M

Mr._Clark

Audioholic Samurai
Here are a few charts for South Africa that I snipped from the ourworldindata.org website. I didn't see a way to chart weekly new cases so I used daily new cases (second chart below). I also don't see any easy way to calculate the % of new cases that result in hospitalization from this data.

The number of new hospital admissions is rising rapidly and the number of new cases had been rising rapidly. It will be interesting to see if the recent slight dip in new cases was just a fluke, or if the number really are leveling out. I doubt it's possible to draw a lot of firm conclusions from this data with regards to predicting what will happen in other countries.

1640119188904.png

1640119311563.png

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1640119520046.png
 
M

Mr._Clark

Audioholic Samurai
It's extremely transmittable, but so far, the severity has been lower. Let's hope it's losing its lethality.
I think TLS Guy mentioned this already, but a report from the Imperial College London did not find any evidence Omicron has lower severity:

>>>The study finds no evidence of Omicron having lower severity than Delta, judged by either the proportion of people testing positive who report symptoms, or by the proportion of cases seeking hospital care after infection. However, hospitalisation data remains very limited at this time.<<<

I realize this is just one study based on limited data.

 
panteragstk

panteragstk

Audioholic Warlord
It's extremely transmittable, but so far, the severity has been lower. Let's hope it's losing its lethality.
I think TLS Guy mentioned this already, but a report from the Imperial College London did not find any evidence Omicron has lower severity:

>>>The study finds no evidence of Omicron having lower severity than Delta, judged by either the proportion of people testing positive who report symptoms, or by the proportion of cases seeking hospital care after infection. However, hospitalisation data remains very limited at this time.<<<

I realize this is just one study based on limited data.

It seems that the limited lethality is from people catching it that are vaccinated. People that aren't don't seem to be doing as well. Still too early to tell though.

At this point, people have pretty much decided what they're going to do. If what they decide kills them, that's their problem.
 
mtrycrafts

mtrycrafts

Seriously, I have no life.
... perhaps the rapid spread will get most of the anti-vaxxers off their duff and get poked ? Per the news this AM the first death reported in Texas was a non-vaccinated individual
Yes, the latter. ;) :)
 
3db

3db

Audioholic Slumlord
Some tasteless humour to lighten the mood. I have enough dealing with losing a spouse to cancer and Im burning out with COVID shite.

0B9C1074-11AF-4425-8596-14B84E5C3A16.png
 
TLS Guy

TLS Guy

Seriously, I have no life.
We have had a crazy incident, with Covid-19, I suspect omicron.

Sam, our 18 year old grandson has become an avid volleyball player. He has become one of a quartet of players, who have become good friends, and hang out a lot together. One of these friends is the son of the Governor of Minnesota, Tim Walz.

There have been some interesting incidents. A few weeks ago Sam was driving Gus Walz, and just leaving a volleyball match. They were just leaving the parking lot, when they suddenly got blocked in by two black suburbans. Guss, said Oh, I forget to notify my security detail we were leaving.

So that got sorted.

Anyhow, these friends have been hanging out here at lot. I think the attraction is the food, and especially the AV room. They frequently produce plenty of explosions to rattle the house. Sam has been over to the Governor's mansion and met the Governor and his family. When Gus is here we have one or two unmarked black cars with highway patrol officers in the middle of our circle facing the entry to the circle. We have had to reassure the neighbors about this.

Anyhow, we got a phone call last night, from Sam, that Gus had been unwell and had Covid, despite being fully vaccinated. Further both the governor and his wife have tested positive for Covid, despite previously testing negative after there son had a positive test. They say they feel OK. They have to isolate in the governor's mansion for 10 days. I can reveal this now as it is in the press and on TV. So by time, Gus seems to be the source of the infection at the Governor's mansion.
The Governor posted a personal video today. He says he feels OK, but the video to me clearly indicates, a mild conjunctivitis, an early symptom of covid. Both the Governor and his wife have had three doses of vaccine.

So far Sam has tested negative, but the family are staying home. Unfortunately Sam's cousin and our eldest granddaughter has also been
hanging out with this crowd. We have got hold of a lateral flow test, which are hard to come by, to her today, and will test her Friday. So our Christmas plans may change. We are hosting the whole family here, if everyone stays negative. This crowd were last here with us six days ago. So far my wife and I are OK.

