Effects on the Brain

https://directorsblog.nih.gov/2021/...look-at-the-effects-of-covid-19-on-the-brain/

 

Thank you. Is that what was on the front page of The Times today (yesterday)? I was looking for it.

 

Sorry, i don't know,

 

March for Change yesterday had a Zoom discussion on Long Covid. The contributors were Layla Moran who chairs the APPG on Coronavirus, Danny Altmann a Professor of Immunology, Dr Nasreen Alwan, an Associate Professor in Public Health for Medicine at Southampton University and who has LC. Also, Dr Mike Galsworthy, a founder of Scientists for EU and @March_Change.

This is my summary and I apologise to the panel for any errors.

Layla Moran calls for:

• A register of people who live with LC, based on symptoms and not on test results
  
  
• Government investment in research, including the long term effect on children. LC has not been considered in assessing the risk to children of attending school

• Welfare provision is required for those unable to work and compensation for those harmed by the disease during the course of their work (covered by the Telegraph)

She is concerned with quality of life issues for those who get LC but says that there is also a financial hit to the economy that politicians need to understand when making decisions.

Professor Altmann said that at the moment there is only speculation about the physiology of LC. First, there is simply the acknowledgement of its existence and counting of people who have it. He thinks that first making observations of the disease is a new way of doing medicine. He would look at: the damage done by the virus, as seen in MRI scans, to many organs; the immune system, as a "hand grenade" has been thrown into it; the possibility of autoimmunity resulting from the infection; lastly, whether there are reservoirs of infection still in the body e.g. in the gut.

He thinks that at a conservative estimate 10% of those infected, even those who were asymptomatic, may be left with LC, a UK estimate of 300,000 people, on a par with numbers of those with arthritis and he does not know what to tell people about the time line of the illness. In Wuhan they have observed the illness in those infected, which shows that this is a worldwide phenomenon and that doctors need to get together to understand how to treat it. There is the added difficulty of the number of medical specialities involved in understanding and treating the illness.

Dr Nasreen Alwan lives with and studies LC. She spoke of its fluctuating nature and of the loss of functional ability in the fatigue suffered but also the cognitive difficulties, muscle aches and heart problems. She sees significant disability, some people being able to work flexibly but others not able to meet their responsibilities. Patterns are emerging in patient led research.

A question was put to the panel regarding the similarities between LC and ME. Professor Altmann sees cross-fertilization of work on both as possible in the future and Dr Alwan said that LC research may benefit the "neglected ME community". Layla Moran sees a light shining on the ME community. GPs have not understood ME but now that they are likely to know someone with LC this may be transformative and research into ME may be taken more seriously. Medics make good advocates.

 

Currently being announced on BBC news channel that 6 European countries have written to Pfizer/Biotech expressing concern that they have been warned of delays in the delivery of the vaccine.

This news is just coming in and the channel said they would be coming back with more information especially about how it referred to delivery in UK.



eta: just announced that CEO of Pfizer has reassured EU countries that current orders will not be delayed. Seems to be a developing story.

eta2: apparently modifications are required to Pfizer Belgian production plant

 

Is there any move to monitor PwME who get a vaccine to see if we are particularly vulnerable to side-effects? I saw on the news yesterday that the very elderly and frail may be advised not to have it because of some adverse reactions (see here, for example).

There has of course always been concern about whether PwME should have flu jabs.

Now seems an ideal time to monitor! But is anyone doing it? Are any of our charities suggesting it?

 

Covid: 'Convalescent plasma no benefit to hospital patients'

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-55681051

 

That above post by Frankie seems to indicate the major area of concern. There seems to be a desire to obtain a special compensatory package not available to those with similar conditions. I would not want to have to draft that. How would it be known whether people caught the virus in the course of and as a result of employment, or whether they encountered it in the supermarket or some other venue? There seems a desire to ignore all the difficult questions.

 

It seems to be more serious than solely 'side effects' in the very old and/or frail.

"Norway expressed increasing concern about the safety of the Pfizer Inc. vaccine on elderly people with serious underlying health conditions after raising an estimate of the number who died after receiving inoculations to 29.

The latest figure adds six to the number of known fatalities in Norway, and lowers the age group thought to be affected to 75....."

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...talities-among-people-75-and-older-rise-to-29

I don't envy anyone in the position of having to decide if they or a family member who fit this profile should or should not get vaccinated. I spent the first half of 2020 taking care of my 97 year old grandmother (she died in July from heart failure) so I can relate as during the final 2 months of my grandmother's life I had to make some very difficult decisions in regards to her medical treatment.

 

Very sorry to hear about your grandmother, @TrixieStix - that must have been a very difficult time.

 

Thanks Sasha. I miss her terribly (she was the closest thing I had to a mother), but find comfort in the fact that she had a long and healthy life. She was extremely healthy right up until the very very end. She was very proud of the fact that she had perfect hearing, just about 20/20 vision, and all her own teeth may she rest in peace

 

She reminds me of a great aunt I had who died when she was 89.
She still chopped her own kindling, helped " old people" off of the local bus and simply fell asleep for the last time in her chair next to the fire.

 

Association of British Neurologists Guidance on Vaccination for COVID-19 and Neurological Conditions

Document, https://cdn.ymaws.com/www.theabn.or...eople_with_neurological_conditions_9.1.21.pdf
Linked to from https://www.theabn.org/page/covid-19_patients

 

https://twitter.com/user/status/1351277414576386048

 

Preprint: Early immune pathology and persistent dysregulation characterise severe COVID-19, Bergamaschi et al, 2021

https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.01.11.20248765v1

ETA: Separate thread started here, https://www.s4me.info/threads/prepr...severe-covid-19-bergamaschi-et-al-2021.18710/

 

Article about the above study

Possibility of 'long Covid' could be established in patients soon after they are infected
New research suggests why some people experience longer-lasting symptoms of the virus.

https://www.thejournal.ie/coronavirus-long-covid-diagnosed-early-infection-study-5328534-Jan2021/

 

Moved posts

interesting..
https://twitter.com/user/status/1351335414288801793

 

Does this mean that they feel better psychologically from the 'experience' of being vaccinated? What an odd thing to say.

 

It may be that they, wrongly, feel that they are now out of danger, so their 'mood' has improved - they feel better as they feel less 'threatened'.

They may also feel, wrongly, that as they now, wrongly, consider that they are out of danger, they can do whatever they like again.

There are lots of 'reasons' why people may feel better after experiencing a ritual they have been told will make things all better.

This is probably why ritual are popular, even if people don't think enough to realise that's what they are.