Let's post some (hopefully) good news, too. Part II [Mod note in OP]

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periferal

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Well it's all potential right now, but if there's the greatest news of all there's a good chance it comes from one of the developments in this article...




HEALTH AND SCIENCE
Scientists race to find a cure or vaccine for the coronavirus. Here are the top drugs in development

PUBLISHED WED, MAY 13 202010:04 AM EDTUPDATED WED, MAY 13 20201:12 PM EDT
Berkeley Lovelace Jr.@BERKELEYJR
KEY POINTS
  • Health officials and scientists across the world are working to develop vaccines and discover effective treatments against the coronavirus.
  • There are no proven, knockout treatments and U.S. health officials say a vaccine could take at least a year to 18 months.

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/05/13/coronavirus-scientists-race-to-find-a-cure-or-vaccine-here-are-the-top-drugs-in-development.html
 
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periferal

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Not that it was a hotbed, but good to see any place trending in the right direction:

 

Dubi Doo

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Great news regarding immunity:
T cells found in COVID-19 patients ‘bode well’ for long-term immunity

Interesting quote:
"Both studies also found that some people never infected with SARS-CoV-2 have these cellular defenses, most likely because they were previously infected with other coronaviruses."

This may be why there are so many asymptomatic cases. If someone got a coronavirus cold then it may provide some immunity to COVID-19. Great news.
 

periferal

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Of all the good news out there, for what we're trying to accomplish here, there is no better news than good news about solving Covid-19. Following up on the "immunity posts" above, this is thread that is a must read...

 
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Hoek

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Very interesting if the results of that paper withstand scrutiny. It looks like individuals who recovered from COVID-19 have antibodies targeted to the same spike protein that most vaccine efforts are targeting. Also, there seems to be some shared reactivity between common cold coronaviruses and this one.
 

SnowblindNYR

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Very interesting if the results of that paper withstand scrutiny. It looks like individuals who recovered from COVID-19 have antibodies targeted to the same spike protein that most vaccine efforts are targeting. Also, there seems to be some shared reactivity between common cold coronaviruses and this one.

In other words, sounds like we might get a vaccine that isn't going to take forever?
 

periferal

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In other words, sounds like we might get a vaccine that isn't going to take forever?


Well...I wouldn't necessarily say a vaccine will come sooner because there's probably a good chance that at least 1 of the over 100 current vaccines being worked on actually works and works well. The issue is always the trails period where they have to test it on the public to make sure it doesn't do any harm. That is the part that takes a long time...Even when everything is 100% ok.

The good news is...That short of a vaccine (or treatment) having immunity is the next best thing, and todays reports indicate that what the experts thought was true - That antibodies are not only prevalent in almost all the people they've studied, but they not think that because coronaviruses can cause the common cold that if you had one in the recent past that you might now be immune to (or have a lesser case of) Covid-19.

Still needs to be proven for sure, but this adds a couple of layers of positivity to the immunity debate and also the research for treatment and a vaccine.
 

SnowblindNYR

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Well...I wouldn't necessarily say a vaccine will come sooner because there's probably a good chance that at least 1 of the over 100 current vaccines being worked on actually works and works well. The issue is always the trails period where they have to test it on the public to make sure it doesn't do any harm. That is the part that takes a long time...Even when everything is 100% ok.

The good news is...That short of a vaccine (or treatment) having immunity is the next best thing, and todays reports indicate that what the experts thought was true - That antibodies are not only prevalent in almost all the people they've studied, but they not think that because coronaviruses can cause the common cold that if you had one in the recent past that you might now be immune to (or have a lesser case of) Covid-19.

Still needs to be proven for sure, but this adds a couple of layers of positivity to the immunity debate and also the research for treatment and a vaccine.

Here I was happy that I haven't been sick in like 2 years, haha. Now I wish I had the common cold.
 

LA Kings Cup Champs

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An absolute must read Twitter thread with some new/developing information as of tonight. It's 10 Tweets long, but HF only let's me post this much. Take a look...





With each passing week it seems some serious scientific body learns something significant about this virus and this seems very significant.


Thanks for sharing that. From Florian Krammer's twitter page I was able to find Shane Crotty's twitter page and on there I found this:

Shane Crotty on Twitter

His study is basically claiming that not only does everyone who becomes infected by this virus develop antibodies, but that the antibodies are in alignment with like viruses, therefore, we will have immunity for a long time. Just exactly how long is yet to be known...time will tell...but this is very good news.

Now we just need to get our government to make 100's of millions on serological tests, as well as, 100's of millions of reliable antibody test, and then we can send the people who have already been infected and have recovered back to work.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/brit...-update-what-you-need-to-know-may-6-1.5557198

The covid outbreak at Lynn Valley Care Centre, the first in BC and just a stone's throw away from where my wife works, has been officially declared over. Day to day infection rates province-wide are still in single digits, and we're prepared to start relaxing restrictions. Finally.