We were planning a large Boxing day bash here on Sunday, and the Governor and his wife had been planning to come, as Gus had asked us if we would mind if they came. So those plans are off. Because of this change in the trajectory of the pandemic, we have massively scaled back our boxing day plans.
 
Mikado463

Mikado463

Audioholic Spartan
Doc, tell 'em to take the 'gloves off' and box away ............. ;)
 
TLS Guy

TLS Guy

Seriously, I have no life.
Doc, tell 'em to take the 'gloves off' and box away ............. ;)
Boxing Day, has nothing to do with fighting, or the sport of boxing, but is firmly rooted in the British tradition of noblesse oblige.
 
TLS Guy

TLS Guy

Seriously, I have no life.
The FDA have approved, the Pfizer Covid-19 drug Paxlovid. Interestingly they have approved this before Merck's drug, Molnupiravir, whose application they received first.
The French regulator denied approval for Molnupiravir today, on grounds that it was ineffective.

The FDA say that the drug will be in very short supply for some time. In addition there can be no delay in testing, so rapid PCR testing will be required. The rapid antigen test will not turn positive quick enough. The drug must be started within 72 hours of onset, during active viral replication.

The other issue which I pointed out recently, I would expect viral resistance sooner rather than later. Viral drugs usually require a cocktail with different mechanisms of action. So pending the development of further antivirals, the best advice would be to restrict this drug to the most vulnerable and not general distribution.
 
M

Mr._Clark

Audioholic Samurai
Various news outlets are reporting that the U.S. Army is expected to announce shortly that it has developed a vaccine that is [hopefully] effective against "all" COVID variants:

>>>Within weeks, scientists at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research expect to announce that they have developed a vaccine that is effective against COVID-19 and all its variants, even Omicron, as well as previous SARS-origin viruses that have killed millions of people worldwide.

The achievement is the result of almost two years of work on the virus. The Army lab received its first DNA sequencing of the COVID-19 virus in early 2020. Very early on, Walter Reed’s infectious diseases branch decided to focus on making a vaccine that would work against not just the existing strain but all of its potential variants as well.

Walter Reed’s Spike Ferritin Nanoparticle COVID-19 vaccine, or SpFN, completed animal trials earlier this year with positive results. Phase 1 of human trials, which tested the vaccine against Omicron and the other variants, wrapped up this month, again with positive results that are undergoing final review, Dr. Kayvon Modjarrad, director of Walter Reed’s infectious diseases branch, said in an exclusive interview with Defense One. The new vaccine will still need to undergo phase 2 and phase 3 trials.

Unlike existing vaccines, Walter Reed’s SpFN uses a soccer ball-shaped protein with 24 faces for its vaccine, which allows scientists to attach the spikes of multiple coronavirus strains on different faces of the protein.<<<


The article above links to the following article, which states that Walter Reed has actually developed 2 vaccine candidates:

>>>SpFN entered Phase 1 human trials in April 2021. Early analyses, expected to conclude this month, will provide insights into whether SpFN’s potency and breadth, as demonstrated in preclinical trials, will carry over into humans. The data will also allow researchers to compare SpFN’s immune profile to that of other COVID-19 vaccines already authorized for emergency use.

“This vaccine stands out in the COVID-19 vaccine landscape,” Modjarrad said. “The repetitive and ordered display of the coronavirus spike protein on a multi-faced nanoparticle may stimulate immunity in such a way as to translate into significantly broader protection.”

WRAIR developed a secondary candidate vaccine, a SARS-CoV-2 Spike Receptor-Binding Domain Ferritin Nanoparticle (RFN) vaccine, which targets a smaller part of the coronavirus Spike protein than the SpFN vaccine. Results from a study, published recently in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, show that this vaccine potentially offers similar protection against an array of SARS-CoV-2 variants and SARS-CoV-1.

