Category: Corona Virus Vaccine

Its the news that public health experts expect but dread: virus-hunting researchers have discovered a new coronavirus in bats that could spell trouble for the human population. The virus can infect human cells and is already able to skirt the immune protection from COVID-19 vaccines.

Reporting in the journal PLoS Pathogens, scientists led by Michael Letko, assistant professor in the Paul Allen School of Public Health at Washington State University, found a group of coronaviruses similar to SARS-CoV-2 that were initially discovered living in bats in Russia in 2020. At the time, scientists did not think the virus, called Khosta-2, posed a threat to people.

But when Letkos team did a more careful analysis, they found that the virus could infect human cells in the lab, the first warning sign that it could become a possible public health threat. A related virus also found in the Russian bats, Khosta-1, could not enter human cells readily, but Khosta-2 could. Khosta-2 attaches to the same protein, ACE2, that SARS-CoV-2 uses to penetrate human cells. Receptors on human cells are the way that viruses get into cells, says Letko. If a virus cant get in the door, then it cant get into the cell, and its difficult to establish any type of infection.

Khosta-2 doesnt appear to have that problem, since it seems to infect human cells readily. Even more troubling, when Letko combined serum from people who have been vaccinated against COVID-19 with Khosta-2, the antibodies in the serum did not neutralize the virus. The same thing happened when they combined the Khosta-2 virus with serum from people who had recovered from Omicron infections.

We dont want to scare anybody and say this is a completely vaccine-resistant virus, Letko says. But it is concerning that there are viruses circulating in nature that have these propertiesthey can bind to human receptors and are not so neutralized by current vaccine responses.

The good news is that Letkos studies show that, like the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2, Khosta-2 does not seem to have genes that would suggest it could cause serious disease in people. But that could change if Khosta-2 starts circulating more widely and mixing with genes from SARS-CoV-2. One of the things were worried about is that when related coronaviruses get into the same animal, and into the same cells, then they can recombine and out comes a new virus, says Letko. The worry is that SARS-CoV-2 could spill back over to animals infected with something like Khosta-2 and recombine and then infect human cells. They could be resistant to vaccine-immunity and also have some more virulent factors. What the chances of that are, who knows. But it could in theory happen during a recombination event.

Its a sobering reminder that pathogens are ready and waiting to jump from any number of animal species into humans. And in many cases, as with SARS-CoV-2, these microbes will be new to people and therefore encounter little resistance in the form of immunity against them. These viruses are really widespread everywhere, and are going to continue to be an issue for humans in general, says Letko.

The findings come as the World Health Organizations (WHO) ACTAccelerators Council Tracking and Accelerating Progressworking group report that continued response to the COVID-19 pandemic, in the form of testing, vaccinations, and treatments, is stalling. With lower global immunity to the current SARS-CoV-2 virus, combating any new pathogens, including new coronaviruses like Khosta-2, would become more difficult. According to the latest data collected by the WHO, a quarter of people around the world still have not received a primary series of COVID-19 vaccination.

Ultimately, having deeper dossiers on the microbial world, especially information on how well certain viruses can infect human cells, for example, will be important to making the response to public health threats more efficient and more powerful. Letko is working on building a database that includes information on which human receptors viruses use to infect cells, and whether or not those viruses can evade existing vaccines. That way, he says, when new microbes are discovered that are similar to those in the database, researchers could have a head start on understanding how to control them. At some point in the future, as these outbreaks continue, we wont have to scramble whenever a new virus spills over into people, he says. We could plug the virus into the database, and understand that it probably uses these receptors to get into human cells, and might be resistant to these types of vaccines or treatments. Its a 10- to 20-year goal, but its possible. Its not just a pipe dream.

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Scientists Find a New Coronavirus in Bats That Is Resistant to Current Vaccines - TIME

Strong pointsThe head of the WHO has again made a big statement regarding CoronaWHO chief Tedros said the outbreak is not over yetWe have a long way to go against Corona Dr Tedros

New York. Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO), has once again made a big statement regarding the corona outbreak. Rejecting his old claim, he said the Covid 19 outbreak is not over, but the end is visible. Ghebreyesus said there was still a long way to go to deal with Covid-19. It is known that a few days ago Tedros said in a media chat that the world has never been in a better position to end the corona outbreak, the end is now ahead. After that, US President Joe Biden announced in one of his interviews that the pandemic is over in America.

