Coronavirus COVID-19 - Global Health Pandemic #111

DNA Solves
DNA Solves
DNA Solves

New Posts

Status
Not open for further replies.
BetteDavisEyes said:
I had a nice visit with my PCP this morning. Since my last visit in February, the entire office has undergone a major "facelift" with the previously open reception area now enclosed, fresh paint throughout the office, lots of new art, a new TV in the waiting room. Everything looks fresh and bright. I told Dr. K that I was very impressed with the new digs. We chatted about several different topics, and I specifically asked about various vaccines. She definitely recommends a flu shot and the new Covid booster that should be available within the new several weeks. Since I don't have COPD, and my cough-variant asthma is due to seasonal allergies and well-controlled with inhalers, she said the new RSV vaccine isn't necessary. DH and I will plan on getting our flu vaccine in October and the Covid booster in November.

I asked the nurse if they were seeing Covid patients, and she said that they went several months without any Covid patients but that there has been an uptick in cases in recent weeks. I mentioned that we decided to cancel our January 2024 cruise due to ongoing cases on ships. She told me that a patient asked for a prescription for Paxlovid because she was going to France and wanted to be prepared in case she caught Covid. The answer was, "No", because there are many variables for prescribing Paxlovid - different dosages, contraindications due to certain health issues, medication interactions, etc. Bottom line is that if you think you have Covid, or test positive with a home kit, it's best to see a physician for diagnosis and appropriate treatment.
Click to expand...
Interesting what your doctor said about the RSV vaccine. I'll see my doctor on Friday and will ask her about the various vaccines and timing.
 
anneg said:
Interesting what your doctor said about the RSV vaccine. I'll see my doctor on Friday and will ask her about the various vaccines and timing.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I found it odd what her Dr said about it as well. I only became aware of RSV because my mother was on Pfizer's clinical trial for it. The CDC recommends it.

This report summarizes the body of evidence considered for this recommendation and provides clinical guidance for the use of RSV vaccines in adults aged ≥60 years. RSV vaccines have demonstrated moderate to high efficacy in preventing RSV-associated lower respiratory tract disease and have the potential to prevent substantial morbidity and mortality among older adults; postmarketing surveillance will direct future guidance.

[...]

For RSV vaccination, the decision to vaccinate a patient should be based on a discussion between the health care provider and the patient, which might be guided by the patient’s risk for disease and their characteristics, values, and preferences; the provider’s clinical discretion; and the characteristics of the vaccine.

Way more here: Use of Respiratory Syncytial Virus Vaccines in Older ....
 
^ Thanks for the link. I will read up on the RSV vaccine before deciding whether or not I want to get it. Dr. K is leaving it up to me because I don't have a high risk for serious respiratory illness, i.e. never smoked, no COPD, no chronic bronchitis, no hospitalization for breathing problems, etc. I'm not anti-vax, but I do question the validity of too frequent or multiple vaccinations when they might not be warranted. JMO
 
anneg said:
Interesting what your doctor said about the RSV vaccine. I'll see my doctor on Friday and will ask her about the various vaccines and timing.
Click to expand...
The RSV vaccine is relatively new and has only been available for three or four months, so my physician has limited experience in recommending the vaccine for patients. She has recommended the vaccine to patients with compromised immune systems, those with COPD or chronic bronchitis, those who have been hospitalized with pneumonia, Covid, or other breathing problems, heavy smokers, etc. If she thought that I was at serious risk and a candidate for the new RSV vaccine, she would have suggested that I get it without question. As with the Shingles vaccine, she is letting me decide whether or not I want to get the RSV injection. I'm happy to have a physician who respects my input into my overall health care.

 
Last edited:
I messaged my internist about the RSV vaccine for my husband and me. She knows my husband and me well and is aware that we spend time with our young school-aged grandchildren multiple times a week. Due to our age and this, she recommends the vaccine.
 