“The RFN vaccine candidate is more compact and has some natural advantages as we try to increase the immune response against multiple coronaviruses using a single vaccine platform, so it is still under consideration as part of our pan-coronavirus vaccine development pipeline,” said WRAIR structural biologist and vaccine co-inventor, Dr. Gordon Joyce.<<<


And, just for swerd ;), the article above links to a paper concerning T cell responses to the ferritin nanoparticle vaccine:

>>>SARS-CoV-2 ferritin nanoparticle vaccine induces robust innate immune activity driving polyfunctional spike-specific T cell responses<<<


If this pans out it will be quite an amazing achievement.
 
D

Danzilla31

Audioholic Spartan
Various news outlets are reporting that the U.S. Army is expected to announce shortly that it has developed a vaccine that is [hopefully] effective against "all" COVID variants:

>>>Within weeks, scientists at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research expect to announce that they have developed a vaccine that is effective against COVID-19 and all its variants, even Omicron, as well as previous SARS-origin viruses that have killed millions of people worldwide.

The achievement is the result of almost two years of work on the virus. The Army lab received its first DNA sequencing of the COVID-19 virus in early 2020. Very early on, Walter Reed’s infectious diseases branch decided to focus on making a vaccine that would work against not just the existing strain but all of its potential variants as well.

Walter Reed’s Spike Ferritin Nanoparticle COVID-19 vaccine, or SpFN, completed animal trials earlier this year with positive results. Phase 1 of human trials, which tested the vaccine against Omicron and the other variants, wrapped up this month, again with positive results that are undergoing final review, Dr. Kayvon Modjarrad, director of Walter Reed’s infectious diseases branch, said in an exclusive interview with Defense One. The new vaccine will still need to undergo phase 2 and phase 3 trials.

Unlike existing vaccines, Walter Reed’s SpFN uses a soccer ball-shaped protein with 24 faces for its vaccine, which allows scientists to attach the spikes of multiple coronavirus strains on different faces of the protein.<<<


The article above links to the following article, which states that Walter Reed has actually developed 2 vaccine candidates:

>>>SpFN entered Phase 1 human trials in April 2021. Early analyses, expected to conclude this month, will provide insights into whether SpFN’s potency and breadth, as demonstrated in preclinical trials, will carry over into humans. The data will also allow researchers to compare SpFN’s immune profile to that of other COVID-19 vaccines already authorized for emergency use.

“This vaccine stands out in the COVID-19 vaccine landscape,” Modjarrad said. “The repetitive and ordered display of the coronavirus spike protein on a multi-faced nanoparticle may stimulate immunity in such a way as to translate into significantly broader protection.”

WRAIR developed a secondary candidate vaccine, a SARS-CoV-2 Spike Receptor-Binding Domain Ferritin Nanoparticle (RFN) vaccine, which targets a smaller part of the coronavirus Spike protein than the SpFN vaccine. Results from a study, published recently in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, show that this vaccine potentially offers similar protection against an array of SARS-CoV-2 variants and SARS-CoV-1.

“The RFN vaccine candidate is more compact and has some natural advantages as we try to increase the immune response against multiple coronaviruses using a single vaccine platform, so it is still under consideration as part of our pan-coronavirus vaccine development pipeline,” said WRAIR structural biologist and vaccine co-inventor, Dr. Gordon Joyce.<<<


And, just for swerd ;), the article above links to a paper concerning T cell responses to the ferritin nanoparticle vaccine:

>>>SARS-CoV-2 ferritin nanoparticle vaccine induces robust innate immune activity driving polyfunctional spike-specific T cell responses<<<


If this pans out it will be quite an amazing achievement.
Thank you for linking this! I read it but I was like this has to be too good to be true. Hopefully this pans out
 
TLS Guy

TLS Guy

Seriously, I have no life.
Excellent presentation by Dr. Peter McCullough - he goes a lot more in-depth than on his Rogan interview:
More peddling of absolute rubbish. The time is long passed when any reasonably intelligent person will not waste time on this BS. We are now at a point in time, that believing that nonsense is quite likely to be deadly.

You loonies can not even sort data as well as our six our old granddaughter, who can give highly cogent arguments to get vaccinated. So you guys do not have the sense of an intelligent six year old.
 
Swerd

Swerd

Audioholic Warlord
The FDA have approved, the Pfizer Covid-19 drug Paxlovid …
Paxlovid is a mixture of two different drugs, Nirmatrelvir and Ritronavir. A single course of treatment is 30 tablets, given over 5 days. That's six (6) tablets per day for five (5) days!

