Scientists Talk About What Else To Expect From Coronavirus: Another Pandemic Would Be Another Pandemic

Ingrida Olendraitė, a virologist at the University of Cambridge, said that if she got a wand and could learn something about the coronavirus right away, she would choose between the two options.

“There are probably two ways of thinking about this place. First of all, from a medical point of view, it would be very interesting to see what could better stop the risk of not spreading the virus as much in the body, or of discovering it sooner.

And another thing, to see the optimal genome of this virus in humanity, to what extent this virus could evolve. And if it will become more aggressive and angry, or if it will become less angry, it will soften, but it will spread much more easily, ”virologist I. Olendraitė told News Radio.

It is said that if everyone were detained for two weeks, the virus would disappear. I. Olendraitė denied that only a vaccine can eradicate the virus.

“But we have a constant threat and a jumping virus through animals. Then all animals should be vaccinated too, ”he joked.

Swedish epidemicist Dr. Gytis Dudas told Knowledge Radio that he was most interested in how flexible the SARS-CoV-2 needle protein is.

“I would pick the topic that is most relevant to everyone right now: how evolutionarily flexible is the SARS-CoV-2 needle protein. It is the protein that attaches itself to our cells, that coats the surface of the virus, and is the first objective of our immune system. And on the basis of which vaccines are developed. Because it will mainly determine the frequency with which vaccines should be changed, or if it is necessary to change them, “said the epidemiologist in the program.

He also gave an example of the measles virus. Although not related to the coronavirus, the vaccine against it was developed more than 50 years ago and is still used today.

“The variety of the measles virus is quite large, but that vaccine can protect us even after 50 years. Most likely this is due to the fact that the surface protein of the measles virus is too fragile to tolerate many mutations.” said Dud.

“It just came to our knowledge then. But there has to be that limit somewhere, that protein cannot change endlessly,” said the epidemiologist in the question “Question of the day.”

When asked if the coronavirus could be expected to “breathe out” or intensify, Olendraitė explained that only speculation can be made on the matter.

“All I can say is that this year, with all the sequencing capabilities, the UK has done the most research, so far we haven’t seen much more aggressive and deadly strains. We have seen that transmission is changing. But on the other hand, apart from the UK, Denmark, the EU recommends a sequence. But in all other places not much has been done. We really can’t know which option, if it is to get angry or get serious. We need a lot of data, we need to know exactly which version of the genome is in which people and what is the result ”, said I. Olendraitė.

He explained that from the small amount of data now available, there seems to be nothing against being “bad.”

“The best way is not to spread the virus and to do everything until we all receive the vaccine. Because we know that they work against the strains ”, said the virologist.

“Since we cannot predict the future, it is better not to share it as much as possible,” said I. Olendraitė, an interlocutor of the program.

An epidemiologist from Sweden, Dr. G. Dud, said he hoped that in the future it would be much easier if he contracted a coronavirus a second time.

“First, we must realize that the damage that a virus does to us consists of two components: the damage that the virus does and the damage that our immune system does to our own bodies. That is why we now hear about the various side effects caused by vaccines, which is exactly the component that is our immune system’s response to a foreign body.

That damage is not very great because the immune response is not as great as when a real virus is contracted. It will be completely speculative, but it seems to me that in the future, if people contract the coronavirus again in the future, people will not go to hospitals to such a degree, secondary diseases should be much easier, ”said epidemiologist G. Doubts.

When asked if there was a possible scenario in which the pandemic would never end and would last for decades, Dud said it reminded him of “fictional” stories.

“One of the worst things that could happen is if there is a second pandemic. Nowhere is there a written rule stating that one pandemic cannot arise in another. (…) And if you already want a completely nightmare scenario, it would be pandemics constantly recurring that could easily spread as a result of our reunification. There is little chance that they will happen, but it could happen, “said the interlocutor of the program.

He argued that frequent, long-distance, and cheap travel could be one of the reasons for such things.

“If we continue to go into the wild – forestry, exotics, the more we will discover new viruses that can infect us,” predicted epidemiologist G. Dudas.