After that, Tedros appeared less excited when talking to the media. He clarified that being able to see the end does not mean the pandemic is over. He reiterated that the world was in the best position to end the pandemic. The number of weekly deaths continued to decline. The death rate peaked in January 2021. Now its only 10%.

WHO chief says theres still a long way to go

Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director general of the World Health Organization (WHO), said that two-thirds of the worlds population covid The vaccine was applied. Three-quarters of these numbers include health workers and the elderly. He said the world had spent two and a half years in a dark tunnel because of Corona. Now we have started to see the light at the end of this tunnel.

Also Read: All Corona Restrictions Removed But Passengers Decreased In Delhi Metro, What Is The Reason

Chef Tedros says there is still a long way to go in the fight against Corona. He says there are many obstacles in the fight against Covid that can bother us. We must pay attention to this.

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WHO chief Tedros Ghebreyesus warns again - the COVID-19 pandemic is not over yet - News84Media - News84Media.com

A health worker administering vaccine for Corona virus to a school girl during a campaign to vaccinate 5 o 12 years children t F-9 Park in the Federal Capital  Associated Press of Pakistan

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A health worker administering vaccine for Corona virus to a school girl during a campaign to vaccinate 5 o 12 years children t F-9 Park in the Federal...

London: BA.4.6, A new form of Corona is a new form of Omicron. It is spreading rapidly in America. Now it is spreading in UK too. The UK Health Protection Agency mentioned in a new briefing document on Covid variants that the BA.4.6 variant was responsible for 3.3 per cent of cases in the week starting August 14. But a recent investigation found that BA.4.6 was responsible for 9 percent of UK Covid cases. Thus, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the BA.4.6 variant accounts for more than 9 percent of cases in the United States. Apart from this, this variant has also been confirmed in other countries of the world. So now India should worry about this variant. Lets look at the information available so farA new variant spread around the world

BA.4.6 is a variant of Omicrons BA.4 variant. The BA.4 was first detected in South Africa in January 2022 and has since spread worldwide with the BA.5 variant. It is not clear how BA.4.6 spread, but it is possible that it could be a recombinant variant. Recombination occurs when two different types of SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19) infect the same person at the same time.

Also Read: 3 patients died due to corona in the state for the second day in a row

While BA.4.6 will be similar to BA.4 in many ways, it mutates the spike protein, a protein on the surface of the virus that allows it to enter our cells. This mutation, R346T, has been found in other variants and protects the virus from a persons immune system. In other words, it helps the virus avoid antibodies made from vaccination and previous infection.

Fortunately Omicron was not very destructive, but subtypes of Omicron spread very quickly. BA.4.6 reduces the immune system of the body. According to the UKHSA report, BA.4.6 spread much faster than BA.5 in its initial period. According to a report from Oxford University then, people who took a dose of Pfizer to protect against Covid, did not affect their antibodies to BA.4.6. It is a matter of concern. However, booster doses can be quite successful in avoiding BA.4.6. The details of this new variant are not yet fully known, for now we can only rely on the booster dose.

Also Read: Know Features of Omicrons Sub Variant BA.2.75

BA.4.6 and other new variants to become it is a matter of concern. Their new appearance shows that the virus is still with us and is trying to enter our body in new ways by breaking the immunity provided by vaccination. But vaccination provides good protection against serious illness. It is still the best weapon to fight against Corona. The recent approval of bivalent boosters is good news for people. In addition, developing multi-component coronavirus vaccines that target multiple variants may provide more durable protection.

A recent study found that a multicomponent corona virus vaccine administered nasally proved to be more effective against the original form of Covid and its two other forms. New variants, including BA.4.6, are being closely monitored, as they may cause the next wave of the Covid pandemic. The public should be vigilant and follow the Covid rules in any public place to prevent the spread of the highly contagious virus.

