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Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman laid the groundwork for immunizations that were rolled out during the pandemic at record-breaking speed. This year’s Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine has been awarded to biochemist Katalin Karikó and immunologist Drew Weissman for discoveries that enabled the development of mRNA vaccines against COVID-19. The vaccines have been administered more than 13 billion times, saved millions of lives and prevented millions of cases of severe COVID-19, said the Nobel committee. Karikó, who is at Szeged University in Hungary, and Weissman, at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia (UPenn), paved the way for the vaccines’ development by finding a way to deliver genetic material called messenger RNA into cells without triggering an unwanted immune response. They will each receive an equal share of the prize, which totals 11 million Swedish krona (US$1 million). Karikó is the 13th female scientist to win a Nobel Prize in medicine or physiology. She was born in Hungary, and moved to the United States in the 1980s. “Hopefully, this prize will inspire women and immigrants and all of the young ones to persevere and be resilient. That’s what I hope,” she tells Nature. https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-03046-x
Read the full article at: www.nature.com
Via Juan Lama, Dr. Stefan Gruenwald
A new analysis published in The Lancet Microbe shows how the SARS-CoV-2 virus spreads from the nose to the air and surfaces in the immediate surroundings. The findings are the second batch of results to come from the COVID-19 Human Challenge Program, led by Imperial College London and partners, and provide granular insights into how people infected with SARS-CoV-2 spread the virus to their immediate surroundings. In February 2021, 36 healthy, young participants with no previous immunity to the virus were infected with SARS-CoV-2 under controlled clinical conditions in a residential facility at the Royal Free Hospital in London, where they could be carefully monitored. They remained at the facility until they were no longer infectious. The facility enabled researchers to track the course of infection in great detail, with the clinical team taking daily swabs from participants' noses and mouths, as well as environmental samples of the air and swabs of surfaces in their rooms. Viral emissions Out of 36 initial participants, a total of 18 became infected. Analysis showed that two individuals emitted substantially more virus into the air than the other infected participants, but displayed no significantly worse symptoms. The researchers suggest this may represent the small proportion of individuals who have potential to be highly infectious, sometimes described as "superspreading." Analysis found large amounts of viral RNA in air samples, in exhaled breath, as well as swabs of participants hands and on surrounding surfaces, including frequently touched surfaces such as door handles and TV remote controls, showing how an infected person contaminates their surrounding environment and can spread the virus. Viral emissions correlated strongly with the level of virus detected in people's noses, more than in their throat, highlighting the nose as a significant route for infected people shedding virus into the air and environment. According to the researchers, the latest analysis further highlights the routes by which the virus is transmitted from person to person—directly into the air, depositing onto nearby surfaces, and transferred from contaminated hands to frequently touched surfaces, such as door handles and remote controls. Reliable indicators They also show that positive lateral flow tests and visible symptoms were reliable indicators of when people were infectious and emitting virus into the air and environment. The vast majority of virus was emitted after people noticed their first symptoms, with very little virus released into the environment before that (pre-symptomatically). They found no significant link between the severity of participants' symptoms and the amount of virus they shed into the environment. According to the researchers, the findings highlight the need to reinforce public health messaging around proper face mask use, hand washing and surface cleaning, as well as how human challenge studies continue to add to our knowledge of COVID-19 infection and transmission. Dr. Anika Singanayagam, NIHR Academic Clinical Lecturer in the Department of Infectious Disease at Imperial College London, and joint first author of the study, said, "Our latest findings add to the existing body of knowledge on COVID-19 transmission. By studying infection in a controlled environment, we can collect unique, detailed measurements of virus emitted that allow us to understand how and when people with COVID-19 are contagious to others. These types of measurements are challenging to collect in real-world studies. "Our data indicate that much of the virus people shed comes from the nose, further highlighting the importance of face masks covering the nose as well as the mouth when they're used. But it also shows how virus can be transferred from hands to contaminate surfaces, like door handles or remote controls, which become a source of infection." Dr. Jay, Jie Zhou, research associate in the Department of Infectious Disease at Imperial College London, and joint first author of the study, said, "Understanding when infected people are contagious and how to detect when they are contagious is important—it can help us to use interventions like face masks or social distancing more effectively. The data in our study highlights that being aware of, and acting on, the first minor symptoms that signal an infection, coupled with frequent self-testing with lateral flow tests, can effectively reduce onward spread." Professor Wendy Barclay, head of the Department of Infectious