[ad_1]
By Nancy Lapid
January 20 (Reuters) – The following is a summary of some of the latest scientific studies on the novel coronavirus and efforts to find treatments and vaccines for COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus.
South African variant may resist current antibody treatments
The variant of the novel coronavirus identified in South Africa can resist, or “escape”, antibodies that neutralize earlier versions of the virus, scientists have found. It “shows complete escape” of three classes of monoclonal antibodies made to treat COVID-19 patients, and it shows “substantial or complete” resistance to neutralizing antibodies in blood donated by COVID-19 survivors, reported Tuesday scientists on bioRxiv ahead of peer review. The similarities between the South African variant and another variant identified in Brazil suggest that the Brazilian variant will show similar resistance, they added. Liam Smeeth of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, who was not involved in the study, noted that these were lab tests and it would not make sense to extrapolate the results to humans at this stage. “The data raises the possibility that the acquired protection against a past infection with COVID-19 is weaker for reinfection with the South African variant,” he said. “The data also suggests that existing vaccines may be less effective against the South African variant.” He called for large studies among populations where the variant is common. (https://bit.ly/3sLeIgP)
Pfizer / BioNTech Shot Likely Protects Against UK Variant
Pfizer Inc and BioNTech SE’s COVID-19 vaccine may protect against the more infectious variant of the virus discovered in Britain and which is now spreading around the world, according to lab tests. The researchers took blood samples from 16 people who had received the vaccine and exposed the blood to a synthetic virus, or pseudovirus, which was designed to contain 10 mutations found in the British variant. The antibodies that had developed in response to the vaccine effectively neutralized the pseudovirus, according to a report on bioRxiv on Tuesday ahead of peer review. “This makes it very unlikely that the British variant will escape the protection provided by the vaccine,” said Jonathan Stoye, a virus specialist at the British Francis Crick Institute who was not involved in the research. Similar experiments are needed with the most concerning variant first found in South Africa, he suggested. AstraZeneca Plc, Moderna Inc, and CureVac NV are also testing whether their respective vaccines protect against rapidly spreading variants. (https://bit.ly/35X6Wa4; https://reut.rs/3p1TCZz)
The immune system will remember how to make COVID-19 antibodies
People who have recovered from COVID-19 can likely respond quickly and effectively to the virus if they encounter it again, because the ‘B cells’ in their immune system will remember how to make the antibodies needed to fight it, new study finds . Researchers followed 87 COVID-19 survivors for six months and found that while levels of antibodies to the virus may decrease over time, the number of memory B cells remains unchanged. The antibodies produced by these cells are more potent than the patients’ original antibodies and may be more resistant to mutations in the spike protein that the virus uses to break down into cells, they said. For example, they found that antibodies could recognize and neutralize at least one of the mutations in the South African variant of the virus that worried health experts. Even if antibody levels decline, B cells will remember how to make them if necessary, according to study leader Michel Nussenzweig of Rockefeller University, whose results were reported in Nature on Monday. If this is true at six months, as in this study, it is safe to assume that it is probably still true for longer periods, he added. People who have recovered from COVID-19 “may be infected, but the immune system will be prepared to fight the infection,” Nussenzweig said. (https://go.nature.com/3nWtwWo)
Mortality is highest when ICUs are full of COVID-19 patients
The fuller an intensive care unit (ICU) is with COVID-19 patients, the higher the death rate among those patients, new data suggests. When researchers tracked the results of 8,515 COVID-19 patients admitted to 88 U.S. veterans hospitals in 2020, they found that survival rates improved between March and August. Throughout the study period, however, the risk of death was almost double when at least 75% of ICU beds were occupied by COVID-19 patients, compared to when they were no more than 25% of beds in ICU. Mortality from COVID-19 “increases during peak demand periods,” said Dr. Dawn Bravata of Richard L. Roudebush VA Medical Center in Indianapolis, who co-led the study published Tuesday in JAMA Network Open. “The more the public can do to prevent infection, the better,” she added. In addition, Bravata said that “facilities within a healthcare system or within a geographic region should collaborate to triage critically ill patients with COVID-19 to sites with greater intensive care capacity to reduce the burden. pressure on an establishment. ” (https://bit.ly/3oYfWDa; https://bit.ly/35VHpOk)
Open https://tmsnrt.rs/3a5EyDh in an external browser for a Reuters graphic on vaccines and treatments in development.
(Reporting by Nancy Lapid, Linda Carroll, Kate Kelland and Ludwig Burger; Editing by Bill Berkrot)
[ad_2]
Source link