Octopus Overlords

Daehawk wrote: ↑Tue Dec 21, 2021 2:52 pm My pharmacy said that there was an uptick in people getting flu shots this year. Thats good to hear. I got mine in Oct as usual.

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 from 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.

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.

Isgrimnur wrote: ↑Tue Dec 21, 2021 11:22 pm Defense One

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 from 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.

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.

A series of recently published preclinical study results show that the Spike Ferritin Nanoparticle (SpFN) COVID-19 vaccine developed by researchers at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR) not only elicits a potent immune response but may also provide broad protection against SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern as well as other coronaviruses.

Scientists in WRAIR’s Emerging Infectious Diseases Branch (EIDB) developed the SpFN nanoparticle vaccine, based on a ferritin platform, as part of a forward-thinking “pan-SARS” strategy that aims to address the current pandemic and acts as a first line of defense against variants of concern and similar viruses that could emerge in the future.

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.

@DrEricDing wrote:Actually, looking closer, the SpFN trial was conducted by Walter Reed in collaboration with the Henry Jackson Foundation for Military Medicine — which is a 501c3 nonprofit. I know friends there - I will ask if @HJFMilMed
will commit to the IP being non-profit.

Daehawk wrote: ↑Tue Dec 21, 2021 11:54 pm How do you prepare for a mutation before there is one?

Lassr wrote: ↑Wed Dec 22, 2021 11:03 am 18 hours after my booster i did wake up with a fever at 5am. It's gone now and I'm feeling fine. Yay!

More than 2 weeks ago @erlichya and @IdoIrani picked up the signal that the booster shot in Israel was waning at ~4 months. I flagged it here and many attacked them and were demeaning. It turned out they were right; Isreal now plans 4th shots for age 60+. No apologies of course.

blue line: daily COVID cases in the USA

red line: bad reviews of Yankee Candles on Amazon saying "they don't have any scent"

Kraken wrote: ↑Wed Dec 22, 2021 10:36 pm I've seen reports that omicron infects our upper airways more readily than any previous variant, but has a harder time penetrating to vaccinated people's lungs. It's like the difference between bronchitis and pneumonia. At this point, such reports are still in the "wishful thinking" bin because the science is still preliminary...but I hope that pans out.

A study led by researchers from the LKS Faculty of Medicine at The University of Hong Kong (HKUMed) provides the first information on how the novel Variant of Concern (VOC) of SARS-CoV-2, the Omicron SARS-CoV-2 infect human respiratory tract. The researchers found that Omicron SARS-CoV-2 infects and multiplies 70 times faster than the Delta variant and original SARS-CoV-2 in human bronchus, which may explain why Omicron may transmit faster between humans than previous variants. Their study also showed that the Omicron infection in the lung is significantly lower than the original SARS-CoV-2, which may be an indicator of lower disease severity. This research is currently under peer review for publication.

‘It is important to note that the severity of disease in humans is not determined only by virus replication but also by the host immune response to the infection, which may lead to dysregulation of the innate immune system, i.e. “cytokine storm”,’ said Dr Chan. ‘It is also noted that, by infecting many more people, a very infectious virus may cause more severe disease and death even though the virus itself may be less pathogenic. Therefore, taken together with our recent studies showing that the Omicron variant can partially escape immunity from vaccines and past infection, the overall threat from Omicron variant is likely to be very significant.’

A Royal Caribbean cruise ship skipped docking at two island countries this week after 55 passengers and crew tested positive for Covid-19, the cruise line company has said.

The Odyssey of the Seas departed for an 8-day trip on Dec. 18.

While the ship had scheduled ports in Curacao and Aruba, a decision for the ship to avoid those stops "was made together with the islands out of an abundance of caution due to the current trend of Covid-19 cases in the destinations’ communities as well as crew and guests testing positive on board," said a statement from Royal Caribbean.

Scientists have detected infection by at least three variants of the virus that causes COVID-19 in free-ranging white-tailed deer in six northeast Ohio locations, the research team has reported.