Disease at Imperial College London, said, "One of the most important things we need to know for controlling the spread of respiratory viruses, such as SARS-CoV-2, is when are people who are actively infected with the virus most likely to infect others? That information can help to tell us how the virus will spread, and how best to use interventions to stop the outbreak. "Human challenge studies enable us to gain granular insights into the infection which we might not otherwise be able to. They play an important role in our understanding of infectious diseases, and should be considered a part of future pandemic preparedness." Previous findings The latest findings add to several key clinical insights already gained from the COVID-19 Human Challenge Program, published in February 2022. These include that symptoms start to develop on average two days after contact with the virus, that infection first appears in the throat, infectious virus peaks about five days into infection and, at that stage, is significantly more abundant in the nose than the throat. The first analysis also found that lateral flow tests (LFTs) are a reassuringly reliable indicator of whether infectious virus is present in the nose and throat (i.e., whether they are a likely to be infectious to other people). Original research published (June 9, 2023) at The Lancet Microbe: https://doi.org/10.1016/S2666-5247(23)00101-5 Read the full article at: medicalxpress.com
Via Juan Lama, Dr. Stefan Gruenwald
Those with SARS-CoV-2 are often advised to isolate for only a few days. But evidence is mounting that some people can continue to pass on the virus for much longer. When the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) halved its recommended isolation time for people with COVID-19 to five days back in December, it said that the change was motivated by science. Specifically, the CDC said that most SARS-CoV-2 transmission occurs early in the course of the illness, in the one to two days before the onset of symptoms and for two to three days after. Many scientists disputed that decision then and they continue to do so. Such dissent is bolstered by a series of studies confirming that many people with COVID-19 remain infectious well into the second week after they first experience symptoms. Reductions in the length of the recommended isolation period — now common around the world — are driven by politics, they say, rather than any reassuring new data. “The facts of how long people are infectious for have not really changed,” says Amy Barczak, an infectious-disease specialist at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. “There is not data to support five days or anything shorter than ten days [of isolation].” Barczak’s own research, published on the medRxiv preprint server, suggests that one-quarter of people who have caught the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 could still be infectious after eight days.
Published in Nature (July 26, 2022): https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-02026-x
Read the full article at: www.nature.com
Via Juan Lama, Dr. Stefan Gruenwald
An arsenal of potential treatments takes aim at proteins that are key to the virus’ life cycle. In March 2020, as the full scope of the COVID-19 pandemic was coming into view, Jen Nwankwo and colleagues turned a pair of artificial intelligence (AI) tools against SARS-CoV-2. One newly developed AI program, called SUEDE, digitally screens all known drug-like compounds for likely activity against biomolecules thought to be involved in the disease. The other, BAGEL, predicts how to build inhibitors to known targets. The two programs searched for compounds able to block human enzymes that play essential roles in enabling the virus to infect its host cells. While SUEDE sifted through 14 billion compounds in just a few hours and spat out a hit, BAGEL created equally fast new leads.
Read the full article at: www.sciencemag.org
Via Juan Lama, Dr. Stefan Gruenwald
Maccabi health fund releases preliminary results of a study comparing vaccinated and not vaccinated members’ likability to contract the disease and said vaccine 92% effective. A total of 371 out of 715,425 Israelis who passed at least a week after receiving two doses of the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine have contracted the virus – 0.04%, with 16 being sent to the hospital – according to a Health Ministry report released on Thursday. Immunity to COVID-19 is supposed to kick in a week after receiving the second dose of the Pfizer vaccine. According to the studies conducted by Pfizer, the vaccine had an efficacy of about 95%, which is considered very high. The Israeli data appear to confirm the inoculation’s effectiveness, showing an even more promising result. Later in the day, Maccabi Healthcare Services – one of the country’s four health maintenance organizations – released the first results of the vaccination campaign of its members, with the organization also comparing the data to a control group that did not get inoculated.
Read the full article at: www.jpost.com
Via Juan Lama, Dr. Stefan Gruenwald
Knowledge is power—and when it comes to the coronavirus, it can also save lives.
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Moderna's newest vaccine and new shots from Pfizer and Novavax are slated to roll out within weeks, pending potential approvals from the Food and Drug Administration. Moderna’s newest Covid vaccine generated a robust immune response against the now-dominant Eris variant and another rapidly spreading strain of the virus in an early clinical trial, the biotech company recently stated. The updated shot is designed to target omicron subvariant XBB.1.5, but the results suggest that the injection may still be effective against newer variants of the virus that are gaining ground nationwide. That includes Eris and another variant nicknamed Fornax, both of which are also descendants of the omicron virus variant.