Teche said:
I messaged my internist about the RSV vaccine for my husband and me. She knows my husband and me well and is aware that we spend time with our young school-aged grandchildren multiple times a week. Due to our age and this, she recommends the vaccine.
Click to expand...
That makes a lot of sense to me!
 
Teche said:
I messaged my internist about the RSV vaccine for my husband and me. She knows my husband and me well and is aware that we spend time with our young school-aged grandchildren multiple times a week. Due to our age and this, she recommends the vaccine.
Click to expand...
Yeah, it's not just the elderly, but infants as well.

RSV can be dangerous for infants and young children. Each year in the United States, an estimated 58,000-80,000 children younger than 5 years are hospitalized due to RSV infection. Children at greatest risk for severe illness from RSV include the following:

Premature infants
Infants up to 12 months, especially those 6 months and younger
Children younger than 2 years with chronic lung disease or congenital (present from birth) heart disease
Children with weakened immune systems
Children who have neuromuscular disorders, including those who have difficulty swallowing or clearing mucus secretions

www.cdc.gov

Learn about RSV in Infants and Young Children

RSV can be dangerous for some infants and young children.
www.cdc.gov www.cdc.gov

also....

RSV can be serious, especially for infants and older adults. RSV is the most common cause of bronchiolitis (inflammation of the small airways in the lung) and pneumonia (infection of the lungs) in children younger than 1 year of age in the United States.

RSV Risk to Infants and Older Adults | 2022 Announcements

The Indian Health Service (IHS), an agency within the Department of Health and Human Services, is responsible for providing federal health services to American Indians and Alaska Natives. The provision of health services to members of federally-recognized Tribes grew out of the special...
www.ihs.gov
 
I remember when the HPV vaccine was originally available to adolescent patients in the early 2000s. I walked into my ob/gyn's office and was surprised to see young boys and girls in the waiting room which was usually women, some pregnant, and an occasional spouse. I asked the nurse what was going on, and she told me that Dr. B was offering the new HPV vaccine to children of patients. I knew nothing about the virus or the vaccine and did some research.

Fast forward to recent months when I've read or heard about multiple lawsuits pending due to long term side effects from the vaccine, some quite serious. Nearly twenty years after the HPV vaccine was introduced, it has been known to have possible serious and long-lasting side effects. This is the reason that I am skeptical about rushing into getting the RSV vaccine because it has only been available for a few months. I'm not opposed to the vaccine but would prefer to wait until there is more information regarding its efficacy. JMO

Gardasil HPV Vaccine Lawsuit | August 2023 Update (lawsuit-information-center.com)

Questions about HPV Vaccine Safety | CDC
 
Last edited:
BetteDavisEyes said:
I remember when the HPV vaccine was originally available to adolescent patients in the early 2000s. I walked into my ob/gyn's office and was surprised to see young boys and girls in the waiting room which was usually women, some pregnant, and an occasional spouse. I asked the nurse what was going on, and she told me that Dr. B was offering the new HPV vaccine to children of patients. I knew nothing about the virus or the vaccine and did some research.

Fast forward to recent months when I've read or heard about multiple lawsuits pending due to long term side effects from the vaccine, some quite serious. Nearly twenty years after the HPV vaccine was introduced, it has been known to have possible serious and long-lasting side effects. This is the reason that I am skeptical about rushing into getting the RSV vaccine because it has only been available for a few months. I'm not opposed to the vaccine but would prefer to wait until there is more information regarding its efficacy. JMO

Gardasil HPV Vaccine Lawsuit | August 2023 Update (lawsuit-information-center.com)

Questions about HPV Vaccine Safety | CDC
Click to expand...

Some states require the HPV vaccine for girls to enter the 6th grade. I remember being surprised how many parents brought their kids ( both boys and girls) into the clinics where I was working when it was first released.

One of the docs I occasionally worked with used to push (in my opinion) parents to get the vaccine for their kids when they came in for school physicals, even though it was not required in our state. If a parent didn’t immediately agree to the HPV vaccine he would say, “What? You want your child to get cancer?”

www.kff.org

The HPV Vaccine: Access and Use in the U.S.

