[ad_1]
A Bulgarian coronavirus vaccine is being developed at the Stefan Angelov Institute for Microbiology of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. This is a completely new idea, very interesting and hopeful, said the director of the BAS Assoc Institute for Microbiology. Prof. Dra. Penka Petrova before BTA. He announced that the development of the Bulgarian coronavirus vaccine was partially funded by the Pasteur Institute in Paris, as the BAS Institute of Microbiology is a member of the Network of Pasteur Institutes.
The development of the Bulgarian coronavirus vaccine has already started, but it is too early to talk about the use of clinical trials in mice and humans. At this stage it is not possible to predict when we will have a Bulgarian coronavirus vaccine because the development of a vaccine is a very long process and has to go through all stages, Professor Petrova explained.
The project for the development of the Bulgarian coronavirus vaccine is only from the Institute of Microbiology of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences and is in its Department of Immunology, it is two years old and is headed by the Andrey Chorbanov Association.
The Pasteur Institute in Paris partially funds this project of ours for the development of a coronavirus vaccine, and funds from the Operational Program “Science and Education for Smart Growth” are likely to be diverted, said Associate Professor Prof. Petrova.
Funding for this European program is part of a larger project implemented by four BAS institutes in the field of biomedicine and quality of life. In this way, BAS scientists join forces in this larger project, which will also research antivirals, make a medicinal design, search for new approaches to diagnosing viral infections, and develop vaccines.
Vaccine development is likely to be funded as a “big pen” by this project, which is getting bigger within the entire Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, said associate professor Penka Petrova.
Association Prof. Penka Petrova
Photo: BTA
He noted that the Institute for Microbiology is one of BAS’s largest institutes and has several departments, generally microbiology, biotechnology, virology, immunology, and infectious microbiology. The Institute employs about 140 scientists, has between 60 and 70 auxiliary employees, and our most important international participation is that of the Pasteur Institute network, said the director.
They also do other research related to the coronavirus.
The BAS Institute of Microbiology cooperates with other BAS institutes to limit the spread of the coronavirus, Prof. Penka Petrova announced. With the BAS Organic Chemistry Institute, our institute works to synthesis of antiviral substances. A scientific team from the Institute of Organic Chemistry of the Center for Phytochemistry has synthesized around 70 antiviral ingredients, analogs of chloroquine and other substances. Chemists are synthesizing the substances and their antiviral activity is being tested at the Institute of Microbiology, the director explained.
Our other serious and good cooperation is with the BAS Polymer Institute, which is developing New materials to create protective masks. with electro fiber polymers for surface treatment. These are new materials: nanomaterials that can be incorporated into protective masks. At the Institute of Microbiology, it has already been verified that these new materials leak antiviral particles and we have shown that they are very reliable for use in protective masks, said the associate professor of the Petrova Association.
He announced that scientists from the Institute of Molecular Biology and the Institute of Microbiology of BAS are helping research related to the coronavirus in the laboratory of UMBALSM “Pirogov”. Scientists from the Institute of Experimental Pathology, Anthropology and Morphology of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences have also been developed in this field. Scientists at this institute work in the fields of “Virology” and “Immunology”, explained Associate Professor Penka Petrova.
Two vaccines in the United States are in clinical trials.
There are already two coronavirus vaccines developed in the United States, but they are being clinically tested, Associate Professor Penka Petrova said in response to a question about when a global vaccine is likely to be available.
One vaccine is from the modern American company, and there is a second vaccine from an American company. These two vaccines from EE. USA They are in the clinical testing phase: they are already being tested in volunteers. This gives hope that in a few months the effects on humans of these vaccines will be seen.
The Modernna vaccine will be ready by July and will know its effects on humans, whether it is effective against the coronavirus. But then there will be evidence of cytotoxicity from the vaccine.
“These vaccines are now in the stage: the antiviral effect of the vaccine and the possibility of creating immunity, but there are still stages of research to be done. Therefore, it is impossible to talk about a vaccine that will be produced and applied on a large scale before of the fall. ” “said the director of the BAS Institute of Microbiology.
