New variant in South Africa

Very worrying and proof this virus is going to change our lives for years.

At least they have taken action re flights etc., immediately this time. Worrying times.
 
Sounds very worrying, and lots of mutations on it apparently, and possibly quite likely to make the current vaccines less effective against it.
Let’s hope it is not here already, and it turns out to be one of the ones that burns itself out and disappears. That seems unlikely though ☹️.
 
It contains a huge clump of 32 mutations apparently so is more likely to escape current vaccines.

Hopefully it doesn't mean our idea of returning to normal life goes back on hold again.
 
With around 700 people a week arriving from S. A., I’d be surprised if it not already here. Great they’ve taken early action on flights, but tracking down those who’ve recently arrived is going to be crucial.
 
Matesrates said:
With around 700 people a week arriving from S. A., I’d be surprised if it not already here. Great they’ve taken early action on flights, but tracking down those who’ve recently arrived is going to be crucial.
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According to Sky it’s about 500-700 a day, not a week!!
 
Matesrates said:
Ok, I miss heard that, even more worrying. Also they said on sky news that there have be cases in Hong Kong, so why has that country not been put on the red list.
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The guy in HK was in quarantine when they found it after returning from South Africa.
 
Apparently South Africa have some of the top scientists and virologist checking for COVID variations on an ongoing basis. This is why they have identified this strain.

For the last few months South Africa have had 200 to 300 infections per day while the UK has 42,000 per day for months.

Boris’s scientists haven’t been looking for any variations or ……maybe they have and they kept it quiet 🤫
 
Seasider3610 said:
Boris’s scientists haven’t been looking for any variations or ……maybe they have and they kept it quiet 🤫
Click to expand...

www.birmingham.ac.uk

UK scientists designed world's most sophisticated COVID-19 sequencing system – here's how they did it - University of Birmingham

New bioinformatics software and cloud computing approaches developed at the University of Birmingham, have enabled the UK's COVID-19 genome sequencing effort to be the most sophisticated in the world.
www.birmingham.ac.uk www.birmingham.ac.uk
 
Angelique Coetzee, chairperson of the South African Medical Association, has been telling the BBC that new travel restrictions on her country are premature.

"For now, it is a storm in a tea cup," she says.
 
People appear to be acting like the virus has gone away it will be difficult
to enforce a new lock down if this new strain gets a grip in the. UK.
 
AndrewDuncanSmith said:
People appear to be acting like the virus has gone away it will be difficult
to enforce a new lock down if this new strain gets a grip in the. UK.
Click to expand...
No chance of a new national lockdown. There's bound to be stricter measures, like the covid passport, masks, sd etc

But in reality even local lockdowns wont be heeded.
 
AndrewDuncanSmith said:
People appear to be acting like the virus has gone away it will be difficult
to enforce a new lock down if this new strain gets a grip in the. UK.
Click to expand...
And so it should be what do want us to do lockdown forever this virus is going absolutely nowhere so we need to learn live with it and all Lockdowns do is push the can down the road and it goes boom as soon as you reopen.
 
AndrewDuncanSmith said:
People appear to be acting like the virus has gone away it will be difficult
to enforce a new lock down if this new strain gets a grip in the. UK.
Click to expand...
Let’s all act like everyone is sick then and will get sick, that seems normal,

It will be difficult to enforce a lockdown and rightly fuckin so, because if we did again after the past 20 months then this just goes on and on and on.
 
If it is as bad as they say and it spreads to the townships then it could prove to be a tragedy of mega proportions.
Let’s hope not.
 
Wait and see.
It was only a few months ago that the last variant (Brazil??) was found and it was really bad, really mutated, really going to f@ck us all up and really vaccines won’t work.
But it wasn’t and they did……

So here’s the latest - no point locking down as it’ll get here sooner or later through someone that’s either showing no symptoms or just a carrier that doesn’t care.

I suspect that the tests will spot it, then it will be the most common variant but the vaccine still works.

Still it gives the BBC something to bang on about for weeks and weeks
 
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Another scariant and more fear will be used from the government to get people to comply.

I thought it was already said we will never get on top of this virus so have to live with it?

These mutations afaik have only usually affecting the spike protein, which meant people could still catch it but the protection from serious disease would remain forever in the bones.

Something about t cells, b cells and whilst antibodies can be got round its much harder for the virus to get round these other cells as its not just based on spike protein for identification.

So unless the virus fundamentally changes from it's make up, as in not recognisable at all so its wouldn't be covid, not just changes to spike protein etc, then from what they are saying we should be OK.

Are the media etc concentrating too much of antibodies and overlooking the other responses that might mean you get sick but are generally not seriously ill.

www.npr.org

Immunity To COVID-19 Could Last Longer Than You'd Think

New studies look at how the mRNA vaccines affect the cells in your body in the short run and the long run. The findings are a counterpoint to concerns about waning immunity.
www.npr.org www.npr.org
 
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Immunity To COVID-19 Could Last Longer Than You'd Think

All around the world, there seem to be signs that immunity to SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes the disease COVID-19, doesn't last very long after you're vaccinated.
Israel is now having one of the world's worst COVID-19 surges about five months after vaccinating a majority of its population. And in the U.S., health officials are recommending a booster shot eight months after the original vaccine course.