:banana: :party: :crossfing :highclap: :handclap::towel: :yo:

Congrats! And make sure you guys take slow over there. There is no need for a resurgence.

I don't know all that it means in terms of immunity/finding a treatment or vaccine, but the fact that there aren't multiple strains of Covid-19 (at least yet) to me is a good thing. Good to know that if anyone has immunity for let's say a year they don't have to worry about getting a different strain as of now...



Thanks for sharing. That was an excellent read.

University of Saskatchewan says Covid vaccine showing promise when used on ferrets.

https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/1737103939559

That's good to hear. I guess that we will find out if it works two years from now!
 
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Dubi Doo

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Well...I wouldn't necessarily say a vaccine will come sooner because there's probably a good chance that at least 1 of the over 100 current vaccines being worked on actually works and works well. The issue is always the trails period where they have to test it on the public to make sure it doesn't do any harm. That is the part that takes a long time...Even when everything is 100% ok.

The good news is...That short of a vaccine (or treatment) having immunity is the next best thing, and todays reports indicate that what the experts thought was true - That antibodies are not only prevalent in almost all the people they've studied, but they not think that because coronaviruses can cause the common cold that if you had one in the recent past that you might now be immune to (or have a lesser case of) Covid-19.

Still needs to be proven for sure, but this adds a couple of layers of positivity to the immunity debate and also the research for treatment and a vaccine.
The one vaccine I have hope that can be ready to produce before 2021 is the one out of Oxford. It's been proven to be safe from previous trials as it was trialed for MERS years ago. It's shown to be effective in mice and monkeys. The only issue is it appears it may not make you completely immune from the virus rather it prevents it from developing pneumonia and other serious symptoms, which is still huge and would allow us to go back to normal once we get it rolled out.

Still, producing it is going to be a challenge, but with Bill Gates and hopefully other big players getting involved maybe it will shorten the timeline a ton. Also, it will be interesting to see if Trump's project 'warp speed' has an impact. Honestly, I like the idea in theory if he stays out of the way. The US has its issues, but I like our ability to mass produce if the military is involved and those big pharma companies actually work together.
 
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Dubi Doo

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Certainly seems promising.

The one thing to keep in mind: The trials were done on people ages 18-55.

How the elderly react to it is unknown.
If it does work it will be an incredible breakthrough for science. Just for folks who don't understand- this is an mRNA vaccine; it's engineered to 'mimic' a particular receptor on the coronavirus, so your body will remember how to fight it. A vaccine like the one out of Oxford uses inactive viral proteins (a dead strain) for your body to kill. An mRNA vaccine has never been used before.

One positive I see rarely talked about is all the resources and effort that has gone into research. The knowledge we've gained even on failed drugs and vaccines will pay dividends long after this pandemic is over.
 

SnowblindNYR

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If it does work it will be an incredible breakthrough for science. Just for folks who don't understand- this is an mRNA vaccine; it's engineered to 'mimic' a particular receptor on the coronavirus, so your body will remember how to fight it. A vaccine like the one out of Oxford uses inactive viral proteins (a dead strain) for your body to kill. An mRNA vaccine has never been used before.

One positive I see rarely talked about is all the resources and effort that has gone into research. The knowledge we've gained even on failed drugs and vaccines will pay dividends long after this pandemic is over.

If this vaccine is better, is it possible to use something that will take less time to make at first since it'll be less revolutionary but continue working on this?
 

periferal

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If it does work it will be an incredible breakthrough for science. Just for folks who don't understand- this is an mRNA vaccine; it's engineered to 'mimic' a particular receptor on the coronavirus, so your body will remember how to fight it. A vaccine like the one out of Oxford uses inactive viral proteins (a dead strain) for your body to kill. An mRNA vaccine has never been used before.

One positive I see rarely talked about is all the resources and effort that has gone into research. The knowledge we've gained even on failed drugs and vaccines will pay dividends long after this pandemic is over.


This, this, and this again. I say it all the time...When something bad happens people rally together and the result of that is almost always positive.

In this case of Covid-19 where literally everyone on the planet is affected in one way or the other, the momentum carrying over into the world of immunobiology is going to propel us forward with such vigor that we are probably going to learn about 10-15 years of scientific knowledge within the next 5. Believe me I wish Covid-19 never happened, but if it didn't there would not be the push to learn (and to help each other) as we're seeing right now.
 
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Dubi Doo

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Dr. Krogan, a molecular biologist who has been studying treatments against COVID-19, took part in AMA (ask me anything) on Reddit yesterday. I submitted this question hoping for a response:
" Do you think it's possible that an effective treatment is found that allows us to reopen society the way it was before the pandemic hit even if we haven't found a vaccine? If so- how likely and what's a realistic timeline?"
He did respond with (bold is the important parts):

"There’s different ways in which we can combat this. Obviously a vaccine is one strategy and in many ways the best. That’s potentially a long way away, if ever. There’s a lot of diseases we don’t have vaccines for, and that’s where finding drugs or compounds, that’s the approach we’re taking… so, I think in the short term, coming up with a drug or a compound that already exists -- this has been our tactic, through drug repurposing.