Published by:Vivek Chudasma

First published: September 14, 2022, 23:06 IST

The treasure of Gujarati news is News18 Gujarati. Read more news including Gujarat, Foreign, Bollywood, Sports, Business, Entertainment on News18 Gujarati

Tags: Corona virus variant, Omicron variant

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new variant of omicron BA 4 6 spreading fast Pipa News - PiPa News

COVID-19 vaccines have been effective at keeping people from getting severely ill and dying from the virus, but theyve required different boosters to try to keep on top of all of the coronavirus variants that have popped up. Now, researchers have discovered an antibody that neutralizes all known COVID-19 variants.

The antibody, called SP1-77, is the result of a collaborative effort from researchers at Boston Childrens Hospital and Duke University. Results from mouse studies theyve conducted were recently published in the journal Science Immunology, and they look promising.

But what does it mean, exactly, to have an antibody that can neutralize all variants of COVID-19, and what kind of impact will this have on vaccines in the future? Heres what you need to know.

SP1-77 is an antibody developed by researchers that so far can neutralize all forms of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. It was created after researchers modified a mouse model that was originally made to search for broadly neutralizing antibodies to HIV, which also mutates.

The mice used in the study have built-in human immune systems that mimic the way our immune systems develop better antibodies when were exposed to a pathogen. The researchers inserted two human gene segments into the mice, which then created a range of antibodies that humans might make. The mice were then exposed to SARS-CoV-2s spike protein (which is what the virus uses to latch onto your cells) and produced nine different families of antibodies that bound to the spike protein to try to neutralize it.

Those antibodies were then tested and oneSP1-77was able to neutralize Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, and all Omicron strains (including the current circulating ones) of COVID-19.

The antibody works in a slightly different way than many of the antibodies people make to vaccines. To infect you, SARS-CoV-2 has to first attach to ACE2 receptors in your cells. The current COVID-19 vaccines block this binding from happening by attaching to the spike proteins receptor-binding domain (RBD) at certain spots, a press release from Boston Childrens Hospital explains.

The SP1-77 antibody also binds to the RBD, but doesnt prevent the virus from binding to ACE2 receptors. What it does do is block the virus from fusing its outer membrane with the membrane of your cells, which is what needs to happen to make you sick.

SP1-77 binds the spike protein at a site that so far has not been mutated in any variant, and it neutralizes these variants by a novel mechanism, study co-author Tomas Kirchhausen, Ph.D., said in a statement. These properties may contribute to its broad and potent activity.

Its not clear right now. Its important to note that this research was done in micenot humansalthough studies on the antibody are ongoing.

This is very early-stage proof-of-concept work to illustrate that broadly neutralizing antibodies can be generated using a mouse model, says Amesh A. Adalja, M.D., infectious disease expert and senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. Such work, if replicated and expanded, could form the basis of new monoclonal antibody products as well as a vaccine.

Experts say that a vaccine that could take out all variants of COVID-19 would definitely be welcome. Wed love to have a vaccine that is active against all circulating variants, including those yet to come, says Thomas Russo, M.D., professor and chief of infectious disease at the University at Buffalo in New York. Its the holy grail of vaccines.

That could potentially mean that you would only need to get a COVID-19 shot or booster once a year or even less frequently, depending on how long protection from the vaccine lasted, Dr. Russo says.

The researchers have applied for a patent for the SP1-77 antibody and mouse model used to create it, and plan to create something that can be used by the general public if all goes well.

Korin Miller is a freelance writer specializing in general wellness, sexual health and relationships, and lifestyle trends, with work appearing in Mens Health, Womens Health, Self, Glamour, and more. She has a masters degree from American University, lives by the beach, and hopes to own a teacup pig and taco truck one day.

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Scientists Found a New Antibody That Neutralizes All COVID Variants - Prevention Magazine

FILE PHOTO: doctor hand in gloves holding coronavirus vaccine. Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya

With eight new COVID-19 deaths the last seven days Utah is closing in on 5,000 since the start of the pandemic.

COVID-19 deaths remain at 257 within the Bear River Health District, which includes Cache, Box Elder and Rich counties. Since the outbreak, 56,519 total positive cases have been found in the district, 39,985 of them in Cache County.

There were 165 new cases in the district the last week and over 68 percent of the northern Utah population (age 5+) has received at least one dose of the vaccine and 2,262 patients in northern Utah have been hospitalized with COVID.

Utahs Division of Health and Human Services reported 122 COVID patients in the states hospitals as of Thursday, 37 fewer than last week. Included in those numbers are 22 COVID patients in intensive care. Since the start of the pandemic there have been 38,167 COVID hospitalizations in Utah.