So, how long does immunity last after two doses of the vaccine? Six months or so? And at that point, how much protection is left over?
It all depends on which type of immunity you're talking about, says immunologist Ali Ellebedy at Washington University in St. Louis. Six months after your vaccine, your body may be more ready to fight off the coronavirus than you might think.
"If you were vaccinated six months ago, your immune system has been training for six months — you are better ready to fight a COVID-19 infection," says Ellebedy.
A series of new studies, including two led by Ellebedy, suggests that mRNA vaccines like those from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna trigger the immune system to establish long-term protection against severe COVID-19 — protection that likely will last several years or even longer, Ellebedy says.
Article continues after sponsor message


To understand what he's talking about, let's say you received the second Moderna or Pfizer vaccine six months ago. Right away, your immune system got to work and began making antibodies.
These antibodies are a bit like archers outside the moat of a castle. They set up in the lining of your nose and throat, ready to shoot down (aka neutralize) any SARS-CoV-2 particles that try to enter the moat (aka your nasal tissue).
These antibodies can prevent an infection, says bioimmunologist Deepta Bhattacharya at the University of Arizona. They stop the virus from entering cells and setting up shop. They are the body's front-line defense.
But right after vaccination, this initial round of antibodies has a few problems. The antibodies are a bit wimpy. They're not that well trained at killing SARS-CoV-2, and they're not very durable, Bhattacharya says.

About a month after the second mRNA shot, the number of antibodies in the blood reaches its peak level and then starts to decline. The antibodies themselves degrade and the cells that make them die, a study published in the journal Nature reported in June.
This happens with every vaccine, whether it's for COVID-19, the flu or measles, Bhattacharya says. "In every single immune response, there is a sharp rise in antibodies, a period of sharp decline, and then it starts to settle into a more stable nadir."

The media has largely focused on this decline of antibodies as the cause of "waning immunity." And it's true, Bhattacharya says, that this decline in antibodies, combined with the high potency of the delta variant, which began dominating many countries this year, is likely increasing the rate of infection in fully vaccinated people.
"If you get a big dose of delta, as the variant often gives, the virus can slip past the initial wall of antibodies," he says. "So I think we may be seeing some signs of that. But the [level of breakthrough infections] is probably not as dramatic as I think it's being made out to be."
Why? Because the media has largely overlooked several key facts about the antibodies present eight months after the vaccine. For starters, they're more powerful than the original ones triggered by the vaccine, Bhattacharya says.
While the first round of archers (antibodies) was out guarding the moat of your castle (respiratory tract), the immune system wasn't just sitting around idly, hoping those soldiers would be enough. Instead, it was busy training better archers — and a whole bunch of foot soldiers too.
After your second shot, the immune system sets up a training center in the lymph nodes to teach special cells how to make more powerful antibodies, the Nature paper from June reported.
"The quality of the antibody improves over time. It takes far fewer of those new antibodies to protect you," Bhattacharya says. "So I think that worrying about antibody decline is not something that's productive," he adds.
At the same time, the cells that make these souped-up antibodies become souped up themselves, he adds. In the training center, they learn how to make a huge amount of the highly powerful antibodies.
"These cells are remarkable," Bhattacharya says. "They're estimated to spit out something like 10,000 antibody molecules per second." So you don't need many of these cells to protect you against a future infection.
"We've done some back-of-the-envelope calculations to figure out how many of these cells are needed to protect a mouse from a lethal infection. It's three," Bhattacharya says. "Of course, we're bigger than mice. But you get the sense that it doesn't take many to offer good protection."
On top of that, these cells learn something remarkable in the training center: how to persist. "They're essentially given the gift of eternity," says immunologist Ellebedy.
He and his colleagues have found that by about six months after vaccination, these antibody-producing cells go into the bone marrow, where they can live for decades, perhaps even a lifetime, studies have found, and continue to produce antibodies the entire time. In one 2008 study, researchers identified antibodies that could neutralize the 1918 flu in the blood of people who were exposed to the virus 90 years earlier.
"We looked in the bone marrow and have seen these cells in people previously infected with SARS-CoV-2," Ellebedy says. "Now we are finishing research that shows these cells appear in the bone marrow after vaccination as well."
Called long-lived plasma cells, these cells will likely pump out antibodies into the blood for decades, Ellebedy says, giving people some sustained, long-term protection against SARS-CoV-2. (There is a caveat: If the virus changes too much, these antibodies won't be as effective.)
"The antibodies are maintained at very low levels, but they're the first line of defense against an infection," Ellebedy says. "If you're taken by surprise by SARS-CoV-2, these antibodies will slow down the replication of the virus" — until reinforcements come along.
And reinforcements will likely come!
On top of training up better archers (antibodies) and factories to create them (plasma cells), the immune system has also been training up the equivalent of foot soldiers, several studies have found. These foot soldiers are called memory B cells and memory T cells, and they largely serve as a surveillance system, looking for other cells infected with SARS-CoV-2.
"They're patrolling all over," Ellebedy says, checking to see if a cell has SARS-CoV-2 hiding in it. "It's almost like going through the neighborhood, house by house, and just making sure it's clean."
These foot soldiers can't prevent an infection from initially occurring, but they can quickly stop one once it occurs, says immunologist Jennifer Gommerman at the University of Toronto. "Because of the vaccine-generated 'memory' of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, you get a very brisk cellular immune response."
OK. So now we've got all the information to understand what's going on with the COVID-19 vaccine and immune durability.
About six months after the shots, the antibodies in the blood have fallen — as expected. They're also a bit less effective against the delta variant. "Together, that means there are more symptomatic infections as we go further out from the vaccination rollout," Gommerman says.
But in vaccinated people, these infections will most likely be mild or moderate because the immune system isn't starting from scratch. In fact, it's the opposite. It has been training cells and antibodies for months.
"You still have all this immunity inside of your body that will then say, 'OK, we've had a breach, and it's time to bring in the cellular immunity and respond to this threat,' " Gommerman says. "And because of vaccination, you have cells that can do that really quickly."
And so, overall, you'll be less sick than if you weren't vaccinated and be much less likely to end up in the hospital, she says.
"That's really what the vaccines were designed to do — to teach the immune system to deal with this invader if an infection does occur," Gommerman says. "And the vaccines do that remarkably well."
 