Trying to understand the biology of the virus and then find drugs that are on the shelf and repurpose them to fight this particular pandemic.
It’s not that strong in terms of the effect that it has, however, one of the goals would be to come up with a combinatorial strategy. That’s what worked for HIV, right? A cocktail of 3 drugs... Maybe a combination of rem with one of the drugs that we’ve uncovered or somebody else has uncovered… Normally this takes a long time to get a drug for a disease. But never has there been in the history of science so many scientists focused on one problem like this. I truly believe that by the end of 2020, there will be a cocktail of drugs that could be used and will be successful… at the end of the day there may be a drug or a cocktail of drugs for those that just got infected, and one for those who are on respirators, ones experiencing cytokine storm, compared to when you’re just starting to get symptoms. So the more we understand about the virus, the more insightful we will be about treatments… I’ve said a number of times, I believe there will be a treatment or a cocktail of treatments by the end of 2020. So I hope to God we have something by then. I think it’s better to be optimistic. I truly think something will come by the end of the year. —NJK"

This was in response to Remdesivir by someone who I assume works in Dr. Krogans lab.
"Dr. Krogan is joining at 9 a.m. The government is running a big clinical trial right now to answer that question about remdesivir. Is it safe, does it work? Early results look promising; remdesivir reduced the number of days that patients were sick. That’s why the FDA gave an emergency authorization for the drug to be used in COVID-19 patients. Still, it’s not FDA-approved, it doesn’t look like a cure, and more data is needed. --JF"

An optimistic view would be we have a combination of drugs that will curb stomp the mortality rate by the end of 2020. Hopefully he's right!
 

PresidentWU

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Japan only 25 cases today.

My prefecture(Saitama) is 1 of 8 still in Emergency mode which means most things closed like malls and stores.

This Thursday they'll probably lift the emergency mode for us as our numbers are under the bar they set.

By June 1st maybe things start coming back everywhere. Like schools ect.
 

periferal

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Jul 5, 2007
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Dr. Krogan, a molecular biologist who has been studying treatments against COVID-19, took part in AMA (ask me anything) on Reddit yesterday. I submitted this question hoping for a response:
" Do you think it's possible that an effective treatment is found that allows us to reopen society the way it was before the pandemic hit even if we haven't found a vaccine? If so- how likely and what's a realistic timeline?"
He did respond with (bold is the important parts):

"There’s different ways in which we can combat this. Obviously a vaccine is one strategy and in many ways the best. That’s potentially a long way away, if ever. There’s a lot of diseases we don’t have vaccines for, and that’s where finding drugs or compounds, that’s the approach we’re taking… so, I think in the short term, coming up with a drug or a compound that already exists -- this has been our tactic, through drug repurposing.

Trying to understand the biology of the virus and then find drugs that are on the shelf and repurpose them to fight this particular pandemic.
It’s not that strong in terms of the effect that it has, however, one of the goals would be to come up with a combinatorial strategy. That’s what worked for HIV, right? A cocktail of 3 drugs... Maybe a combination of rem with one of the drugs that we’ve uncovered or somebody else has uncovered… Normally this takes a long time to get a drug for a disease. But never has there been in the history of science so many scientists focused on one problem like this. I truly believe that by the end of 2020, there will be a cocktail of drugs that could be used and will be successful… at the end of the day there may be a drug or a cocktail of drugs for those that just got infected, and one for those who are on respirators, ones experiencing cytokine storm, compared to when you’re just starting to get symptoms. So the more we understand about the virus, the more insightful we will be about treatments… I’ve said a number of times, I believe there will be a treatment or a cocktail of treatments by the end of 2020. So I hope to God we have something by then. I think it’s better to be optimistic. I truly think something will come by the end of the year. —NJK"

This was in response to Remdesivir by someone who I assume works in Dr. Krogans lab.
"Dr. Krogan is joining at 9 a.m. The government is running a big clinical trial right now to answer that question about remdesivir. Is it safe, does it work? Early results look promising; remdesivir reduced the number of days that patients were sick. That’s why the FDA gave an emergency authorization for the drug to be used in COVID-19 patients. Still, it’s not FDA-approved, it doesn’t look like a cure, and more data is needed. --JF"

An optimistic view would be we have a combination of drugs that will curb stomp the mortality rate by the end of 2020. Hopefully he's right!


Amazing. Total credit to you Dubi Doo. The fact you even knew about this Reddit Q&A, much less joining it and asking a question, is superb. And thank you for sharing.
 
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