In other COVID-19 metrics released Thursday almost 56 percent of the states wastewater sites showed elevated or increasing amounts of corona virus.

Almost 2,400 new cases were reported in the last week, much fewer than a week ago. There have been 1,032,129 positive cases of COVID in Utah the last 30 months.

Just over two million Utahns are fully vaccinated which is 63 percent of the population and 985,386 have received at lease one booster shot.

Almost 3,500 vaccine doses were administered the last seven days to bring the total doses administered in Utah to more than 5.37 million.

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8 new COVID deaths over the last seven days; state total closing in on 5000 - Cache Valley Daily

Inhaled COVID-19 vaccines have been approved by China and India for the first time, more than two years after the novel corona virus disease reached a global outbreak in early 2020.

Since then, needle injections have been the preferred medium to allow the body's immune system to fight off the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-COV-2), a coronavirus strain that causes COVID-19.

The latest developments come after Indian regulators authorized the nasal version of Bharat Biotech company on Tuesday, September 6, for people who have not yet been vaccinated. Meanwhile, Chinese regulators authorized approved CanSino Biologic's inhaled version COVID-19 vaccine, to be used as a booster dose.

(Photo : Photo by JOSEPH PREZIOSO/AFP via Getty Images)

Scientists are hoping that the immunizations through the nose or mouth will prevent even mild cases of COVID-19 illnesses, according Nature. The online research publication highlights that the mucosal vaccines target thin "mucus membranes" found along the linings of the nose, mouth, and lungs.

The reported rationale behind the aerosol COVID-19 vaccines is to target the virus as soon as they enter the body, which is through the nasal and oral passageways.

Also Read:Record Breaking: Cancer Survivor Carries COVID-19 for 335 Days - the Longest Duration Known

The advantage of nasal COVID-19 vaccines is it can get rid of the SARS-CoV-2 virus before it has the chance to establish itself in the lungs, where it will replicate, according to immunologist Dr. Vineeta Bal, a professor with the Indian Institute of Science Education Research in India, as cited by CBS News.

Meanwhile, the advantages of oral COVID vaccines sprayed to the mouth will depend on individual droplet size in the spray, Dr. Bal adds. Specifically, the droplet amount would be responsible training defenses in the mouth and parts of the throat. Moreover, small droplets are expected to dive deeper into the lungs.

In India, vaccination rates have dropped in recent months as the number of confirm cases became stagnant. Approximately 940 million, or 67% population of the South Asian nation, have received the first two shots but only 15% of them were administered with a third booster shot, the US media outlet reports.

In March 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO)declared COVID-19 as a pandemic, due to its unprecedented infection to multiple countries worldwide at that time. The following months will see the strictest local and international health restrictions when it comes to travel, business operations, and outdoor activities.

Since COVID-19 vaccines were developed by late 2020, cases of fatal cases have significantly decreased. In particular, the decreased deaths were a result of the vaccine's role in protecting an infected person from the life-threatening respiratory symptoms and other health complications from the disease during pre-vaccine days.

Regardless of the onset of nasal vaccines, the WHO still retains its health advisory regarding the most common COVID-19 symptoms such as: fever, cough, tiredness, and loss of taste or smell. Other less common symptoms include sore throat, headache, aches and pains, diarrhea, skin rash, skin discoloration, and irritated eyes.

Related Article:COVID-19 in Animals: Genome Test Confirms a Cat in Pennsylvania Contracted Delta Variant

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China and India Approve First Use of Inhaled COVID-19 Vaccine and Booster Shot - Nature World News

If the corona infection increases, a new vaccine may come in the future

The outbreak of the virus has not stopped yet. Two waves of corona epidemic have passed. Scientists around the world are still researching to eradicate this virus. Meanwhile, health experts have talked a lot about the corona vaccine issue. Experts say that the corona virus will never end. Scientists are working on an updated vaccine to keep people safe.

It will also protect against viruses for a long time

Dr NK Arora, Chairman of the National Technical Advisory Group on the Kovid-19 Vaccination Scheme, also hinted at this recently. Dr. Arora says that there is a concept about the next generation vaccine of Kovid that we will not have to give repeated doses of the vaccine. The next-generation vaccine will be one that not only protects against viruses that have appeared so far, but also protects against viruses that appear in the future for a longer period of time.