There’s another virus appearing at an alarming rate. Cancers getting missed due to the obsession with Covid. For all the covid wallers getting the hump with people who don’t want a vaccine, don’t be too surprised if someone you love doesn't get the care they need and deserve for something just as deadly. Oh and I’m triple jabbed before you go in for the kill. This is an absolute travesty.
 
Also my thread a while back with telegraph article.

Covid immunity, good news

Hidden immunity: Why booster jabs may not be needed after all Studies suggest people may not require a third vaccination despite falling antibody levels among the elderly Anyone keeping an eye on coronavirus antibody levels in Britain may have noticed an alarming trend in recent months...
avftt.co.uk

"Blueprints for making antibodies are squirrelled away​

This is a good thing, as it prevents the onset of auto-immunity which can lead to a slew of debilitating conditions. Instead, the blueprints for making antibodies are squirrelled away, while a casual surveillance is mounted by the immune system.

But bone marrow and B-cells are not all the body has stashed away for a future fight. Last year, Imperial College found that people who had recovered from Covid still had memory T-cells even after antibodies had waned. T-cells are a kind of white blood cell which stores the details of a past infection and can quickly multiply on re-exposure, providing a rapid response to an invader.

T-cells may also have the added benefit of being able to fight variants. While antibodies only detect proteins on the outside of cells, such as the spike protein which the virus uses to latch on to human cells, T-cells can hone in on proteins inside infected cells. Crucially, many of these do not change when the virus mutates.

Earlier this year, scientists at the La Jolla Institute for Immunology in California found that people infected by Covid generate T-cells that target at least 15 to 20 different fragments of coronavirus proteins, and would work even against worrying mutations such as the 501Y.V2 mutation found in the South Africa (beta) variant.

Infections from the original Sars virus have also produced immunity in recovered patients that have lasted decades. A study by scientists in Singapore, published last week, found that Sars patients who were vaccinated against Covid produced high levels of neutralizing antibodies against both viruses.

It suggests that memory regions of the immune system were jogged into action by the vaccine, raising hope that coronavirus infection or vaccination offers long-term protection which can be easily ramped up if the virus re-emerges.

Certainly we are not seeing any indication that vaccinated people are becoming more at risk for reinfection. Although there have been some breakthrough infections with the delta variant, the vast majority (82 per cent) of people catching Covid currently have not had two doses.

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) is expected to advise that booster vaccinations will not be rolled out to the wider population, although some more vulnerable people may be offered a third jab. For most of us, it is likely we will be safe enough with just two."
 
glasshalffull said:
Interesting, but is this actually true or fake news, as it seems to fly in the face of the other news outlets?
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News outlets?

Germany 65,000 cases per day
UK 48,000 cases per day
Holland. 22,000 cases per day

South Africa 300 cases per day for the last 2 to 3 months.

Do you think the variant isn’t in Europe already wherever it came from?

It’s been identified in South Africa by the scientists…..but not “found” by the UK scientists with 48k per day??
 
Seasider3610 said:
News outlets?

Germany 65,000 cases per day
UK 48,000 cases per day
Holland. 22,000 cases per day

South Africa 300 cases per day for the last 2 to 3 months.

Do you think the variant isn’t in Europe already wherever it came from?

It’s been identified in South Africa by the scientists…..but not “found” by the UK scientists with 48k per day??
Click to expand...

Agreed re these stats obviously, and I am certainly not saying this isn’t true.
It also seems entirely possible that other countries just haven’t found this variant yet or have not even been looking for it, but it is taking a long time for this story to be reported the ‘right way around’ if what this South African scientist is saying is correct.
 
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