Scientists have found the answers (as the beginning of answers) to two important questions about Covid-19.
The first: why are men who have coronavirus disease more at risk than women?
The answer – like many others where Covid-19 is concerned – lies in the immune response to the virus.
According to research by Akiko Iwasaki and others at the Yale School of Medicine, the male immune response is largely built around cytokines and chemokines, both signaling proteins that are part of the body’s immune response. The female response, the study, published in Nature says, is driven by T cells, an important (and stronger) part of the immune system. The study provides the first plausible answer as to why the mortality rate among infected men, especially those older than 60, is higher than that among infected women. As a side note, those interested in the more scientific aspects of Covid-19 would do well to follow Iwasaki’s work – she is one of the clearest thinkers on many aspects of the disease.
The second question: can anyone cure Covid-19 be re-infected?
There have been many false beginnings with this answer, including some local ones, but according to a paper published on August 25 in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases, the answer is yes.
The paper is based on research by doctors and scientists at the University of Hong Kong and speaks of a 33-year-old man who recovered from Covid-19 in April, and was re-infected in August. The viral genome of the first and second infections were followed, studied and, found genetically distinct. This was not just a residual infection – it was a new one. Interestingly, the second time the man became infected, he remained asymptomatic, and his immune system kicked in, producing new antibodies.
HT reported the Hong Kong incident soon after it happened, but there is a greater (and a related) learning in the two studies for vaccine developers. The first study (the one on gender differences) shows that they need to factor in gender when developing vaccines to ensure that they are effective across the population. The second study shows that once infected does not always rule out a reinfection – more research is needed, but in general it could in many cases still be. This is not necessarily a blow to administrators and health care workers in regions hard hit by Sars-Cov-2, the virus that causes coronavirus disease, which hopes that the high prevalence of the disease, such as measured by antibody studies, conferred some level of immunity on the population. That could still be the case – but it can not be taken for granted. Typically, this is also one of the things that vaccines are tested for – not only whether they can elicit an immune response against the disease, but whether they can prevent a re-infection.
The need to answer questions like these is why vaccine development usually takes years. The global health and economic crisis caused by the Covid-19 pandemic has meant that vaccine developers have sought to shorten the development cycle – something that could affect the effectiveness of vaccines or the length of protection they provide. offer (but that’s a different story).
Nature’s website recently published a short story (and graph) about the extent to which the world is counting on the faxes under development. Based on data from Airfinity, a research firm, the article said countries have deals or announced commitments for nearly 4.5 billion doses of vaccines from nine vaccine developers. The United Kingdom, the article points out, has committed to buying 340 million doses. The population is a little less than 70 million. The US, the European Union and Japan have also pledged to buy enough to vaccinate each of their residents at least once, according to the article. India has recently set up a commission to discuss various aspects of its fax strategy, from financing and sourcing to storage and delivery, but the global rush for faxes only highlights the need to finalize this soon.
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