This factsheet discusses HPV and related cancers, use of the HPV vaccines for both females and males, and insurance coverage and access to the vaccines.
www.kff.org www.kff.org

Hawaii, Rhode Island, Virginia, and D.C. have laws that require HPV vaccination for school entry. D.C. and Virginia require the HPV vaccine for girls to enter the sixth grade, but allow parents to opt out of the requirement due to medical, moral, or religious opposition.Jul 12, 2021
 
Been hearing a lot about Eris lately (a descendant of XBB) but this sublineage of BA2, Pirola, could be the main one to watch this winter.

Scientists race to understand highly mutated coronavirus variant spotted in four countries, including the US

CNN — A highly mutated new variant of the virus that causes Covid-19 has countries on alert as scientists scramble to understand how far it has spread and how well our immunity will defend against it.

The new variant, called BA.2.86 and nicknamed Pirola by variant hunters on social media, has more than 30 amino acid changes to its spike protein compared with its next closest ancestor, the BA.2 subvariant of Omicron, according to Dr. Jesse Bloom, who studies viral evolution at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in Seattle.

“This makes it an evolutionary jump comparable in size to that which originally gave rise to Omicron,” Bloom posted on his lab’s website.

(...)

 
Mo Thuairim said:
Been hearing a lot about Eris lately (a descendant of XBB) but this sublineage of BA2, Pirola, could be the main one to watch this winter.

Scientists race to understand highly mutated coronavirus variant spotted in four countries, including the US

CNN — A highly mutated new variant of the virus that causes Covid-19 has countries on alert as scientists scramble to understand how far it has spread and how well our immunity will defend against it.

The new variant, called BA.2.86 and nicknamed Pirola by variant hunters on social media, has more than 30 amino acid changes to its spike protein compared with its next closest ancestor, the BA.2 subvariant of Omicron, according to Dr. Jesse Bloom, who studies viral evolution at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in Seattle.

“This makes it an evolutionary jump comparable in size to that which originally gave rise to Omicron,” Bloom posted on his lab’s website.

(...)

Click to expand...
I wish it was explained how the variant actually affects people. Are the symptoms different? Will it matter to me personally what variant I might catch or is this more of an interest to people studying the virus and figuring it out?

jmo
 
Inthedetails said:
I wish it was explained how the variant actually affects people. Are the symptoms different? Will it matter to me personally what variant I might catch or is this more of an interest to people studying the virus and figuring it out?

jmo
Click to expand...
I think it's too early to know and they're just monitoring it now. Most likely you'd just catch it more easily, not that an infection would be more severe or have different symptoms. That has broadly been the case with Eris. So the thing would be to make sure the winter vaccines target these strains well. It's mainly of interest to virologists/epidemiologists rather than the general public.
 
Mo Thuairim said:
Been hearing a lot about Eris lately (a descendant of XBB) but this sublineage of BA2, Pirola, could be the main one to watch this winter.

Scientists race to understand highly mutated coronavirus variant spotted in four countries, including the US

CNN — A highly mutated new variant of the virus that causes Covid-19 has countries on alert as scientists scramble to understand how far it has spread and how well our immunity will defend against it.

The new variant, called BA.2.86 and nicknamed Pirola by variant hunters on social media, has more than 30 amino acid changes to its spike protein compared with its next closest ancestor, the BA.2 subvariant of Omicron, according to Dr. Jesse Bloom, who studies viral evolution at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in Seattle.

“This makes it an evolutionary jump comparable in size to that which originally gave rise to Omicron,” Bloom posted on his lab’s website.

(...)

Click to expand...
Other things I found interesting about the article you posted (since you beat me to the punch. :))...

“It is unusual for corona to change so significantly and develop 30 new mutations. The last time we saw such a big change was when Omicron appeared,” said Morten Rasmussen, a senior researcher at the Statens Serum Institut, in a news statement on the variant.

