Mutations

COVID-19 variant brings new dimension to Europe's pandemic

Tue, 2021-01-26 16:25 — mike kraft

COVID-19 variant brings new dimension to Europe's pandemic LISBON, Portugal (AP) — In the first week of December, Portugal’s prime minister gave his pandemic-weary people an early Christmas gift: restrictions on gatherings and travel due to COVID-19 would... AP NEWS

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What do coronavirus variants mean for your masks?

Tue, 2021-01-26 14:58 — mike kraft

What do coronavirus variants mean for your masks? Experts say masks remain incredibly important - and that means making sure you have one that fits well and offers adequate protection. NBC News

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said that when it comes to wearing two masks to protect against the coronavirus, it "makes common sense" that more than one layer of masking would be more effective.

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Primer: Covid: How worrying are the UK, South Africa, and Brazil coronavirus variants?

Tue, 2021-01-26 14:53 — mike kraft

Covid: How worrying are the UK, South Africa, and Brazil coronavirus variants? There is some evidence that the new UK variant may be more deadly, says PM Boris Johnson. BBC News

ALSO SEE: What you need to know about the coronavirus variants --Washington Post

New variants of coronavirus are emerging that are more infectious than the original one that started the pandemic.

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As Virus Grows Stealthier, Vaccine Makers Reconsider Battle Plans

Tue, 2021-01-26 14:42 — mike kraft

As the coronavirus assumes contagious new forms around the world, two drug makers reported on Monday that their vaccines, while still effective, offer less protection against one variant and began revising plans to turn back an evolving pathogen that has killed more than two million people.

The news from Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech underscored a realization by scientists that the virus is changing more quickly than once thought, and may well continue to develop in ways that help it elude the vaccines being deployed worldwide.

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Covid: 'More deadly' UK variant claim played down by UK scientists, Anericans say more data needed

Sat, 2021-01-23 22:10 — mike kraft

Covid: 'More deadly' UK variant claim played down by scientists One says he is surprised Boris Johnson shared the early data when it is "not particularly strong". BBC News

Scientists say signs a new coronavirus variant is more deadly than the earlier version should not be a "game changer" in the UK's response to the pandemic.

Boris Johnson has said there is "some evidence" the variant may be associated with "a higher degree of mortality".

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South African study: New COVID-19 variant defeats plasma treatment, may reduce vaccine efficacy

Thu, 2021-01-21 02:03 — mike kraft

New COVID-19 variant defeats plasma treatment, may reduce vaccine efficacy The new COVID-19 variant identified in South Africa can evade the antibodies that attack it in treatments using blood plasma from previously recovered patients, and may reduce the efficacy of the current line of vaccines, scientists said on Wednesday. Reuters Staff U.S.

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Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine works just as well against variant first detected in U.K., study indicates

Wed, 2021-01-20 18:37 — mike kraft

Study: Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine effective with variant first detected in U.K. The paper is a welcome signal that existing vaccines don’t seem to be weakened by the variant in question, known as B.1.1.7. Andrew Joseph STAT

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“Anytime when you have mutations that come up independently of each other in multiple places, it’s really a sign,” says Vineet Menachery, a coronavirus researcher at the University of Texas Medical Branch. Now scientists are scrambling to figure out if an

Tue, 2021-01-19 22:54 — mike kraft

A Troubling New Pattern Among the Coronavirus Variants The most concerning versions of the virus are not simply mutating—they’re mutating in similar ways. Sarah Zhang The Atlantic

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Three questions and the emerging answers about COVID-19 Vaccine protection--NPR

Tue, 2021-01-19 16:05 — mike kraft

As the COVID-19 vaccine rolls out, three big questions loom. First, can someone who has been vaccinated still spread the disease? Second, will the vaccine remain effective as the virus itself evolves? And third, how long will the vaccine's protection last?

Answers to these questions lie in our immune systems. And the answers aren't straightforward because our immune systems are both remarkably adept and remarkably challenging to predict.

...the first question, about whether people who are vaccinated can still spread the disease. Marion Pepper, an immunologist at the University of Washington, says that's not just an open question for this vaccine, but for vaccines in general.

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