F Rosa Rubicondior: Vaccines
Showing posts with label Vaccines. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Vaccines. Show all posts

Tuesday 22 November 2022

Covidiot News - More Evidence of the Efficacy of COVID Vaccines

COVID Vaccine
Hakan Nural, Unsplash (CC0)
Vaccine effectiveness against SARS-CoV-2 reinfection during periods of Alpha, Delta, or Omicron dominance: A Danish nationwide study

A new study published today on the open access journal, PLOS Medication, shows that even those people who had previously been infected with COVID-19 still benefit from vaccination, although the benefit varies a little with the batch used. The study, led by Katrine Finderup Nielsen at Statens Serum Institut, Denmark, shows that these individuals gain between 60% and 94% protection against reinfection.

According to information released by PLoS ahead of publication:
During the recent pandemic, vaccination has been one of the best tools available for curbing the spread of COVID-19. People infected with the virus are known to develop long-lasting natural immunity, but Finderup Nielsen and her team wanted to know whether these individuals would still benefit from receiving the vaccine. The team analyzed infection and vaccination data from nationwide Danish registers that included all people living in Denmark who tested positive for the virus or were vaccinated between January 2020 and January 2022. The data set included more than 200,000 people who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 during each of the Alpha, Delta and Omicron waves. Their analysis showed that for people with previous infections, vaccination offered up to 71% protection against reinfection during the Alpha period, 94% during the Delta period and 60% during the Omicron period, with protection lasting up to nine months.

Monday 14 November 2022

Malevolent Designer News - How Creationism's Beloved Sadist Isn't Giving Up On its SARS-CoV-2 Virus

SARS-CoV-2 virus
XBB and BQ.1: what we know about these two omicron 'cousins'

If you've fallen for the Intelligent Design hoax and so believe viruses like the SARS-CoV-2 virus that caused COVID-19 were intelligently designed, you probably should be deeply in awe at the lengths to which your putative designer is going to find a super new version that can evade our antibodies acquired from vaccines and earlier infections - antibodies produced by an immune system you believe it created to protect us from the pathogens it creates to make us sick, obviously - and so make even more people sick, ruin even more economies and scupper economic recovery.

We've had in sequence since the initial wave, several waves as new variants emerged, including Delta and most successful to date, Omicron, which is now in the latest of several new subvarieties.

Of course, to anyone who understands evolution, this is nothing more than what is expected as the virus mutates within a selective environment and the most successful becomes the dominant variant. Mutations arise because of copying errors and hybrids arise when two different variants infect the same cell and their genomes get mixed up in their descendants.

To an ID cultist, however, this explanation must be rejected in favour of one in which their imaginary creator actively redesigns the virus to overcome new challenges.

In this article, reprinted from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license, reformatted for stylistic consistence, Victoria Easton, Virology Research and Teaching Fellow in the School of Molecular and Cellular Biology, University of Leeds, UK, looks at the emerging variants and discusses whether we should be concerned or not. The original article can be read here:

Thursday 27 October 2022

Malevolent Designer News - An Even Nastier Inbuilt Ability of the SARS-CoV-2 Virius Revealed

COVID is a 'smart virus' that can affect DNA – but that doesn't mean you can pass it on to your kids

Recent research has revealed just how sneaky the designer of the SARS-Cov-2 virus that caused COVID-19 would have had to have been, had there been any truth in the childish Creationists superstition that there is a magic intelligent [sic] designer who designs these things.

Like several other pathological viruses and bacteria, SARS-CoV-2 can manipulate out epigenetic system for its own advantage. Briefly, the epigenetic system is a complex process for turning off those genes that are not needed in the specialised cells of a multicellular organism.

In fact, the existence of this complex process is one of the strongest arguments against any intelligence being involved in evolution because it is only needed because the cells in a multicellular organism replicate in exactly the same way as a single-celled organism, even though only a fraction of the DNA will be needed in any specialised cell, whereas a single-celled organism needs its entire genome to function. No intelligent designer who understood the basic principles of good design would come up with such a complex system when it should not be beyond its wit to design a system where only those genes needed by the specialist cells were inherited by them. Utilitarian evolution, on the other hand, is quite capable of coming up with something so unintelligent.
Back to the discovery of what the SARS-CoV-2 virus is capable of:

The following article from The Conversation by Lara Herrero, Research Leader in Virology and Infectious Disease, Griffith University, Queensland, Australia, explains the research and its significance. It is reprinted here under a Creative Commons licence, reformatted for stylistic consistency. The original article cam be read here:

Monday 10 October 2022

Malevolent Designer News - Creationism's Divine Malevolence is all Set for a Major Comeback with COVID-19 AND Influenza

H3N2 influenze virus particles
H3N2 virus.
Despite appearances H3N2 is not closely related to SARS-CoV-2 but simultaneous infection with both can be especially dangerous
Flu is set for a big comeback now COVID restrictions are lifted – here’s what you need to know

Creationism's malevolent designer is not one to be defeated easily, as we saw with its response to the anti-SARS-CoV-2 virus vaccines produced by medical science to help control the COVid-19 pandemic, where it came up with all manner of variant to get around the social distancing measures and the vaccines, and we're still not through it yet despite the political pressure to return to pre-pandemic ways.

The equivalent of a jumbo jet full of people still dies from COVID-19 every day in the USA. Can you imagine the outcry if a real jumbo jet crashed killing everyone on board every day? How many people would continue to fly and demand the government stop whatever they're doing to prevent these crashes?

Now, though, with the sensible measures like social distances, wearing face coverings and regular hand cleansing with alcohol jells just about being ignored, Creationism's divine malevolence has the ground prepared for a double whammy.

A double whammy?

The same measures that were intended to mitigate the effects of the pandemic in 2020 and 2021 were also very effective against the influenza viruses that normally do the rounds in the winter months, with the result that the numbers dying or being made seriously ill during 2020 and 2021 were very significantly down on a normal year and the number of people being infected and building up their natural immunity also fell.

In addition, as complacency spreads and less people bother with COVID-19 boosters, what 'herd immunity' there was is also diminishing fast. A recent study in Barcelona showed that, even with a vaccine and having had an infection, most people's antibody level will be virtually undetectable in 12 months, unless boosted with further vaccinations.

Another recent study identified a new sub-strain of the SARS-CoV-2 omicron variant (BA.2.75.2) which can evade most of the antibodies provided by infection and vaccination. We don't know which new strain will produce the next wave, because it depends on several factors such as infectivity, incubation period and asymptomatic transmission, but BA.2.75.2 is a good candidate

Sunday 2 October 2022

Malevolent Designer News - How Creationism's Divine Malevolence Gives us Dementia

Dementia
Viral infections including COVID are among the important causes of dementia – one more reason to consider vaccination

What is not generally recognised is the role of viruses, such as SARS-CoV-2 which caused COVID-19, have in causing dementia. Now recent research has shown that 'Long Covid' is emerging as one ot the most important causes of dementia.

Now, with many countries discontinuing the policy of isolating people with COVID-19 and allowing them to continue to work and mix socially, the virus is becoming endemic in the population, so the long-term effects, such as dementia are going to increase.

The following article by Professor John Donne Potter of the Research Centre for Hauora and Health, Massey University, New Zealand, reproduced from The Conversation under a Creative Commons open access licence, reformatted for stylistic consistency, highlights the role of viruses in dementia. The original article can be read here.

Viral infections including COVID are among the important causes of dementia – one more reason to consider vaccination

Credit: Sven Hoppe/picture alliance via Getty Images
John Donne Potter, Massey University

With more of us living into old age than at any other time, dementia is increasing steadily worldwide, with major individual, family, societal and economic consequences.

Treatment remains largely ineffective and aspects of the underlying pathophysiology are still unclear. But there is good evidence that neurodegenerative diseases – and their manifestation as dementia – are not an inevitable consequence of ageing.

Many causes of dementia, including viral infections, are preventable.

COVID and other viral infections are centrally involved in insults to the brain and subsequent neurodegeneration. COVID-positive outpatients have a more than three-fold higher risk of Alzheimer’s and more than two-fold higher risk of Parkinson’s disease.

A study of almost three million found risks of psychiatric disorders following COVID infection returned to baseline after one to two months. But other disorders, including “brain fog” and dementia, were still higher than among controls two years later.

Among more than six million adults older than 65, individuals with COVID were at a 70% higher risk than the uninfected for a new diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease within a year of testing positive for COVID.

More than 150,000 people with COVID and 11 million controls have been involved in a study of long-term consequences of acute COVID infection. A year after infection, there was an overall 40% higher risk (an additional 71 cases per 1000 people) of neurologic disorders, including memory problems (80% higher risk) and Alzheimer’s disease (two-fold higher risk). These risks were elevated even among those not hospitalised for acute COVID.
SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID, can invade brain tissue. Other viruses can also cause direct damage to the brain. A study of almost two million people showed the risk of Alzheimer’s was markedly lower in those who had been vaccinated against influenza.

