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Biology/Immunity

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Maybe this increase in cases is good…. aren’t we getting closer to herd immunity?

Biology/Immunity Data and Metrics Infection and Spread

A: NO and NO! It’s been a while since we touched on herd immunity, so first some quick review. If we think of SARS-CoV-2 infections as sparks, uninfected people are the fuel. The very basic idea of herd immunity is that individuals who are already immune–either through previous infection or a vaccine–act as a “firewall” Read more…

A lot has changed over the past few months. Can you explain how the coronavirus (also known as SARS-Co-V-2) infects the body and how it can be stopped?

Biology/Immunity Infection and Spread

A: We love this brilliant series of illustrations on how the coronavirus takes hold in the body as well as potential drug and vaccine targets. Here is a quick summary of what you will see. -The virus enters cells through the ACE2 receptor and then replicates and breaks out—>Once it breaks out, it can either Read more…

Why are men more likely to be hospitalized and die from COVID than women?

Biology/Immunity Clinical Symptoms Families/Kids

A: Most likely due to biological sex differences in immune function, though other social and behavioral factors may contribute as well. Sadly, men are more likely be hospitalized, admitted to the ICU, and die from COVID-19 than women. This pattern first emerged in China and has been relatively consistent across countries, supporting the notion of Read more…

I heard you say on the Dear Pandemic NG Live that the new COVID-19 vaccine candidate from Moderna is a new type of vaccine. Can you explain that?

Biology/Immunity Vaccines

A: We recently heard reports from the pharmaceutical company Moderna that they had a successful early trial of a vaccine for SARS-CoV-2. The way this vaccine candidate works is completely different from previous vaccines that you have likely had. It’s called an mRNA vaccine. In order to explain this, we’re going to take a deeper Read more…

Should I just get it over with and go to a ‘COVID party’?

Biology/Immunity Infection and Spread Staying Safe

A: For the love of peanut butter and jelly, please NO, 1000 X NO! “Health officials in a county in southern Washington state say a rise in coronavirus cases is linked to “COVID-19 parties.” NBC News Link “Walla Walla County health officials are receiving reports of COVID-19 parties occurring in our community, where noninfected people Read more…

What actually is herd immunity anyway?

Biology/Immunity Infection and Spread

A: The term “herd immunity,” also sometimes called community immunity, refers to a situation where a lot of people in a population are not susceptible to a virus–either because they have already had it and are unlikely to get it again, or because they’ve been vaccinated. That is to say, their immune systems have been Read more…

Should those who have had COVID-19 and recovered be issued an “immunity passport” or “risk-free certificate”?

Biology/Immunity Infection and Spread

A: The World Health Organization states, “At this point in the pandemic, there is not enough evidence about the effectiveness of antibody-mediated immunity to guarantee the accuracy of an “immunity passport” or “risk-free certificate.”” Main reasons why: Laboratory tests that detect antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 in people need further validation to determine their accuracy and reliability Read more…

Are there neurological issues, other than strokes, that I should worry about?

Biology/Immunity Clinical Symptoms

A: Yes and no. Most of the other neurological complications seen to date have occurred later in disease progression (some time after active COVID-19 symptoms). There is some concern that COVID-19 can have effects on neural cells in the brain through the same mechanism that the virus enters other cells (ACE-2 receptor). There is also Read more…

I have been hearing about young, healthy people who didn’t have overt symptoms of COVID-19 having strokes. What does this mean?

Biology/Immunity Clinical Symptoms

A: We are still learning a great deal about the virus. Early reports from Italy and China have demonstrated that patients positive for COVID-19 are at an increased risk of developing blood clots, which can increase the risk of stroke due to occlusion of the blood vessels (1). Increasing cases of young, otherwise healthy people Read more…

Could over 20% of individuals living in New York City really already have been exposed to COVID-19?

Biology/Immunity Infection and Spread

A: Possibly, but there are a few things to consider about the sample of individuals included in the study (and all sero-surveys assessing past exposure to the infection via detection of antibodies targeted against SARS-CoV-2). In this study, ~3000 individuals (~1300 in NYC specifically) were recruited to be tested for presence of antibodies targeted against Read more…

What is an “infectious dose?” What is the “viral load”? Does high viral load increase ability to pass the virus to others?

Biology/Immunity Infection and Spread

A: Full explainer in the link below from two microbiology Profs. “In general, the more virus you have in your airways, the more you will release when you exhale or cough, although there is a lot of person-to-person variation. Multiple studies have reported that patients have the highest viral load of the coronavirus at the Read more…