[...]

In March, the White House quietly polled about a dozen Covid-19 experts who follow the evolution of the coronavirus to ask about the likelihood of a highly mutated variant emerging within the next two years. Most experts pegged the odds of that happening somewhere between 10% and 20%.

Gemmie here - Boy were they wrong. And what I find scary about that is the fact it was a dozen Covid experts that came up with a low 10% - 20% chance of a highly mutated variant in the next 2 years. It only took 5 MONTHS from when they were asked and made that assessment. I am absolutely not dissing the experts. I love and respect them! Wish I had Fauci on my speed dial! LOL (I laughed but that wasn't a joke. I have soooo many questions) They know more than I, and deserve the utmost respect, but the fact they were so wrong makes me worried about the future of Covid. In fact, I find it very worrisome that experts were so off with their % because I believe they use scientific logic and facts, not emotion, which can skew numbers.

My hope is that Pirola fizzles out and doesn't become upgraded to a variant of interest or variant of concern. *fingers crossed*

 
Inthedetails said:
I wish it was explained how the variant actually affects people. Are the symptoms different? Will it matter to me personally what variant I might catch or is this more of an interest to people studying the virus and figuring it out?

jmo
Click to expand...
It's too early to have an answer to how Pirola affects people. I did a quick Goog and not finding anything about Pirola that's more than a day or so old (They could be there but I did a quick search as I said). These things take time, unfortunately. I too would love to know everything about a new strain the moment it rears its ugly head. :(

Per the article:

SSI scientists stressed that it’s still too early to say anything about the severity or contagiousness of the new variant. They are in the process of growing the virus variant to test it against human antibodies.

[...]

“We are tracking this new lineage. It has mutations that do make it distinct from other lineages circulating. And then the question becomes, what does that mean?” Cohen said. “Is it going to increase? Are we going to see more cases? Or is it going to fizzle out and not be a variant of concern?”

 
Inthedetails said:
I wish it was explained how the variant actually affects people. Are the symptoms different? Will it matter to me personally what variant I might catch or is this more of an interest to people studying the virus and figuring it out?

jmo
Click to expand...
Another reason it is too soon for answer....

Only six cases of the strain have thus far been detected worldwide, but top scientists said it's clear it will spread much more widely. Therefore, it is more important than ever to be aware of the symptoms to stay wary of the new variant.

The key symptoms are what you might expect from Covid, including:
  • high fever
  • cough
  • cold
  • loss of the sense of taste or smell
It is still vital to get tested if you are experiencing the above symptoms. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director-general of WHO, said testing and being vigilant was vital in the fight against the coronavirus. “We wouldn’t know if the virus is changing, in case we don’t test enough. Testing is vital to see how the virus is evolving,” he said.

Gemmie's note - and PLEASE report your results if you self-test! Numbers are skewed very low due to all the home testing and non-reporting of results.

www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk

Four key signs and symptoms of the new Covid 'Pirola' strain as it hits the UK

A new Covid strain dubbed Pirola has arrived in Britain
www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk
 
So if I am following this news on the latest mutations and variants of XBB, then BA.2.86 (also known as Pirola) is the virus with the 30 mutations to the virus' proteins) and still unknown as to the implications of this variant. Earlier article says that the vaccine they are working on for this fall is not a good match for BA.2.86. But too early to say that symptoms of catching this variant of the virus will be more severe, or it just may be that it will spread more effectively but symptoms may not be more severe. I wonder if Paxlovid will still be effective against BA.2.86 or a new drug will be developed this fall if needed.

From the articles posted here recently, it sounds like the fall vacccine for covid will be effectivev for EG.5, which is the variant that is now found in 1 of 5 infected people in the U.S.

Please correct me if I am wrong on any of the above, trying to track the latest variants and concerns and their relationships to the efficacy of the fall vaccine and treatments like Paxlovid.
 
