Immunology

Almost since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, a piece of the SARS-CoV2 virus called the “spike protein” has drawn interest from researchers and healthcare professionals. New research by Yuyang Lei and colleagues published in the journal Circulation Research sheds new light on how the spike protein might play a critical role in the widespread damage caused by SARS-CoV2, and offers insight into treating the complications of COVID-19. Vaccine skeptics have seized on the study to cast doubt on the safety of vaccines. But a review of the study’s findings shows that the concerns raised by…

There were a lot of rules introduced during the COVID-19 pandemic that originated during late 2019 in Wuhan, China. Some were pretty Draconian. China welded the homes of people shut and destroyed 16,000 coronavirus samples at the world's largest coronavirus lab nearby.  Some were pointless, like everyone carrying Clorox wipes around.  Most were less intrusive and at least somewhat helpful; wear a mask, stay six feet apart. Except staying six feet apart may not have been that helpful, according to a new PNAS study. The authors don't contend that social distancing does not matter,…

The CDC has bad news for Purell. “It is possible for people to be infected through contact with contaminated surfaces or objects (fomites), but the risk is generally considered to be low,” they write in their latest guidance.  How low? The chance of contracting coronavirus through surface transmission lower than 1 in 10,000, so all those hand sanitizers and wipes everywhere are a cultural placebo. It is simply “hygiene theater” like schools are engaging in when they do "deep cleaning" to reassure parents, who will then want to not have their taxes raised because schools are already…

Last Monday at 10.30AM I eagerly queued up at the International Red Cross site of Padova, the town where I live and work, to receive a first vaccination shot against Covid-19. I duly received my dose and went back home with some relief. Little did I know that my relief would turn to anger very soon. My anger arose when I soon heard the news that the treatment with the vaccine I had been given, Astra-Zeneca, was being temporarily stopped, following the detection of a possible adverse reaction. But you should read on before you conclude that I am an idiot (as you indeed should, if the…

Tens of millions of people across the U.S. have received a coronavirus vaccine. So far, the majority of doses have been either the Moderna or Pfizer vaccine, both of which use mRNA to generate an immune response. These gene-based vaccines have been in the works for decades, but this is the first time they have been used widely in people. MRNA vaccines are proving to be more effective than anyone had hoped, but as with any new medical advancement, people have a lot of questions. How do they work? Are they safe? Do I really need two shots? Why do they need to be kept so cold? And will this be…

COVID-19 caused by SARS-CoV-2 variant, B.1.1.7 was first discovered in Kent last year and statistics suggest it is 30 and 100 percent more deadly than previous strains. This is epidemiology, so an exploratory finding using correlation, that is why the range is so large. Scientists would have to confirm the validity of the statistical correlation before figuring out how to tackle it. The authors correlated it to higher risk by comparing death rates among people infected with the new variant and those infected with other strains. They found little in the way of absolute numbers, 227 more…

Do you think food is medicine? While Whole Foods imagery touted that in 2019, the coronavirus pandemic that began in Wuhan later that year punctured efforts to convince the public that health is a moral or economic issue - you owe it to your kids to buy overpriced food. SARS-CoV-2 and the COVID-19 pandemic showed that eating expensive onions won't save anyone from anything.  What may help save people is remembering the past rather than wishful thinking about the present. In this case, looking back at the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic which killed far more than COVID-19. A new epidemiology…

It has been clear for a while that, at least in the U.S., the only way out of the coronavirus pandemic will be through vaccination. The rapid deployment of coronavirus vaccines is underway, but how many people need to be vaccinated in order to control this pandemic? I am a computational biologist who uses data and computer models to answer biological question at the University of Connecticut. I have been tracking my state’s COVID-19 epidemic with a computer model to help forecast the number of hospitalizations at the University of Connecticut’s John Dempsey Hospital. This type of computer…

There is a saying that when all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. So, it should come as no surprise that vaccine skeptics worldwide are sounding the alarm about the flu shot as a real danger in the COVID-19 pandemic. Confused? Well, it turns out the anti-vaccine activists are too. In the Beginning, There was Misunderstanding: The Genesis of a Myth One of the earliest reports suggesting a link between influenza vaccination and an increased risk of COVID-19 was published by the Children’s Health Defence on their website. The article claims that people vaccinated against…

With the third coronavirus pandemic of the last 17 years, and this one worse than ever, there is a great deal of talk about a vaccine. Pfizer set off a lot of excitement with its preliminary results, which exceeded the 50 percent scientists expected. And there are 197 other vaccine candidates in the pipeline. Yet by the time government, which will now want to be involved more than ever, gets any vaccine into the hands of people, the virus may have mutated. Like a flu vaccine, instead of having this go away, scientists may have to deduce what mutations will occur and create an annual vaccine…