Dr. Arora said that the updated vaccine of Corona should also have the ability to protect against future variants of Kovid. Some people are going even further and making strain-based vaccines. Some researchers are preparing to mix two types of virus together or four types of virus.

After covid stroke, heart disease increased!

Health experts say that after the second wave of Corona epidemic, the cases of heart and brain related diseases are also increasing in post-Covid conditions. Dr. Narayana Health. Deviprasad said that during the second wave of corona epidemic, there has been a surge in brain and heart related diseases. More cases of brain or heart clots are coming to light in patients who have been victims of Kovid infection.

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If the corona infection increases, a new vaccine may come in the future - PiPa News

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Your Medical Aid will pay the Government directly for this vaccine. This will not influence your day-to-day, savings or any other benefit.

You will not be required to pay for this vaccine and no co-payment/levy will be required.

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Portrait of family after getting covid-19 vaccine

If you want to go fast, go alone, if you want to go far, go with your partners. I lead with that statement to underscore the importance of the collective efforts shown by faith-based organizations in the fight against the SARS Corona Virus Pandemic.

The SARS Corona Virus Pandemic has been at the epicenter of our very existence since 2019. Most strikingly, communities of color, already deep-seated in racism and injustice, continue to struggle the hardest to fight off the brutal attack of this virus and its extensive after-effects.

These communities, recruited to participate in clinical trials, testing, and vaccinations, are the same communities that can never forget numerous inhumane research atrocities conducted upon them. These invitations came at the same time communities were in the streets begging this country to put a stop to the continuous killings of unarmed black men and women without receiving a promise of halting these modern-day lynchings or the assurance of retribution and recovery by the victims loved ones.

The weak and unresponsive answers rendered the clarion call, Black Lives Matter, ineffective and inconsequential in this country. Convincing the African American community that the same country intended to create a vaccine that would protect and save them proved profoundly difficult to believe in and to trust.

Efforts to win this battle for recruitment and participation in both clinical trials and vaccinations called for an approach that involved joining forces across various parts of the community. In came the faith-based institutions (FBOs).

One of the most rewarding and promising methods has been developing partnerships with FBOs. Historically, FBOs have been and continue to be one of the most, if not the most, trusted entities in the BIPOC (Black and Indigenous People of Color) communities.

Academic institutions worked to increase and strengthen relationships between the community and themselves with assistance from their community partners, such as the Community Faculty within Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science and numerous Community Advisory Boards within UCLAs Clinical and Translational Science. Those and similar efforts have resulted in numerous FBOs joining the ranks of these partnerships addressing the primary goal of halting this pandemic.

New and effective approaches at these houses of worship have been Sabbath Town Halls- aimed at increasing trust in the vaccines leading to increased vaccinations; hosting and promoting vaccine clinics on their premises; producing creative ways to increase membership gatherings (church-after-dark) that provide a platform to increase knowledge about vaccines, debunk myths found on untrustworthy social media platforms that increase fear and confusion regarding vaccines, and developing safety strategies for worship services that are grounded in the most current public health recommendations from trusted entities such as the Centers for Disease Control.

One specific example of culturally-informed, community-academic partnered activities was the production and hosting of vaccine pop-up clinics during the Juneteenth holiday weekend by numerous FBOs on their premises. Hundreds of parishioners and the community-at-large were vaccinated during those gatherings.

Houses of worship have continuously been instrumental in the COVID-19 fight by placing vaccine-awareness information in their print media (church bulletins, newsletters, e-blasts, web pages, etc.). Houses of worship have developed and hosted events that featured researchers, medical service providers, and academic leadership representatives as the content experts that their community could tap into for guidance and answers to questions and fears about the virus and the best methods of survival.

As this pandemic shows no sign of ending, we applaud our houses of worship and encourage the linking of arms in the battle against this relentless virus and other health disparities. The Struggle Continues.

Aziza Lucas Wright, M.Ed., is affiliated with UCLA, Clinical and Translational Science Institute, Community Engagement Program

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Intersection of Faith and Wellness A Continuous Report-Back - Lasentinel