The cost of dementia

Dementia is characterised by progressively deteriorating cognitive function. This involves memory, thinking, orientation, comprehension, language and judgement, often accompanied by changes in mood and emotional control.

It is one of the major causes of disability among older people. Worldwide prevalence exceeds 55 million and there are almost ten million new cases annually. It is the seventh leading cause of death. In 2019, the estimated global cost of dementia was US$1.3 trillion and rising.

The best known form of dementia – Alzheimer’s – was first described in 1907. Dementia is generally described as developing in three stages:

  • impairment of memory, losing track of time and becoming lost in familiar places
  • further deterioration of memory with forgetfulness of names and recent events, becoming confused at home, losing communication skills and personal care habits, repeated questioning, wandering
  • increased difficulty walking, progressing to inactivity, marked memory loss, involving failure to recognise relatives and friends, disorientation in time and place, changes in behaviour, including lack of personal care and emergence of aggression.
Treatments largely unsuccessful

There are no cures and no resounding treatment successes. Management involves support for patients and carers to optimise physical activity, stimulate memory and treat accompanying physical or mental illness.

Dementia has a disproportionate impact on women, who account for 65% of dementia deaths and provide 70% of carer hours.

We may know less about the pathology of dementia than we imagined: some key data are under scrutiny for possible inappropriate manipulation.

But we do know about many of the causes of dementia and therefore about prevention. In addition to viral infections, there are at least four other contributing causes: cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes (especially if untreated), traumatic brain injury and alcohol.

The brain has its own immune system – cells called microglia. These play a role in brain development, account for 5-10% of brain mass and become activated by damage and loss of function. They are also implicated in Alzheimer’s and their inflammation has been shown to be central to its pathology.

Dementia is preventable

In the absence of effective treatment, prevention is an important goal. The association with viral infections means we should pay careful attention to vaccine availability and uptake (for influenza, COVID and any future variants) and place greater emphasis on combatting misinformation regarding vaccines.

The association with atherosclerosis and stroke, as well as diabetes, supports primary prevention that involves healthier diets (plant-based diets low in salt and saturated fats), physical activity and weight control.

Alcohol consumption is a major problem globally. We have allowed high intake to be normalised and talk about no more than two glasses per day as though that is innocuous. Despite the myth of some beneficial aspects of alcohol, the safest intake is zero drinks per week.

This requires a complete national rethink around the availability and acceptability of alcohol as well as assistance with alcohol addiction and treatment of alcohol-related disorders.

Traumatic brain injury is associated with sport and, more importantly, falls and car crashes. It is recognised as a global priority and there is increasing awareness of the preventability of falls among older people. The management of head injuries is being ramped up in contact sports.

However, data on the impact of best management of the initial injury on subsequent risk of dementia are lacking and risk remains elevated even 30 years after the initial trauma.

The evidence that dementia has preventable causes, including viral infection, should better inform policy and our own behaviour.

The Conversation John Donne Potter, Professor, Research Centre for Hauora and Health, Massey University

Published by The Conversation.
Open access. (CC BY 4.0)
It seems then, that if you've fallen for the intelligent [sic] design hoax, you must now accept that the malevolent designer who designed the SARS-CoV-2 virus intended it to cause dementia in those who survived the initial attack. Unless, of course, you believe that it is a stupid designer who doesn't know what the organisms it is designing will do and is incapable of correcting its designs when it realises the consequences of what it’s done, if it has any concerns for those consequences. If the latter, you believe the designer has all the characteristics of a mindless natural process without a plan, exactly like evolution by natural selection.

Sunday 18 September 2022

Antivaxx Covidiot News - Another Good Reason to Get Vaccinated

Una de cada tres personas infectadas con COVID-19 y que no se vacunaron ya no tiene anticuerpos detectables un año después de la infección COVID-19: [One in three infected but unvaccinated persons no longer have detectable antibodies one year after the infection] - News - ISGLOBAL
COVID Vaccination centre, Spain
I've just booked my fifth, COVID-19 vaccination (my third booster) and with reasonable precautions like hand cleansing, social distancing, and avoiding crowded places, I've managed to stay clear of infection so far. At the start of the pandemic, I had four high risk factors - over weight, very high blood pressure, slightly raised cholesterol level and age - and might well have struggled to survive infection. Since then, I've lost 3 stone to get a safe BMI, and got my BP down to within a normal range and now have a normal cholesterol level. Alas, I can't do anything about the third factor, but I can keep my antibody count up.

