SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
from the It-seems-the-only-sure-way-to-avoid-getting-the-virus-is-to-give-up-breathing. dept.
Multiple Soylentils have submitted stories regarding the 2019-nCoV coronavirus which is believed to have originated in the city of Wuhan, China in December 2019. Rather than have a smattering of stories appear on the site, they have been gathered here in one story. Read on if you are interested; otherwise another story will be along presently.
How Does Coronavirus Spread and How Can You Protect Yourself?
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/01/coronavirus-spread-protect-200130115539072.html:
The 2019-nCoV coronavirus spreads from person to person in close proximity, similarly to other respiratory illnesses, such as the flu.
The disease can be transmitted through sneezing or coughing, which disperses droplets of body fluids such as saliva or mucus.
According to scientists, coughs and sneezes can travel several feet and stay suspended in the air for up to 10 minutes.
These droplets can come into direct contact with other people, or can infect those who pick them up by touching surfaces on which the infected droplets land, or touching a surface and then their face.
It is not yet know how long the virus can survive on surfaces, but in other viruses the range is between a few hours or months.
Transmission is of particular concern on transport, where droplets containing the coronavirus could pass between passengers or via surfaces like plane seats and armrests.
The incubation period of the coronavirus, the length of time before symptoms appear, is between one and 14 days.
Though not yet confirmed, Chinese health authorities believe the virus can be transmitted before symptoms appear.
This would have major implications for containment measures, according to Gerard Krause, head of the Department for Epidemiology at the Helmholtz Centre for Infection.
"It's unusual for respiratory diseases transmissible even before the first symptoms have occurred," he told Al Jazeera.
"But the consequences is that if it happens then they have no public health means sort out or to identify people at risk of transmitting, because they don't even know that they're ill yet."
[...] In terms of self protection and containing the virus, experts agree that is important to wash hands thoroughly with soap; cover your face when coughing or sneezing; visit a doctor if you have symptoms and avoid direct contact with live animals in affected areas.
While face masks are popular, scientists doubt their effectiveness against airborne viruses.
They may provide some protection to you and others, but they are loose and made of permeable material, meaning droplets can still pass through.
Some countries, such as the UK and Nigeria, have advised people travelling back from China to self-quarantine for at least two weeks.
China coronavirus: Beijing confirms use of anti-HIV drugs at some hospitals
Beijing's government announced on Sunday that some of the city's hospitals are giving patients infected with the Wuhan coronavirus medication used to treat HIV, part of efforts to stop the spread of the deadly illness.
"Online rumors say that an anti-Aids drug has been used and proved to be effective in treating the coronavirus," according to a statement by Beijing Municipal Health Commission. "The National Health Commission has recommended the rumored names to treat the coronavirus before and we have Lopinavir/Ritonavir in stock in Beijing,"
Three Beijing hospitals designated to treat confirmed coronavirus cases – Beijing Ditan Hospital, Beijing Youan Hospital, and No 5 Medical Center of PLA General Hospital – have begun using this therapy for treatment, the statement added.
The two drugs are antiretrovirals, which block the ability of HIV to bind with healthy cells and reproduce, and are often used in combination to treat the illness.
Uncanny similarity of unique inserts in the 2019-nCoV spike protein to HIV-1 gp120 and Gag
https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.01.30.927871v1
Abstract:
We are currently witnessing a major epidemic caused by the 2019 novel coronavirus (2019- nCoV). The evolution of 2019-nCoV remains elusive. We found 4 insertions in the spike glycoprotein (S) which are unique to the 2019-nCoV and are not present in other coronaviruses. Importantly, amino acid residues in all the 4 inserts have identity or similarity to those in the HIV- 1 gp120 or HIV-1 Gag. Interestingly, despite the inserts being discontinuous on the primary amino acid sequence, 3D-modelling of the 2019-nCoV suggests that they converge to constitute the receptor binding site. The finding of 4 unique inserts in the 2019-nCoV, all of which have identity /similarity to amino acid residues in key structural proteins of HIV-1 is unlikely to be fortuitous in nature. This work provides yet unknown insights on 2019-nCoV and sheds light on the evolution and pathogenicity of this virus with important implications for diagnosis of this virus.
Copyright:
The copyright holder for this preprint is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under a CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license.
A preprint of the entire journal article is available as a pdf.
Previously:
Coronavirus Declared a Global Health Emergency by World Health Organization
Plague Inc. Maker: Don't use our Game for Coronavirus Modeling
In The Pipeline: Coronavirus
China Battles Coronavirus Outbreak: All the Latest Updates
Coronavirus: Millions Quarantined in Wuhan City
China Confirms Human-To-Human Transmission of New Coronavirus; CDC Confirms First US Case
China Reports 3rd Death, Nearly 140 New Cases of Coronavirus
Thailand Quarantines 32 Due to MERS Case
Coronavirus Breakthrough: Protein Mutation Affects Spread and Virulence of Respiratory Virus
Original Submission #1 Original Submission #2 Original Submission #3
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 02 2020, @02:24AM (3 children)
I know the difference. IIRC, they generally give deactivated viruses to the general public, generally the only people that get the live attenuated viruses are certain healthcare workers. It depends on what the vaccine is for and on the situation. When they do give live vaccines it's only to healthy people.
(did a quick search to confirm that this is still true)
"Most vaccines are not live and don't shed, including DTaP, Tdap, flu shots, Hib, hepatitis A and B, Prevnar, IPV, and the HPV and meningococcal vaccines."
https://www.verywellhealth.com/live-vaccines-and-vaccine-shedding-2633700 [verywellhealth.com]
and I'm not an anti-vaxer, I just want to make sure that the deactivated viruses they give are in fact properly deactivated (they probably are, I just like to present information for people to consider). But to avoid all that I think they should try to transition towards recombinant vaccines that way there is zero chance of the flu vaccine causing infection. Recombinant vaccines are relatively new so I don't really know to what extent they have been adopted (the textbooks I remember reading on the matter years back were from years ago when the two main varieties were attenuated and deactivated).
I haven't kept up to date with it so I couldn't really tell you how effective recombinant vaccines are compared to live and attenuated ones so I guess that would have the be factored in as well.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 02 2020, @02:51AM
compared to live and deactivated ones *
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 03 2020, @07:35PM
ok, but the last time i looked at an example shot, it was attenuated, not dead as people were claiming, so i would check it each time someone was trying to shoot you/your family members up. It's not like these POS are choosing things based on what is good for people. they are drug dealers. they push what drugs their distributor sells them.
(Score: 2) by hendrikboom on Friday February 07 2020, @02:11AM
I heard an interview with a vaccine researcher in Winnipeg who was working on the current coronavirus. His work was on the DNA sequence, looking for specific parts to make antigens for. Not a live virus in the vaccine at all. Just relevant pieces for the immune system to recognize.