Nirmatrelvir inhibits the action of the 3C-like coronavirus protease enzyme, required for making new virus particles during infection. It's the main anti-viral drug in the mixture. This 3C-like protease enzyme is similar to other enzymes in all positive sense, single stranded RNA (+ssRNA) viruses, including the family of corona viruses. This drug, apparently is rapidly inactivated by liver enzymes, and is cleared from circulation. Pfizer deals with this problem, in part, by using so many tablets each day.

The other drug, Ritronavir, maintains higher circulating concentrations of Nirmatrelvir. Without ritronavir, nirmatrelvir is rapidly inactivated by cytochrome P450 enzymes (CYP3A4 and CYP2D6) in the liver. So, ritonavir serves to slow down metabolism of nirmatrelvir to maintain higher circulating concentrations of the main drug.

Ritonavir also has other activity in the liver. As I mentioned above, it inhibits the major P450 isoforms 3A4 and 2D6. It also induces new expression of another P450 isoform, CYP1A2. If another drug is normally inactivated by CYP3A4 or CYP2D6, inhibiting those cytochromes by adding ritonavir to the mix could result in an over dose. And, if CYP1A2 can inactivate a drug, adding ritonavir could result in their rapid removal from circulation. As a result, ritonavir given in combination with a variety of other medications may result in serious and sometimes fatal drug interactions. It has to be carefully managed in each patient, depending on what other drugs they routinely take.

Apparently, Pfizer has dealt with these potential problems, and the FDA did approve the drug mixture, if its given as 30 tablets over 5 days. That's probably why its packaged as a bubble-pack of 30 tablets.
 
Swerd

Swerd

Audioholic Warlord
>>>SARS-CoV-2 ferritin nanoparticle vaccine induces robust innate immune activity driving polyfunctional spike-specific T cell responses<<<

If this pans out it will be quite an amazing achievement.
Thanks for the link to that NPJ Vaccines paper. The introduction and discussion sections are a good read.

The authors careful attention to the SARS-CoV-2-specific CD4+ and CD8+ T-cell responses generated by the vaccine are excellent. Those immune T-cell responses look like they're durable and adaptive. It took a lot of work to get all that good info.

It would be very interesting to try a combined vaccination scheme: the 1st dose would be this new SARS-CoV-2 ferritin nanoparticle vaccine, followed by a boost using one of the mRNA vaccines. Would that result in better or different (longer lasting) immunization than two doses of the ferritin nanoparticles, or two/three doses of mRNA vaccines?
 
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M

Mr._Clark

Audioholic Samurai
Ritonavir also has other activity in the liver. As I mentioned above, it inhibits the major P450 isoforms 3A4 and 2D6. It also induces new expression of another P450 isoform, CYP1A2. If another drug is normally inactivated by CYP3A4 or CYP2D6, inhibiting those cytochromes by adding ritonavir to the mix could result in an over dose. And, if CYP1A2 can inactivate a drug, adding ritonavir could result in their rapid removal from circulation. As a result, ritonavir given in combination with a variety of other medications may result in serious and sometimes fatal drug interactions. It has to be carefully managed in each patient, depending on what other drugs they routinely take.

Apparently, Pfizer has dealt with these potential problems, and the FDA did approve the drug mixture, if its given as 30 tablets over 5 days. That's probably why its packaged as a bubble-pack of 30 tablets.
Interesting. I had read about potential issues with Ritonavir and other medications, but (as I recall) the issues were raised by Merck which made me wonder if it was exaggerated.

Based on some google searching, it appears to me that the number of drugs that could interact with Ritonavir is quite large (608 according to the drugs.com website)(drugs.com also lists 5 disease interactions).


Of these, 213 are listed as "major" drug interactions, and 354 are listed as "moderate":


More google searching for most common prescriptions suggests that (as of 2019) quite a few of major and moderate drugs are very commonly prescribed:


According to the website above, there are 24.5 million people in the U.S. taking Atorvastatin alone, which is in the major drug interaction category according to drugs.com.

This is completely outside of my wheelhouse, so I have no idea how difficult it will be to manage all of these potential interactions.
 

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