Previous research led by the U.S. Department of Agriculture had shown evidence of antibodies in wild deer. This study, published today (December. 23, 2021) in Nature, details the first report of active COVID-19 infection in white-tailed deer supported by the growth of viral isolates in the lab, indicating researchers had recovered viable samples of the SARS-CoV-2 virus and not only its genetic traces.

Based on genomic sequencing of the samples collected between January and March 2021, researchers determined that variants infecting wild deer matched strains of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that had been prevalent in Ohio COVID-19 patients at the time. Sample collection occurred before the Delta variant was widespread, and that variant was not detected in these deer. The team is testing more samples to check for new variants as well as older variants, whose continued presence would suggest the virus can set up shop and survive in this species.

Isgrimnur wrote: ↑Thu Dec 23, 2021 3:03 pm

New data from Britain suggests that booster protection against symptomatic Covid caused by the Omicron variant wanes within 10 weeks.

There have not yet been enough severe cases of Omicron to calculate how well boosters protect against severe disease, but experts believe the shots will continue to provide significant protection against hospitalization and death.

“It will be a few weeks before effectiveness against severe disease with Omicron can be estimated,” the new report, from Britain’s Health Security Agency, noted. “However, based on experience with previous variants, this is likely to be substantially higher than the estimates against symptomatic disease.”

In a recent interview on WCBS-AM, a New York radio station, Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the nation’s leading infectious disease doctor, said that officials were monitoring the effectiveness of mRNA boosters against Omicron.

“I do think it’s premature, at least on the part of the United States, to be talking about a fourth dose,” he said. Israel is weighing whether to give a fourth shot to its citizens.

Some scientists have warned against a fourth shot, noting that there is not yet evidence that it is necessary and that some immune cells might eventually stop responding to the shots if too many doses are given.

"(It) stuck around all night. I left (the shed) at 3 a.m. and he was (there). (It) went to greet my dad at the front door of his house in the morning. He then went to lay down in the field beside the river for the remainder of the day," Rintala said.

Several behaviours exhibited in the video indicate the animal may have been infected with brain worm, which is often fatal.

"A moose infected with brain worm could be this bold and unafraid of people. Moose become infected when they eat snails or slugs infected with brain worm larvae while feeding on vegetation," Kerekes said.

Rumpy wrote: ↑Thu Dec 23, 2021 7:53 pm It just made me wonder if Moose are the only ones affected by this when I saw the picture posted here.

Brain worm is the term commonly applied to the parasitic nematode (round worm), Parelaphostrongylus tenuis (P. tenuis). White-tailed deer are the normal host for this parasite. Most of the time, they are not affected by the parasite. However, other species such as moose, mule deer, reindeer/caribou, sheep, goats, alpacas, and llamas are abnormal hosts and can develop disease or die if infected.

The NFL is battling the latest COVID-19 surge with an understanding that symptomatic individuals are driving transmission within the team environment, chief medical officer Dr. Allen Sills said Thursday, with no indications of asymptomatic spread.

That position represents a significant departure from the pandemic-long stance of public health authorities, who have warned about the possibility of individuals spreading the virus without being aware they are infected….

"I think all of our concern about [asymptomatic spread] has been going down based on what we've been seeing throughout the past several months," Sills told ESPN. "We've got our hands full with symptomatic people. Can I tell you tonight that there has never been a case when someone without symptoms passed it on to someone else? No, of course I can't say that. But what I can say to you is that I think it's a very, very tiny fraction of the overall problem, if it exists at all.

"Clearly if you want to look at the overall pattern and concern about transmission, it is not being driven by people who have no idea that they are infected and they are infecting scores of others. This is being driven by people with symptoms and the exposures during that symptomatic period."

Ralph-Wiggum wrote: ↑Thu Dec 23, 2021 10:36 pm So is this backed by any real evidence or is this just the NFL trying to justify reducing their testing and quarantine protocols?