Read the full article at: www.cnbc.com
Via Juan Lama, Dr. Stefan Gruenwald
A new discovery in the fight against COVID-19 could lead to a long-lasting vaccine that works on all currently known variants of the ever-mutating virus. With new COVID variants and subvariants evolving faster and faster, each chipping away at the effectiveness of the leading vaccines, the hunt is on for a new kind of vaccine — one that works equally well on current and future forms of a novel coronavirus.
Read the full article at: www.thedailybeast.com
Via Juan Lama, Dr. Stefan Gruenwald
In 2017, three leading vaccine researchers submitted a grant application with an ambitious goal. At the time, no one had proved a vaccine could stop even a single beta coronavirus—the notorious viral group then known to include the lethal agents of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS), as well as several causes of the common cold and many bat viruses. But these researchers wanted to develop a vaccine against them all. Grant reviewers at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) deemed the plan “outstanding.” But they gave the proposal a low priority score, dooming its bid for funding.
https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abi9939
Read the full article at: www.sciencemag.org
Via Juan Lama, Dr. Stefan Gruenwald
COVID-19, caused by SARS-CoV-2, can involve sequelae and other medical complications that last weeks to months after initial recovery, which has come to be called Long-COVID or COVID long-haulers. This systematic review and meta-analysis aims to identify studies assessing long-term effects of COVID-19 and estimates the prevalence of each symptom, sign, or laboratory parameter of patients at a post-COVID-19 stage. LitCOVID (PubMed and Medline) and Embase were searched by two independent researchers. All articles with original data for detecting long-term COVID-19 published before 1st of January 2021 and with a minimum of 100 patients were included. For effects reported in two or more studies, meta-analyses using a random-effects model were performed using the MetaXL software to estimate the pooled prevalence with 95% CI. Heterogeneity was assessed using I2 statistics. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviewers and Meta-analysis (PRISMA) reporting guideline was followed. Preprint available in medRxiv (Jan. 30, 2021): https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.01.27.21250617
Read the full article at: www.medrxiv.org
Via Juan Lama, Dr. Stefan Gruenwald
The COVID-19 vaccine may spell the end of the pandemic, but while mass vaccination is not available it is vital to stop community transmission. The new antiviral drug MK-4482 / EIDD-2801 or Molnupiravir, has managed to suppress "completely" the transmission of the coronavirus in just 24 hours , according to studies by the Institute of Biomedical Sciences of Georgia State University. "This is the first demonstration of an orally available drug that quickly blocks the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 , so it could be a game changer," the researchers explained in the work published in the journal Nature Microbiology . The antiviral drug was developed at Emory University in Atlanta by the drug innovation company Drug Innovation Ventures at Emory (DRIVE), which was licensed by Ridgeback Biotherapeutics, which partnered with Merck & Co. Molnupiravir was originally designed to treat the flu and prevent the virus from making copies of itself, creating errors during viral RNA replication. The experts detail that tests were carried out on ferrets and it was observed that they presented a reduction in the amount of viral particles. Then those ferrets were put with others that had not been treated. None of the ferrets in the second group became infected with COVID-19. "We believe that ferrets are a relevant transmission model because they easily spread SARS-CoV-2, but for the most part they do not develop a serious disease, which is very similar to the spread of SARS-CoV-2 in young adults," he said. Dr. Robert Cox, a postdoctoral fellow in the Plemper group and co-lead author of the study. “We observed early on that MK-4482 / EIDD-2801 has broad spectrum activity against respiratory RNA viruses and that oral treatment of infected animals with the drug reduces the amount of viral particles spread by several orders of magnitude, drastically reducing transmission. These properties made MK-4482 / EIDD / 2801 a powerful candidate for the pharmacological control of Covid-19 ”, the report adds. If this ferret-based data is translated into humans, Covid-19 patients treated with the drug could become non-infectious within 24 hours of starting treatment. The drug can be taken orally, and treatment can be started early for a triple potential benefit: inhibiting patients' progress to severe disease, shortening the infectious phase to alleviate the emotional and socioeconomic cost of prolonged patient isolation, and containing quickly local outbreaks. Molnupiravir is currently in advanced phase II / III clinical trials. It is being tested in three different doses every 12 hours for five days in patients with SARS-CoV-2. Findings published in Nat. Microbiology (Dec. 3, 2020): https://doi.org/10.1038/s41564-020-00835-2 Read the full article at: www.entrepreneur.com
Via Juan Lama, Dr. Stefan Gruenwald
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