Covid is a ■■■■■■■ ■■■■■■■■
True. Unfortunately we do not have to eat more often than once in several days to survive, but we need to breathe at least once a minute and more normally once every 5 seconds. So we are most susceptible to contagion entering our bodies via the simple act of breathing. Its a big weakness in our physiology.
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Do you have good sequence data to support recombination with other viruses? Just wondering how ssRNA strands could recombine. (Of course this is very different from flu where new strains can arise readily via reassortment of RNA strands).
Do you have good sequence data to support recombination with other viruses ?
Here is the link to the paper for you Albert.
https://www.discovery.co.za/corporate/news-room
Discovery Health, South Africa’s largest private health insurance administrator, releases at-scale, real-world analysis of Omicron outbreak based on 211 000 COVID-19 test results in South Africa, including collaboration with the South Africa
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Johannesburg, 14 December 2021
Summary:
- Vaccine effectiveness :
- o The two-dose Pfizer-BioNTech vaccination provides 70% protection against severe complications of COVID-19 requiring hospitalisation, and 33% protection against COVID-19 infection, during the current Omicron wave.
- Reinfection risk: For individuals who have had COVID-19 previously, the risk of reinfection with Omicron is significantly higher, relative to prior variants.
- Severity : The risk of hospital admission among adults diagnosed with COVID-19 is 29% lower for the Omicron variant infection compared to infections involving the D614G mutation in South Africa’s first wave in mid-2020, after adjusting for vaccination status
- Children : Despite very low absolute incidence, preliminary data suggests that children have a 20% higher risk of hospital admission in Omicron-led fourth wave in South Africa, relative to the D614G-led first wave.
It is important to note that these insights relate to data from the first three weeks of the Omicron-driven wave in South Africa. Therefore, the insights should be considered preliminary, since they may change as the wave progresses. This data is also confounded by various factors, including high sero-prevalence of COVID-19 antibodies in the South African population as a whole.
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This article made for interesting reading, a scientific Chinese whispers of sorts.
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Did Omicron come from an African Mouse?
SARS-COV-2 has infected an unknown number of mammalian species. In some cases, it has caused devastation, eg Mink, a species of weasel. But most notably it infects humans and most other Mammalian genera seem to be unaffected, ( or we just don’t give a damn and have ignored it up to this point)
Omicron has a unique lineage and appears to not have emerged from Delta, but from the original wild strain.
Anyway, this Chinese paper has been “peer reviewed”
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We’ve had cats (small and big), dogs, gorillas, deer, and more mentioned here.
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I am putting this here because it could get lost in the bigger covid threads.
It looks like more and more people are getting covid in the eastern states and there is now a big rush on for RATS. Anyone who tests positive may need some help. So I hope this will help any Blitzers that may get infected.
Long term readers may recall that back at the start of the pandemic I posted about a Monash researcher who had a treatment derived from natural compounds that is effective against respiratory viruses. His treatment has been tested independently by the Doherty Institute who report that it is in fact effective against covid. He also has personal reports of people who have used it soon after getting infected and found it fixed them. I have tried it myself and it prevented colds last winter. I also sent some to my daughter who has been in covid central in USA and she has been OK thus far.
As crazy as it seems, given the crisis we have been living through, he still has not got funding for a clinical trial to extend its application to covid. (Anyone who works in medical research will not be surprised by this further evidence of short-sightedness by our government funders though).
Nevertheless, the treatment IS approved by the TGA to be sold in Australia for “lung health” and for treating “respiratory viruses”. It just does not yet have the magic tick for “use against covid-19”.
If anyone is interested, send me a PM and I will provide a link to where you can order some. [Mods can advise whether I can post the link here or not].
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I’m always interested in anything natural that’s received TGA approval. Thanks for sharing.
I would think if it TGA approved then there should be no issue with posting details.
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Yes but I will await mod approval that it is OK. There is also the issue of my day job (though no direct COI)
Thanks. PM me and I will send link.
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Fact: my missus has it.
Fact: I don’t
Fact: I happen to like the couch
then glu can post it and play doctor.
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Are you saying the couch is a rona shield?
hmm, maybe you could win her over with a toe garage pic
Had similar dilemma the other day.
Wife and kids were considered close contacts and went and got tested. I set up the man cave with beer, icy poles and dusted off the PS3, assuming the test would take a couple of days. I’ve been preparing for this for 2 years.
Once everyone was in bed and turned in, didn’t even have time to turn the TV on or crack a can, I get a text from the house, all negative. Damn it!!!
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