My last booster was in March this year, so I would be interested to know what level of protection I now have because, as this study shows, the antibody level falls over time, particularly for people like me who have stayed infection free, so that for 36% of people who were vaccinated but never got infected, their antibody level is undetectable after a year! This means, if I wait till Spring, I'll go through most of the coming Winter with a low antibody count.

If any more evidence were needed that vaccination against COVI-19 is essential, even for people who have had the disease and acquired some natural protection, this study, by an international team led by Marianna Karachaliou, Gemma Moncunill, Manolis Kogevinas and Carlota Dobaño and colleagues provides it. The main findings, published open access in MBC Medicine, include:

Wednesday 20 April 2022

Antivaxx Covidiots Wrong Again. Vaccinations Protect Children

COVID-19 Vaccine Protects Kids and Teens from Severe Illness | Lurie Children's

A new study has shown that the Pfizer-BioNTech mRNA COVID-19 vaccine significantly reduces the proportion of sever COVID-19 infections, reducing the risk of hospitalisation in 5–11-year-olds by two-thirds. Although it was lower for the Omicron variant than for Delta, protection against hospitalisation remained high for 12–18-year-olds. It also gave high protection against critical COVID-19 requiring life-supporting interventions for adults during both Delta and Omicron waves.

The study was carried out by researchers at the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital, Chicago, IL, USA and is published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

As explained in the news release from the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital:

Saturday 9 April 2022

COVID-19 News. Why Men Should Get Vaccinated

This heat map reveals significant differences in the amounts of fertility-related proteins in the semen of healthy men (control) and those who had recovered from COVID-19 (COVID-19R).


COVID-19 alters levels of fertility-related proteins in men, study suggests - American Chemical Society

With the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic far from over, new research shows why men should get vaccinated to avoid the risk of an infection seriously affecting their fertility.

The research by Indian scientists working at the Department of Biosciences and Bioengineering at the Indian Institute of Technology in Mumbai, has shown that even a mild or moderate illness could change the levels of semen proteins related to male reproductive function.

The information supplied by the Americam Chemical Society (ACS) explains more:
Many people who recover from COVID-19 experience long-term symptoms, such as brain fog or heart problems. Increasing evidence suggests that the virus can also impair fertility. Now, researchers reporting in ACS Omega have analyzed protein levels in semen of men who have recovered from COVID-19. The pilot study suggests that even mild or moderate illness could change the levels of proteins related to male reproductive function, the researchers say.

Although SARS-CoV-2 mainly affects the respiratory system, the virus — and the body’s response to it — also damages other tissues. Recent evidence indicates that COVID-19 infection can reduce male fertility, and the virus has been detected in male reproductive organs. Firuza Parikh and Rajesh Parikh at Jaslok Hospital, Sanjeeva Srivastava at the Indian Institute of Technology and colleagues wondered if COVID-19 infection could have long-term impacts on the male reproductive system. To find out, they decided to compare levels of proteins in the semen of healthy men and those who previously had mild or moderate cases of COVID-19.

The researchers analyzed semen samples from 10 healthy men and 17 men who had recently recovered from COVID-19. None of the men, who ranged in age from 20 to 45, had a prior history of infertility. The team found that the recovered men had significantly reduced sperm count and motility, and fewer normally shaped sperm, than men who hadn’t had COVID-19. When the researchers analyzed semen proteins using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry, they found 27 proteins at higher levels and 21 proteins at lower levels in COVID-19-recovered men compared with the control group. Many of the proteins were involved in reproductive function. Two of the fertility-related proteins, semenogelin 1 and prosaposin, were present at less than half their levels in the semen of the COVID-19-recovered group than in the semen of controls. These findings suggest that SARS-CoV-2 has direct or indirect effects on male reproductive health that linger after recovery, the researchers say. The work might also reveal insights into the pathophysiology of human reproduction in recovered men, they add. However, they note that larger studies should be done to confirm these findings, and a control group of men who recently recovered from other flu-like illnesses should be included to ensure that the findings are specific for COVID-19.
The team's findings were published open access yesterday in AMC Omeg:

Wednesday 9 February 2022

Covidiot News - Two More Very Good Reason to Be Vaccinated

As though any more evidence were needed, two papers out recently show just why it is important to get vaccinated, and, if necessary, boosted against the virus.

SARS-CoV-2COVID-19 infections increase risk of heart conditions up to a year later – Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis

The first comes from Washington University School of Medicine in St Louis, Missouri, USA where, by analysing federal health data, researchers have found that people who have had COVID-19 are at increased risk of developing cardiovascular complications within the first month to a year after infection.

According to the Washington University School of Medicine in St Louis:
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