Sundog said:
So if I am following this news on the latest mutations and variants of XBB, then BA.2.86 (also known as Pirola) is the virus with the 30 mutations to the virus' proteins) and still unknown as to the implications of this variant. Earlier article says that the vaccine they are working on for this fall is not a good match for BA.2.86. But too early to say that symptoms of catching this variant of the virus will be more severe, or it just may be that it will spread more effectively but symptoms may not be more severe. I wonder if Paxlovid will still be effective against BA.2.86 or a new drug will be developed this fall if needed.

From the articles posted here recently, it sounds like the fall vacccine for covid will be effectivev for EG.5, which is the variant that is now found in 1 of 5 infected people in the U.S.

Please correct me if I am wrong on any of the above, trying to track the latest variants and concerns and their relationships to the efficacy of the fall vaccine and treatments like Paxlovid.
Click to expand...
You're correct. The BA.2.86 variant is very new and has not yet been factored into any upcoming vaccines, while EG.5 has been. Paxlovid is pretty effective against BA.2 so hopefully that will prove to be the case against BA.2.86 too. But it is very early.

news.wisc.edu

Antivirals, some antibodies, work well against BA.2 omicron variant of COVID-19 virus

The research team tested seven monoclonal antibodies, three combinations of antibodies, and three antiviral treatments against the BA.2 variant.
news.wisc.edu news.wisc.edu
 
Sundog said:
So if I am following this news on the latest mutations and variants of XBB, then BA.2.86 (also known as Pirola) is the virus with the 30 mutations to the virus' proteins) and still unknown as to the implications of this variant. Earlier article says that the vaccine they are working on for this fall is not a good match for BA.2.86. But too early to say that symptoms of catching this variant of the virus will be more severe, or it just may be that it will spread more effectively but symptoms may not be more severe. I wonder if Paxlovid will still be effective against BA.2.86 or a new drug will be developed this fall if needed.

From the articles posted here recently, it sounds like the fall vacccine for covid will be effectivev for EG.5, which is the variant that is now found in 1 of 5 infected people in the U.S.

Please correct me if I am wrong on any of the above, trying to track the latest variants and concerns and their relationships to the efficacy of the fall vaccine and treatments like Paxlovid.
Click to expand...
Where do you track the variants of concerns? I'd like to find a different site than I use:

www.ecdc.europa.eu

SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern as of 30 August 2024

ECDC regularly assesses new evidence on variants detected through epidemic intelligence, rules-based genomic variant screening or other scientific sources.
www.ecdc.europa.eu www.ecdc.europa.eu

TIA :)
 
I read this report earlier in the week. It's pretty basic information but worth sharing.

www.detroitnews.com

Fall virus season is approaching. Here’s how to protect against COVID, RSV and the flu

Local doctors are warning of a potential “tripledemic” this fall, consisting of the flu, respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, and COVID-19.
www.detroitnews.com
Dallas -- While it may feel like the heat won’t ever come to an end, cooler weather should be on the horizon in the coming weeks and months. With that comes certain seasonal viruses, including another potential wave of COVID-19.

Local doctors are warning of a potential “tripledemic” this fall, consisting of the flu, respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, and COVID-19. To combat these illnesses, infectious disease experts are recommending people — especially high-risk and unvaccinated individuals — consider vaccinating as a tool against severe disease.

In addition to an anticipated fall virus season, COVID-19 saw a slight uptick this summer, including in North Texas, where hospitals have seen a rise in the number of infected patients over the last month. COVID-19 case numbers are also on the rise nationally, according to July data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention...
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

DNASolves

Who is DeKalb County John Doe (2022)?

Members online

... and 66 more.
Total: 3,267 (members: 67, guests: 3,200)

Online statistics

Members online
67
Guests online
3,200
Total visitors
3,267
Totals may include hidden visitors.

Forum statistics

Threads
604,185
Messages
18,168,752
Members
232,123
Latest member
Donald Redfield
Back
Top