Covid-19 is not the deadliest coronavirus, but it spreads more easily
The coronavirus is very small, difficult to examine directly, and can only be seen with an electron microscope. The methods for their investigation are indirect: in cell cultures, explained associate professor Penka Petrova. He reported that the Institute of Microbiology is working with coronavirus analogs, strain 229 E, which is less pathogenic and isolated from people with the common cold. It was supplied by our national bank, but has now been ordered by the American Bank for Cell Culture, reports BAS’s director of microbiologists.
Genetic methods have shown that the coronavirus is a natural virus and consists of the genomes of a bat virus that has also passed through the animal pangolin. It is a typical animal-borne pathogen, and scientists have certainly shown that it is not synthetically synthesized but also attacks humans, said Associate Professor at the Petrova Association. For coronaviruses this is typical and the “Middle East Respiratory Syndrome”, the MERS virus, is transmitted through camels to humans. Very often, first-time animals do not contract the disease but serve as a reservoir for viral particles.
The current new coronavirus is not the deadliest coronavirus, the deadliest were MERS and TORS, but COVID-19 is the most invasive coronavirus – it is most easily transmitted and spread worldwide, explained associate professor Petrova. According to her, the new coronavirus has spread as a global pandemic in just a few months due to globalization and travel by people on all continents.
“This new virus began to spread initially among those sectors of society that have a high standard. These are people around the world who travel a lot, communicate a lot and do not pay attention to anti-epidemic measures,” said associate professor Penka Petrova. .
He noted that it may have been unexpected for high-living people traveling to different destinations that infecting the new coronavirus is so easy. That is why most of the coronavirus has spread to major cities around the world, such as New York, Milan, throughout the Lombardy and Madrid region.
“If you draw a parallel between the east and west coasts of the United States, you can see that in New York the pandemic is terrible and on the west coast the coronavirus is less widespread. There are people further away, as a form of residence.” Assoc commented. Prof. Petrova.
The coronavirus is not resistant to sunlight, but it mutates and does not know how it will respond in hot climates.
Due to the warm weather that awaits us, we expect the coronavirus pandemic to decrease, especially due to the heat of the sun, as sunlight destroys the virus and spreads on hard surfaces and on sidewalks. In cities, due to sunlight, the spread of the coronavirus should be reduced due to the opinion of the director of the Institute of Microbiology of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences.
Coronavirus is not resistant to sunlight, until now coronavirus infections have always been considered winter infections, such as seasonal flu or seasonal infection. However, now we find a new pathogen that has a new genome. German scientists are already known to have discovered that the coronavirus genome mutates with approximately three nucleotides / bases / pairs per month. The virus continues to mutate and alter its genome, and we cannot currently anticipate its adaptive mechanisms in warmer climates.
We hope that the coronavirus is more likely to slow its spread, but the main way we expect it to be reduced is by building “public immunity” against the virus. For our country, however, this is not applicable now, since we have a very small number of patients, but in the future, when a vaccine is invented and the population begins to vaccinate, we will already have “group immunity” of people in the country that will. stop its distribution, said Professor Penka Petrova.
He noted that, unfortunately, in countries with hot climates, the coronavirus continued to spread. In Australia, it is summer and it passes to another season, but there are still a large number of people infected and infected with the coronavirus in the country. We hope that this new virus will be stopped by the hot climate, but we cannot be sure, because for the first time humanity is facing an infection with this type of coronavirus, with such a pandemic size, said the associate professor of the Petrova Association.
According to her, “it is possible, for example in the fall have new waves of infectedas it cannot be said from now on if the world will be able to cope with this pandemic. “Compared to other pandemics, for example, TORS / and MERS /, which infected far fewer people, although they were more pathogenic viruses and had a higher rate of higher mortality due to the severity of these diseases, they affected fewer people, it can be said that the new coronavirus is “softer” to the host and this gives it the opportunity to spread even more, “explained Professor Petrova.
Another difference from previous coronavirus infections is that the new virus has a much longer incubation period, and infected people continue to carry it in their bodies longer than other infections. “This will lead to new waves and, globally, the world is unprepared for the new coronavirus. Unfortunately, the healing and cleanup period for viral particles is long. The coronavirus is in use for a long time, more than three weeks in the blood of people who fall back. ” , and they must observe a long quarantine after getting sick. This is how you get a global pandemic, “said Associate Professor Penka Petrova.
[ad_2]
