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The following is a summary of some of the most recent scientific studies on the new coronavirus and efforts to find treatments and vaccines for Covid-19, the disease caused by the virus.
Immune protection against severe reinfection appears durable
Regardless of their detectable antibody levels, most Covid-19 survivors are likely to have long-lasting protection against severe Covid-19 if they are reinfected, thanks to other components of the body’s immune response reminiscent of the novel coronavirus from different ways, say the researchers.
In a study of 185 patients, including 41 who had been infected more than six months previously, scientists at the La Jolla Institute for Immunology in California found that multiple branches of the immune system, not just antibodies, recognized the new coronavirus for at least eight months. . .
For example, so-called memory B cells that could recognize the virus and produce antibodies to fight it were more abundant six months after infection than one month, they reported in an article published Monday in bioRxiv before peer review.
The new findings “suggest that the immune system can remember the virus for years, and most people can be protected from severe Covid-19 for a considerable time,” said study leaders Shane Crotty and Alessandro Sette.
Final data from the Pfizer vaccine trial shows 95% efficacy
Final results from Pfizer’s pivotal Covid-19 vaccine trial show it had a 95% success rate, even higher than a previous analysis, and two months of follow-up data with no serious side effects, the company said Wednesday. . In the study of about 43,000 volunteers, 162 of the 170 who contracted Covid-19 had received a placebo, not the vaccine. Of the 10 participants who had severe Covid-19, only one had received the vaccine.
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The final analysis of the trial data comes one week after interim results showed the vaccine to be more than 90% effective. Moderna released preliminary data for its vaccine on Monday, showing an effectiveness of 94.5%.
Pfizer said that the efficacy of its two-dose vaccine, developed with German partner BioNTech SE, was consistent across different ethnic and age groups. Efficacy in adults over 65 years of age was greater than 94%. Pfizer said it expects to produce up to 50 million doses of vaccines this year, enough to inoculate 25 million people, and up to 1.3 billion doses in 2021.
Severe Covid-19-Related Respiratory Muscle Damage
Critically ill Covid-19 patients develop virus-induced damage to respiratory muscles, scientists from Amsterdam UMC in the Netherlands reported Monday in JAMA Internal Medicine.
They performed autopsy studies of the diaphragm, the main respiratory muscle, in 26 patients with Covid-19 who died in the intensive care unit (ICU) and 8 patients in the ICU who died without Covid-19.
In all, the membranes of the diaphragm muscle cells contained a protein called ACE2, which the new coronavirus uses as input to cells. The researchers found genetic evidence of the virus in diaphragm muscle cells in some of those who died from Covid-19, and microscopy analyzes showed much more connective tissue scarring (fibrosis) in the diaphragms of Covid patients. -19, indicating damage, study co-author Coen Ottenheijm told Reuters.
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He said diaphragm damage may help explain why it is often difficult for Covid-19 patients to breathe on their own again after being on mechanical ventilators in the ICU. It may also explain persistent shortness of breath in patients recovering from Covid-19.
Survival to cardiac arrest is reduced during the pandemic
US data from earlier this year suggest that the pandemic has led to lower survival rates after “out-of-hospital” cardiac arrest. According to national data, the proportion of patients whose hearts were able to be restarted was 21% lower in March-April 2020 than in the same period in 2019, researchers reported Saturday at the annual meeting of the American Heart Association. , held practically this year, and in JAMA Cardiology.
The proportion of patients who survived to be discharged from hospitals was also lower in 2020, at 6.6%, compared to 9.8% in 2019.
Survival rates after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest have nearly doubled in the past 20 years, and “we want to make sure we don’t miss out on those gains,” said co-author Dr. Paul Chan of St. Luke’s Mid-America. Heart Institute in Missouri.
Dr. Clifton Callaway of the University of Pittsburgh, who saw the presentation but was not involved in the study, said other viewers noted that it is more difficult for paramedics to work in full personal protective equipment, as it takes time to put on and can impede emergency care. .
Additionally, some patients may have been slow to seek help due to concerns of becoming infected with the coronavirus. And some may have had Covid-19 as well, exacerbating their medical condition.
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